I’m currently 55 and as of July 1st, 2021, I retired from public education after a 28-year career. I had decided to retire early because I had a desire to create educational resources for teachers of English Learners and children speaking Haitian Creole. This article will take you through
In this article, the 4th installment of a 6-part series, we will take a look at five strategies that focus on vocabulary. So far, we’ve looked at lesson preparation, activating background knowledge, and lesson delivery. In future installments, we will discuss interaction and assessment. Vocabulary instruction is one of the
Teacher Modeling Strategy Overview- This strategy is all about providing the student with a model of behavior, process, and outcome. The teacher models an activity so that the student is able to clearly see and understand the expectations for the assignment. This might also include models of various assignment products
Using RealiaStrategy Overview-The word “realia” refers to a “real” object. This can include an object such as a basketball, artifacts such as an old telescope from the early 1900s, primary source documents, etc… These items are used in order provide students with a visual and physical representation of whatever is
Thinking Maps Strategy Overview- This strategy is mainly used for organizing information. Examples of thinking maps include the circle map, bubble maps, double-bubble maps, tree maps, brace maps, and many others. As you plan your instruction, you should think about whether or not one of these maps can assist you
Prior Knowledge is Important Something that continues to confuse and/or amaze teachers of Language Learners is how one student can excel in a seemingly short amount of time while another continues to struggle after many years. A key contributor to unlocking this puzzle is how much prior knowledge the student
I was reading an article this morning in Education Week titled, “Efforts to Toughen Teacher Evaluations Show No Positive Impact on Students” and it caused me to reflect on the current state of education, the policies and reforms that have been implemented over the last 20 years, and the trajectory
What if I would like to refer an ELL student for special services? An ELL student who is suspected of being disabled and in need of special services may be referred at any point. It is wise, however, to make sure that this child’s learning difficulties are not a result
