So… WIDA? So What? John Wolfe Multilingual Program Facilitator June 15, 2012 or, Now That You Got WIDA Levels, What Do You Do With Them?

The WIDA Levels

One score for each Language Domain … and one score to bind them

Sure, the ESL teacher loves all this WIDA stuff. But what does it mean to you?

Today (What WIDA Means to You) 1.The Essence of WIDA 2.The DNA and SKELETON of WIDA » DNA = The WIDA Criteria » Skeleton = The Can-Do Descriptors 3.WIDA in a Nutshell » 3 ½ Steps 4.But there’s more … EL’s need TWO things! Support for Content Learning & ELD (English Lang Development) 5.ELD: » Stoop for Content Instruction; Stretch ‘em for ELD » ELD through Ongoing Progress Monitoring 6.How to meet the WIDA Challenge? The Multilingual Department’s Five Key Features of Instruction for EL’s

Relax … Everything (and more) is on The Wiki

The Essence of WIDA WIDA gives you key information about the language that an English Learner can handle for grade-level learning.

The Essence of WIDA WIDA gives you key information about the language that an English Learner can handle for grade-level learning. How hard – how difficult, how challenging – can that language be?

In other words, Essence of WIDA … Is this too hard? What can the ELs do while the other kids are answering these questions? How do I know I’m not lowering my expectations? He should be able to do this, right?

WIDA Proficiency Levels (Nutshell Perspective) WIDA Levels describe the difficulty of the language we can reasonably expect a student to be able to use for grade-level content learning.

Today (What WIDA Means to You) 1.The Essence of WIDA 2.The DNA and SKELETON of WIDA » DNA = The WIDA Criteria » Skeleton = The Can-Do Descriptors 3.WIDA in a Nutshell » 3 ½ Steps 4.But there’s more … EL’s need TWO things! Support for Content Learning & ELD (English Lang Development) 5.ELD: » Stoop for Content Instruction; Stretch ‘em for ELD » ELD through Ongoing Progress Monitoring 6.How to meet the WIDA Challenge? The Multilingual Department’s Five Key Features of Instruction for EL’s

At its simplest, WIDA = 6 levels Each Level = describes the language ELs can handle.

Remember! language serves content learning What students can do with language BROADLY But what might that look like in a particular lesson in a particular unit? But what does that look like at different grades? With different language domains? (Speak/Listen/ Read/Write) … but nothing’s ever that simple…

WIDA Criteria = WIDA DNA

WIDA Skeleton: The Can-Do Descriptors For each grade cluster, suggests examples of the Listening, Speaking, Reading & Writing tasks that are appropriate for each WIDA Proficiency Level.

I stress: “with visual, graphic, or interactive support through Level 4”

Today (What WIDA Means to You) 1.The Essence of WIDA 2.The DNA and SKELETON of WIDA » DNA = The WIDA Criteria » Skeleton = The Can-Do Descriptors 3.WIDA in a Nutshell » 3 ½ Steps 4.But there’s more … EL’s need TWO things! Support for Content Learning & ELD (English Lang Development) 5.ELD: » Stoop for Content Instruction; Stretch ‘em for ELD » ELD through Ongoing Progress Monitoring 6.How to meet the WIDA Challenge? The Multilingual Department’s Five Key Features of Instruction for EL’s

WIDA Philosophy in a Nutshell

WIDA: The Bigger Nutshell 1.Language is the tool for learning! 2.LEP’s are in mainstream classrooms. (Easily 80% of the time in MPS.) 3.LEP’s use their Limited English to learn in 5 basic contexts (Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, Math, Social & Amplification.) 4.EL’s English -- no matter how limited – is an asset for learning. You work with what you’ve got! 5.WIDA is designed to help all teachers modify the language demands of instruction to provide LEP students with meaningful access to content.

Modifying the Language Demands to Match the Learner’s Language Proficiency: The 3 ½- Step Process

Today (What WIDA Means to You) 1.The Essence of WIDA 2.The DNA and SKELETON of WIDA » DNA = The WIDA Criteria » Skeleton = The Can-Do Descriptors 3.WIDA in a Nutshell » 3 ½ Steps 4.But there’s more … EL’s need TWO things! Support for Content Learning & ELD (English Lang Development) 5.ELD: » Stoop for Content Instruction; Stretch ‘em for ELD » ELD through Ongoing Progress Monitoring 6.How to meet the WIDA Challenge? The Multilingual Department’s Five Key Features of Instruction for EL’s

Stoop down for content instruction …. Make students stretch for language instruction … Because you can modify your language to meet your English Learners’ needs – but they can’t modify theirs to meet your demands.

One approach: Ongoing focus on ELD through content instruction

Today (What WIDA Means to You) 1.The Essence of WIDA 2.The DNA and SKELETON of WIDA » DNA = The WIDA Criteria » Skeleton = The Can-Do Descriptors 3.WIDA in a Nutshell » 3 ½ Steps 4.But there’s more … EL’s need TWO things! Support for Content Learning & ELD (English Lang Development) 5.ELD: » Stoop for Content Instruction; Stretch ‘em for ELD » ELD through Ongoing Progress Monitoring 6.How to meet the WIDA Challenge? The Multilingual Department’s Five Key Features of Instruction for EL’s

How will ESL teachers develop the expertise to do all this? Natural brilliance … and Ongoing job-embedded professional development

Meeting ELs’ Needs: Take 2 Instruction to support ELs’ language-related learning needs should be characterized by five features: What you’re aiming for What language the students can handle How to use the right language How to know if the students are learning How to get all this done Standards-Based / Learning Target Focused WIDA-Informed Language Intensive Formative Assessment Collaborative

The PD Options (a) Saturday and after-school Learn-Work-and-Share sessions, where teachers will develop supports for these five features related to the specific topics, units, learning targets, and state standards they're currently working with, Everyone (b) a Collaboration Institute targeted to ESL teachers and collaborating classroom teachers, to explore collaboration more in-depth Some (c) a NeXT teacher cohort to provide monthly and interim support to first-year ESL teachers and others (ESL teachers and collaborating partners) who have committed to the PD experience, New teachers and some others (d) a cohort of teachers pursuing National Board Certification, who will develop these five key features through carefully focused efforts to document best practices in their classrooms, “Master Teachers” (cohort already formed) (e) a "PD-in-a-box" presentation in which ESL teachers present the five key features to all other teachers in their buildings (twice -- once first quarter, once second quarter) All Staff (f) on-line Moodle Courses that support each of these five features at three varying levels of depth, Open to all (online) (g) an on-line, public sharing site of just-in-time resources, where teachers across the district will publish the strategies and supports they're developing (creating, locating) for curriculum-related student learning (and access and use materials developed by their peers) More and more teachers use this …

Today (What WIDA Means to You) 1.The Essence of WIDA 2.The DNA and SKELETON of WIDA » DNA = The WIDA Criteria » Skeleton = The Can-Do Descriptors 3.WIDA in a Nutshell » 3 ½ Steps 4.But there’s more … EL’s need TWO things! Support for Content Learning & ELD (English Lang Development) 5.ELD: » Stoop for Content Instruction; Stretch ‘em for ELD » ELD through Ongoing Progress Monitoring 6.How to meet the WIDA Challenge? The Multilingual Department’s Five Key Features of Instruction for EL’s

Let the collaboration begin …