Agenda, July 24, 2012

Maria de Lourdes Serpa

Session Title: UDL and English Language Learners

Teachers need to know a lot more to teach today’s diverse students to more challenging learning standards than ever before – including how to teach much more ambitious disciplinary content and cross-disciplinary skills and how to teach special needs learners, English language learners, and others who require specialized forms of teaching.

- Darling-Hammond (2010, p. 207)

Session Goal(s):

To enhance classroom practice in ELA that is responsive to the learning needs of ELLs at different levels of English Proficiency within a UDL framework

In this session participants will

  • Learn about specific aspects of English Language Learning Education and what ELLs need from their teachers in order to be successful in specially in reading and writing
  • Understand the reasons why teaching English language learners requires additional professional knowledge and will highlightthe types of supports and scaffolds these learners require while they are learning both (1) English as a new language and (2)Common Core ELA
  • Understand that supports used for English Language Learners are appropriate for all learners

Guiding Questions

  1. What is different about teaching reading to ELLs within a UDL Framework?
  2. What do teachers of ELLs need to know in addition to what they already know about teaching reading within a UDL framework?
  3. What is the difference between teaching reading in a second language (L2) for students who read in their first language (L1) and students who are non-readers in any language?
  4. How does the National Literacy Panel (NLP) inform the teaching of reading to ELLs with different levels of English proficiency?
  5. How does culture influence reading comprehension and written expression communication style?

Session Activities:

10:15 / Set up Cooperative Groups
Break -
Set-up cooperative learning structures that will be used all day
10:45
12:15
Introduction and goals
Segment I - Foundations
What’s in a name Activity?
Understanding selected definitions of essential terms in the field of Language Learning Education
Scope of the challenge
Self-assessment cultural values
Segment 2 – Foundations (cont.)
Stages of second language acquisition in K-12 and proficiency levels
-Key language concepts in understanding ELLs performance in the classroom
-Distinction between English language fluency and English language proficiency: BICS & CALP
-Linguistic Influences
What is different and additional when teaching English Language Learners at different levels of English Proficiency
Segment 3- Foundations (cont.)
Reading for ELLs: What does research say?
What do teachers need to know and do?
Fact or Fiction (part 1)
LUNCH
1:00-2:30PM / Segment III. Bridging second/new language and culture factors in the practice of UDL Principles with ELLs
Fact or fiction (Part 2)
Accessing complex text for ELLs at different levels of proficiency
Readability, text complexity & ELLs and the use of cloze procedures
Can Animals Think? How accessible is it to ELLs?
Concluding activity

Session Materials:

  • Handouts
  • Power Point 1- Overview & Scope of the Challenge
  • Power Point 2- Cooperative Learning
  • Power Point 3- Second Language Learning
  • Power Point 4- Reading and ELLs- What teachers must know
  • It will also be important to refer to the Grade 6 Literacy: Can Animals Think Bundle
  • Website-
  • Articles
  • Handouts

Selected Resources

/ Bridging Cultures in Our Schools: New Approaches that Work

/ Kagan Structures for English Language Learners

/ English as a Second Language
New York State Standards

No pic / National Literacy Panel on Language Minority Children and Youth (Executive Summary)

/ Stages of Second Language Acquisition in
ESL/Bilingual Guide for Mainstream Teachers

/ The Values Americans Live By (Robert Kohls)

Reflection questions:

Why is it important to understand the key variables that are additional and/or different when facilitating learning for English language learners?

What do you need to do to your bundle to address the needs of ELLs with a UDL framework.Why add the cloze procedures to the bundle?

What barriers need to be overcome so that ELLS can have access and benefit from the Common Core high standards?

Application to the Bundle:

Intro to Cooperative Learning Structures

Stages of Second Language

Cloze Procedures and readability for ELLs