ELLs in Texas: What Teachers Need to Know PLC Guide Chapter 5 – Prioritize Language Development This PLC meeting is based upon Chapter Five in ELLs in Texas: What Teachers Need to Know, Prioritize Language Development. Each participant needs their copy of the book, highlighter, pen and post-its. You may want to provide chart paper or a white board. Click here to view a video from the authors 1

Put it on the Table When it is your turn, share your experiences implementing the strategy you selected at the last meeting. What did you notice about the impact of the activity on the quality and quantity of student-to-student interaction? What did you notice about the level of participation on the part of the ELLs you teach? During this sharing out activity, you may want to scribe responses in bullet form on chart paper or the white board under columns labeled Quality, Quantity, and Participation. 2

Talk 1 Discuss the following three questions: Are we currently writing both content and language objectives for our lessons? If no, should we start? If yes, what might we do to make them more meaningful and useful in formative assessment? During this part of the meeting you may want to clarify campus or district expectations regarding objectives. 3

Read Read pp. 164-167 and pp. 190-192 Pay Attention To: the differences between content and language objectives the relationship between TEKS, ELPS, content objectives, and language objectives the process for improving ELLs’ reading comprehension the process for improving ELLs’ writing skills This reading assignment will take some time to complete. As an option, you could jigsaw the reading assignment. Each participant would read for just one of the bullets and then would share out in a small group or to the whole group depending on the size of the group and the time available. Classroom Tip: Breaking a reading assignment into manageable parts is a strategy that benefits ELLs and students who struggle with reading long passages. 4

Talk 2 With a partner, discuss these two questions: How can I increase opportunities for ELLs I teach to read and understand text? How can I increase opportunities for ELLs I teach to write? 5

Write Think of a lesson you will teach next week. Write a few sentences describing what you will have the students read and write during the lesson. Consider, especially what you will do, and the resources you will use, to help ELLs be successful when you have them read and write. 6

Make It Real Choose one of the following activities: Argumentative Literacy Frame – p. 182 PAT List – p. 183 Genre Imitation – p. 184 Partner Reading – p. 185 Framed Summarization Strategies – p. 186 Language Anticipation Guides – p. 188 List, Group, Label – p. 189 Write language and content objectives for the lesson you will teach that includes this activity. Teach the lesson and use the activity. At the next meeting, be ready to share about ELLs’ involvement/success with the lesson and the activity. If the participants feel comfortable with it, they may want to video their use of the strategy in a lesson. Other participants could offer positive and constructive feedback. This does not need to happen within the confines of this meeting. If you have an intranet, you could create a folder for the group and have participants post videos, artifacts, photos, and other documents there for the purpose of sharing and soliciting feedback/assistance. This level of comfort with sharing is one of the ultimate values we hope you receive from these PLC meetings. 7