I know I have been focused on newcomers and beginning English learners for a while now.  There is so much to consider.  So many conversations we need to have.  So little time.  Teaching English learners is HUGE.  This week, I stay with the theme and I promise next week I will get back to best practices with something you can do with vocabulary (word level) at any age level.

Last week I wrote about grading and the idea that students with beginning English proficiency can only reasonably access a portion of the lesson content with supports.  I know, it's interesting in theory, but what does it look like in a classroom?  Today I will share one example of what I would do on any given day and my thinking behind it.  I don't claim that my way is the best or only way, because honestly it's a day to day dance of how much students can handle based on many factors such as time, background knowledge, the complexity of the content, and....well....the...

The other day, I was going through some old flash drives trying to find a file about "look fors" (future blog) and I came across this video I used for my National Board Early Childhood Generalist renewal.  This is a video from around 2006 with me teaching a lesson on using visualization as a reading comprehension strategy in second grade. 

This class had some English learners that were all intermediate to advanced English proficiency.  Most of the class was reading "on grade level" but struggling a bit to get deeper in comprehension of what they read.  

What jumped out to me, watching this video 14 years later, was how some of what we teach today about making content accessible and comprehensible to ALL students hasn't changed much.  What HAS changed is my understanding of how critical interaction and discourse are in the classroom.  This was a wonderful class, but looking back I can see how this lesson could have been much more engaging for all...