SLPS TESOL ExcELLence Issue 6 February, 2016

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E

1. Monitoring Procedures/ Forming New SIOP Cohort for 2016/1 SY

2. Welcome new ESOL teacher/News from our Centers

3. News from our Centers/ESOL Committees Reports

4. ESOL Resource Corner: Calendar Idea and Vocabulary in Context

5. Calendar of Events

Newsletter 1

Monitoring ProceduresMarch 10, 2016 is the district date for the end of quarter

3 for the current school year. According to DESE criteria for reclassification of ELLs, it is required that all students reclassified to M1 and M2 status this school year have documentation on file throughout the two-year monitoring period. During this time ESOL teachers are to provide assistance or support in the general education classroom for all students who struggle academically. All ESOL teachers have the responsibility of ensuring that all students are successful in meeting state standards (AMAO 3).

Our program will conduct a program audit to ensure that all monitoring documentation is up to date. As of this month, the monitoring forms must reflect up to 2 semesters’ quarterly grades (unless the students were enrolled later in the year) and evidence of recording instructional interventions when students do not show adequate progress in one or more subject areas. The program audit visits will require providing all existing monitoring documentations for review.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Elena Okanovic.

Forming New SIOP Cohort for AY 2016-2017Submitted by Mrs. Anderson, ESOL program SIOP coach

Plans for another St. Louis Public Schools SIOP cohort are underway. Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) is a research-validated model of sheltered instruction. The new cohort will be conducted during one school year instead of two, beginning August, 2016 and terminating in May, 2017. ESOL teachers are asked to post flyers with contact information and to invite mainstream teachers of ELA, math, science, or social studies in their schools who might be interested in SIOP training.

The SIOP program includes 8 Saturday training sessions and coaching cycles which include pre-observation conference, individual classroom observation, and post-observation conference. Participants receive the district stipend for each 6-hour training session.

For those of you who have participated in the program, please share your experiences and encourage colleagues to learn more about this professional development offering. Please, speak with your principal about this opportunity to address the instructional needs of ELLs.

For additional information, please contact Sandra Anderson at sandra.anderson@slps.org or 314-664-1066 ext. 32115.

Newsletter 2

Welcome Our New ESOL Teachers!

Mr. Winters, Sheltered Social Studies at NCNAA

Mr. Harrigan, Woerner ESOL teacher.

Greetings! My name is Martin Harrigan and I am very excited to be a new ESL teacher at Woerner Elementary School. I began my teaching career in 2010-2011 as an ESL teacher in the St. Charles R-VI School District and served as an ESL teacher for 4 years. Last year, I served as a school counselor at Tillman Elementary School in the Kirkwood R-VII School District. I used the fall semester of 2015 to focus on completing my Doctoral work in Educational Leadership at Saint Louis University. In addition to my ESL certificate, I am also certified to teach 5-9 Mathematics, 5-12 ELA, 5-12 Social Studies and K-12 Counseling. I look forward to working with the students and learning with them.

Reading Focus at Soldan: Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) or Drop Everything and Read!

(DEAR)

Submitted by Dr. Stromsdorfer, ESOL/ ELA Sheltered Teacher

The English teachers here at Soldan International Studies High School have implemented a reading program. This was Dr. Suzanne Hinrichs’ (our Academic Instructional Coordinator) program. She obtained funds through The Superintendent’s “Read to the Top” grant to purchase books and notebooks for each student in our English classes. Naturally, the “go ahead” came from Dr. Cason and Dr. Trinh.After the English faculty met with Dr. Hinrichs to discuss how best to determine which books to purchase, it was decided that each one of us would give Dr. Hinrichs a listof fiction/non-fiction works we thought our students would enjoy reading, and wanted her to order. It was also decided that students might select their own books from their own collections, or from our class reserves.

Our books have not arrived yet (perhaps in February), but as we have access to other books, students are reading with relish those they select with/without our help. Two of the English teachers are using class sets as they had a sufficient number for their whole group. One class is reading Raisin in the Sun; two others are on Hunger Games and Life of Pi. I hope to borrow one of those sets for one of my classes.Soldan ESOL teachers, Mr. DeLuca and I, have the Edge leveled readers in addition to many books from our classroom libraries. This initiative allows us to make a good use of these materials in our classes. Reading non-fiction books and articles ensures students to become academically better prepared for the real world. As we also use the SRI test to determine Lexile levels, we can select appropriate reading level books for students. My students write down their responses on paper, and some write in the notebooks that I had from last year, using the literary response-writing sample sheet that I gave out, or showed on the Recordex. The sample includes multiple sentence starters and expressions to assist ELLs in writing grammatically and according to linguistic norms. Despite this, many of the responses that have so far been written tend to lean towards the summarizing format. However, as I model the needed form, they are catching on. As far as learning more vocabulary from the readings, the mini notebooks I give to all my students to record our weekly vocabulary come in handy, for they jot down words they come across and wish to learn. The response journals are to be checked by the teachers (preferably during conferencing) to determine in which areas the individuals might need intervention and instruction.The ACCESS test has interrupted the flow of this activity for the time being, but will soon resume. It is good to observe the ELLs getting into the habit of reading for enjoyment--- we can push them harder about the writing of the responses as they get the hang of it. They are finding out that there are worlds to discover between the covers of books--- any book. Thank you, Dr. H.!

Newsletter 3

NCNAA Students’ Art Work is on Display

Submitted by Ms. Childress, Sheltered Art teacher at NCNAA

We have 10 students with drawings of famous African Americans on display at 801 for the Famous African American Portrait contest.  If you're downtown, check them out.  The students' artworks and artist statements can also be viewed on our school's Artsonia page:  http://www.artsonia.com/museum/gallery.asp?project=1064248.  

Integrating English Language Development and Content Area Learning

Submitted by Mr. Johnston, ESOL/Sheltered teacher at Gateway STEM.

Mr. Johnston has recently joined the online course on Integrating English Language Development (ELD) and Content Area learning.This course is intended for teachers and others who work with English learners and other linguistically and culturally diverse students, but you don’t have to be a teacher to take this course. Conversations offer a host of academic, social, cognitive, and linguistic benefits. Learn to use conversations to develop students' language, literacy, and thinking skills. (Free.) For more information, please access the following linkhttp://online.stanford.edu/course/integrating-english-language-development-and-content-area-learning-conversation-based?utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Stanford%20Online&utm_content=February+Mailer+-+Judith%27s+Draft

Professional Development CommitteeSubmitted by Mrs. Okanovic, ESOL Instructional Coordinator

The SLPS ESOL PD Committee met in January to review the results of the ESOL teachers PD needs survey. The members of the committee would like to express a special thanks to all colleagues who took part in the survey. Some of the common responses addressed the need to continue providing ESOL PDs during the district PD days, identifying high need topics and colleagues who would like to provide PDs for the upcoming year within their school learning communities or for the district staff.Our next step is to promote the ongoing ESOL PD initiatives (SIOP and Co-teaching) to our mainstream colleagues who work with ELLs. With your assistance, ESOL PD surveys were sent out to see individual ESOL centers’ needs

The results of the surveys will be analyzed during our next committee meeting. Kudos to Woodward staff and the ESOL teams! All, except 2 centers, participated in the survey so far. We would like to note that Woodard was one of the few schools that had the top number of participants (about 90% of the school staff) express their current TESOL needs via the survey.

Community Outreach NotesSubmitted by Mrs. Childress, ESOL Student Support Coordinator, and Mrs. Savio, ESOL Teacher at Buder

The Community Outreach Committee met on January 21, 2016. Discussion involved the formatting and content of an ESOL Program Information Board which will be entitled, “An ELL’s Path to Language Proficiency.” The board is the size of a project board. It will be used in multiple ways to enhance understanding of the ESOL Bilingual Migrant Program, for instance for exhibition at SLPS new staff training, at program professional development presentations and with parents at the ESOL Office. The team decided to use active verbs to illustrate the progression of the various levels of language on the informational board such as point, name, match and label. In addition, the ESOL program models will be color-coded and will explain the various models used within the district.

The Parental Involvement CommitteeSubmitted by Luz Giraldo, ESOL Bilingual Specialist

The ESOL Parent Involvement Committee has met twice since the beginning of the school year. We have worked on ideas to increase parent access to the district and program information. One of the ideas we discussed was the translation of the district report cards. The bilingual team worked on this issue, and now we have the report cards from 3rd to 5th grade, translated in different languages and available on the ESOL website. The idea is that you write in the English version and attach the translated form. For grades Kg to 2 we are waiting for Early Childhood to complete the review, and update of their current report cards. The committee will let you know when this task will be completed. If you have ideas, please contact any of the Parent Involvement Committee members: Maria Childress, Robert Bailey, Jennifer Wallace, Ruth Juhlin or me.

Newsletter 4

ESOL RESOURCE CORNER:

Calendar Idea for ELLsSubmitted by Mrs. Martin, ESOL teacher at Fanning

Back in December, as I was preparing for January administration of the ACCESS test, I was trying to figure out the best way to keep myself and my students organized. I decided to import my testing schedule into a calendar, then give that calendar to each student who would have to sit for the ACCESS exam in the new year. I took the time to go over the calendar with each student when we got back to school this January, and they really responded to the "no surprises" aspect of the schedule. I saw several students keeping the calendar in the front of their binders, so they could refer back to it, and all in all I encountered a lot less push-back from the students about getting pulled out of class for testing. The ACCESS calendar worked so well that I decided to try and create a calendar for my pull-out classes here at Fanning. I simplified my plans into short blurbs, and then I imported them into a calendar in MS Word. After that, I added other important days (assessments, assemblies, field trips, and student birthdays). As a first-year teacher, I am always looking for ways to make students more comfortable with me and my class, and this is one attempt to do just that.

Vocabulary in Context: A Systematic Approach

Research shows that students need to know between 90–95% of the words in a text to be able to infer the meaning of an unknown word through context. However, ESL students are often presented with materials that have a larger proportion of unknown words (Folse, 2004). Inferring the meaning of a word from context is a challenging skill, both to master and to teach and test. Every word is couched in a different context. Some contexts are more nuanced, while others are more direct.As I was reading the article, I thought how our Fryer’s vocabulary models could be “revitalized” by adding one or more of the clues while providing multiple opportunities for students to practice new vocabulary in context.In her TESOL article, Anna Venishnick Shomsky has chosen what she believes to be the seven most direct

types of context that are frequently used and delineated them with examples and practice activities for my students.

Her method by no means covers all unknown words in all contexts; however, it gives a basis off which students can build.The seven types of context are as follows:1. The word is defined in the text. 2. The word is part of a list. 3. The word is the name of a category. 4. The word is compared to a known word. 5. The word is contrasted with a known word. 6. The word is discernible based on background knowledge. 7. The word is similar to another word used in the text.

The word is defined in the text. (Example: The emu, a large Australian bird, can run very fast.)After reading this sentence, students know what an emu is, and see how the appositive works.

The word is part of a list. (Example: Jane loves jazz, classical, punk, and rockabilly. [What is rockabilly?]Students can infer that it is a type of music, on account that jazz, classical, and punk are all forms of music. They do not know the exact definition, but they get a general sense of the word.

The word is the name of a category. (Example Jelly, butter, mustard, and ketchup are the most common condiments in an American refrigerator. [What are condiments?]The unknown word is the name of the category.

After introducing the first three clues, Anne gives students a brief practice. Their job is to define the word in bold, and to state whether they used clue 1, 2 or 3 to find meaning. Example: Bryce, a national park in Utah, is a beautiful place to go hiking._________ Clue: Felines, such as lions, tigers, and house cats, are all skilled hunters.____________ Clue:_________

The next type of context is comparison. This clue comes with a host of clue words that signal a comparison: like, similar to or similarly, in the same way, and so on. Example: Similar to customers in a store, patients in a doctor’s office expect quick service. What are patients?]The clue 5 is, inversely, is contrast. This clue also comes with a set of signal words: however, unlike, in contrast to, different than, although, instead of, but.Example: Although Jane is careful and thoughtful, her sister is negligent. [What does negligent mean?]To read the full article, go tohttp://newsmanager.commpartners.com/tesolc/issues/2016-02-01/3.html

C A L E N D A R O F E V E N T S

Date Event Time LocationFebruary 3 ESOL Parent Meeting:

Understanding High School Education (Credits, graduation requirements, college readiness)

5:30 PM-7:00PM ESOL Office

February 9 Effective Academic Instruction for ELLs: Assessment of Content and Language Understanding.

3:30 PM – 5:00 PM ESOL Conference room, ESOL office

February 12

February 25

Co-Teaching PD: Team teaching and Selecting the Best fit for Co-teaching Model

8:00 AM- 3:30 PM Location varies, please sign up on MLP

February 27 SIOP PD 8:00 AM- 3:30 PM ESOL Office

February 26 ACCESS and Alt ACCESS are due

District PD day

8:00 AM-3:30 PM Site- based, sign up on MLP

Please, share ESOL updates from your site with Elena Okanovic by March 2nd, 2016 to be included in our next issue of the SLPS TESOL ExcELLence newsletter.

Newsletter 5