DDL+in+Upper+Elementary

Team Members/ School(s) Kristen Melby 5th grade bilingual teacher Andersen Liz Espe and Jairo Moncada 4th grade bilingual teachers Andersen Sonia Nuñez-Gibbs (6th grade social studies bilingual) Andersen Ann Viveros ESL/Bilingual Coordinator Andersen

We will also meet with other Learning Circles as necessary.

Brief description of Learning Circle plan: Andersen United Community School currently has a strong commitment to our bilingual program. We are strategically moving from a NLL model to a Developmental One-way Dual Language Education 80/20 Model. We added math in kindergarten this year, accomplishing the goal of 80/20 in kinder. In 2012-2013 we will add math in 1st grade, so in the primary grades our plan is well underway. In addition, we currently offer an elective at 6th, 7th and 8th grade in which bilingual students may take a bilingual Social Studies class. The area of focus for this learning circle is in the upper elementary grades. 2011-2012 was the first year that we offered any bilingual classes at 5th grade in an attempt to bridge the gap between our early elementary program and our middle school bilingual social studies classes. What does a successful DDL program look like at 3-5 and how can we prepare out students for a successful transition into middle school? // Goal Statement: // Our goal for this learning circle is to use the research and standards to develop a strong, rigorous and coherent upper elementary bilingual program, which is aligned from primary to middle school. We will create a scope and sequence for our DLL program, which aligns primary, intermediate and middle school. We want all stakeholders (all teachers, administration, parents and students) to be able to articulate what our program looks like at each grade level so that there is no ambiguity.

Plan to measure results: We can use a survey before the work begins to see where we are currently at and then take the survey again quarterly in 2012-2013. Teachers are able to articulate what the DDL model looks like at all grade levels. Timeline:

However, we did start the Moodle on Bilingual Ed in the 21st C. || Gather information on what we are currently teaching (what content in what language) in grades 3-5 from all teachers in DDL in grades 3-5. Type it up and have it ready to present to the group.
 * March || April || May || June ||
 * We did not meet in March.

Present the survey results. Present the 4 models in detail. Decide on which of the four models we will adopt at Andersen. Begin the detailed work of a scope and sequence at each grade level using the scholarship to inform our practice. || Continue the detailed work of a scope and sequence at each grade level. Connect with the ESL group that is meeting and make connections between the work of the two learning circles. || Complete the detailed work of a scope and sequence at each grade level and present it to ILT and grade level teams. Complete a purchase requisition for materials needed. ||

Work & Progress:
Upload: documents, photos, links, etc...
 * ||  || Our first meeting: Notes for April 5th, 2012 DDL in upper elementary at Andersen United
 * ||  || Our first meeting: Notes for April 5th, 2012 DDL in upper elementary at Andersen United

Norms How to prioritize what we want to accomplish Read the book Bilingual Education in the 21st Century

What are our goals for being in the PLC/PD:

3rd-5th programming consistency – getting ideas from middle school What does 50% in Spanish look like? Ideas for connecting ESL social studies to literacy Creating a good foundation of Spanish in K-1 (looking at methodology in bilingual education)-Reading

Consistency with language use across grade level – procedures in Spanish social studies alignment of language skills Catagorizing the skills and then bringing the alignment down through elementary (debate skills, opinions, speaking, presentation, footnoting, critical thinking skills)

How to intertwine critical thinking skills into the bilingual framework

We also had a discussion about retention of concepts one example of this is in middle school the teachers are starting with continent and country (we want to make sure this doesn't happen)

How to fix the huge gaps in grammar

Ultimately using each of these ideas, goals, and problems we want to come up with a loose framework for what we want to accomplish and then be able to evaluate it.

Anyone who was not at the meeting can feel free to add on any goals, ideas, or problems that you hope to address in this PLC/PD.

We categorized our goals into 4 maingroups:

1. Scope and Sequence of the grades through middle school- this will give us a starting point skills, language use, procedures, standards Language use and time 2. Methodolgy of Bilingual Education different ideas for transfer preteach in one language, lesson in the other, review in the same languange you pretaught then switch the next day focusing on transfer 3. Consistency of when and how to use Spanish and English transfer of vocabulary 4. Assesment- we want to think about the language we use in assessments and we want to evaluate what we come up with- how is it working, what changes do we need to make, what is working, are the students retaining what they are learning

Some ideas we had after talking about our four main goals: ESL in specialist time in Kindergarten

We want to be trasparent with whatever we come up: letting the staff hear about it, help us make changes, give us feedback, and then we can decide

collect data to organize and figure out what is going wrong- example- reading levels should we keep students in Spanish beyond a level M – which students are staying stuck at certain levels?

Thinking about our program as a program where the goal is to maintain the language, not get them to English

Making some videos of good examples of transfer and what it looks like

Coaching eachother- going into other rooms to observe how teachers are approaching transfer- helping them to make it better or helping them to be aware of what they are already doing and what they could do more

Starting point?? We thought it might be a good idea start with scope and sequence and find out what each grade level is teaching when do they use English and Spanish, what skills they are using...from there we can start intertwining skills that the students will need in middle school- how can we incorporate more higher level thinking skills?

We will be polling the highschool teachers in our zone to find out what they would really like tos ee students doing in an AP social studies class.

Preparation for next time... think about some dates you would be willing to be observed on transfer

Sonia will e-mail the highschool teachers about the language skills they expect

grade levels will bring a scope and sequence of what they are teaching for reading, social studies, science (broad time line)

Read chapters 1 and 2 in the Bilingual book- respond on Moodle, look for Ann's e-mail with directions from December- there is a password we need Our next meeting will be Monday, April 23rd from 3:00-4:30 in Sonia's room (middle school) ||  ||   ||
 * || [[image:https://webmail.mpls.k12.mn.us/owa/14.1.270.1/themes/basic/clear.gif]] ||
 * __4/13/2012__**- 5th grade bilingual teacher met with 5th grade ESL and social studies teachers to examine social studies standards and create a rough draft of the curriculum map for next year in order to connect what is taught in social studies/ESL class with what is taught during reader's workshop.
 * [[image:https://webmail.mpls.k12.mn.us/owa/14.1.270.1/themes/basic/crvbtmlt.gif]] ||  ||   ||   || [[image:https://webmail.mpls.k12.mn.us/owa/14.1.270.1/themes/basic/clear.gif]] ||   ||
 * [[image:https://webmail.mpls.k12.mn.us/owa/14.1.270.1/themes/basic/crvbtmlt.gif]] ||  ||   ||   || [[image:https://webmail.mpls.k12.mn.us/owa/14.1.270.1/themes/basic/clear.gif]] ||   ||

4-23 notes Conversations that stem from Bilingual Education in the 21st Century When teaching the second language we need to be explicit The role of a bilingual education classroom teacher the problem of having two languages that are broken The focus is the content, but a question is are they academically ready for the content?
 * ||  || [[image:https://webmail.mpls.k12.mn.us/owa/14.1.270.1/themes/basic/clear.gif]] ||   ||
 * ||  || [[image:https://webmail.mpls.k12.mn.us/owa/14.1.270.1/themes/basic/clear.gif]] ||   ||
 * ||  || [[image:https://webmail.mpls.k12.mn.us/owa/14.1.270.1/themes/basic/clear.gif]] ||   ||

We need to be intentional about how and when to use what language- we talked about preview, and reviewing in one and the lesson in the other, but being conscious about when to switch if need be

Academic language is our focus, but we need to value all ways of speaking- not expecting there to only be one way of speaking Highlighting the differences about how do you say something at school and how do you say something at home?

We need to be teaching each type of language so the kids can see a difference-

What does a conscious use of language look like?

The conscious use of language will come when we visit classrooms and spend more time observing each other.

We discussed the need to be flexible and not rigid - being purposeful when we pick a language to speak in.

South High ELL skills alignment – aligning them to our elementary and middle grades so our kids will be more prepared for.. primary and secondary documents main and supporting ideas

We will look at it next week.

Our goal- to figure out what the students need in order to reach the 8th grade language modality standards

Homework for next time- to read chapters 3 & 4 bring our scope and sequence