1. Identifying your ELLs!
Now now, not all of us are at a point where our district has a beautifully streamlined and efficient process of identifying ELLs. If you receive a list of students who are designated ELL, great! If you receive a list with their last level of proficiency identified- marvelous! If you have no idea what I'm talking about, ask! Hopefully, this should be happening behind the scenes...Please remember that this is the (idealized) procedure in California school districts
- in July/August, newcomer ELLs to your district should be tested at some identified district facility in order to determine their level of English proficiency. Newcomers typically are: fresh out-of-country arrivals, interdistrict transfers with no record of English proficiency testing or incoming kindergartners
- for the rest of your ELLs, those who have been tested before in your district (or another district in the state) they will be tested (with CELDT in California) sometime in September or October. California gives districts until the end of October to turn in all CELDT testing materials
2. Ask who is responsible for administering CELDT (or your state's EL testing)
- If the responsibility falls on you, make sure you are trained. All you cared not to know about CELDT procedures can be found here: http://www.ctb.com/netcaster/extranet/program_index.jsp?PROG_ID=3022
- 1st grade and K teachers this year: Remember that your students will be tested on reading and writing components for the first time ever! It's looking like 30 minutes per student (as you know, at this age, these tests are all one-on-one)
3. Get to know the English proficiency profile of each of your ELLs
- If you do have CELDT scores, figure out what these mean:
- There is an overall score (1-5, 1= beginner, 2= early intermediate, 3= intermediate, 4= early advanced, 5= advanced) SEE 7/10/08 blog for details on each of these levels
- There is also a scale(raw) score that each section (reading, writing, speaking, listening) receives. Sometimes ELLs may be on the cusp of achieving another proficiency level. The overall score can easily overlook this important information. We can talk more about this at a later date.
As this is a good point to stop (I like sets of three), let's do so!
Enjoy the planning/remodeling/envisioning of the classroom and how it will be used this year. Oh, the possibilities!
- W
About Me
- Weezy
- I am an extrovert by nature and an introspect when necessary. I enjoy life and do not take it for granted. My passion is to help educators become more effective at what they do, not only through changing practices, but changing assumptions about the students they teach- particularly, students of color, Standard English Leaners, English Language learners and all others who have been systematically denied access to core curriculum and subjugated to low expectations.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment