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This handbook contains three sections. The first section describes the Academic

Language Development (ALD) program and the job function of an ALD Specialist.

The second section outlines instructional methods that support academic

language development and also contains ELL accommodation suggestions. The

final section contains a guide to implement silent sustained reading and an

academic word-of-the week program.

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Table of Contents

Section One: Program Information

Rationale for ALD Program …………………………………………………….. 3

What is an ALD Specialist? ……………………………………………………... 5

Language Program Descriptors ………………………………………………… 5

Who are our ALD Specialists?............................................................................. 6

The Coaching Model …………………………………………………………….. 7

ALD Observational Tool ………………………………………………………... 8

ALD Specialist Activity Log …………………………………………………….. 9

Shadowing an ELL …………………………………………………………….... 10

Student Focus Groups ……………………………………………………...…… 10

Pyramid Support ……………………………………………………………...… 10

TELPAS Support …………………………………………………………...…... 10

ELL Exit Criteria ……………………………………...…................................. 11

Good Instruction for ELLs ……………….…………...…................................. 12

Section Two: Instructional Methods

The Four-Corner Graphic Organizer ………………………………………… 13

Reading Focus ………………………………………………………………….. 14

Writing Focus …………………………………………………………………... 16

SEE VS. CER Report ………………………………………………………….. 17

Listening Focus ……………………………………………………...…………. 18

Speaking Focus ………………………………………………………………… 19

Section Three: Literacy Initiatives Word of the Week ……………………………………………………………… 21

School-Wide Reading ………………………………………………………….. 23

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Section 1: Program Information Rationale for the Academic Language Development Project Across the nation, there is an increase in the number of limited-English-speaking students who have been in our schools since Pre-K and Kindergarten and yet have not passed the English proficiency assessments that would allow them to exit from ELL program services. Students who fit this description (ELLs in US schools who have received language support services through bilingual and/or ESL programs for more than six years) are considered to be long-term ELLs or LTELLs. These students do not have sufficient academic English to pass the annual state assessments. In 2013-2014, in FWISD there were approximately 2500 students who fit this description. In 2014-2015, the number had increased to more than 4500. If this trend continues, the number could well exceed 5000 for 2015-2016. The plan to address this district concern was developed to build teaching/lesson delivery capacity in the instructional staff on select campuses with high numbers of long-term ELLs. Most of these students have been in intervention programs and tutorials for most of their schooling – remediation is not the key. Providing instruction that has a deliberate language focus in all content areas will support learning academic content and academic language development. The Academic Language Development Specialist position was created to change the outcomes for these students. Academic Language Development (ALD) Specialist Duty Days: 198 Position Purpose: Coordinate activities on assigned campus related to long-term English Language Learners (LTELLs) enrolled on the campus, including ensuring that the LTELLs are appropriately placed in core-area classes, working with designated core-area teachers to plan and deliver instruction, providing professional learning for campus staff, providing inclusion support for L-T ELLs as appropriate/possible, collaborating with counselors and other staff to provide support services for students, arranging parent involvement communications/activities, and facilitating data collection/reporting as needed for project evaluation.

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Essential Job Functions

• Work with LPAC Chairperson and campus “scheduler” to ensure that LTELLs are placed in intentional clusters and/or in homogeneous classes to designated teachers in core-area classes according to the LTELL ALD plan approved for the campus.

• Regularly meet and plan with designated core-area teachers to ensure that lessons reflect ALD characteristics and that lessons are adjusted according to student need.

• Regularly observe LTELL settings for the purposes of (a) observing student responses to instruction and providing feedback to teachers about observed student needs and (b) if there are relatively few LTELLs on the campus, providing direct inclusion support to the LTELLs in the classes.

• Plan and arrange for ongoing professional learning for teachers, administrators, and other campus staff on issues related to language development and LTELLs, including providing information-type activities, facilitating Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), arranging for web-based learning, modeling effective instructional strategies, arranging for peer observations/coaching, etc.

• Monitor classroom formative assessments, CBA data, writing folders and other data as appropriate to aid in determining progress in academics and language for the LTELLs in all subject areas.

• Conduct individual discussion sessions and small-group “focus groups” with LTELLs to provide opportunities for collecting informal data from the students and for conveying information to the students.

• Work with feeder and receiving campuses to secure and convey needed information to/from them related to programs for and progress of LTELLs.

• Work with principal, assistant principals, counselors, and other district staff in ensuring appropriate communications with parents of L-T ELLs and arranging for parent involvement activities.

• Attend all district LTELL trainings and meetings and ensure that information from the trainings/meetings is conveyed to the principal and appropriate staff at the campus.

• Facilitate the collection of data and assist the data analyst and principal in compiling and reporting information needed for the evaluation of the LTELL ALD Project.

• Collaborate with and serve as liaison to Learning Network staff, Bilingual/ESL Department staff, and core-area content staff about LTELLs at the campus.

• Stay abreast of the field of second language learning and educational issues in general by reading/viewing appropriate information, attending appropriate PL events, and engaging in personal and/or collaborative reflection on learnings.

• Perform other duties as assigned.

”Other duties as assigned” may include working in supplemental assignments under special revenue funds or state compensatory education funds.

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What is an ALD Specialist?

ALD Specialists are responsible for improving the exit-rates of long-term English language learners (LTELLs) enrolled at their respective campuses. To accomplish this task, ALD Specialists must first collaborate with leadership and counselors to ensure that LTELLs are appropriately placed in classes. Once the ALD Specialist becomes acquainted with the needs of a campus, he or she provides instructional coaching to core-area teachers to ensure that teachers’ instructional practices are accommodated to the proficiency levels of their students. Throughout the year, ALD Specialists provide professional development (PD) during in-house PD sessions, staff meetings, and during professional learning community (PLC) meetings. Furthermore, ALDs provide push-in classroom support to teachers of LTELLs, coordinate communications with parents and students regarding language program details, and collect and report data regarding LTELLS and ALD program evaluation.

An ALD Specialist is:

• Instructional coach

• Push-in classroom support

• Expert in scaffolding language tasks

• LTELL advocate

• LTELL data analyst

• Professional developer

• Peer observer and collaborator

• Disseminator of ELL information

• LPAC Committee member

• Pyramid support

• Literacy program initiative support

An ALD Specialist is NOT:

• Administrator responsible for formal evaluations

• Substitute teacher

• LPAC chair

• Pull-out tutor

• Reading Specialist

• Learning Network Specialist

• Counselor

• Parent Liaison

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2015-2016 Academic Language Development Specialists Returning ALD Specialists Mindy Bonner – Carter-Riverside HS Patricia Campbell – McLean MS, McLean 6th Dr. Tonya Chancey – Polytechnical HS Jennifer McLaughlin –Eastern Hills ES, Rosemont MS James Moore – Forest Oak MS, Glencrest 6th Lance Silva – Kirkpatrick MS, North Side HS, Kirkpatrick ES Shalonda Thompson – William James MS, S.S. Dillow ES, T.A. Sims ES New ALD Specialists Kristi Hasten – JP Elder MS Blanca Lopez – Leonard MS Mary Lamothe – OD Wyatt TBD – Meacham MS

Language Program Descriptors The following describes the different types of language programs that exist in Fort Worth ISD schools: Dual Language Enrichment is a program for Spanish-Speaking ELLS in grades PK – 5 in specific elementary schools. This program is designed to teach students in grades PK-1 how to read in their dominant language; reading in the second language is introduced in grade 2. Science and Social Studies are taught in Spanish; Math is taught in English. The World Language Institute offers bilingual instruction in grades 6-8. The goal is for students to leave the program in grade 5 as bilingual, biliterate and bicultural. ESL-Only or Transition ESL is offered on all FWISD campuses for students who are limited English speaking students and are not enrolled in a dual language program. The language of instruction is English. The goal is for students to acquire full English proficiency while learning academic content. Language Center is a newcomer program for recently-arrived, non-English speaking immigrant students. This program is offered in grades 3-12. We offer support for unschooled/undereducated students as well as ELL students who are new to US schools. Select campuses at the elementary, middle and high school levels offer the program. The language of instruction is English. The goal is for students to acquire full English proficiency while learning academic content. A special program is offered for students ages 17-21 who enroll in FWISD schools and are non-English speaking immigrant ELLs. Parent permission is required for enrollment in all language support programs. If parents deny services, the students are placed in regular program classrooms.

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The Coaching Model

ALD Specialists utilize the seven-step coaching model to provide instructional coaching during a one-to-three week time period. ALD Specialists provide support to all core content areas and grade levels. However, it is recommended that ALD Specialists collaborate with only one grade-level content team at a time (e.g., 7th grade English Language Arts), as the ALD Specialist must immerse himself/herself in the content’s curriculum, observe teachers’ practices, generate instructional materials to support academic language development, and model teaching practices that accommodate for ELLs.

Step 1: Initial observation - The ALD Specialist conducts an observation using the ALD observation tool during the entirety of a typical-instruction class.

Step 2: Follow Up Conference - The ALD Specialist and teacher debrief after the observation to offer praise and discuss targeted areas of teacher development. Step 3: Lesson Planning - The ALD Specialist and teacher confer, collaborate, and lesson plan to allow for opportunities to develop one-to-two teaching practices.

Step 4: Modeling - The ALD Specialist co-teaches during a lesson or teaches an entire lesson to model the specific areas of development while the teacher takes observational notes. Afterwards, the teacher and Specialist meet and reflect on the lesson.

Step 5: Co-teaching –The ALD Specialist co-teaches during a lesson while the classroom teacher incorporates the area of development into the lesson. The ALD Specialist provides instructional support if/when needed. Afterwards, the teacher and Specialist meet and reflect on the lesson.

Step 6: Closing Observation - Using the ALD observational tool once more, the ALD Specialist conducts a final observation to determine the targeted instructional developments. The ALD Specialist and teacher later debrief, evaluate their experience together, and target further improvements or needs.

Step 7: Monitoring/ongoing support - The ALD Specialist continues to support the teacher by assisting with classroom configurations, lesson planning, and instructional materials support as needed.

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ALD Specialist Activity Log

For accountability purposes and in an effort to ensure that the maximum amount of time is spent on instructional coaching, ALD Specialists are responsible for recording the time spent on activities throughout the day in a weekly activity log. The following table details the coding system that the ALD Specialists use for their weekly activity logs.

Task Description

Teacher Centered (yellow)

Classroom observations/Co-teaching/ Modeling Planning with teacher Content generation for teacher Meeting/Emailing teacher in response to a classroom visit PLC planning/ PD planning Leading PLC/ Delivering PD

Student Centered (light green)

Tutoring: individual, small group, etc. Planning for tutoring Student focus groups Scheduling students into classes/ in-class grouping configurations Assisting students with selection of novels during school-wide reading

Administrative Task (red)

Before/ lunch/ after school duties Test administration Tasks appointed by Principal or leadership Purchase requests/orders Organizing workspace

Meetings (orange)

ALD meetings Staff meetings PLCs (not ALD-led) Other meetings

Data (light grey)

Updating activity log Submitting ALD weekly overview report Pretest/Posttest LTELL exit status report Various data reports

Professional Development (light purple)

Attending professional development Studying efficacy of various programs/ strategies/ literature Portions of ALD Meetings

Communications (light blue)

Checking/sending day-to-day email Updating calendar Writing/Delivering information not pertaining to coaching

Lunch (light brown) Lunch

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Shadowing an ELL

In an effort to gain insight about the areas of need within a campus, an ALD Specialist spends a few days at the beginning of the school year/semester shadowing an ELL. The ALD Specialist selects one-to-three LTELLs of differing proficiency levels and follows the student from class to class for the entire school day. During shadowing, the ALD Specialist utilizes the observational tool to gauge teachers' instruction and notes the amount of time LTELLs spend on reading/writing/listening/speaking tasks throughout the day. The ALD Specialist uses this information to gain a better understanding of what an ELL experiences on a typical day to guide future professional development sessions.

Student Focus Groups

As an advocate for LTELLs, ALD Specialists maintain periodic communications with his or her LTELLs by conducting student focus groups. Student focus groups allow LTELLs to reflect on their learning and provide insight to what would help them learn better. Student focus groups consist of approximately five to eight students, occur before school, after school, during lunch, or during silent sustained reading, and last approximately twenty to forty-five minutes. During the sessions, the ALD Specialist guides discussion using a predetermined set of questions. The responses from the questions are kept confidential to maintain trust between the ALD Specialist and LTELLs; however, recurring themes revealed from the focus groups may be shared privately with teachers so they may be aware of both positive and constructive feedback from their students.

Pyramid Support

ALD Specialists are experts in promoting literacy across the contents and scaffolding instruction to the growing number of diverse learners that exist in our schools. Attending pyramid meetings is a way to promote such specialized knowledge, provides an opportunity to maintain focus with leadership, and allows the ALD Specialist to become aware of the literacy-building initiatives discussed within pyramid meetings.

TELPAS Support

Throughout the year, ALD Specialists are responsible for providing professional development during in-house waiver days, team meetings, and PLCs in order to raise awareness for TELPAS procedures and relay the importance of developing students' reading/writing/listening/speaking skills to increase proficiency levels. English proficiency is key to academic/content success. By maintaining a focus on English language acquisition in all content areas, the ALD Specialist can support campus growth as measured by TELPAS.

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OFI* = Opportunity for improvement NO** = Not observed

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Section 2: Instructional Methods The Four-Corner Graphic Organizer

The four-corner graphic organizer is a lesson-planning tool that accommodates for language building in daily lessons and helps teachers prepare scaffolded materials. Content Objective (TEKS)

Language Objective (ELPS)

Vocabulary

Sentence Stems

Teachers must first consider the lesson’s objective (1), refer to the ELPS, and then (2) generate reading/writing/listening/speaking tasks that develop students’ mastery of the objective. Before the lesson takes place, teachers must preview the lesson’s materials, plan for direct instruction of key vocabulary terms (3), and build background knowledge when necessary. Additionally, teachers must provide sentence stems (4) to accommodate for written and oral tasks.

Reading Focus

One of the greatest challenges teachers face is engaging students during reading tasks. Oftentimes the complexity of the text overwhelms students, who have not yet fully developed the schemas required to comprehend the main idea of a text or identify the author’s purpose for including specific details. Teachers must incorporate language-building elements before, during and after reading tasks to ensure student engagement and increase concept acquisition. Before Reading Before reading occurs, teachers must prepare the learners by connecting students’ prior knowledge, identifying key words/phrases/word parts essential to comprehension, and setting a purpose for reading the text. 1) Building Background Knowledge – building background knowledge is essential to engaging students in the reading task. Teacher must gauge students’ knowledge of the reading task and provide necessary auxiliary materials such as short videos, maps, graphics, news headlines, political cartoons, or anecdotes to bridge students’ prior knowledge to the topic at hand. 2) Direct Word Instruction – identify key terms and word parts that may hinder students’ ability to comprehend the main idea of the text. Review the words using visual/written imprinting, word study, and/or analogous comparisons; however, avoid overloading students with lists of terms. It may be necessary to provide opportunities to say complex, multisyllabic words aloud to increase reading fluency.

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3) Previewing the Text – scan the text and take note of titles, subtitles, graphics, and other text features. Take note of the structure of the text, identify the genre, and consider the author’s purpose for writing the text. 4) Setting a Purpose for Reading – help provide a purpose for reading. The purpose may be to identify cause-and-effect relationships, to characterize a protagonist, to evaluate an argument, to identify the main idea, etc. 5) Making a Prediction – after previewing the text, students should write a predictive statement that states what he or she will learn after reading the text or what he or she believes the main idea of the text will be. During Reading During reading tasks, teachers must provide opportunities for students to sharpen their active reading skills so they are prepared to comprehend texts independently. Teachers can help students become active readers by explicitly modeling the thought-processes that occur while reading and also by incorporating metacognitive strategies into reading tasks. 1) Get the Gist – while reading nonfiction texts, have students “get the gist” and generate summarization statements every few paragraphs. To “get the gist,” students first identify the most important “who” or “what” of the section and then attempt to write a brief summary statement using only 12-15 words. Reviewing the summary statements upon completion of the text can help students evaluate how supporting details contributed to the main idea of the text. 2) Get the Picture – while reading fictional texts, have students create brief annotations upon discovering setting details, character descriptions, plot advancement, or characters’ expressed feelings. At the beginning of the year, the teacher will have to explicitly model this process; however, as the year progresses the teacher encourages students to use the strategy independently. Encouraging annotations supports active reading and allows students to visualize what is happening in the text.

Strategy Genre During Reading Task Student Writing Duration

Get the Gist Nonfiction Identify

most important WHO or WHAT

Generate a 12-15 word summary statement

Every subsection

or every few paragraphs

Get the Picture Fiction

Identify WHERE is the setting?

WHO is there? What is happening?

What is the mood or feeling?

Circle Highlight Underline Annotate

Throughout the text

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3) Fluency Building- teachers who want to emphasize important details can benefit from reading portions of the text aloud. Reading text aloud helps improve students’ reading fluency and provides an opportunity for deeper comprehension. The following are three reading-aloud methods that help build fluency:

• Choral Reading – teacher and students read in unison. • Echo Reading – teacher reads a phrase or sentence and then the students repeat/read. • Repeated Reading – students read and then the teacher models reading to emphasize

correct articulation and pronunciation. Students read and reread with increased fluency.

After Reading After the initial reading, teachers must provide opportunities to extend students’ learning by interacting with the text’s essential ideas. The following are a few after-reading tasks that support text reflection: 1) Generating Questions – students generate questions about the text and answer other students’ generated questions afterwards. Teachers should help students become aware of different question types to encourage multi-level question generation. Additionally, teachers can save generated questions for future review of previously taught concepts. 2) What I learned – student reflects on the prediction statement created before reading and writes about what he or she actually learned/read about. 3) Connection to life – teacher creates a question that connects the main idea of the text to students’ lives. Students respond to the question and can share with nearby classmates or as a class. 4) Second-draft reading – students use a fluency building technique (see previous page) to reread a selected portion to transition to the next learning task. 5) SEE/CER Report – students use textual evidence or details from the text and conduct a SEE or CER report.

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Writing Focus Writing is a complex task that often challenges ELLs. Nonetheless, ELLs are required to score either advanced-high on TELPAS writing or pass the STAAR writing exam to exit the language program. Thus, all core-content teachers (not just English teachers) share the responsibility to incorporate writing tasks into lessons to ensure student growth in writing. It is recommended for teachers to include a least one CER/SEE report or one constructed-response every three weeks, or once every unit. The following are a few guidelines to consider when including writing tasks in lessons: Generating Writing Tasks Effective writing tasks begin with an open-ended question that relates to the content objective. The curriculum frameworks often provides teachers with essential questions that can adapted to generate writing tasks. Writing tasks include, but are not limited to:

• QuickWrites – a free-response, short-answer prompt generally given at the beginning of class or immediately following a completed learning task. The QuickWrite can review concepts taught in previous lesson or allow students to reflect before being exposed to new information in upcoming learning tasks.

o Ex: Juan wants to help his parents redesign their living room. His parents want to choose either tile or carpet depending on the cost. How can Juan help his parents figure out which option is cheaper?

• CER/SEE Report – a constructed short answer paragraph that requires students to include specific details or textual evidence to support an assertion. The CER/SEE prompt should be presented to students before the learning task so students can gather details/evidence to respond to the prompt.

o Ex: What do “The Rhythms of Rap” and “Austin, Texas: The Nonstop Sound of Music” have in common? Support your answer with evidence from both selections.

• Constructed Response – an essay that requires students to incorporate appropriate language structures (e.g., first, next, last, or if, then) that characterize the form of the essay (e.g., narrative, expository, persuasive, compare and contrast).

o Ex: What major events led to the formation of the Republic of Texas?

Sentence Stems Some ELLs may seem hesitant to begin writing tasks because they often struggle organizing the words within a sentence (syntax). Teachers can accommodate writing by providing sentence stems to all learners. Teachers can direct hesitant or struggling students to the sentence stem so that the student may access the content knowledge more efficiently and will be better equipped to respond to similar writing prompts in the future.

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Supporting Writing through Oral Tasks When students are provided opportunities to respond orally to a written prompt, they generally write more fluently due to increased repetition. Teachers can use sentence stems with oral tasks provide additional opportunities for students to organize their ideas before writing. Supporting Writing with Graphic Organizers Before conducting a writing task, teachers should utilize an appropriate graphic organizer so that students may record information that is necessary for the task. Graphic organizers are excellent schema-builders and allow students to visualize how the information should be structured before they begin writing.

What type of graphic organizer should I use? Narrative Writing Tasks Plot diagram or topic/conflict/resolution/theme chart

Expository Writing Tasks Sequential organizer/timeline, Venn diagram, cause & effect, or thesis/supporting details/real-world connection

Persuasive Writing Tasks T-Chart, pros & cons, or thesis/supporting details/counter-argument chart

SEE Report vs. CER Report

SEE Report CER Report

English Language Arts, Social Studies Science, Mathematics State your answer to the question Make a claim that answers the question

Support your answer with evidence Support your claim with evidence Explain what the information means or why it matters

Reasoning that incorporates a scientific rule or describes how the evidence supports the claim

Grading

Rubric SEE and CER Report Suggested Grade Conversion

4 • Response thoroughly answers the question with relevant evidence. The answer is presented in a clear and supported way. 100-95

3 • Response answers the question with evidence from the text organized to

support the response. The answer may contain information from the text that is not relevant to the question.

94-86

2 • Response answers the question with enough evidence to show a basic

understanding of the topic. Does not provide enough information to fully support the answer to the question.

85-74

1 • Response answers the question with enough evidence to show a basic

understanding of the topic. Does not provide enough information to fully support the answer to the question.

75-70

0 • Response is totally incorrect or offers information from the text that is irrelevant 69-0

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Listening Focus

Beginning teachers will soon learn that many students struggle focusing during lectures or during whole-class discussion for any extended amount of time. Many learners need extra support to maintain their attention and retain the essential information from classroom discussions. The following are suggestions for both ELLs and non-ELLs for teachers to consider to help ensure student engagement through active listening:

1) Movement/ Hand Gestures/ Tone of Voice– body movement can make a surprising impact on students’ listening. Teacher proximity helps maintain positive behavior, as students are more likely to focus on instruction when the teacher is nearby. Using hand gestures, animated movement, and variations in the tone of voice can help keep students’ attention fixated on the teacher and can even allow students to infer the meaning of unknown words or complex ideas.

2) Restate, Rephrase, or Retell – due to the limited vocabularies of developing ELLs, teachers often need to present content in a variety of ways before a student is capable of comprehending a new idea. Teachers can substitute complex vocabulary for simpler terminology during concept acquisition, explain ideas using examples from students’ daily lives, and make comparisons and analogies to connect ideas.

3) Blending and Segmenting – some students may have limited English phonemic

awareness and may not be able to identify the individual sounds within a word. Teachers should invest time sounding out complex words by segmenting the word into syllables or word parts and then bend the sounds together slowly to reform the word. Students then practice blending and segmenting the word with teacher assistance.

4) Cloze Notes – creating fill-in-the-blank-style notes to accompany whole class discussion

allows students to spend more time listening to the discussion and less time focusing on the word order of sentences during note taking. Incorporating cloze notes essentially limits students’ attention to only the most essential words, phrases, or ideas and is a way to differentiate for ELLs or students who need listening accommodations.

5) Graphic Organizers – accompanying discussions with graphic organizers promotes students’ cognitive schema building and supports active listening. Foldables, t-charts, Venn diagrams, concept webs, timelines, and cause/effect relations all help students make sense of complex information.

6) Mnemonics and Kinesthetic Linkages – mnemonics are memory techniques, such as rhymes or anagrams, that help students memorize information. Skilled teachers develop mnemonics over time and even find creative ways to link vocabulary and concepts to specific hand gestures/bodily movement. Such efforts provide more opportunities for students to master the concepts and provide differentiation for multiple learning types.

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Speaking Focus Participating in a simple conversation requires active coordination from many complex language systems. One must accurately decode the message delivered from the speaker, respond using appropriate verb tenses, placing words in the correct order to form a sentence, and pronounce each word the proper way. Due to these complexities, which have different rules in every language, it is understandable that some ELLs are uncomfortable participating in speaking tasks in fear of sounding less capable than their peers. Nonetheless, for an ELL to exit the language program, he or she must achieve either an E or an F (see ELL Exit Criteria) on the English Oral Language Proficiency Test. Thus, teachers of ELLs are responsible for differentiating instruction to include ample speaking opportunities into daily lessons to ensure students’ oral proficiency development. Understand that ELLs (and non-ELLs) will need extra practice and accommodations to speak in complete sentences using academic language, as school is likely the only place where students practice using the English academic register of language. Well-developed speaking activities engage students in academic conversation and allow for response to reading, writing, and listening.

1) Sentence Stems – similar to how sentence stems are used in writing tasks, make sentence stems visible during speaking tasks to help initiate discussion or frame conversations. Any time new content is presented, it’s likely that some ELLs have limited experiences speaking in English about the content matter at hand. Providing sentence stems during oral tasks accommodates for hesitant participants because it allows faster access to the content without having to worry about the order of words in a sentence. Ideally, repetitive use of Accountable Talk and sentence stems will provide a model for students to organize their thoughts and allow them respond to ideas using complete sentences automatically over time.

2) Partner Talk or Think-Pair Share – both of these strategies are variations of whole-class direct-questioning techniques, which generally limit discussion to a single-student response. Teachers can provide more opportunities for all students to speak by including partner talk or think-pair share into discussions. Essentially, instead of asking a comprehension-based question, ask an open-ended question, allow for wait time so students may organize their thoughts, then allow for students to share their responses to a shoulder partner. During these activities, teachers can provide sentence stems to help frame conversations. Teachers may find it helpful to have the students respond to the question in writing before speaking to support students’ oral fluency or after partner sharing to reinforce discussed ideas.

3) Print to Speech – every language has its own set of rules that dictates how the letters in a

word sound when they are read aloud. ELLs need extra support applying phonics to pronounce the sounds of complex, multisyllabic words when learning new vocabulary. Teachers must model the pronunciation of new vocabulary and segment the individual sounds in the word when necessary.

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Small Group Speaking Activities

4) Round Robin – This speaking and listening activity can be adapted to provide every

student in a group the opportunity to respond to a predetermined set of questions. Teachers should provide a sentence-stem script and pair this activity with a graphic organizer for students to record the group’s responses.

Person 1: “I am going to read the first question. It says__________...“I think the answer is __________ because… __________. What do you think?”

-OR- “I’m not sure what the answer is. Can you help me?” Persons 2, 3, 4: “I agree with your answer, and I can add __________...”

-OR- “I disagree with your answer because __________...”

-OR- “I can help you with the answer. I think the best answer is __________...”

“…Now I am going to read the second question. It says__________... “

5) Base Group/Expert Group Jigsaw – This jigsaw method allows a group of students to discuss several aspects of a complicated topic or it can allow students to compare various texts that share a common theme. For this activity, students must be placed in groups.

Part 1 1) Remember your base group 2) Listen for your number 3) Go to your new group in which everyone has the same number Part 2 4) Read the text 5) Answer the questions using Round Robin 6) Record (write) your information on your graphic organizer. Part 3 7) Return to your base group 8) One person reads his/her information from his/her expert groups 9) Everyone else listens and records the infomformation. 10) Explain…Don’t Copy!

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In order to increase the probability of students acquiring vocabulary words from a word of the week program, it is recommended that there be various forms of exposure to the students, such as a set location in a classroom where students can see the word of the week and its definition, a place in a student’s reader’s/writer’s notebook where students write the word and definition, word of the week posters strategically placed in high-traffic zones in the hallways, and daily announcements delivered to the student body which provides an example of when and how the word is used. Word of the Week Daily Announcements Announcing the word of the week to the study body is an excellent way to build a community of word-conscious learners, although it takes a creative, skilled writer to generate engaging announcements. It is recommended that announcements regarding the word of the week progress from exposing the student to basic information such as the word, its definition, and part of speech function, to concrete examples of how the word is used in students’ daily lives and how it is used in different core contents. The following page provides an example of a progression of word of the week announcements.

Pictured above: a sample word of the week vocabulary poster which includes the word, part of speech, definition, illustration, sentence, synonyms, antonyms, and variations of the word.

Section 3: Literacy Initiatives Word of the Week

Schools or classrooms may choose to begin a word-of-the-week program in an effort to increase students' exposure to the academic vocabulary that is used across the contents. Teachers may find that it is not always the knowledge of the content that keeps students from being successful, but the language of the test in relation to the content that keeps students from selecting correct responses. The following is a description of a word-of-the-week program that was initiated at a middle school in Fort Worth ISD. The program began with a committee who selected words and took turns creating posters while a Specialist delivered 3-5 announcements a week using the word of the week. Initially, one word was selected per week until mid-February, when two words were covered per week. Eventually, the poster generation duties were completed by an ALD Specialist, as well as assigned to core departments and completed during PLCs. Academic Word Selection Ideally, the words in a word of a week program should comprise of tier-II vocabulary words, or sophisticated words that are non content specific (e.g., convey, distinguish, primary etc.). There exist several lists of academic vocabulary words, such as the Academic Word List, which may be used to select words for the initiative. Additionally, teachers may choose to include tier-II words that students encountered during district assessments that gave several students difficulties as a response to district assessment data. Word Visibility

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Sample Word of the Week Announcement Progression The following is a progression of the word of the week announcements for the word “consistent.” For this particular week, there was not an emphasis on how the word is used in different core contents, however, there were several examples that attempted to connect with students’ daily lives. As you can see, these announcements provide an opportunity to review previous words of the week (perceive) in context. Monday: OMW Have you heard?! We have a new WORD… of the week! The word of the week this week is CONSISTENT. Consistent is an adjective because it describes the quality of something else. Consistent is a quality that means that something continues to happen or develop in the same way. Be sure to consistently listen this week so that you can learn how to use the word! Tuesday: OMW Consistent is such a great word to know! If you remember, being consistent means to develop or happen in the same way. Have you ever heard of the saying, "practice makes perfect?" Well, I'd like to argue that practice doesn't make perfect, but instead, practice makes permanent. Let's say you're a soccer player and you hate sprinting, so you consistently run at half speed. Well, when it comes to game time, and the intensity picks up, you won't be able to sprint as long as the other players, because you're so used to only putting in half of your effort! Be consistent at practicing at high levels, so when it comes time to perform, you'll be in the best shape possible!

Wednesday: OMW students we've been consistently learning words since the second week of school, and we're going to keep doing it today! Remember, what consistent means? That's right, continuing to happen or develop in the same way. We can also use the word "consists" to say that something is made up of something. Let's take for example, elote. Elote consists, or is made up of corn, butter, mayonaisse, and chile. When you eat an elote, you consistently feel satisfied and a little bit gulity from all of the deliciousness that elote consists of. Think about what things consist of, and what qualities you consistently perceive. That's it for today Wildcats, have a pawesome Wednesday! Thursday: I'm going to be inconsistent today, do something out of the usual, and tell you an anecdote. This morning I was in my classroom when I heard a lot of shouting and chaos outside - more than usual at least. I perceived that there was maybe a riot going on outside. But when I got there, all I saw was the most intense rock-paper-scissors competition there's ever been! My original perception of danger was inconsistent of the reality of the situation. That's it for today Wildcats, have a purrific Thursday!

Friday: Wow students, it’s already Friday?! Do you remember the word of the week this week? Go ahead and shout it out. That’s right, the word of the week is CONSISTENT. We’ve learned that when something is consistent, it happens the same way all of the time. Remember, you’ve got to consistently work out at high levels if you want to perform at high levels, elote is consistently good, but consists of unhealthy things, and if something is inconsistent, it doesn’t happen the same way it usually does. That’s it for this week, have a fantastic Friday!

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Silent-Sustained Reading

Since the amount of time spent reading is often attributed to academic success, teachers and schools may consider devoting class time to students' independent reading. The following serves as a guide to help teachers implement an effective silent-sustained reading (SSR) program and help students to develop essential reading skills. SSR Tips and Tricks

• Students must have access to high-interest texts. Teachers must help students find appropriate texts that are at the students’ reading and interest level.

• When building a classroom library, provide multiple copies of high-interest texts so students may read and discuss a text together.

• Teachers must model independent reading with the students during SSR and must not devote attention elsewhere (e.g., grading, checking emails, lesson planning).

• Actively monitor students while modeling reading and award students credit if they are actively engaged in reading for the majority of the time.

o Class Dojo is an excellent resource to show students whether or not they received reading credit for the day.

• Do not allow students to walk around or leave the classroom during SSR. • Play a sound that lets the readers know there is five minutes left of reading time. This

allows students to find a place to stop reading and transition to a written response if they have not yet done so.

• Provide students with a reading log and have students write down the title of the text and pages read each day.

• Take some time to read a student’s written responses, question some of the things at are occurring in the plot, or comment on how their text reminds you of something you have experienced before. This allows you an opportunity to build stronger relationships with your students and validates their reading.

• Every once in a while, provide the students an opportunity to discuss what they are reading with their peers. After discussion, have students describe what another classmate is reading.

• Take advantage of SSR time and allow students to take an AR quiz after they’ve completed a book.

Suggested High-Interest Texts for Middle/High School Readers The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie Ball Don’t Lie by Matt de la Piña The Bluford Series by various authors A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman The Hunger Games by Suanne Collins A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life by James Patterson Push/Precious by Sapphire Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

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Assessing Silent-Sustained Reading

In order to hold students accountable for building reading skills during independent reading, it is recommended that teachers promote students’ written response to literature. The following may be adapted into students reader’s/writer’s notebook to provide additional structure to an SSR program. Weekly SSR Grading

Suggested Grade A B C D Response to Literature

(on notebook paper) 30-27 lines

26-18 lines

17-12 lines 11-0 lines

Use of During-Reading Strategies

Uses 3+

Uses 2

Uses 1

Uses 1

Reading Participation 5 days 4 days 3 days 3 days – 1 day During-Reading Strategies

• Listing and defining unknown words • Identifying and describing characters • Citing memorable quotes or information

o Include page number • Responding to literature using sentence stems

o Avoid summaries Responding to Literature Using Sentence Stems While summarizing is an essential reading skill, students should refrain from summarizing as the sole response to literature. There exist several lists of published sentence stems for students to use during/after reading; the following are general stems that support metacognitive reading and allow a deeper response to literature.

1) Connect to Prior Knowledge a. This reminds me of… b. I remember when… c. This is similar to ________ because… d. I predict…

2) Make a Comment a. It’s interesting when… b. I couldn’t believe it when… c. Why did __________... d. It’s realistic/unrealistic when…

3) Check for Understanding a. Now this makes sense… b. It confuses me when… c. I don’t understand... d. I wonder…

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ESL Contact Information

Suann Claunch

ESL Director PK-12 100 N. University Drive, Ste. NE232

Fort Worth, TX 76107 Office: (817) 817-814-2413

Fax: (817) 814-2415

ESL Specialists ALD Specialists

Diane Kue 817-814-2439

Mindy Bonner Carter Riverside HS

Patricia McPherson 817-814-2428

Patricia Campbell McLean MS/McLean 6th

Karen Neal 817-814-2426

Tonya Chancey Poly HS

Jaime Stephens 817-814-2430

Kristi Hasten J.P. Elder MS

Robert Thompson 817-814-2429

Mary Lamothe OD Wyatt

Blanca Lopez Leonard MS

Jennifer McLaughlin Rosemont MS/Eastern Hills ES

James Moore Forest Oak MS/Glencrest 6th

Lance Silva Kirkpatrick ES/Kirkpatrick MS/North Side HS

Shalonda Thompson T.A.Sims ES/S.S. Dillow ES/Williams James MS

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