TESOL’s Material Writers & Refugee Concerns Intersession

Curriculum Writing for Secondary New ArrivalsIthaca City School District EAL Team & Dr. Cathrene

Connery

Thursday, March 26, 2015 9:30 a.m.202D Toronto Convention Centre

Constructing Architecture of Accomplishment:

Writing Cross-Institutional Curriculums for Refugee English Language Learners

Who Are We? Ithaca City School District Secondary EAL Team

Associate Professor of Education at Ithaca College

• Ms. Carol HoffmanDewitt Middle School

• Dr. Theresa Souchet Dewitt Middle School

• Ms. Michelle Kirchgraber-Newton

Ithaca Senior High School

• Ms. Jennifer HeiseIthaca Senior High School

• Ms. Mary MooreIthaca Senior High School

• Dr. Cathrene ConneryIthaca College

• Seek to build solid foundations of language & literacy for middle, high school, & college ELL students

• Respect & accept unique needs of refugee pre-literate or emerging readers & writers

• Create specialized materials & curriculum for linguistically and culturally diverse refugee youth and adults.

• Argue that cross-institutional curriculums necessary to building architecture of accomplishment

What is College & Career Readiness (CCR)?

• Over 40% of new college students, including 50% at two-year institutions, take remedial courses & employers describe high school graduates as “inadequately prepared” (US DOE, 2010).

• Defined by corporate & political leaders as “knowledge and skills in English and mathematics necessary to qualify for and succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing postsecondary coursework without the need for remediation” “unifying agenda across the P-20 education pipeline” (Achieve, 2015)

• Defined by educationists as “comprehensive systemic approach…[to] inspire and prepare students for college success and opportunity — especially students from underrepresented populations… [in which educators] build aspirations & social capital, offer enriching activities, foster rigorous academic preparation, encourage early college planning, & guide students & families through the college admission & financial aid processes (College Board, 2010).

How is CCR Developed for Refugee & Emerging Biliterates?

• Developed through intentional, research-based, integrated approach to language & literacy proficiencies

• Facilitated through 21rst Century Skills: Critical & Creative Thinking, Communication & Collaboration

• Activated in & by intergenerational, digital, & activist literacies

• How Have WE Facilitated CCR? 

Ping-Pong ClubCarol Hoffman, Dewitt Middle School

Learning Targets /Objectives: 

• Integrates both ELLs & native English speakers

• Cultivates friendships & inclusive environment

• Develops oral/ social language in context

• Fosters greater sense of belonging, comfort, & self confidence

• Provides potential for authentic communication with useful terms

Materials or Curriculum for Refugee Emerging ELL Multiliterates:

Fill out a registration form, make a weekly commitment, perform specific jobs to set up the tables & room, interact with a wide variety of kids who speak different languages including English (we do rotations for practicing), help referee during challenge time at the end; connected to the Table Tennis Club at Cornell University with a culminating doubles tournament with Cornell students & faculty; will hold tournament with staff members this year

Program for the Acceleration of SIFE Science (PASS)

Carol Hoffman, Dewitt Middle School

Learning Targets /Objectives: • Enables students who are

behind in accelerated classes to earn a high school credit in science

Materials or Curriculum for Refugee Emerging ELL Multiliterates:• Offers a targeted section of

earth science with an experienced teacher who has developed ELL strategies

• Supported by expertise of ESOL teaching assistant

• Offers pre-teaching, re-teaching & reviewing of material in content support groups

• Enhanced by a SIFE sponsor who pre-teaching Earth Science this summer to these 5 students

• Received tutoring from college students during the school year

Dragonwings Unit: Multicultural Young Adult LiteratureDr. Theresa Souchet, Dewitt Middle School

Learning Targets /Objectives: 

• Integrate home language and culture of the majority of my ELL’s

• Foster success on the Common Core with grade-level Common Core recommended texts

• Develop language-literacy proficiencies related to text-specific meanings of the words & phrases including figurative / connotative language, word choice, & tone

• Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into textual structure & contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or plot.

• Draw evidence from literary texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

• Use knowledge of language & its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening

Dragonwings Unit: Multicultural Young Adult Literature

Dr. Theresa Souchet, Dewitt Middle School

Materials or Curriculum for ELL Multiliterates:

• Read Aloud: First several chapters of the book & significant passages to support pronunciation, text comprehension, the rhythm of the English language

• Model Writing & Writing Analysis: Explicitly teaches writing form through topic sentences, thesis statements, text evidence, & concluding sentences, through class writing, providing examples, & anonymous shares to model expectations.

• Vocabulary Development: Provides weekly vocabulary workshops each week on learning definitions, parts of speech, & sentences, & interpretation of meanings through drawings

• Slide Summaries: Creates a power point of the main events for each chapter including simple sentence summaries read together in class with enriching images & links to help students understand the context of the story

Memoir Project:I-movies & Where I am From Poems

Michelle Kirchgraber-Newton, Ithaca Senior High School

Learning Targets /Objectives: • Develop vocabulary & writing; write a poem

in first person, compose personal narratives; develop a voice, understand how experiences (good and bad) are a part of who you become, to explore the concept of identity; digital literacies including IMovie; Microsoft word; Google docs

Emotional Literacy: • Many students never talked about their

history or experiences before the memoir project; provided an important segue to learn, discuss, & present about human rights violations in their own countries.

•"Now that I know more about where I came from, I can begin to think about my future"

"For the entire year, I had studied “Who I am” in ESL class. Remember who you are, where you come from, and your experiences, all of which are I decided to forget since that day I came to America to start a new life. But this class had taught me to never forget who you are and you will be fine.“

“It was at night when the Burmese soldiers attacked Tee Po Lay village. My village. There were gunshots and screaming everywhere. That's when my family woke up, packed up our stuff and hurried to leave the village. Finally, in 1999 the civil war that had been going on since 1948 had reached my village….”

Memoir Project:I-movies & Where I am From Poems

Michelle Kirchgraber-Newton, Ithaca Senior High School

Materials or Curriculum for Refugee Emerging ELL Multiliterates:

Students selected pictures to use as discussion points & writing prompts; pictures were posted around the classroom (picture walk); used examples (former students, George Ella Lyons, teacher examples); scaffold graphic organizers, sentence starters, writers workshop; employed peer feedback/collaboration, one-to-one teacher/student conferences; conducted informal family interviews to gather more information about their history and culture; culminated in evening of presentation in the Black Box Theater where students dressed up, invited family and friends, & presented their I-movies and one personal narrative; used as professional development materials for new teachers. 

I am from ….• I am from Karen, Burma, and Thailand

refugee camp.• I am from a small town and not a tall

building.• I am from a crowded neighborhood.• From hot weather and no running

water.• From no carriage and no car.• From no jewelry, no money, an unsafe

place.• I am from little education and no

freedom.• But, • I am from a beautiful culture, the

Karen people.• From joyful, beautiful, loving people.• I am from a loving family.

Understanding Human Rights Jennifer Heise, Ithaca Senior High School

Learning Targets /Objectives: 

• Included the understanding of the history, ideas and documents in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR); research skills: in-depth study of one of the Articles of the UDHR (computer skills, reading strategies for approaching academic text, academic writing skills); writing for personal reflection; vocabulary and concept development

Understanding Human Rights Jennifer Heise, Ithaca Senior High School

Materials or Curriculum for Refugee Emerging ELL Multiliterates:

• Used & modified elementary, middle, & high school level materials to meet diverse needs of learners including a variety of visual supports such as UDHR video shorts, using images to support vocabulary development,  student created visuals,; accessed both non-fiction and fiction pieces to support synthesis of new ideas, vocabulary & factual information; culminated in individual or pair presentations either in ESOL class, a content class of choice or during a school wide Social Justice Week educational Event

Learning Targets /Objectives:

• Year-long, culturally sensitive course, specifically designed for ELLS & SIFE students; curriculum includes NYS requirements (Alcohol & Drugs, Tobacco, Sex Ed), career exploration, community resources and outreach, nutrition, multi-cultural cooking, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, understanding and dealing with stress, culture shock, community building; built on trust and empathy for everyone involved. Students feel comfortable and safe to discuss vulnerable topics, ask often potentially embarrassing questions, share personal stories, explore multi-cultural perspectives, issues, and statistics, learn about their personal health needs, plan a healthy future, etc.

Health & Life Skills for ELLS

Ms. Mary Moore, Ithaca Senior High School

Health & Life Skills for ELLSMs. Mary Moore, Ithaca Senior High School

Materials or Curriculum for Refugee Emerging ELL Multiliterates:

• Methods & activities include student presentations, stress relief games, reflecting, posters, stations, videos, yoga, field trips, cooking, eating, guest speakers from the community, student research & presentations; digital literacy including power point, Google docs, Prezi, Powtoons, & iMovie.; Activities, lessons, assessments are differentiated; content & vocabulary are pre and post taught in a smaller class for beginners; students are paired at hi-lo proficiency levels to support beginners, supplemented by visual, multi-lingual,

• & multi-cultural texts.

How Have / Can We Collaboratively Construct(ed)an

Architecture of Accomplishment for our Refugee ELL Students?

Who: Challenges: Benefits: Needs:

• Parents & Families

• Content Area Teachers

• Administrators• Specialists• College

Students• College Faculty• Community

Partners

• Lack of Time to Build Competencies

• Administrative Gaps, Neglect, Priority

• Ignorance & Lack of Multicultural Competencies

• Good Intentions vs. Compassion Fatigue

• The ISMs: Racism, Elitism, Linguicism & Nativism

• Investment & Ownership of School & Curriculum

• Administrative Leadership

• Collective Approach to Resettlement, Acculturation, & Academic Development

• Instructional Alignment & School Success

• Side to Side Conversations

• Informed & Collaborative Advocacy

• Professional Development

• Commitment, Funding, & Time

Questions, Comments, CommitmentsThank You for Coming!

• Respect & accept unique needs of refugee pre-literate & emerging readers & writers…..• Through specialized materials & curriculum ….• To build solid foundations & diverse structures of great

beauty!