 What to Do with WIDA Robin Nelson November 4 th, 2014

What confused me…  The Five “Standards”  How do I post them?  How do I explain what they are to my coworkers?  Where is the list of things I need to teach?  The Topics  Do I need to teach ALL of them?  What do they mean by “water” on the topics list? Osmosis? The Water Cycle? Drink 64oz of water a day?  The MPIs  How do they connect to the ACCESS?  Are they our standards?

WIDA Conference  Three sessions were super helpful.  “WIDA Newbies”  Middle School Curriculum Development for “Reading in the Content”  Meeting the Unique Linguistic and Academic Learning Needs of ELLs in the era of Common Core

WIDA Newbies  Minnesota District Teachers on Assignments (like coaches)  It’s their 4 th Year of WIDA and they have taken the ACCESS 3 times  3 Lessons Learned  What are the English Language Development (ELD) Standards?  The Role of the EL Teacher  Professional Development

The 5 “Language of...” ELD Standards  Yes, there are only 5 standards  Language of ELA, Science, Social Studies, Math, and Social Interaction/Instruction  There is no “magic list.”  Consider them “Language Goals/Frameworks/Trajectories”  They don’t exist without content standards.  It is our job as EL Professionals and content teachers to help students access grade level standards.

What Do I Post in My Classroom?

So What Do I Do???  Teach Language Through Content  SIOP  Content vs. Language: How much of each?  Collaborate with Content Teachers  Look at the State’s Content Curriculum  Help to Bridge the Gap

 ESL is NOT Intervention!!!! (Not Tier 2 or 3)  EL Teachers are a Resource, Not a Resource Room !  EL Teachers MUST Be Willing to Advocate & Collaborate 2 Roles of the EL Teacher English Language DevelopmentMeaningful Access to Grade- Level Learning Informed by Second Language Acquisition Theory (Krashen, TPR, Grammar) Informed by Content Standards and WIDA Standards and Tools In Service of Both Goals: Ongoing Assessment of English Language Development

Middle School Curriculum Development  Among many ideas for curriculum development, there were a few things all of us could apply to our teaching.  3 Branches of Curriculum  State Assessment (TCAP, EOC)  ACCESS (WIDA Standards/MPI’s)  SIOP

Content Standards  Use Content Standards to Guide Topics  You do not need to be an expert in the content to help with the language  This Will Help With…  ACCESS  EOC’s/TCAPs  Regular Content Classes

ACCESS  Similar to W-APT  Longer  Content-Driven  3 Forms  A- Newcomers  B- Middle  C- Students who will most likely test out

Test Advice  Still Assesses Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing  Listening  Much harder than ELDA  Advice: Have students practice taking notes  Speaking  Structured like W-APT-Progressive  Advice: Circumlocution- They don’t have to have the answer correct  Reading  Informational Text  Advice: Comprehension Strategies (Inference)  Writing  Academic Language  Advice: Persuasive and Letters

SIOP (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol)  Content Objective + Language Objective  What language do the students need to do the task at hand?   Connects to MPIs (Modal Performance Indicators)

What are MPIs?  According to wida.us, “The MPIs give expectations for what & how students can process and produce at a given proficiency level.”  They are not standards, but are an excellent starting point.  3 Components of an MPI  Language Function  Content Stem  Support or Strategy  MPI’s = Content + Language Objective

Meeting the Unique Linguistic & Academic Learning Needs of ELLs in the Era of Common Core  Luckily the Hard Work Has Been Done For Us…   Change Support, but Content Should Be Grade Appropriate  If a student is a 3, aim for a 4  Content Stems  Helps ground language instructions  Cognitive Function ≠ Language Level  It’s a disservice to not provide grade level material

“Understanding Language”  2 Cyclops- Language vs. Content  Make a two eyed creature in a balanced way

Stanford’s “Understanding Language”

Academic Language  Content and Language Both Involve…  Discourse  Complex Text  Explanation  Argumentation  Purpose  Typical Structure of Text  Sentence Structures  Vocabulary Practices

New Standards  Higher Level of Classroom Discourse  Students are challenged to  Engage in productive oral & written group work with peers  Engage in effective oral & written interactions with teachers  Explain and demonstrate their knowledge on assessments  Obstacles  ELLs are isolated from content  Low expectations of ELLs  Language believed to be an exclusive domain

One Way to Write a WIDA Aligned Lesson Plan  Find a topic either from the topics list or the students’ current content curriculum.  Determine the essential content and language component of that topic.  What do students need to know in order to be successful in their regular classroom (e.g. if the topic is sound, students need to know about waves, frequency, volume, etc.)  Will vocabulary be the most difficult part of the concept, or perhaps sentence structures (When ______ occurs, then _____ will happen)?

MPI=Objective  Combine your language function with your content objective, and include what support you will provide to help them.

My Standard for the Lesson  ELLs will communicate information ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of Science.  Yes. That is it.  I usually post topic next to it.  (…in the content area of Science: Light and Sound)

My MPI/Objective for Thursday’s Lesson Language Function Content Support  Students will compare and contrast light and sound with a partner using a Venn Diagram (e.g., “__is similar to/different from __ because __.”) (Level 2)  Two Forms of Support, Sentence Frames, Lower Language Demands  Students will compare and contrast light and sound using a Venn Diagram and explain why. (Level 3)  One Form of Support, Higher Language Demands

Beginning of Lesson  (Monday and Wednesday we discuss sound).  Bell Ringer- Write 5 sentences about how is sound made. Give examples of different types of sound and how those sounds are made. (Writing)  Introduce Vocabulary: Light, Reflect, Dim (Dimmer)  Quick Drawing and definition as a class  Magic School Bus “Gets the Bright Idea” (Listening)  Students take notes, then use notes to answer questions after the video.

Middle of Lesson  Have the students compare and contrast light and sound with Venn Diagram (which they all are able to do). (Speaking/Writing)  2’s with partner, 3’s alone  Have the students write an explanation with a partner (all levels) putting their thoughts from the Venn Diagram into a sentence. (Writing)  Level 2’s get the sentence frames starting out and introduce how to use them.  Give the sentence frames to 3’s for support if they are struggling.

Closure  Have the students share their responses with the class in full sentence form. (Speaking)  Ticket out the Door: Have the students write one comparison/difference they learned from another group that they didn’t find themselves. (Writing)

In Summary…  With the New Standards, we need to focus on the following things:  WIDA standards are dependent on content. We can’t ignore areas we don’t like.  We need to help bridge the language gap the students face in their content classes.  SIOP was mentioned in nearly all of the sessions I attended. We need to try to include a content objective and a language objective in our lessons.

Questions?

Additional Questions  Robin Nelson   Northwest Middle School