TIII Back-to-School Series: Visual Orientation Handbook

I absolutely love this idea of a visual orientation handbook, shared with me by Silvia Tamminen, coordinator at the Aurora Public Schools (APS) Welcome Center in the Denver suburb of Aurora, Colorado.  

The Aurora Public Schools (APS) Welcome Center supports one of the most diverse student populations in the country.  This demographic includes a large number of folks resettled refugee status.  The district is now home to students from all over the world, with especially robust cultural representation from Bhutan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Libya, Syria, Myanmar, Côte d’ Ivoire, and Eritrea.   

Families with school-aged children who are new to the district and also new to the English language are directly referred to the APS Welcome Center.  Staff guide Newcomer families through the processes of student registration and school orientation.  

Sylvia Timmenem heads this effort.  She’s a human rights professional with a concentration on refugee and migration issues.  Her knowledge of policy and practice is evident. But she’s also approachable and down-to-earth, with a bold, welcoming smile.  As I glance through her workspace, I notice elements of her Fin culture.

“Immigration is something I share with our clients,” she tells me.  But she’s also quick to point out that while there are some parallels, her path to America was smoother than many of those she sees in her day-to-day work. Sylvia is deeply aware of the privilege that comes with choice, with a previous knowledge of the English language, and even her appearance. Nonetheless, she does have an understanding of just how complex and overwhelming the immgration process can be. This awareness adds an additional layer of humanity to her interactions. 

Sylivia came on board with the APS Welcome Center program in its inaugural season.  She and her team built the organization from the bones up.  The visual orientation handbook is among the group’s creative, solution-seeking efforts.

The handbook is a non-consumable resource with a permanent home in Sylvia’s office.  It is composed of full-page photos and illustrations, slid into sheet protectors and organized into a three-ring binder.  Each image is captioned with a simple explanation, which is (or can be) easily translated into a preferred language. Sylvia or another APS staff member reads the book alongside incoming families (and a translator, if requested).  Page by page, the tool lays out the expectations for a typical school day.  

For example, one picture shows a group of students sitting on the ground listening to a read-aloud.  The caption reads, “Sometimes, students sit on the carpet during the school day.”

This was an important inclusion, Sylvia assured me.  “Many times our parents cannot believe that their child would sit on the floor to learn anything.  In some of their own countries, that would be very strange and maybe make a parent very angry.” She points out that often these seemingly “everyday” aspects of the school day can be overlooked. But in the context of welcoming families from culturally diverse backgrounds, taking the time to explicitly detail various aspects of the school experience can go a long way.

Here are some other situations included in the APS visual orientation handbook: 

• Kids receiving lunch on a tray (many recently arrived learners would have gone home for lunch or packed their own meal)  

• Young adults putting their supplies in lockers (this may be a first-time experience for many)

• Students arriving for school at or before the scheduled time (concepts of time and urgency around timeliness varies greatly from one culture and context to another)

• Photos of co-ed teaching staff (learners and their families may have culturally influenced expectations about the appearance of those in teacher and leadership roles). 

There are plenty more great ideas. Check them out in the Aurora Welcome Center’s comprehensive list below!

Could you duplicate this resource at your site?  As long as you have a camera and a few hours to spare, of course! (Just be sure to send out a thank you to the APS Welcome Center for the idea. Find them here: http://welcomecenter.aurorak12.org)  

This version was created by staff. But other great options might include:

• Inviting former Newcomers to take this on as a project (a modernized “buddy” system)

• Creating a digital and/or interactive version of the handbook

• Engaging teacher teams in creating grade-level welcoming handbooks

And here are a few examples of what that might look like in actuality!

(Adapted with permission from Aurora Welcome Center: Refugee, Immigrant and Community Integration. Photos copyright @DiversifiED Consulting)

TIII Series: The Home Language Survey- Ensuring Compliance and Success

The Home Language Survey (HLS), also called a Heritage Language Survey or Home Language Questionnaire (HLQ),  is used in the initial process of identifying a student’s potential eligibility for English language support services.   A heritage language survey usually takes the form of a brief questionnaire, which may be administered in English print, preferred language print, orally, or through a translator.  The purpose of the survey is to establish an understanding of a student’s language-learning background.                    

Student Example: Khaled’s family has just arrived to register him for school.  The family meets with an enrollment specialist at the school.  When completing the survey, Khaled’s mother indicates that they are from Somalia.  She also notes that Somali is the language spoken in the home.  However, Khaled’s first language (and only instructional language) is Swahili, as the family relocated to the refugee camp in Kenya just before Khaled’s birth.  Khaled’s exposure to the English language, at least according to the Heritage Language Survey, is limited. These results suggest that Khaled may be eligible to receive English-supportive learning services. 

Home/heritage Language Surveys can be extremely useful in identifying potential new-to-English learners. However, keep in mind that these, like other student assessments, are only an indicative tool. They cannot be used as an exclusive measure for language services enrollment. (And they certainly don’t capture the cultural and linguistic funds of knowledge diverse student groups bring to the table).

Next, Khaled will be screened for multilingual programming eligibility (ELL services). 

If and when an HLS confirms that a student is new to English, he or she will be considered for language learning services.  The enrollment specialist (often the multilingual department head, multilingual coach, Student Assessment Liaison, or other trained personnel) carefully analyzes the data. 

Specific testing may vary from state to state or from district to district.  Most schools employ WIDA ACCESS, ELPA, Woodcock-Munoz or a similar state/district approved measure.  Regardless of the testing instrument, timeliness is key to compliance, but more importantly, as part of our commitment to meeting the learning needs of the child. 

It is critical to note that the Heritage Language Surveys (or any other form of registration questioning) is limited in its capacity.  That is, no information obtained through school enrollment can be used to evaluate, comment or report on legal immigration status. Federal law strictly protects the rights of all children who are present in the U.S. to attend public school; and it conversely restricts school personnel from any inquiry or interference in legal immigration issues.  

I always suggest that schools walk through a HLS “Think Tank” , whether they are starting from scratch to build a questionnaire or have an existing process in place. Here are some of those Think Tank prompts: 

• What is the schools’ defined purpose for the Heritage Language Survey?  (In other words, how and why is the survey meaningful to students and parents?)

• Where on campus will the survey be completed? 

• How is a sense of welcoming and belonging achieved during this process?

• Is the assessment culturally responsive? how do we know?

• Who at your school will administer the Heritage Language Survey? What is their level of training/expertise to do so?

• Who at your school will evaluate the HLS responses? What is their level of training/expertise to do so?

• In which languages are print copies of the HLS made available? 

• In which languages can the HLS be verbally translated/communicated?

• Is the language concise and clear?

• Are families informed that information is confidential and cannot be used for any outside purpose (including immigration status)?

• If a student is highlighted as potentially eligible for English Support Services services, what is the next-step process?

• How is Emergent Multilingual (EM) testing and placement information recorded and stored?

• How often are student HLS documents revisited/ re-requested?

Finally, let’s explore an HLS example.  You’ll find that the first page can be used as a ready-to-roll version, or as a baseline for creating a site-specific version.  The template is exactly as we have described, with essential questions for determining potential language services eligibility.  That’s it.  That’s all you need.

However, you may find it useful to collect additional data.  In that case, the additional pages of the survey will provide ideas with regard to collecting additional data and insights about the student and his or her family.  Additional data collection is optional for the school, depending on your school’s needs and program goals. It is ideal to have as much information about a student’s specific background and needs at the time of enrollment.  The HLS addendum serves this purpose.  

Note that if you do choose to ask for additional data, caretakers are not obligated to provide it.  If families choose to exercise their right to withhold data, this decision cannot affect child enrollment in any way. In any case, consistency is key.  Make it a goal to have 100% incoming family participation in completing the questionnaire. 

Crossing Cultural Thresholds- Engaging EL Caretakers in the Trauma-Aware Conversation

Let’s look to tools and strategies that facilitate re-directive capacities and champion long-term moves toward resiliency.  We’ll spend a bit of extra time focused on our Recent Arriver Emergent Lingual (RAEL) students.   In this space, we’ll highlight EL parents and families as critical stakeholders in students’ trauma restoration processes.

Trauma-informed pedagogy relies upon, in part, the explicit teaching and modeling of regulatory and prosocial behaviors.  Eventually, these strategies can be holistically embedded into children’s everyday school (and life) experiences.  In the context of RAEL populations, this also means bridging cultural norms and expectations around mental wellbeing.  As learning places, this requires a concentrated shift toward integrating diverse cultural value systems into our trauma-sensitive practice.  

The National Council for Behavioral Health names two dimensions of sustainability in trauma-informed programming: 

1. Making changes, gains, and accomplishments stick 

2. Keeping the momentum moving forward for continuous quality improvement.

So, how can we best support these two dimensions?  A sustainable path toward resilience requires us, as practitioners, to monitor students’ success and adapt our instructional cues as needed.  Fortunately, we already recognize this as a best practices approach across all grade levels, content areas and language domains.  We are experts at checking in on our students and personalizing the learning experience based upon individual strengths and needs.  The same tenets apply to the processes of transition shock, including trauma.    

Shifts are required in the broader educational landscape, too.  Sustainability requires honest conversations about our organization’s infrastructure, including leadership, policies, and procedures as they ignite or diffuse underlying transition shock.  It demands moving away from punitive practices and toward restorative solution seeking.  Sustainability relies upon the collection and analysis of data in order to determine if our trauma-informed programming is effective and equitable.  It means that all team members are equipped with tools for understanding and addressing student trauma, and that educators are widely supported in recognizing and managing the secondary stress that may arise through our work with trauma-impacted youth. 

Essentially, we are charged with ensuring that the strategies we introduce are good fits for individual students. A good fit means that they are not re-triggering and are both culturally responsive and language adaptive.  A good fit means that learners are empowered to experiment with mitigation strategies in their toolboxes, to fail forward in a safe space, to reevaluate without self-admonishment, and to try again.

Involving Caretakers as Critical Stakeholders

If we are to truly address transition shock (including trauma) in our learning spaces, then we must also become active in engineering webs of support around our students- in this case, we’re speaking specifically about our RAELs.  Here, we’ll concentrate on arguably the most critical stakeholder group of all- the parents and caretakers of our Emergent Linguals.  

In communicating with culturally and linguistically dynamic caretaker groups about transition shock, it’s important to first identify our guiding principles.  How do we cross cultural thresholds to build authentic partnerships?

1. As with our students, safety and trust are paramount.  Cultivate these properties as we would in the classroom- practice welcoming, routine, predictability, and transparency.

2. Be cognizant of biases around mental health and trauma. Name observed behaviors and avoid labeling. 

3. Reduce isolation by connecting families to appropriate resources, as well as to families with socio-cultural commonalities. 

4. Strive to meet with parents in person and, if needed, arrange for a trained translator wherever possible.  Avoid using children as conversational brokers. 

5. Talk to parents about the link between students’ school performance and socio-mental health.  Use direct and clear language.

6. Remember that mental health terms may be unfamiliar, unmeaningful, or untranslatable for Recent Arriver parents. Translate these terms ahead of time if possible, and provide visual cues where appropriate. 

7. Honor socio-cultural perspectives when advocating for student care. 

8. Champion wrap-around supports and refer students for advanced care in a timely manner. 

Sustainability is enhanced when students’ home and cultural values show up in the school space. Highlighting the voices of our RAELs’ caretakers can simultaneously bolster our culturally responsive efforts and temper student anxiety.   Meanwhile, opening doors to culturally responsive communication around trauma-sensitive topics builds trust and enables a collaborative approach to long-term restoration.

What Is Sheltered Instruction?

Effective Recent Arriver programming is structured with the principles of sheltered instruction in mind.  These techniques are not tethered to an exclusive program or curriculum.  Rather, they are tools for teaching and learning that can be applied to and incorporated into any existing program to explicitly promote language development.  All sheltering strategies are centered around the primary goal of increasing Emergent Multiinguals’ access to (and demonstrated mastery of) essential knowledge- without compromising the integrity of the content lesson.   

Strategies that are associated with this pedagogy foster academically focused student talk, intra and interdependent problem-solving skills, effective collaboration, and healthy cross-cultural communication skill development.  These practices benefit Recent Arriver and traditional students alike and can be modified to support learners across a range of language, grade, and skill levels.

Where Did the Term Sheltered Instruction Come From?

Sheltered instruction is a manifestation of the Comprehension Hypothesis for language learning.  The Comprehension Hypothesis is rooted in the idea that “we acquire language when we understand messages containing aspects of language that we have not acquired, but are developmentally ready to acquire.” (Krashen, 2013).  That is, language learning best occurs in natural settings, drawing holistically from what we hear and read.  It develops via exposure to comprehensible input, or bite-sized digestible pieces of language understanding.

This is in direct contrast to the skill-building theory, which presses for direct, rote learning of grammar, vocabulary and spelling knowledge.  Briefly, skill-building strategies are conscious measures, while comprehension-based learning is subconscious and indirect. Research overwhelmingly indicates that language learning is enhanced and accelerated when Comprehension Hypothesis methods are applied.    In fact, evidence shows that, 

“Students in beginning-level second language classes based on the Comprehension Hypothesis consistently outperform students in classes based on skill-building tests of communication, and do at least as well as, and often slightly better than, students in skills-based classes on tests of grammar.” (Krashen, 2003)

Sheltered instruction is directly representative of Comprehension Hypothesis ideals.  Its primary goal is to provide language learners with a comprehensible input through the implementation of specific instructional tools and practices.  Sheltered instruction is critical in the context of Newcomer instruction in that it focuses on content over language.  

When students are exposed to content knowledge in comprehensible ways, appropriate language output is a holistic byproduct.  Additionally, anxiety and pressure to learn the new language may be significantly diffused in sheltered subject matter settings.  In fact, “Students in sheltered subject matter classes acquire as much language or more language than students in traditional [ESL-direct] classes and also learn impressive amounts of subject matter”. (Krashen, 2013, 1991; Dupuy, 2000)

So, what does sheltered instruction look like in the classroom?

Sheltered, or scaffolded, instructional practices engage emergent bilinguals and multilinguals in the rigorous content investigation.  It can encompass a wide range of instructional techniques, each aimed at guiding and directing language learners toward proficiency, within an environment that endorses safety and facilitated risk-taking.

At the crux of impactful scaffolded instruction are effective content language learning objectives, which can be incorporated into every subject, each day.  These cornerstones provide a powerful sense of directionality for both the educator and the learner and fuel a focused sense of productivity.

Basic elements of sheltered instruction include:

• appropriate pacing;

• modified speech;

• routine and predictability;

• use of visuals, realia, and manipulatives;

• explicitly introduced body language, gestures, and facial cues;

• sentence stems;

• relevant language supportive technology;

• modeling;

• traditional or interactive word walls;

• interactive notebooking;

• multiple modes of assessment/means of demonstrating understanding;

• graphic organizers (such as Frayer models, Venn Diagrams or word-mapping);

• co-operative talk structures, such as inside-outside circles, fishbowls, numbered heads (download your cheat sheet here); 

• SIOP lesson planning, or “Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol” (Echevarria & Short), is frequently implemented as part of sheltered-instruction instruction.

When we integrate sheltering techniques into existing curricula and classroom protocol, we invite emergent bilingual and multilingual students to engage with intention and purpose, in ways that highlight existing funds of knowledge. We also support team building and interpersonal skills, which lend themselves to healthy integration. Perhaps most importantly, sheltering strategies can be overlapped with other pedagogies, such as culturally responsive teaching and learning, leading to especially dynamic socio-academic student outcomes.

For detailed information on Sheltered Instruction techniques, see The Newcomer Student: An Educator’s Guide to Aid Transition, Chapters 6-8

Download your Co-Operative Learning Cheat Sheet HERE.

Newcomer / Recent Arriver Classroom Reminders

We’re into the thick of the year. It’s a great place to pause and reflect on our practice so far this school year and how we will grow our students in the remainder of our time together. It’s a great time for Newcomer/Recent Arriver classroom reminders! Here, we’ll look at the non-negotiables.

What would you add? Be sure to share your thoughts below.

FOUNDATION

Classroom culture drives learning. Newcomer students thrive in classrooms that are safe, structured and predictable. In fact, predictability is a cornerstone of positive school engagement. Predictability breeds trust, trust lends itself to safety, and safety opens students up to entertain curiosity, absorb content and practice positive risk-taking in the classroom.

DIRECTION

It is important to lead with a plan and to ensure that the plan supports equitable participation for all students, including students who are new to the English language. Content–Language Objectives (CLOs) are an effective tool for creating a specific language focus (with the purpose of enhancing content accessibility for ELLs). They are widely flexible and can be implemented across all grades/subjects and for any number of ELs in a class. Content–Language Objectives guide lesson planning and ground student understanding throughout the lesson.

PLANNING

In preparing for English Language instruction, there is a tendency to over plan. When it comes to lesson planning, aim for relevance and quality, not quantity. Return to the Content-Language Objectives. Ask: 1. What one strategy will be most useful to my learners in making the key content more digestible? 2. What one strategy will my students use to demonstrate the language objective within the target language domain (reading, writing, speaking, listening)?

Can more than one strategy be implemented? Of course! Just be sure to aim for clarity. If things start feeling jumbled or unclear, return to your one original focus for each question. Our students will always perform better when they know exactly what is expected of them.

COMMUNICATION

It’s important to keep in mind the amount of fo language that students encounter in a given school day. Beyond the conversational language that must be learned to navigate the bus, playground or lunchroom, learners encounter languages within the language throughout the entire school day.

Let me explain. If conversational English (with its slang, reduced speech and media influences) is a tongue, so is the Language of Mathematics. Isosceles, divisor, and equation are not words students are likely to pick up in their informal conversations. This type of (academic) vocabulary must be explicitly taught. And if Math is a tongue, then so is the Language of Social Studies, the Language of Music, the Language of English Literature, and so on.

Our students encounter thousands of words in a day. For ELLs, this can be especially overwhelming. To reduce the language load, we can be intentional about listening to ourselves. How might we describe the rate and complexity of our speech? How can it be modified for clarity?

In short, here’s what we’re aiming for: Speech should be clear, deliberate and unrushed. (Side note: Louder or painfully elongated speech is not helpful.)

EXPRESSION

Language encompasses so much more than just vocabulary. Tone, register, slang, cultural cues, humor, sarcasm, reduced speech, body language, facial expressions, and gestures must all be negotiated in the context of learning a new spoken language. Gestures, or the motions and movements Gestures can be used to enforce an idea but should become less exaggerated with time, as understanding grows. Where possible, normalized conversational gestures are optimal.

PACING

ELLs often require a longer “wait-time” to produce a response. After questioning, allow up to two minutes of unprompted thinking time. If a student is not yet ready, offer cooperative opportunities for production. Partner-Pair-Share, Numbered Heads, or Rally Table are great approaches; and sentence starters can be embedded into any of these strategies. Just be sure that the student who was originally asked does, ultimately, have the opportunity to share his or her response with the class.

APPROACH

Labeling, visuals, realia, manipulatives, graphic organizers, sentence frames and hands-on exploration are essential to the ELL classroom experience. Each is a language-building path toward content accessibility. Additionally, we can be especially mindful that our curriculum and class reading materials reflect the diverse nature of our classrooms. Where do our students recognize themselves in the school day? How are students invited to express themselves using the four language domains?

PROCESS

Students, including English learners, should have guided agency over their own learning. Work with students to set goals, create viable paths toward these aims, and to monitor their success along the way. Cooperative structures are an important part of this process, as they encourage language development, enhance positive classroom culture and put students in the drivers’ seats of their own learning. Yes, our ELLs CAN meaningfully participate in student-led instruction and Project-Based Learning (PBL). Learn to establish supports… and then get out of the way!

CONSIDERATIONS

Newcomer students may be working through trauma, shock or other stressors. Monitor external stimuli to help mitigate significant stress. Learn to recognize symptoms and know when to ask for help. Work to recognize, celebrate and practice Socio-Emotional Learning (SEL) skills throughout the school day and school year. To build background on newcomer Trauma start HERE. For more tips on trauma-informed care for ELLs (and all students) take a peek at an RC article for Edutopia, found HERE.

INVITATION

You may be a child’s first teacher of their school career, their first teacher in America, or the first teacher to breakthrough. Smile. Show welcoming. Be an example of the possibility that exists for them.

Digital Game Play for Instruction: The Why of the Practice

I recently wrote an article for Edutopia outlining 5 Free Video Games That Support English Language Learners. In this article, we’ll lay some groundwork in terms of understanding the whys and hows of using serious games to drive meaningful student learning. Our guiding question: What makes gamification so appealing, and how can we apply this to our classrooms to increase student engagement and accelerate content understanding?

The Edutopia article explains: “The concept of gamifying learning has been part of practical instruction, in various forms, for years, and for good reason: Research shows that game-based learning has the capacity to motivate students, activate knowledge and enhance critical thinking capacities.”  Additionally, we know that gameplay is a key facet of culturally responsive teaching and is an integral feature of modern ESL curricula. Serious games and simulation games, which invite players to actively solve for real and relevant problems, also expand the ways that learners see and interact with the world. 

Trends in games-based learning continue to lean into technological integration- and data backs up its place in the 21st-century classroom. In fact, research indicates that education-focused video and virtual gaming can benefit all students, particularly low-performing students who demonstrate the greatest need.  

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 Video games- including educationally driven programs- follow a predictable structure, resulting in relatively uniform user experience.  If we look closely, we see that video game design takes many of its leads from brick-and-mortar classrooms. In fact, a user’s interaction with a gaming interface mirrors the school learning experience, where instructional best practices are in place.  

Video games are largely successful at capturing users’ attention and driving players toward mastering the content of the game.  In a similar way, it is possible to recognize key features of gaming architecture in our classrooms and to leverage these features to increase student interest and motivation and to drive authentic content learning.

Let’s take a closer look at those components:

·      Play: Play is the cornerstone of video game design and appeal.  Play itself has several requisites: choice, positive peer interchange, and the opportunity to explore, coach and learn in a safe, non-threatening arena.  Schools also recognize the power of play, including the elements of healthy social interaction and cultivated trust, and we cater to it in a variety of ways. 

·      Central goal:  A game is separated from simple play by one defining feature: the presence of a central goal.  Well-designed video games direct users toward a clear and attractive end goal.  Well-organized classrooms lead students toward specific, achievable end goals, usually through a series of identified mini-goals.  We name these standards, student learning outcomes, or Content-Language Objectives (CLOs).

·      Rules: Rules are the skeleton of a game. In a video game, rules-design follows the principle that rule followers will advance to the next stage of the game; and for those who misunderstand or abuse the game’s rules, the process will be delayed or ended.  This pattern applies to most areas of life and is evidenced in the classroom setting. When expectations are clear, students understand what is expected of them and can respond appropriately.

·      Feedback: The feedback loop is central to digital gameplay.  The user voluntarily completes an action, which stimulates a system response (feedback). The user interprets the feedback and reacts accordingly. This process continues until the game ends or the user terminates the loop.

As educational practitioners, we are experts in feedback loops.  The difference is that technological feedback is direct, instantaneous and wholly interactive.  We know that prompt and meaningful feedback has positive implications for intrinsic motivation and accelerated learning.  How can we grow in this capacity to benefit our students?

·      Voluntary Participation: Virtual gaming is rooted in choice.  When personal choice is introduced, productivity, accuracy and motivation increase.  Where can we make room for more student choice in our classrooms?  Interactive station rotations, student-led inquiry and project-based learning, for example, all promote voice and choice.

·      Personalization: Video games are designed to read the user. They must determine the player’s initial level of expertise and projected wants and needs- and then adapt to fit the player.  Well-designed games scaffold learning and progressively increase in complexity.  This mimics optimal instructional protocol for all learners, including linguistically diverse students. 

·      Removed Fear of Failure: In game play, users are afforded an infinite number of opportunities to try again.   Mistakes become synonymous with new prospects- and ultimately, failure becomes obsolete.  The idea of “failing forward” is inherent to the gaming world.   Where and how can we work toward removing fear of failure in our schools?

·      Community Building: Virtual games lend themselves to collaboration and community. This is enhanced within the backdrop of joy, entertainment, belonging, teamwork… and fun.  Positive relationship building is also central to the school organism. It forms the backbone of SEL, culturally responsive teaching, and trauma-informed practice.

·      Assessment: Video games are also assessments: they recognize, evaluate and rank participation- and then adjust the experience accordingly.  In this context, assessments are also malleable. They adapt to the player’s understanding and expertise and automatically push forward (or fall back to re-teach).  Our best site-based assessments look this way, too! 

·      Debriefing: Debriefing is the process of thoughtful, purposeful reflection on one’s experience.  Educational gameplay should include debriefing as a way to complete the circuit of understanding.  In the classroom, this process can be guided and modeled and my included speech, writing or other expressive means.

Gaming is not intended as a replacement for quality instruction delivered by an experienced teacher.  However, educationally purposeful video games can support students’ learning in a host of ways.  And if we take the time to see it, we’ll find that tech-based gaming has more in common with traditional educational structures than we might realize- that the overlap, in fact, is significant.

Understanding Student Identity: Diving into Race, Ethnicity and Culture

What constitutes identity?  From one community to another, and from one school campus to another, we are likely to find widely varying explanations. 

Conversations around identity are typically assigned bank of related vocabulary.  Often, we employ these words – race, heritage, ethnicity, nationality, and culture- interchangeably. 

 This is problematic, and often muddles our concept of (and ability to recognize, embrace, and value) personal identity.   It makes it easier to lump human distinctions into tidy categories based on a series of checkboxes. But the reality is, it’s just not that simple. 

Race is vastly different than ethnicity, and heritage does not necessarily indicate culture.  Fortunately, getting these concepts straight is not highly complicated, either.  It just requires that we have a common working language.  Let’s get to it.

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First, let’s return to our vocabulary: Race, Ethnicity, Nationality, Heritage and Culture.

To organize these concepts in our heads, we can think of the elements as concentric circles. When I’m working with folks in a professional development setting, those pieces fit together like this:

For staff Professional Development information on this topic please visit HERE. @ElYaafouriELD for DiversifiED Consulting 2018.

Let’s first look at the concept of “race” within the larger outside circle.  Here’s the definition we’ll use for race: the composite perception and classification of an individual based upon physical appearance and assumed geographic ancestry; a mechanism used to facilitate social hierarchies.  

Race, then, is an invented construct designed to enhance the social maneuverability of some and diminish that of others. If we look to our human history, we can see that the concept of race has been effective in achieving this aim.  But the concept is overtly simplistic.  Essentially, majority parties create arbitrary social categories that label those apart from them, and them fill in those categories with identifying descriptors for each category.

Race is also a malleable property.  Racial categories (and their descriptors) differ from one society to another and change over time.  They are susceptible to shifts in power, demographics, and socio-political climate. In the U.S., we’ve historically defined those race categories by color: black, brown, white, yellow and red.  

 Of course, we know that there must be so much more to the story than this.

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The idea of ethnicity gets us a bit closer.   We’ll describe ethnicity this way: An individual’s tie to a to a broader social group as defined by shared language and value systems, which may include nationality, heritage, and culture.

 Ethnicity is a richer value than race.  It captures the many elements that link a community of together.  It also encompasses both past and present values of a social group.  The most defining feature of ethnicity is that is self-definition.  While one may be “born into” certain features of ethnicity, an individual may choose to abandon, adjust, or add to his or her ethnic identification.  

The choice aspect of ethnicity also leaves room for ‘and’.   Cherokee and Lakota.  Latina and Korean.  Palestinian and French. Igbo and Yoruba.  Black American and white American.  Multiethnic. Polyethnic. 

This singular aspect of choice is what sets race and ethnicity apart.  While both are inventive concepts, race exists only as an external social construct, placed upon an individual without choice.  Ethnicity, meanwhile, exists as an internal construct with external influences and is marked by the mechanism of personal choice and affiliation.   

For staff Professional Development information on this topic please visit HERE. @ElYaafouriELD for DiversifiED Consulting 2018.

Nationality, heritage and culture may be viewed as separate from, but somewhat living under the umbrella of ethnicity.  Language is also housed here.  Language represents the means of interpersonal exchange between peoples of a country or community.  It is also the conduit through which elements of ethnicity (including nationality, heritage and culture) are expressed.

Nationality refers to the country to which an individual was born, holds citizenship or identifies with as home.  The element of choice is observable here.  A student who was born in Russia but has lived in the United States since the age of six is likely to have a very Americanized world-view and may identify as American, even if her citizenship status does not reflect this. 

The idea of heritage looks to the place or places from which one’s ancestors originated from and what those ancestors subscribed to.  It is possible to identity with a heritage, but not the matching ethnicity.  For example, a person may recognize his African descent, but identify as ethnically Afro-Caribbean.   An individual may celebrate Irish heritage, but not speak the language or identify with customs linking it to that ethnicity.

For staff Professional Development information on this topic please visit HERE. @ElYaafouriELD for DiversifiED Consulting 2018.

Finally, we arrive at culture.  Culture, in many ways, is the most complex value. It is similar to ethnicity, but in a way, nested within it, as cultural indicators are part of the architecture of one’s ethnic identity.

Culture relates to the specific combinations of socially acquired ideas, arts, symbols and habits that make up an individual’s day-to-day existence and that influence his or her social exchange.  So, ethnicity has to do with overarching themes that define a particular social group.  Culture presents itself as (often material) markers of the ethnic group or its subgroups.

Culture has other attributes that set it apart from race, ethnicity, nationality and heritage.  Namely, it is not determined by appearance.  Culture is also a fluid property and is largely influenced by personal choice.  Cultural behaviors may be changed, shared or acquired. Any person may pick up another’s culture at any time, and a person’s culture is highly likely to change over time, in whole or in part, based on new experiences, interests, and social influences.

For staff Professional Development information on this topic please visit HERE. @ElYaafouriELD for DiversifiED Consulting 2018.

Often, the element of culture is further broken down into three layers: surface, conscious and collective unconscious.  Zaretta Hammond, in her incredible work, refers to these areas as surface, shallow and deep culture.  Surface culture mostly refers to observable markers: fashion, food, slang, art, holidays, literature, games and music. Conscious culture looks to the governing rules and norms of a community. It includes eye contact, concept of time, personal space, honesty, accepted emotions, and gender norms.

The collective unconscious culture is at the very core of one’s worldview. From this space, an individual processes the natural and social world- and also makes sense of his or her place within it. Spirituality, kinship, norms of completion, and the importance of group identity are all part of the collective unconscious.

It is also possible to have sub-cultures with our culture.  For example, we may belong to a skateboard, cowboy, gaming or band culture. We can attach specific elements of action and expression to each unique social behavior/interest group.

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Now we can step back and look at our map.  When we put all of these elements together, we can gain a more comprehensive understanding of what comprises an individual’s identity.  We can move in the direction of looking past the first layer of race (and perhaps eventually remove this non-serving piece).  We can, through culturally-responsive teaching practices, develop our expertise in peeling away layers in our students’ identities in order to explore the deep culture factors that truly drive belonging, motivation and learning.

Refugee 101, Part 2: Who is a Refugee?

Image is part of a learning video created by Louise El Yaafouri for Colorado Refugee Connect. View the full video and get involved at corefugeeconnect.org.

Currently, there are more than 65 million displaced persons in the world.  Of those, nearly 26 million are classified as refugees. More than half of the world’s refugees are children.

Less than half of one percent of the world’s refugees will ever be resettled to a third party country, such as the U.S.  A slight handful of that exceptional one percent will make their way into our schools and classrooms.  This means that our newcomer students truly are one in a million- and in the broader context of displaced persons, closer to one in a billion.

As educators, we may be presented with the unique opportunity- and awesome responsibility- to serve students from refugee backgrounds. In this five-part series, we’ll explore the refugee experience, outline pre and post-resettlement processes, and celebrate resettled refugees as assets to our communities.

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WHO IS A REFFUGEE?

Migration is a central theme of the human story.  Many, including including immigrants and migrants (by technical definition), relocate by choice- usually in search of new opportunities or improved ways of life.  

Others are forced to relocate as a means of survival.  Displaced individuals are pushed from their homes or communities involuntarily and under high duress- often leaving behind possessions, loved ones and personal histories.  Catalysts for displacement include war, famine, natural disaster or economic instability. 

Refugees are set apart from other displaced populations by one critical feature.  The flight of a refugee must be related to war or violence, and they must experience an earnest fear for their life as a result of ongoing persecution.  

This comes from the 1951 Geneva Convention, the outcome of which defines a refugee as one who fled his or her own country because of persecution, or a well-founded fear of persecution, based on race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.  Asylum seekers meet the criteria of a refugee but are already living in the host country or are seeking asylum at a port of entry.

Image is part of a learning video created by Louise El Yaafouri for Colorado Refugee Connect. View the full video and get involved at corefugeeconnect.org.

Each story of the refugee experience is unique.  Some travel through multiple countries in search of asylum.  In the process of escape, many must tolerate uncertainty or entrust their lives to smugglers.  Some endure periods without food, water or shelter.  Many flee without important documentation. Some are forced to leave loved ones behind.

The majority of refugees relocate to urban camps, where groups of affected individuals band together within established cities.  Urban camps are generally makeshift and may evolve to have their own economies.  Some resettle in formal refugees camps, typically organized and operated by the UNHCR. These are the image of refuge camps that most Westerners are familiar with, usually having standardized tent structures and organizational staff.

From The Newcomer Student:

It is difficult to capture the essence and extent of what a refugee camp actually is. Refugee settlements are not typically self-supporting, and rely extensively on external aid for nearly all matters of finance, food, health, and 
 viability. They are notoriously unglamorous, routinely undersupplied, and statistically dangerous. The UN High Commission for Refugees offers that, “Refugee camp is a term used to describe human settlements which vary greatly in size and character. In general, refugee camps are enclosed areas, restricted to refugees and those assisting them, where protection and assistance is provided until it is safe for the refugees to return to their home or to be resettled elsewhere.”

On average, a refugee lives in a camp setting for 17 years.  It is common for refugees from one country to be born in a refugee camp in another country (for example, a Bhutanese student may identify as Nepali, a Burmese as Thai, or a Congolese as Tanzanian.)  On average, a refugee is away from the heritage country for 20 years before a return can be realized.

 Prior to upheaval, most refugees did not desire to leave their home countries.  In fact, this process can be very traumatic.  In her poem “Home” Somali poet Warsan Shire writes, “No one leaves their home unless their home is the mouth of a shark.”

SOURCES:

American Immigration Council (2013). Located at americanimmgrationcouncil.org. Retrieved Oct. 2012.

Russell, Sharon Stanton (2002). Refugees: Risks and Challenges Worldwide. Migration Policy Institute, 1946–4037.

Hamilton, Richards & Moore, Dennis (2004). Education of Refugee Children: Documenting and Implementing Change. In Educational Interventions for Refugee Children, eds Richard Hamilton & Dennis Moore, London UK: RoutledgeFalmer, Chapter 8.

McBrien,J.Lynn(2003).A Second Chance for Refugee Students. Educational Leadership, Vol. 61, No. 2, 76–9 O. Educational Needs and Barriers for Refugee Students in the United States: A Review of Literature. Review of Educational Research Vol. 75, No. 3, 329–64.

United Nations, High Commissioner for Refugees (2012). United Nations Communications and Public Information Service, Geneva, Switzerland. Located at unhcr.org. Retrieved Aug. 2015.

Patrick, Erin (2004). The U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program. Migration Policy Institute, Washington, D.C. Located at migrationpolicy.org/article/us-refugee- resettlement-program. Retrieved Aug. 2015.

United Nations Convention related to the Status of Refugees (1951). UN Article 1. Located at unhcr.org. Retrieved June 2011.

International Refugee Committee (2015). SOAR, New York. Located at rescue. org. Retrieved Aug. 2015.

Van Hahn, Nguyen (2002). Annual Report to Congress- Executive Summary. Office of Refugee Resettlement. Located at acf.hhs.gov. Retrieved Dec. 2010.

Edwards, James R. Jr. (2012). Religious Agencies and Refugee Resettlement. Center for Immigration Studies. Memorandum, March 2012.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2012). United Nations Communications and Public Information Service, Geneva, Switzerland. Located at unhcr.org. Retrieved Aug. 2015.

U.S. Committee for Refugees & Immigrants (USCRI) (2015). Arlington, Va., refugees.org. Retrieved Aug. 2015.

U.S. Committee for Refugees & Immigrants (USCRI) (2015). Arlington, Va., refugees.org. Retrieved Aug. 2015.

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) (2013). Path to Citizenship. Located at uscis.gov. Retrieved Aug. 2015.

U.S. Committee for Refugees & Immigrants (USCRI) (2015). Arlington, Va. Located at refugees.org. Retrieved Aug. 2015.

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) (2013). Path to Citizenship. Located at uscis.gov. Retrieved Aug. 2014.

Refugee 101, Part 1: An Introduction

The only remaining photo of Eh Doh Htoo and his family in the Thai refugee camp for Karen Burmese. He shared this photo with our class as part of a “Heritage Book” project in 2009. He graduated high school last year.

The following is an excerpt from The Newcomer Student: An Educator’s Guide to Aid Transition by Louise El Yaafouri (Kreuzer), available HERE.

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An Introduction to the Refugee 101 Series

Newcomer students are often defined by a long and complicated series of statistics: data scores, influx patterns, poverty analyses, and of course, school performance grades. Certain figures are certainly useful and valid. But they lead us apart from the relatable, tangible person. The relatable, tangible student; the learner we show up for. This leads us to the who.

In elementary talk, human seeking refuge is the main idea of the refugee story. Refugees are individuals with palpable faces and names who are colored by real life stories, experiences, families, and successes. Refugees and immigrants, not apart from our host-nation selves, are people—parents, children, adventurers, workers, dreamers, teachers, students, feelers, believers, doers, and learners.

Again, like us, refugee individuals and families carry with them other things: tribulations, stressors, and personal legacies. Some family fabrics are cohesive; others show wear. Some individuals appear well adjusted and decodable, while others are stalemated in secrets, burdens, and internalized fears.

These pieces, combined, highlight one simple, beautiful, extraordinary truth. We are all human. Each of us is susceptible, and yet, each of us is a channel for resiliency. We are all magnificent and full of promise, just as we are tarnished and unsteady. Each of us owns an access point to greatness. More than this, we all possess the inherent ability to help and guide one another through processes of personal and contextual transformation.

Let’s think this through. Are we, as westernized Americans in our own subjective neighborhoods, so exempt from characteristics of trial, loss, joy, confusion, relocation, or overcoming? Of course not! Sure, some of our stories register relatively low on the scale of global severity. Nevertheless, our personal tribulations and successes are meaningful to us, within the context and perimeters of life as we are familiar with it. No story is insignificant.

Greatness belongs to each of us.

"Home": Acknowledging the Complex Transitions of Refugee Newcomers

Drawing by former student Pah Leh Paw (age 9), depicting the Thai refugee camp where she grew up, after her family fled from the Karen cultural region of Myanmar Burma.

“I AM FROM . . .”

In my first year of teaching in the Newcomer sector, I remember feeling flabbergasted by one very real truth: our little four-walled classroom housed the world inside its perimeter. Out of the twenty-five students that first year, fourteen countries were represented in our classroom, with nineteen first languages among them. I still cherish this memory, and perhaps more so now that I’ve also acquired some understanding of the unique countries, customs, and languages that we have in our care.

I arrived as head of the classroom that year, the first year that our refugee-magnate school was set in motion, highly unprepared. I was fresh, sure, and knowledgeable in the field of education, too. I was also remarkably naïve. Armed with personal monologues of out-of-country experiences, I thought I was worldly, exposed, and ready. Then, I got schooled by a class of eight-year-olds.

When, for example, students stated, “I am from Burma,” I assumed, well, Burma. As in, one Burma, the one I located on Google Maps (just to refresh my memory . . . of course). As in, one culture, one language, one struggle, one united journey to our classroom.

That episode of simplistic thinking was short-lived. Within days, I figured out that several of my Burmese students couldn’t actually communicate orally with each other. Moreover, this group of students did not always appear outwardly friendly toward one another, despite their apparent cultural similarities. In fact, I was noticing intense tensions and aggressions between like-cultured groups, even while cross-cultural communications remained friendly and outgoing.

At one point early in the year, Snay Doh came to see me in private. He asked to move his seat away from his Thai peer, Thaw Eh Htoo. He wished to sit at a separate desk, between Valentin from Burundi, and Khaled from Yemen. “I don’t mind thinking about this, Snay Doh,” I replied, “but I hope that you can explain to me why this is a good idea. Moving your seat isn’t going to make a bigger problem go away. What is it that seems to be keeping you and Thaw from getting along?”

Snay Doh, with his limited English vocabulary, broke down the entire dilemma, with Crayola illustrations and all. In the end, I learned that Snay Doh’s parents were Burma-Burmese, and that he was born in the refugee camps in Thailand. Thaw Eh Htoo was also born in a Thai refugee camp. However, his parents were Karen Burmese. Not only were these two families from geographically, linguistically, and culturally separate parts of Burma; they were also at war with one another.

With a little more research, I came to realize that four rivers physically separate the small nation of Burma into five distinct geographical regions. Within these regions, a multitude of individual tribes maintain separate and exclusive lifestyles and cultures. Seven of these tribes demand high social and political prominence. These clans have an epic history of interaction, often involving warfare on every level and for every reason: territory, religion, water, trade, and government.

Members from five of these tribes held places on that first year roster. So, no; that original seating arrangement with four of those Burmese students, of four separate religions, customs and dialects at the same table didn’t work out so well. (Enter school-wide positive behavior system roll-out.)

Similar dichotomies are repeated each year in our schools and classrooms, and are reflected in the lives of our students from all over the world: Congo, Iran, Somalia, and Libya, and many others. The truth is that people who originate from one country are not necessarily homogeneous, or for that matter, oozing with camaraderie with one another. Fundamental views and values may vary dramatically, even to the point of enmity. For me, this lesson was critical. Indeed, we are never done learning.

AS THE CROW FLIES

Interestingly, our students’ documented countries of origination are rarely aligned with actual ancestral roots. This occurs primarily because many of our students are transported to (or even born in refugee camps) proximal to the heritage region.

For example, most Nepali refugees are Bhutanese. Many Thai students are Burmese. Our Kenyan students might be exclusively Congolese, Somalian, Rwandan, or Ethiopian. A Lebanese student’s first home may have been Syria, Palestine or Afghanistan.

Sometimes a spade is a spade; Congo really does mean Congo, and there is no need to complicate things further. But often, it doesn’t hurt to engage in a little sleuthing. The results can be astonishing. Frequently, Newcomers will have lived in a multitude of nations, even leading up to the country of origin that appears on resettlement documentation. This information can be helpful, in that it allows for additional insights into students’ probable cultural and learning backgrounds. It might also sway us away from topical assumptions and approaches to our craft. Cultural geography 101, via the wide-eyed testimonies of our learners.

The list below indicates possible refugee origination locales. The perimeter countries represent heavily documented home nations. The adjacent regions are plausible induction zones. Often, grouped nations may be interchanged as first, second, or third origination countries. Of course, this resource equates to a rough-sketch approximation guide. The only true authorities on our students’ pre-resettlement paths are our students and families themselves.

POTENTIAL REFUGEE ORIGINATION LOCALES

Nepal: Bhutan, Tibet

India: Iran, Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and China

Kenya: Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Sudan, and Ethiopia

Ghana: Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Togo, Benin, Mali, Nigeria, and Senegal

Egypt: Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Syria, Djibouti, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Yemen, Congo, and Lebanon

Libya: Tunisia, Lebanon, Syria, Eritrea, Sudan, Senegal, Egypt, Somalia, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Yemen, Djibouti, and Algeria

Thailand, Malaysia: Myanmar Burma, Karen Burma, Chin Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and China

Bangladesh: Rohingya Burma, Urdu Pakistan, Iran, Philippines, and Vietnam Jordan: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Ethiopia, Tunisia, Armenia, Bosnia, Serbia, and Afghanistan

Turkey: Russia, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan

Brazil: Venezuela, Honduras, Paraguay, Ecuador, Columbia, and Costa Rica

Mexico: Costa Rica, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Columbia, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Honduras, and Chili.

8 Ways to Optimize a Learning Culture... and Celebrate Diversity

Culture.  It’s the latest education buzzword to catch fire, and it is applied to a seemingly endless range of affairs.  We refer to our students’ heritage cultures.  We toss around the idea of a school culture, a classroom culture, a staff culture.  So, what exactly are we talking about here? In the simplest possible terms, we can look at it in this way:

“Culture is the way you think, act and interact.” –Anonymous

From this lens, it is indeed possible to reference "culture" across such a variety of social platforms.  How our students think, act and interact at home and in their communities is a reflection of their heritage culture.  How we think, act and interact at work is a reflection of our work culture. 

Let’s consider our schools and classrooms from this same vantage.  Looking to the best versions of ourselves and our programs, what do we envision as an optimal learning culture for our students and staff?   How are we encouraged to think, act and interact with our students and colleagues?  How are we teaching learners to engage with each other in affirmative ways?

As a school or classroom leader, these are important thoughts to map out.  My ideas may not look the same as your ideas.  That’s ok.  We can lay some common ground, though.  The following cues present an opportunity to check in with your own vision of school culture.  How can you help to improve the way that your team thinks, acts and interacts?

1.  Invest in Students

We all ache to know that someone we care about is standing firmly behind or beside us.  If our aim is to increase a student's success rate, our honest investment in both their present capacity and future potential is non-negotiable.  

Express a genuine interest in each individual.  Learn how to pronounce student’s names correctly and begin using them on the very first day.  Ask questions about students’ heritage culture and allow for safe opportunities to share these insights with other classmates.  Offer relevant multicultural reading materials.  Post flags or maps, and have students mark their heritage country.  Be a listener.  Find out what students find interesting.  Commit to supporting students with time-in over time-out.  Show up.  Keep promises.  Practice being present and mindful with students.  Nurture connectivity.  

2. Provide Choice  

When presented with choice-making opportunities in a safe, predictable environment, learners develop self-efficacy and strategizing abilities. We can scaffold these processes to enable students to grow as wise decision makers.   Begin by limiting the range of available options. Model reasoning through active think-alouds.

Also, it is important to allow time for students to consider and process potential gains and sacrifices involved when choosing between items or activities. Similarly, prompt students to predict the probable consequences of unwise choice making and to reflect on these outcomes when they occur.  Incorporate choice making throughout the day.  Station (center) activities, choice of paper color, homework, reading book, order of task completion and game selection are manageable places to start. 

When students are invited to make healthy choices- and have opportunities to practice doing so- they are much more inclined to become invested, engaged learners. 

3. Provide Clarity

Students, not unlike adults, desire to know what is expected of them.  Who doesn't enjoy a road map to success?  By sharing bite-sized road maps with your students throughout a school day or school year, you are helping them to succeed.  “Bite-size” can be defined as 3-5 clear steps, with a target of three. 

As we’ve already mentioned, clarified expectations foster routine, predictability and ultimately, a sense of safety.  Be sure that instructional objectives are posted and communicated.  Is your class schedule visible and correct?  Do you refer to it throughout the day? Are station areas and supplies labeled (using rebus indicators, where necessary)?  How often do you review key routines?  Check your day for clarity.  Define and refine.

4. Trust  

Trust that students are wholly capable of making great choices and doing the right thing.  Does that mean perfection?  No.  It does mean that in a healthy, facilitative environment most students, most of the time, will strive to meet the expectations set by (and modeled by) the teacher.  We are intentional about setting the bar high, because that’s where students will reach.  Maintain confidence that they will stretch to achieve it.  

As students see that you trust them, they will begin living up to the expectation that they are probably doing the right thing.  They will almost always respond by trusting you in return.  Aim for autonomy.  Give away power (when appropriate).  Expect greatness.

5. Practice Problem Solving

Investigation that relies upon solution seeking engages students in developing deeper concept understanding and creative thinking abilities, while also building essential life skills.  Problem-solving behaviors are learned.  They are either explicitly taught or modeled by others.  The school is an ideal incubator for nurturing these attributes. 

Offer specific steps toward solving a problem.  Model these thoughts and behavior patterns.  Provide multiple opportunities for students to practice problem solving in a variety of subjects and contexts.  View problems as “puzzles”.  Solution seeking is a willed behavior.  Our role is to guide the discovery of enjoyment and creative thinking in these processes. 

6. Teach Critical Social Skills

Young people often need to be taught how to interact in positive ways.  This is especially true in a Recent Arriver context, where layers of cultural expectation overlap often one another.  Essential social skills encompass sensitivity, empathy, humor, reliability, honesty, respect, and concern.  

Learners often benefit from explicit step-by-step social routines that work through these skill sets.  Modeling, play-acting, and “Looks Like/Sounds Like/Feels Like” charts are also useful.  Plan lessons to incorporate openings to explore and practice social skills.  Offer guidance, and get out of the way.  Provide cuing only when relevant.  Share constructive feedback and reinforcement of positive behaviors.  

Be the way you wish your students to behave.

7. Embrace “Failure” as a Success

Trying requires immense courage. 

Perceived failure is a byproduct of trying.  If we look at a FAIL- a First Attempt In Learning, then we are able to see that we have many more possible tries ahead of us.  When we work to remove the fear of failing, we are also working to embed a confidence in trying. 

Try celebrating failures outright.  “Did you succeed the way you hoped you were going to?” No. “Did you learn something?” Yes.  “Bravo! You are a successful learner.”  Next time you fail at something, try acknowledging it in front of your students.  Observe aloud what might have occurred and what part of your strategy you might change to bring about a different result.  Failure is simply feedback.  If we can take some wisdom from it, and adjust our sails, failure is a sure step in the right direction of success.   Aim to create safety nets for trying.  

8. Acknowledge Progress

A simple acknowledgement of our gains can go a long way.  When we feel appreciated in our efforts, we also feel empowered to continue on a positive trajectory.  Administrators, teachers, bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria personnel and after school care teams perform better in supportive environments where they feel that they are a contributive factor to the overarching success of a network. Our students, not surprisingly, also thrive in these settings.

Progress has an infinite number of faces.  Growth and change can occur in every facet of learning- in academic, linguistic, social, emotional and cultural capacities.  

Take the time to offer a thank you for a student’s concentrated efforts. Post students’ work, along with encouraging and reflective feedback. Share students’ growth. Acknowledge healthy choice making, positive social behaviors and persistence in the light of adversity. Help all learners to discover, refine and purposely engage their strongest attributes, and seek equity in endorsing successes publicly. Each day, relish in small miracles.

Creating Newcomer ELD Program Mission/Vision Statements

A school district’s mission and vision statements define and guide the work of the educational staff and the growth of the students.  These statements are publicly visible, and serve as a pint of communication between central administration, teachers, students, families and community stakeholders.  In most cases, districts and schools can also benefit from designing and implementing separate mission/vision statements that are unique to ELL and/or Newcomer programming, but that function alongside and in alignment with overarching district goals.

EL/Newcomer initiatives that operate with clear, program-focused mission/vision statements are able to set goals, monitor progress and make critical decisions to promote socio-linguistic growth of its diverse populations.  Great!  So, where do we begin?

The answer is, we begin where you begin.  You- your school or organization- will begin this journey at a unique map point.  You may model yourselves after other successful programs; and later programs may follow your lead.  But, your school cannot walk step-in-step with another Newcomer-ELD education initiative. 

Why?  Your school is not the same as any other school.  Your specific student demographics are unmatched. 

Your team of educators- their personalities, strengths, opportunities for growth- are exclusive to your campus.  Your team’s vision and goals and daily protocol are your own.  Your children- the ones who stop to hug you on the way to the office, the ones you call to by first name for moving too quickly down the hallway, the ones you visit with in their homes on the weekends- these are your kids.

Who knows your students and their needs best?  You do.  Who knows the capacities and limitations of your space, resources and funding?  You guessed it.

Your task is to craft- that is, to design and refine- successful Newcomer-ELD mission and vision statements that work for your organization, based on your particular set of ambitions, goals, needs and available resources.

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 DEFINING MISSION AND VISION STATEMENTS

Mission and vision statements are cornerstones in determining your group’s purpose and function.   These declarations help to ground and guide your team as a unified organism with a clearly defined cause.   Mission and vision statements are more than formalities.  In the case of Newcomer-ELD programming, they serve as a map that guides us, instructionally, in the direction of culturally-responsive EL student growth.

Once they are established, they also serve as a baseline rubric for evaluating all decisions and outcomes.  Your team can ask, “Does this item align with our mission and vision?  If not, how can we effectively adjust or release it?”

Your mission statement defines what your group aims to accomplish in the present context- right now.  The goals outlined in the mission declaration should be realistic and attainable. The vision statement outlines your team’s long-term objectives or ideals- your vision for the future.

Let’s look at some broad examples.  Here’s Google’s mission statement:  “Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”.  Their vision statement is “to organize all of the data in the world and make it accessible for everyone in a useful way”. (Google online, 2016)

Google works to organize and make information accessible right now.  Organizing data for the entire world is a lofty objective that will take time, but could actually be accomplished at some point in the future.

Mission and vision declarations do not need to be complicated.  In fact, simplicity is best. Ikea’s current mission is to “make everyday life better for their customers”.  Current is emphasized because mission statements can be utterly static and should be revisited frequently as the team’s success or understanding progresses.

Meanwhile, Ikea’s vision is, “to create a better everyday life for many people. We make this possible by offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home-furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.”  The phrasing as many people as possible indicates a long-range goal, or vision, for the future.  

I bet you’re thinking, “That’s great, but why are we talking about Fortune 500 companies?  We’re trying to get our Newcomer Centers and ELL programming off the ground!”  Well, we can approach that very aim with a business-like mind for strategy, organization and anticipated gain (in this case, language acquisition, social integration and academic accomplishment).  In this context, mission and vision statements are certainly applicable.  Let’s examine some approaches in the educational realm. 

Pearson Education details their vision and mission as:                        

“Our Vision: To fulfill the educational needs across a spectrum of individuals with reliable experience and technology.  Our Mission:

·       To provide end-to-end education solutions in the K-12 segment.

·       To become a leader in the education services field.

·       To create comprehensive educational content that can be delivered through a series of innovative mechanisms, thus removing physical and cultural barriers in knowledge dissemination.

·       To be a vehicle of change by creating interfaces that allow education to reach the underprivileged.” (Pearson online, 2016)

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In narrowing our interest, here are a few inspiring examples specifically related to refugee and immigrant Newcomer educational services.  Canada’s Southwest Newcomer Welcome Centre services refugees and immigrants in multiple capacities.  Their mission is, “To enable independence and respectful community participation for Newcomers to Canada by providing settlement and integration services in a safe and welcoming environment, and by promoting cross cultural awareness to all in the communities we serve.”  

Southwest Newcomer Centre’s Vision is more objective.  It calls for the center, “To be a comprehensive newcomer service providing agency acting as a gateway to equitable, respectful, welcoming communities where all members are empowered to actively participate and contribute.”

Austin, Minnesota is a refugee hub with a thriving Newcomer Welcome Center.  It also has a clear mission statement: “The Welcome Center serves the City of Austin as the community’s multi-cultural center, building community by welcoming newcomers, supporting residents in transition and creating access and opportunity.”  Austin’s vision holds that, “The Welcome Center envisions a vibrant and culturally diverse community where everyone is accepted, respected and independent.”

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HOW DO WE CREATE OUR OWN M/V STATEMENTS?

First, gather your team.  Mission and vision objectives are not one-man (or woman) shows.  Make room for ideas to circulate.  Open the floor.  Disagree.  Break thinking down and re-configure it. Decide what’s best for your team.  Then, decide what’s best for the population you serve and override the interests of the team. 

This is a time for finding your organization’s core.  All outward momentum will come from this center, so be sure it’s solid.  (Or at least, that it is stable enough to bear the weight and stress of the current and future objectives you will set for your organization).

Then, jump in.  Here are a few guiding questions as you begin your thinking around mission and vision statements:

·       Who are we serving?

·       What are the precise demographics of the population that we are serving?

·       What do we want to accomplish?

·       What do we aim to provide?

·       By what means will we accomplish these aims?

·       How will our efforts enable student success?

·       Why is the student success we defined important?

·       How will we measure/determine success?

·       How will our efforts better our school and community?

            Next, elaborate on your values.  What character traits, key ethics or primary goals does your organization consider sacred or essential to program success?  How does or will your team maintain its integrity?  Values encompass qualities such as leadership, partnership, innovation, safety, continuous growth and improvement, accountability, and professionalism.  What does your team stand for?

            Now, begin to work together to invent (or revisit) your statements.  There is no right or wrong way or any blanket format.  Find what works best.  You can start big (vision) and bring those ideas into clear, applicable focus (mission).  Or, flip the process and move outward toward your team’s vision.

            Come back to your M/V statements regularly.  To reinforce their importance, begin and end meetings with them, especially in the beginning stages.  Remind each other to check in with your team’s core values throughout decision-making processes.   Let your mission and vision define your team’s work.

As a Newcomer-focused educational consultant, my professional objectives read:  

My mission is to empower educators to provide Newcomer ELLs and all students with the tools, resources and support they need to achieve their highest academic and social capacity.  

My vision is that all learners have an equitable right to high quality education and upward social mobility.  All learners possess an ability to achieve greatness.  All educators have an equitable right to training and support that enhances student growth.  All teachers are capable of instructional excellence.

What is your team’s mission and vision?

10 Vocab Strategies for ELLs (and all learners!)

Vocabulary Strategies

Vocabulary development is an important component of language acquisition.  If you’re ready to explore new strategies, jump into any of these.  They are teacher tested (self-included!), cross-curricular and can be modified to suit all grade and language levels.  Best of all, each strategy is low-prep and places students at the center of their own learning- which is exactly where we want them.  

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4-PLEX

This activity encourages vocabulary development, especially that which builds throughout a unit or text.  Students draw a set of perpendicular lines on a paper to create four equal segments (or fold a piece of paper into fourths). 

In the upper left section, students will write a vocabulary word.  In the upper right quadrant, they will illustrate the word.  The lower left section will contain a sentence with the vocabulary word underlined or highlighted.  In the last quadrant, students will produce a definition. 

Older students may create smaller versions of this exercise in a personal notebook, with multiple 4-square organizers per page. Alternatively, students can work to complete these organizers in groups of 2 or 4 to encourage cooperative talk and collaborative skills. 

CAPTAIN

This activity allows students to study content vocabulary and practice speaking and listening skills in a fast-paced game format. Begin by dividing the class into two teams. Arrange teams so that all but one student from each group is facing a whiteboard or Smartboard. Position two chairs (one for each team) so that they face the members of their group, with the backs to the whiteboard or Smartboard.

One student from each team sits in the chair so that he or she can see their teammates, but not the writing space. He or she is the "captain". The remaining team members form a line facing the chair. The facilitator records a vocabulary word from a familiar unit of study on the board. The student at the head of each line aims for the captain to name the correct response without actually saying, drawing, or spelling the target word. The team whose "captain" says the word first gets a point. Line leaders from both lines move to the end of the line and the next student steps up, repeating the process.

Once all students have described a word to the captain, the chairperson moves to the end of the line and the line leader becomes the next captain. This process repeats until all vocabulary words are used.

CLOSED SORT

Closed sorts allow students to process new information and vocabulary in a guided, structured way. Sort decks can be made ahead of time, and for very young learners this may be ideal. Generally, it is best to have students create their own sort decks as a means of practicing reading and writing skills. Sorts can be completed independently, but partner work is even more beneficial in that it encourages collaborative problem solving and exercises listening and speaking components. To create sort decks, students can use a class generated list, personal dictionary or unit vocabulary wall to write individual vocabulary words on index cards (or halved index cards).

In a closed sort, the facilitator clearly defines the sort groups for students in advance. For example, an animal sort might include the categories: mammal, reptile, bird, fish, amphibian. An earth sciences sort might include the categories: rock, mineral, fossil. Students work to organize their cards in alignment with the pre-determined categories. Students’ work should be validated by a teacher, textbook or pre-made answer key.

OBJECT-VERB MATCH

The Object-Verb Match activity reinforces the relationship between nouns and verbs. It encourages students to share existing vocabulary knowledge and to explore new language in an interactive context. The activity is best suited for students up to 5th grade and emergent higher-grade learners.

Facilitator uses sentence strips or sticky notes on pieces of butcher paper to post various nouns around the room. As an alternative, images of various nouns (ex: horse, towel, archaeologist) may be posted. *Note: vocabulary that is specifically related to a text/topic of study is suggested.

Students are invited to walk the room, visiting each noun. Learners use the space on each piece of butcher paper to identify and record as many corresponding verbs as possible for each noun posted. Once completed (a timer is recommended), students may be invited to compose sentences using the identified vocabulary, act out the verbs at each station, or discuss contributions in an inside-outside circle format. Examples- Horse: gallop, trot, run, glide, prance, jump, leap, eat, walk, canter, race.  Towel: wipe, dry, clean, mop, wring, wash, dry, hang, use, share, spread.   Archaeologist: dig, explore, discover, search(ing), examine, think, brush, study, write/record, travel, talk, save/preserve, protect, carry, store.

OPEN SORT

Sorting activities allow students to process new information and vocabulary in a guided, structured way. Open sorts are similar to closed sorts but differ in one critical area. In a closed sort, the organizational categories are pre-determined by the facilitator. In an open sort, students will work independently or in workgroups to devise, define and label their own categories, with only limited guidance from a teacher.

This process encourages critical thinking, rationalization, and problem-solving skills. For this reason, open sorts are best suited to older learners and intermediate/advanced language learners. It is best to have students create their own sort decks as a means of practicing reading and writing skills.

To create sort decks, students can use a class-generated list, personal dictionary, or unit vocabulary wall to write individual vocabulary words on index cards (or halved index cards). Within small collaborative workgroups, learners strategize a rationale for organizing cue cards. *Note: group end products do not need to mirror each other. Groups may be asked to present their sort and rationale to the class. Student work should be validated by a teacher, textbook, or pre-made answer key. For limited proficiency modification, see "Closed Sort" activity.

SYNONYM RACE
Synonym race is a collaborative activity that guides students in exploring similar-meaning words. To prepare for this activity, create identical sets of play cards to be used for groups of students working together (3-5 groups recommended). Cards can be printed and cut or written on index cards.  Play cards should contain adjectives that students may or may not be familiar with.

To play, divide students into working groups and distribute a play deck to each group. For each round of playing, facilitator calls out one adjective that is not included in the decks but is a synonym for a word in the deck. (Ex: Silly: Amusing.  Interesting: Fascinating.  Run:Dash). Groups of students must shuffle through their decks, locate a synonym, negotiate a word (if necessary), and either hold up the selection or write it on a white board. The first group to do so gets a point. Facilitator or a student records all synonym matches in a visible location.

This process continues until decks are exhausted. To close the exercise, students independently write the list of synonyms (and, for upper level students, come up with additional synonyms for each word) into their personal dictionaries, synonym study book, pre-made worksheet or alternative space.

THIEF IN THE MIX

This is an engaging game that allows students to practice the use of verb conjugation while exercising all four language domains. Prior to the start of the lesson, the facilitator creates a class set of index cards with sentence clauses that students will use to construct complete first-person sentences. (Ex: trombone player, last year; dance teacher, 6 years; Lego expert, 4 years old). For early language learners or very young students, sentence stems will be more appropriate.

Pass out index cards to students. Explain that something is now missing from the classroom and that there are a designated number of "thieves" in the class (3-5). The students must now become detectives and seek out the thieves.

To do this, students will need to circulate the room. When they encounter a partner, they have two roles. First, if using a clause card, they must share the detail about themselves. (I have been a trombone player since last year. I have been a dance teacher for 6 years. I have been a Lego expert since I was 4.) Then, the partner records the information in the third person. (He has been a trombone player since last year. She has been a dance teacher for 6 years. She's been a Lego expert since she was 4.) Roles reverse.

When this process is complete, students find a new partner. The game continues for a designated amount of time or through a set number of partners. Finally, the facilitator reveals the details of the "thieves". Those students whose index cards match a description of a thief come forward and read their sentences to the class. As an alternative, all students can practice reading their sentences in an Inside-Outside Circle or similar format.

WORD EXCHANGE

Word Exchange is a strategy that engages learners in all of the language domains. To begin, distribute index cards with vocabulary words written or printed on them. The other half of the class receives index cards with matching vocabulary definitions. Have students read and become comfortable with the cards, offering assistance where needed. Next, students are prompted to circulate the room interacting, exchanging ideas, and problem-solving to match each new word with its corresponding definition.

Once pairs are set (is it wise to have students confirm definition using text glossary, picture dictionary or another resource), they can move to the next step. Partners may compose and display labeled drawings, graphic organizers (such as the Frayer model), songs, or skits to explain the target word. For added linguistic practice, allow each pair an opportunity to present their word set to the class.

WORD RELAY

This activity incorporates kinesthetic engagement as it encourages students to actively demonstrate collaborative skills, content understanding, and sentence building. To begin, students are divided into teams of three to six participants. Each team assumes a “home base” in a corner or side of the room. The facilitator places one deck of cards in the center of the room. This deck of cards contains content/unit-specific words. A second set of cards is placed next to the first. This deck contains sentence building cards, including various prepositions, conjunctions, punctuation marks, and “double underline” cards (indicating the use of a capital letter).

When cued, one person from each team approaches the cards, selects one from each pile, and returns to his or her “base”. This process continues until one team has constructed a full, meaningful sentence, complete with appropriate sequencing and punctuation. Members of the finished team may join other teams as they continue to play until completion.

WORD STRENGTH

Word Strength is best suited for intermediate and advanced language learners. The exercise helps students to better understand subtle gradients in adjectives within like categories. The facilitator's role is to guide students in the process of ordering feeling words from the least to the most exaggerated meaning. This can be achieved in a group or independent context.

To complete the group version on a smartboard or large piece of chart paper, begin with a horizontal line stretching from one side of the workspace to the other. Distribute index cards with pre-recorded target adjectives. In the early stages, it is best to begin with a limited number of cards (3-5), working up to as many as twenty.

Students work collaboratively to organize words on the gradient of intensity. The use of personal dictionaries, anchor charts, contextual text or other resources is encouraged. Example 1: icy, frigid, cold, chilly, lukewarm, warm, toasty, hot, scalding. Example 2: evil, wicked, mean, aloof, indifferent, cordial, friendly, affectionate. The same process can be repeated on a smaller scale for independent work and/or station work.

Ready to dig deeper? These activities (and many others) were created by Refugee Classroom as part of the comprehensive EduSkills platform. Learn more at eduskills.us.

EduSkills is an educational services and school data analysis company serving schools and districts Pre-K through 12th grade. EduSkills collaborates with schools and districts in order to help teachers and administrators become high-performing outcome-based educators with a clear focus on high-level student achievement.

ELLs & the Silent Period

The following is an excerpt from The Newcomer Student: An Educator’s Guide to Aid Tranisition (Roman & Littlefield International, 2016). Interesting in exploring the full book? Find it on Amazon, Roman & Littlefield, or your favorite retailer.

The Silent Period & Obstructed Speech

The effects of a child’s emotional and psychiatric distress are routinely fleshed out in the Newcomer classroom.   Often, the first of these symptoms are speech-related.  In many cases, newly resettled students endure a period of marked silence.  Silence is usually ascribed to the process of emotional transitioning.  During the silent phase, which last for variant lengths of time, an individual will not express thoughts in the host language, either out of reluctance or inability.[1]  Those who experience this phenomenon are sometimes referred to as “shell shocked”.[1] [1]  The silent phase can last a period of days, weeks, or months.

In addition to silence, exposure to traumatic episodes at any period in a child’s life can trigger recurring nightmares and cognitive delays, as well as speech “freezes” and impediments. Such blocks include stuttering.  Newcomer students who exhibit impeded speech should also be evaluated for traumatic stress.  

Both silence and stuttering have a need to be addressed in the classroom.  To begin, students should not be expected or mandated to produce oral language before they are ready.   It is also wise to avoid situations that might embarrass new language learners, including publicly calling on them to speak before they are ready.  We can be careful to offer caring encouragement and guidance.  Also, we are responsible to practice patient wait time for processing speakers.  In doing so, we model this behavior for other students.  

Specific classroom accommodations must be in place to support language learners, and particularly non-verbal ELLs.  First, to achieve this, a healthy and nurturing learning environment is critical.  Small group engagement, tactile activities and positive feedback may encourage speech attempts and decrease overall anxiety.  Alternative-expression tasks, such as drawing-and-labeling, script singing, or charade acting can provide additional opportunities to demonstrate knowledge in a language-centric environment.  

Of course, kindness and caring are often the most influential antidotes to stress-stemmed silence.  In the context of non-verbal ELLs, relationship and safety are everything.   Simply, security induces speech. 

Nine 21st Century Assets for ELLs

SOURCE: Louise Kreuzer (El Yaafouri), The Newcomer Student: An Educator’s Guide to Aid Transition, Rowman & Littlefield International Press, 2016.

21st century learning promotes the application of rigorous thinking patterns across content domains through performance-based activities, while encouraging learners to effectively utilize technology and other resources to achieve performance goals. For English language learners, opportunities to organically experience real-life learning are doubly critical.  In these situations, students are supported in negotiating social cues, cultural nuance and contextual shifts in linguistic expression. 

Healthy 21st-century instruction nurtures active and engaged learning by providing students with meaningful and authentic tasks throughout the school day.  Authentic learning fosters creativity, problem-solving skills, and social efficacy.  For all students, learning through authentic engagement enables 21st century efficacy.

Authentic learning is rooted in:

(a) Independent choice making;

(b) Opportunities for challenge;

(c) A range of intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors; and

(d) Connections to the self, one’s learning, and the broader world context.

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Here we’ll define nine critical 21st century assets as they specifically relate to ELLs; and we’ll explore corresponding authentic tasks that promote development in each asset domain.

Asset 1: Innovative Communication

Communication skills are evidenced through social media and email platforms, phone etiquette, interviewing skills, a firm handshake, or the means to compose a well-written proposal. These assets are observed at lunchroom tables, on the playground, and the respectful shift in tone when a child addresses an authority figure. Beyond these basics, students must be capable of inventing and maneuvering in much more progressive bands of exchange.

Innovative communication incorporates a fluid capacity to engage and interact with people across multiple platforms of age, race, culture, religion, language, political inclination, exposure, and experience. It involves an attuned awareness to social nuances, and an aptitude for interpersonal navigation—networking, negotiating, peacekeeping, contextual management, and appropriate expressiveness. Communication skills, essentially, are people skills.

In the context of ELLs, promoting communication skills begins with the cultivation of safety, trust and individual self-confidence. It is demonstrated when we allow for multiple levels of expressive ability: oral output, drawing, labeling, singing, signing, writing, building, acting, expression or body language.  

We can continue to encourage growth by activating any of the following communication support cues:

1. Let them talk. Refer back to collaborative practices . . . and let them go! 


2.Limit teacher talk. The only way to really get students talking is to give them room to speak. By most figures, TTT (teacher talk time) should only 
account for 20%–30% of overall lesson time. Less of us, more of them. 


3.Let the games begin! Small and whole group game playing encourages practical communication and strategic problem-solving skills in a non- 
threatening setting. 


4.Model behavior.Do gently correct incorrect or inventive speech by repeat
ing the question or response in the amended format. 


5.Encourage descriptive speech and writing through questioning and hands- 
on learning. 


Asset 2: Critical Thinking Capacity

Critical thinking employs higher-level applications and solution-seeking strategies that can be tied to one grounding conclusion.  It demands analyzing properties and the ability to employ inductive, deductive, and/or alternative reasoning tactics as applicable.  Consequently, creative thinkers create and explore many ideas, possibilities, and opportunities.

Critical thinking and reasoning supports balanced judgment and sound decision-making by inviting thinkers to interpret information and conscientiously reflect upon precise predictions and decisions.  These skill sets are also intertwined with outside-the-box thinking, an essential component in creative solution seeking. As educators, it becomes our responsibility to endorse critical thinking and reasoning skills as viable components of twenty-first-century instruction.

Asset 3: Creativity

Creativity is the convergence of curiosity and problem-solving abilities. It is brought to life when humans see, feel, hear, and experience the world in original ways. Creative thinking leads to innovative ideas, which may manifest into novel designs, products, tools, solution sets, or thought output. Creative functioning follows a predictable pattern, or a life span of thought from creation to execution.

The creativity platform involves three elemental steps:

·      Naming the challenge,

·      Solution seeking (problem solving) for the challenge, and

·      Defining resolution.

Inventive skills aid our students in navigating their future lives. They fit into managing finances, negotiating travel itineraries, and coordinating college schedules. They also inspire works of art, the wording of a term paper, or a personal decision to alter a daily task for greater efficiency. Essentially, creative individuals are better equipped to meet the challenges of 21st century life.

We can nurture creativity in the classroom in an infinite number of ways. We can begin by setting aside time for imaginative exploration. Inventive thinking can be further supported through cooperative talk and technology integration, where applicable. As we plan our lessons, we can be cognizant in our efforts to provide students with multiple formats in which to demonstrate efficacy and understanding. Some learners feel more inspired when soft music is playing, when they can craft, act, or sing out their thoughts, or when they are able to kinesthetically problem solve for a solution.

Mechanisms for encouraging creativity in the classroom are also indicators for sheltered instruction. That is, we very likely nudge our students’ imagination as an existing byproduct of the Newcomer/ELL instruction model. If we consider creativity as an essential 21st century virtue, then we can be inspired to (creatively!) continue and expand upon our efforts to reinforce these skills.

Asset 4: Flexibility

Flexibility is demonstrated by an individual’s capacity to accept and adapt to change. These particular skill sets are usually situational; and thus are influenced by time, variable outcome, artistic influence, personality, feedback, negotiation, and other sensitivities. They are essential 21st century competencies.

Flexibility carries various faces and weights. It can mean adjusting to variant schedules and routines; adapting to shifting roles, such as weekly changes in classroom job assignments; or the ability to digest and respond to both positive and negative feedback. Ultimately, this form of intra-personal dexterity is a reflection of a person’s capacity to cope with unpredictability and other unknowns.

For our Newcomers ELLs, flexibility can carry a pronounced load. Our learners must adapt at extreme levels to situations that may be entirely new. Newcomers may be experts in flexibility long before they reach our classrooms. Many have learned to make creative adjustments when predicted food sources are not available; when home takes on a very mobile meaning; when loss and uncertainty occurs; and when financial resources exist as ebb and flow commodities.  In laying the groundwork for these demographics, structure, stability and predictability must be established, as essential markers of security.

Preparing our students for twenty-first-century success also means making room for opportunities to practice flexibility, but with safety nets in place. This can be accomplished by occasionally shifting reading group compositions, or by reversing the order of learning stations for a day. It sometimes helps to create the shift for something fun and memorable, such as an outside scavenger hunt during a scheduled block, or hosting unannounced reading buddies for an afternoon.

Asset 5: Self-Initiative

Self-initiative calls for independent goal setting, as well as the ability to effectively prioritize, monitor, and manage resources- including time, learning, and productivity. This family of skill sets is grounded in self-regulation, self-management, and strategic ownership. Self-initiating learners find direction with limited outside prompting, and are inspired to continuously develop in a target area or areas.  Self-initiation strengths are key indicators for 21st century success; and for Newcomer students, self-initiative can also enhance the possibility for timely and vigorous integration into the host society.

In the aim of fostering self-initiation skills, we can:

·      Offer a range of learning materials to pique a spectrum of interests.

·      Aid students in naming and understanding a baseline data point for a specific aim, such as math facts competency.

·      Offer guidance in identifying a goal point (advanced students can provide reasoning and explanation).

·      Mentor students in record keeping (such as graphing score values weekly) throughout the goal-seeking process.

·      Praise unyielding efforts as efforts in any regard, and celebrate failures as incredible opportunities for new understanding and growth.

Our mindfulness to these basic foundations helps us guide our students as they evolve from reactive to proactive participants in learning, and ultimately, develop as self-initiating individuals.

Asset 6: Leadership Skills

Leadership skills involve persuading others toward the accomplishment of a specific aim or aims, meanwhile exercising integrity, ethical maturity, interpersonal skills, strategic problem solving, and awareness for the common good.   In as much as leadership entails guiding, it must also encompass diplomacy, fairness, and equity. True leaders bear in mind the best interests of the whole, and they comprehend the divergence between imperiousness and spirited, pragmatic headship.

Opportunities to exercise leadership in the school setting should be governed by parameters of equity and accountability, virtues that should also be modeled by adult guides.  In the classroom setting, leadership skills are fostered through interactive activities that include project planning, team building, time and project management, goal setting, problem solving, and diversity awareness.

Leadership skills are unique in that they can be directly applied to all other faculties of 21st century development (and may effectively enhance or diminish the efficacy of any area where they are applied). The school setting, with all its safety nets in place, is an ideal ground for testing, modifying, and strengthening healthy leadership abilities.

Asset 7: Accountability and Productivity

Accountability and productivity are two separate 21st century functions that are inherently linked to one another.  Productivity entails envisioning a goal, and then implementing the specific procedures and protocol necessary to ensure completion of the overall task or objective. The process demands preplanning, careful management of time and physical resources, the ability to work under pressure and satisfy deadlines, and a willingness to accept and grow from positive and negative feedback.

Accountability is the ownership piece. Accountable individuals demonstrate a sense of duty and proprietorship for their work and personal choices. This is where the doing and the character of the doer meet.  Combined, these skill sets require that individuals work hard, work effectively, and take responsibility for their work

Accountability and productivity skills are encouraged through:

·      Partnerships with essential skill sets, such as creativity and collaboration.

·      Collaborative exchange

·      Clearly communicated objectives

·      Carefully defined rubrics (picture rubrics are appropriate for Newcomers)

·      Diminished teacher talk time

·      Sentence stems, which lay the groundwork for on-task talk.

·      Brain breaks provide, which fresh blood flow and focus energy

·      Use of appropriate technology input, which saves time and develops expertise.

·      Involving parents can also deeply enhance students’ accountability and productivity aims.

Asset 8: Civic Duty and Social Fluidity

Civic competency involves a cognizance of social structure and policy. It invokes an understanding of personal choices and liberties that are available under a given civil framework, as well as the duties and obligations that define good citizenship.

Civic education assumes additional complexity in the Newcomer setting as new customs, expectations, holidays, and citizenship protocol in the host setting are absorbed, learned, and embraced.  ELLs might also be responsible for transferring an awareness of basic laws and citizenship frameworks to adult family members or to grow into their roles as citizens in the new country alongside their adult counterparts.

Civic learning in the classroom occurs through:

·      Direct instruction about the government, governmental leaders and history, and normative social values (Ex, creating a classroom city, government and/or court; designing character maps of a good citizen; giving news reports; or conducting relevant author studies)

·      Modeling of essential platforms, such as democratic participation and good citizenship

·      Explicit teaching of civic dispositions  (or character virtues), including:

• moral responsibility

• integrity

• self-discipline,

• respect

• the ability to compromise,

• empathy

• a commitment to obeying laws, and a cognizance of human interconnectedness.

• Community engagement, such as volunteer service or interviewing.

• Civic-minded interactive classroom activities     

Asset 9: Technology Literacy

21st century learners must become adept manipulators of technological resources.  In order to fully contribute in the modern workforce, students must enjoy ownership of technological mastery and online etiquette- but should also recognize and aspire to a healthy balance between technological connectivity and direct social interaction. How do we integrate technology in our classroom and at our school? How could we increase and expand upon learners’ opportunities to employ technology in their educational processes? How do we define, model, and hold students accountable for issues of ethics regarding technology and digital information?

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Our students, inclusive of our English language learners, will be expected to achieve proficiency in every facet of 21st century functionality. The tools needed to thrive as productive adults begin in our classrooms today. By striving to incorporate authentic tasks, we can help students develop their nine key assets and foster true 21st century success.

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Branson, Margaret S. (1989). International and Citizenship Education: Need and Nexus.

Cain, Jim, Michelle Cummings & Jennifer Stanchfie (2005). A Teachable Moment: A Facilitator’s Guide to Activities for Processing, Debriefing, Reviewing and Reflection (1st Ed). Kendall Hunt Publishing.

Cash, Richard M, Ed.D (2010). Advancing Differentiation: Thinking and Learning for the 21st Century. Free Spirit Publishing.

Hay, I., & Dempster, N. (2004). Student Leadership Development within a School Curriculum Framework. In

Iowa Department of Education (2010). Iowa Core K-12 21st Century Skills: Essential Concepts and Skills with Details and Examples. Located at https://www. educateiowa.gov/sites/files/ed/documents/K-12_21stCentSkills_0.pdf. Retrieved May 2014.



Lai, Emily R. (2011). Critical Thinking: A Literature Review. Research Report. Pearson Publishing. Located at images.pearsonassessments.com/images/ tmrs/CriticalThinkingReviewFINAL.pdf. Retrieved Feb, 2015.


Partnerships for 21st Century Learning (2009). P21 Framework Definitions. Located at p21.org. Retrieved July 2011. 


Trilling, Bernie and Charles Fadel (2007). 21st Century Skills: Learning For Life In Our Times (1st Ed). Jossey-Bass. 


Van Briesen, Jeanne M. (2009). Oral presentation for Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Carnegie Mellon University. Located at nae.edu. Retrieved May 2015. 


Dramatic Play & Language Learning

from The Newcomer Student: An Educator’s Guide to Aid Transition, Louise Kreuzer-El Yaafouri, Roman & Littlefield International Press, 2016.

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Dramatic play is a natural and inherent piece of healthy child development, fostering both language and intellectual capabilities. Dramatics are pertinent to the Newcomer classroom in that they allow for expressed emotion and understanding, even with limited use of the host language. Learners who have not yet become comfortable in the new language framework have an opportunity to discover a “voice” through acting-out processes. These types of constructive experiences can be freeing for the student, revealing for the educator, and base building for the learning community. Beyond all of this, drama is just plain, old-fashioned fun!

One outcome of dramatic play is emotional exploration. Emotional exploration that occurs within a sheltered environment can provide many benefits, especially working with resettled refugee populations, where grief and traumatic exposure are routinely elevated. In positive, carefully crafted settings, dramatic learning structures can provide safe and healthy platforms for combined emotional and vocabulary growth. Meanwhile, theatrics function as a valid comprehension assessment that can be exclusive of the language piece.

For example, guided role-play, in which students silently act out various emotions, can satisfy the aim of associating specific facial features and body language with a given circumstance. In a literary setting, learners may be asked to show a character’s facial expressions (link: feelings); or to mime or act out character traits, actions, or whole scenes. As it is said, the best way to know something is to be it. Here are a few fun starters!

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1.              Create A Human Machine

            Begin with one or two connected children creating a simple, repetitive sound.  Children contribute to the machine by entering the work space one at a time, connecting to another part of the machine by some body part, and adding a new beep, honk, bend, squat, jump or squish.  After: Discuss questions, insights, new vocabulary and celebrated demonstrations of creativity.

2.              “Two Noses”

            Invite students to circumambulate the room.  Facilitator calls out a) a number and b) a body part.  Learners respond to the prompt by aligning themselves with the appropriate number of people, touching at the corresponding body part.  For example, three elbows would play out with three students connected to each other in some way by their elbows.  Encourage children to be creative in their connective choices and formations.  This process continues: 4 knees, 6 thumbs, 2 backs, or 5 shins.  This is a fun and creative means of team building; it also functions as a valuable opportunity for vocabulary acquisition.  

3.              Still Pictures/Tableaus

            Working in small groups, students create frozen snap shots of a scene from a text.  Tableaus can capture setting, character thought or emotion, sequence of events.  This is terrific for group work, and also as a means of evaluating individual understanding and participation.

4.              Act It Out

          Read and discuss a text with students (The Hungry Caterpillar, for example), and then ask them play out the story alongside a narration.  This is an entertaining process for all involved!  More than this, dramatic role play is engaging and meaningful for the students, and it meanwhile offers educators a valid formative assessment of learner comprehension.  Other ideas: plant life cycle, character reaction, imaginative journey (to another planet, say), migration trails, bullying responses, historical enactments, or the life of a drop of water.  This is also a great activity for acting out dialogue or the sequence of events in a story or text.

5.              True Theatrics

          Simple plays at early reading levels are fantastic for developing and practicing reading fluency.  Mask making can incorporate a host of various cultural and country traditions.  Puppetry allows for student creativity, reading fluency, imaginative skills, and the ability to act without fully revealing or exposing themselves.  Set the stage!

6.              Human Knot

          Students form a close circle, hands open and facing toward the center of the circle.  Each participant reaches for two hands.  The hands should not belong to the same person, or be joined to an immediate neighbor.  Slowly, and with some coaching, students try to unravel their human knot without disconnecting their hands.  This process stimulates teamwork, problem-solving skills and creativity.

7.              Treasure Chest

          Students sit in a circle.  One student is blindfolded and stands inside the circle.  An object (scarf, piece of paper, stuffed animal) is placed somewhere inside the circle.  Taking turns, participants will guide the blindfolded learner to the treasure chest, practicing the usage of descriptive and clear directions.  (Take three baby steps forward, then turn right…)  Exchange roles.  This process enables students to give and follow prompts, practice directional cue words and creatively problem solve toward a solution.

8.              One Word Story

         Sitting in a circle, the first person offers a single word to begin a story.  The next person contributes the second word of the story, and so on.  The story may shift and change unexpectedly, but should ultimately find closing.  This exercise is great for sense-making, sequencing, and vocabulary building; meanwhile, it is a fun team-building activity.  Certain parameters may be set in advance (theme, topic, unit vocabulary).   Recorded sessions are excellent opportunities for practicing recorded dictation and/or recall, story continuation, and listening station options, among others.

9.              What Are You Doing?

          Divide students in half; one group will be an audience.  The acting group of students forms two straight lines vertically facing the audience.   One of the two students in front begins a verb motion (for example, eating lunch).  The other student asks, What Are You Doing?  The first student replies with a new verb.  I’m brushing my teeth. 

            The second student immediately begins acting out this verb, while the first student goes to the back of his or her line.  The next student in line steps up and asks, “What are you doing?”  The active student responds with a new verb, I’m driving my car, and returns to the back of the line.  The process continues until all players have had a turn.  Actors and audience reverse.

         This is a fantastic vocabulary building game!  For ELLs- if a student can create an action, but is without the English word for it, the audience may kindly assist!  A high five to the audience can signal, “Help me out, here!”  Both sides love this!

10.           Miming

          Give a specific direction.  Model miming exact directive.  For example, Sharpen your pencil.  Open your book. Think. Have an idea. Feel the window and look out. Invite students to join.  Continue, without modeling.  This is a great exercise to check for understanding without language restriction. Miming is also effective for story lines and plot directives.

11.           Mock Interviews

          Author study?  Character study?  New science material? Covering world topics or key figures in history? Perfect for an interview!  Students can conduct this activity in pairs, or as a larger group interviewing a panel of experts.  Many learners, especially ELLs, may need specific insight and modeling regarding the interviewer/interviewee relationship.  Graphic organizers specific to the topic may also be very useful for recording responses. 

12.           Scene Improvisations

          Students divide into small teams.  Each team selects an index card with a scenario or location (at the grocery store; on the bus; at the pool; at a birthday party; at the zoo; learning to ride a bike; losing a tooth).  Teams act out the scenario or a short bit that would reveal the location, without actually saying the actual name of the scenario/locale aloud.  Observing teams will attempt to guess the index card cue correctly.

13.           Emotion Party

          Have students pretend they are going to a fancy party.  One student, acting as the host, will begin in the stage space alone, waiting for guests to arrive.  Another student will knock on the door, and be let in by the host.  The guest, without using words, will show an emotion.  (Silent emotions may work best in the classroom setting). The host, upon understanding the new emotion, will immediately assume the same energy. 

            A new guest will arrive, with a new emotion.  Everyone at the party will demonstrate this new emotion, and so on, until all guests have arrived.  Once everyone has had a turn to enter, each will leave in the order they arrived, with the emotion they came with.

This is a wonderful chance to explore emotions.Beginning learners will demonstrate simple facial expressions, and will match them with baseline vocabulary- happy, sad, mad, or tired.More advanced students will be able to apply other body language and may also be able to reach beyond basic word use, exploring higher level synonyms and altogether new ranges of emotion.

Viewing Heritage Language from an Asset-Based Lens

The following is an excerpt from The Newcomer Student: An Educator’s guide to Aid Transition by Louise Kreuzer-El Yaafouri (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016), available HERE or HERE.

ORAL LANGUAGE: THE VOICE OF BELONGING

Language shapes how we think, and the influx of recent immigrants from hundreds of linguistic backgrounds presents a unique challenge to American schools. (1)

Oral language is very often the centerpiece of cultural cohesiveness, as it makes communication possible. Communication, meanwhile, is the foundation of human interconnectedness. Beyond allowing for the rituals of communal exchange, oral language is the primary platform upon which creative expression and universal sense making are constructed. It tells the story of the beginning, the end, and everything in between. It relates the family tree, defines social norms, solidifies romance, and generates war. Our world is made up of words.

All cultures demonstrate a high degree of oral reliance.(2) In certain regions, the communicative aspects of a culture permeate and sustain every grain of social function. In fact, most non-Western languages are rooted heavily in oral tradition. Many cultures are far more reliant upon verbal output and body language than printed text as a means of communicative exchange. Many of our new-to-English students come from these rich oral-centric backgrounds.

In much of Africa, for example, it is common for an individual to demonstrate agility in multiple local and national tongues, even when literacy abilities are restricted. In communities where legal contracts can be accomplished with a verbal handshake, print concepts may be extraneous to successful daily living. Of course, we understand that literacy is nonnegotiable for our students. Still, it may be helpful to understand the utter potency and significance of oral language in the Newcomer setting.

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FINDING BALANCE: SUPPORTING HOST-LANGUAGE GROWTH & HERITAGE LANGUAGE PRESERVATION

The ultimate goal of the Newcomer framework is to facilitate English language learning at an accelerated rate, and to prepare students for continued mainstream scholastic and post-school successes. As previously mentioned, one of the best courses of action that we can take in enhancing host language development is to outspokenly value and actively encourage heritage language preservation. While this may seem counterintuitive, research continues to illuminate the benefits of this practice.(3)

The most significant reasons for heritage language preservation have to do with maintaining a coherent self-identity.(4) Moreover, native language acts as a tie that unites families and ethnic communities. When this tie is severed, a sense of belonging is compromised.

A majority of ELLs who are successful in maintaining heritage and host languages also perform better academically than ELLs who are restricted to host language learning at the expense of heritage language.(5) This trend has been documented in standardized testing, as well as in ACTs and SATs. Bilingualism impacts the brain in profound ways, enhancing cognitive function and long-term memory (including the proven delay of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease).(6)

Dual-language skills also enrich problem-solving abilities, promote flexibility and multitasking abilities, and provide for future opportunities with regard to college learning and beyond.(7)

Meanwhile, valuing heritage languages in the classroom encourages tolerance, global awareness, and belonging. Maintaining the host language can also expedite host language acquisition.(8,9) Shawn Loewen writes: “It is important for second language children to feel that their first language and culture are valued and respected. It is particularly important for refugee children . . . to use their first language with other children, their teachers, and at home.”(10)

In the classroom context, we can enable heritage language preservation by allowing our students periods of time where they are encouraged to communicate with linguistically similar students, where applicable, for a short period, and repeating out thoughts in English. We can provide texts representing a variety of cultures and/or languages (see chapter 8 for a multicultural reading list), and we can relay to parents, through a translator when necessary, the importance of maintaining heritage language skills in the home. Through and because of first language fluency, second (or third) language efficacy is more likely to occur.

Welcoming Newcomer Students

The following is an excerpt from The Newcomer Teacher: An Educator’s Guide to Aid Transition (Rowman & Littlefied International) available HERE.

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We know that a whole family approach serves our students’ highest learning welfares. We understand that community interest and involvement is a school asset with tremendous payouts.  However, such presence is not instantaneous or guaranteed.  Instead, it is meticulously cultivated.  Who is responsible for this charge?  The school and its’ staff. Us.

Strong community relations cannot occur without strong communication efforts by the school.   In fact, robust school-to-home communication is an apparent quality of America’s healthiest schools.  Positive community outreach disseminates the breakdown of barriers between families and the school and endorses collaboration.  Communication is a crux of school success, and it is one that requires support, nurturing, and creative perseverance. (8).

A school can work to foster whole family engagement in any combination of ways.  The most common efforts include outreach and inclusion programs.  In our classrooms, we also employ home visits, conferencing, parent/guardian correspondence and volunteer/chaperone opportunities.  (9).

The same communication tactics are applicable in Newcomer settings.  However, they demand significant manipulation and elaboration in order to be successful.  The truth is that home communication in multi-lingual, exceptionally diverse school settings doesn’t always go over so smoothly.  There are translations, liaisons, caseworkers and older-child spokespersons.  There are misunderstandings, misgivings, fears, and discomforts.  There are frustrations, question marks, and lines of cultural jurisdiction.  There is language, language, and language. 

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Despite obvious exchange barriers, the roots of parent-school partnership efforts are generally coherent across all socio-economic platforms.  In most cases, parents in every category do wish the very best for their children.  Similarly, the vast majority of teachers also manifest high hopes and expectations for every single student in their care. 

This is the meeting ground.  Under optimal conditions, the school is synonymous with safety and collaboration.  It is viewed as an action point for trustful collaboration.  In the Newcomer setting, this is non-negotiable, as many families may not be aware of or comfortable with Western academic expectations.  That’s a big responsibility.  We must make the most of it.

Teaching Resiliency: A Tool Kit

Resilience is the ability to negotiate and recover from adversity. Humans experience all kinds of unique life experiences that demand an element of resiliency in order to move forward. We may endure physical illness, family dysfunction, abuse, transition, migration, loss or defeat.

We are also hard-wired with tools to overcome these events. We add to this tool box of healthy coping mechanisms as we move through life. We experience significant events that require us to manage defeat and rise again, and we also observe resilient-oriented behaviors of others who pass through struggle.

Sometimes, our ability to overcome adversity becomes compromised- perhaps our systems have become overwhelmed by challenge or we have not had access to healthy examples of resilience (or we have noted plenty of examples of unhealthy coping behaviors). Because resiliency is largely learned, students can benefit from lessons that explicitly teach and allow for practice of resilience-oriented behaviors.

In speaking to a school-based approach to resilience, I find it helpful to examine the concept from four lenses: foundation, regulation, incorporation and education.

Foundation

Foundation, in the context of achieving resilience, relates to the meeting of basic needs.  Access to essential goods and services such as healthy food, clean water, clothing, transportation and medical care are considered foundational to resilience. Other features of resilient children include a sense of safety and “access to open spaces and free play”, which enriches multi-faceted age-appropriate development (1).   Discrimination plays a role in determining a baseline for resiliency, too.   As incidences of prejudice, discrimination and bullying are decreased, resilience is encouraged. 

Regulation

Resilient individuals are capable of self-regulation.  That is, they have developed healthy ways to negotiate and recover from unexpected or undesirable life events. (4) Healthy regulation mechanisms include self-soothing, creative problem solving, acknowledging and keeping boundaries, practicing bravery, calculated risk-taking, asking for help, flexibility and exercising a sense of humor when things don’t go as planned.

Incorporation

A sense of belonging, or “feeling valued and respected within a community”, is critical to resilience. (3) (4) Children, in particular, need to be able to identify specific people and places that make them feel welcomed and protected.   Positive recognition and inclusion are critical tenants of belonging. (3) Positive relationships matter, and a diversified portfolio of relationships is ideal: family members, school friendships, non-school friendships, teachers and mentors. (1) Research indicates a a robust support community- and a deep sense of belonging within that community- are strong indicators for resilience.  (2)

Education

Resilience can impact student learning; and learning can influence resiliency.  Those who have their basic needs met and belong to the learning community- are more receptive to receiving and storing new information.  Similarly, students may gain confidence through learning and sharing existing strengths, which promotes resilience. (4) Many indicators for resilience are embedded throughout the school day: organization, relationship building, access to play, opportunities to share expertise, and practicing commitment and follow-through.

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From each of these four lenses, let’s explore some ways that we can actively approach resiliency and engage students in resilience-oriented behaviors at school.

FOUNDATION

Students cannot learn when they do not feel safe.  Similarly, they will struggle to process new information after a poor night’s sleep or missed breakfast.   Those who are facing social challenges, such as discrimination or bullying, may find it impossible to concentrate on the learning at hand. So, before we address the curriculum, we must address the learner.  How are our students showing up for each learning day?  How can we encourage those students who come to school in survival brain move toward learning brain… and stay there?

One of my favorite activities is the Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, or DBT House.  You can visit the activity description and view students samples HERE.   The strategy is also available in the book, The Newcomer Fieldbook (Louise El Yaafouri), available HERE. 

The DBT House exercise allows a glimpse into students’ lives, so that we re better able to meet them where they are.  To foster resiliency, I like to follow the DBT House with this “Being Safe” lesson from Resilient Tutor Group:  View it HERE.

PROMOTING ACCESS TO BASIC NEEDS AT SCHOOL

·      Learning on the Move

·      7 C’s of Resilience VIDEO

·      Change Kids Lives

ANTI-BULLYING AND BULLYING PREVENTION

·      Bullying No Way!

Non-academic foundations for learning:

·      K. Brooke Stafford-Brizard @ EdWeek

REGULATION

Self-regulation leads to resiliency.  Most self-regulation behaviors are learned. With this in mind, it makes sense to incorporate and model effective regulatory strategies throughout the school day.  Chances are, we do this already.  We may ask a student to count to 10 slowly before reacting; to self-evaluate and record distress levels; to identify “safe” spaces in the school or to diffuse disagreements with a Peace Circle.  

Here are a few of my favorite techniques to use with learners of all ages. 

Check out these other worthwhile resources, too!

·      American Psychological Association

·      We Are Teachers

·      Responsive Classroom

INCORPORATION

There are many ways to encourage students to grow in their sense of belonging at school.  A great way to begin is by deliberately focusing on simple cues of belonging, such as making eye contact and referring to each child by his or her preferred (and correctly pronounced!) name. The following lessons and tools provide an entry point to promoting healthy incorporation in a school setting. 

·      MindSet Kit LESSONS

·      MindSet Kit INTERACTIVE

·      I Belong!

EDUCATION

How can we draw from students’ existing resilience?  How do we make room for bolstering new strands of resiliency in our already congested school day?   We can begin by choosing resilience-building strategies that can be easily incorporated into a lesson and into the daily functioning of a classroom.   Examples include:

·      creating and adhering to routines (as much as possible!);

·      opportunities to practice responsible choice-making (hey-hey, flexible seating!);

·      brain breaks that engage students in physical exercise and creative play (GoNoodle is the bees knees!);  

·      learning games that encourage memory and impulse control;

·      encouragement to practice safe risk-taking;

·      and modeling of resilient behaviors, such as reframing disappointment.

As these tools and expectations become consistently embedded throughout students’ school experiences, they become part of the culture of the school.  Ready to get started?  Check out these recommended launch-points:

OVERALL TOOLBOX:

·      Hey, Sigmund   

EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR ACKNOWLEDGING FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE

·      North Carolina Early Learning Network   

 ·     Colleen Springer-Lopez

EXECTUTIVE FUNCTIONING STRATEGIES FOR STUDENTS:

·      The Inclusion Lab

·      Career and Life Skills Lessons Channel VIDEO

LESSON PLANS & IDEAS FOR RESILIENCY:

·      Positive Psychology Program

Sources: 

1. Pearson, Umayahara and Ndijuye. Play and Resilience: SUPPORTING CHILDHOOD RESILIENCE THROUGH PLAY A facilitation guide for early childhood practitioners

2. Sarah V. Marsden, Resilience and Belonging https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/978-1-137-55019-4_4

3. Taylor & Hart. The Resilient Classroom A Resource Pack for Tutor Groups and Pastoral School Staff, Published by BOND and YoungMinds.

4. Nowicki, Anna. 2008 Self-efficacy, sense of belonging and social support as predictors of resilience in adolescents Anna Nowicki Edith Cowan University

9 Cross-Curricular Writing Activities for ELLs

As summer wraps up, we find ourselves contemplating our instructional intentions for the coming school year.  My big focus this year: writing.

Of the four language-learning domains (listening, speaking, reading, writing), writing is typically the last to fully develop.   We can help our ELLs to develop confidence in this area by providing plenty of opportunities to practice writing skills and build writing stamina.  Here are nine fantastic ways to incorporate writing into any lesson, at any grade level, and across all levels of English mastery.  

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CLASS MURAL

Class murals are interactive anchor charts that encourage text analysis and cooperative talk. In advance, prepare the mural "wall". A long piece of butcher paper turned lengthwise (or several strips of butcher paper taped together) works well. Depending on the class size, the mural may be 5-20 feet long. Also, a variety of print materials related to a topic should also be available- books, magazines, picture cards, student dictionaries or websites. To create the mural, first draw out background knowledge from the entire group. Then, allow students sufficient time to explore resources independently, in pairs or in teams. When ready, students will synthesize information to create a landscape on the mural that includes pictures, words, quotes, etc. To encourage language development, all illustrations should be labeled. Post mural in a visible place. Learners may add to the mural throughout a unit of study as new information is revealed. When spelling or speaking a word related to the topic, students should be asked to refer to the mural as the primary anchor chart.

FEEDBACK JOURNALS

Journaling allows students a healthy expressive outlet while practicing critical writing skills. The feedback component is what makes this strategy an effective one. Each student has a dedicated notebook to be used for the purpose of journaling for the duration of the course or unit. Students may be asked to record free thoughts, respond to direct prompts or create short summaries of daily learning or wonderings. The facilitator has the responsibility to read and respond to students' entries, offering comments, insight, clarification, grammatical notes or additional prompts. A student, in return, may also reply to or comment on the teacher's feedback. Feedback journals act as a conversation piece between the student and instructional guide, foster trust and engagement, and serve as a record of students' writing progress.

GRAFFITI

Graffiti is a cooperative exercise in which all members of a group are invited share awareness about a topic. To begin, arrange students into small cooperative work groups (3 or 5 students work best).   Provide each student with a piece of butcher paper or poster-sized Post-It.  Assign each group a topic or prompt that is relevant to a current unit of study.  Within work groups, students will discuss and record thoughts/illustrations related to the prompt.  All students are encouraged to converse and write (different colored makers- one color for each student in the group- work well for this).  Use a timer to mark discussions and recording sessions.  After a set period of time, rotate the posters from one group to another in a circular fashion.  Each group will receive a poster that already contains student insight.  Within groups, students will share thoughts on what the previous group recorded before writing new thoughts.  This process continues until each poster returns to its "home" group.  Posters may be reserved as anchor charts or used to further class discussion. 

PARTNER DICTATION

Partner dictation is a fast-paced, simple activity that engages students in all four language-learning domains. To prepare, select a brief passage on a focus topic. Print half the number of copies as students in the class. (Or, choose unique dictation passages and print separately). For the activity, begin by pairing students. Each pair of students stands on one side of the room. Dictation passages are posted in another part of the room (or outside of the room in a hallway or corridor). One student will act as the "runner" and the other as the "recorder". (Students will have a chance to change roles). The "runner" will quickly make trips to and from the printed dictation passage to read it and return to partner to relay the message. The recorder writes what he or she hears. Students work together to edit scripts as they are being written. The runner makes as many trips to the dictation sample as needed for the recorder to capture the whole passage. Roles reverse, with a new dictation passage.  Length and complexity of passages should reflect grade and language abilities present in the classroom and should be modified for pair groups as necessary.

QUICK WRITE

One key challenge for ELLs around writing is stamina. It is important to remember that students need to build up to writing longer passages. This is especially true in the upper grades, where lengthy responses are expected. Quick writes are one strategy to aid students in building stamina and structure for writing. Quick writes are set apart from other types of writing in that they purposefully omit planning, organizing, editing and revising (at least in the initial stage). The purpose of a quick write is to have students record as much relevant information related to a topic as they can in a set period of time. The writing period is intentionally limited, often beginning with only 5 or 10 minutes and working up to 15, 20 or 25-minute intervals. In the beginning stages of practices, modifications may be necessary. Early emergent students may need to copy a specific passage or use sentence stems or cloze sentences for support. More advanced students may employ a text on the topic of writing, but will be responsible for paraphrasing important information. Eventually, students will learn to write freely without significant support. To introduce a quick write, first establish a topic and time limit and then model the practice for students. It is also helpful to practice writing one document as a whole class. Finally, students write on their worn. A word bank may be useful. Quick writes should be carried out on a consistent basis and should receive some type of feedback (either from a teacher or peer). If desired, a quick write may be expanded upon to create a fully fleshed out and edited writing piece.

SAGE N’ SCRIBE

(Kagan Activity)

Sage n 'Scribe is a Kagan activity that effectively engages learners in all four language domains. Students work in pairs for this exercise. Generally, pairs use the time to work together in completing comprehension questions related to a topic. To begin, the first student (Sage) will read the first question aloud. The sage will then verbally answer his or her own question. Meanwhile, the second partner (Scribe) records the first partner’s response. The scribe also coaches the sage and/or offers feedback, if necessary. Then, the sage also records his or her response. Finally, the partners switch roles and move on to another question.

THINK-WRITE-PAIR-SHARE

(adapted Kagan strategy)

Think-Write-Pair-Share is a variation on the popular Think-Pair-Share Strategy. For Think-Pair-Share, students are asked to consider a question, given time to think about their response, and then are paired with a partner to share and discuss their reply. Adding the "write" portion deepens students thinking into the question and allows for students to explore an additional language domain. To complete the activity, facilitator poses a question to students related to a text or topic of study. Then, students are given time to process the question and think about their response. The next step calls for students to record their reply on a piece of paper or white board. When students do pair with a partner, they exchange papers. Each student reads his or her partner's contribution aloud. Within partner groups, students work together to discuss, amend, and edit responses. (Applicable texts, dictionaries, word walls or other supports may be used). Responses may be turned in, shared with other classmates, or incorporated into a graphic organizer or class anchor chart.

WRITING IN REVERSE

(based on a lesson by Jackie McAvoy)

This activity asks students to consider "comprehension" questions in order to compose a piece of writing. To complete, present students with a series of questions that are worded in the style of reading comprehension questions. Students are amused when you explain that you brought the questions to class but "lost" the reading passage. Using these questions as thinking points, they will work backward to create a composition. Working with a partner, they will first read all of the questions and write short answers to them. Then, they will use these responses to craft a full writing piece.  When finished, students can exchange stories with a peer.  Each learner should be able to answer the comprehension questions based on his or her partner’s writing.

WRITING WITH A MENTOR TEXT

Many English language learners can benefit from extra supports when writing. Mentor texts provide students with an exemplary piece of work to follow. They are especially helpful for intermediate and advanced students who are ready to move beyond sentence stems/cloze writing and are working toward independent writing. An appropriate mentor text should be on the same topic, length and writing style (or similar topic, length and writing style) as the piece that students will be expected to produce. Students should be guided, as a whole group or in smaller work groups, to deconstruct the mentor text. To do this, students will identify and explore key features of the text. First, have students identify the purpose of the text (narrative, expository, how-to, etc.). Next, students will explore the passage's organization (sentence structure, paragraph structure, etc.). Finally, students evaluate the "star features" of the text- meaning words, phrases, writing style, voice, figurative language or other items that make the mentor text interesting to read. Once students have had a sufficient time to digest and understand the components of the mentor text, they can use this passage to guide their independent writing.

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Ready to dig deeper? These activities (and many others) were created by Refugee Classroom as part of the comprehensive EduSkills platform. Learn more at eduskills.us.

EduSkills is an educational services and school data analysis company serving schools and districts Pre-K through 12th grade. EduSkills collaborates with schools and districts in order to help teachers and administrators become high-performing outcome based educators with a clear focus on high level student achievement.