Special Interest Groups

Adult Education

Bridging Non-academic and Academic ESL

By Debbie DeBlasio

Last issue, I had promised to better explain the model we use at Brookdale Community College to bridge our non-academic ESL classes with our academic program. I'll do my best to describe it succinctly - please feel free to reach out to me with further questions.

I work on the academic side, where our main goal is to prepare ESL students for mainstream, academic classes. The expectation is that the students will continue on to complete a certificate or degree. Our non-academic ESL is run through Adult Basic Education (ABE) and is grant-funded. Those students range from people who are just looking for survival English and those who want to continue in our program, but are still too low. For years we had seen a need for the marriage of the two sides but only recently have we pulled it off. We were lucky enough to have the director of ABE, Linda Roma, agree to work with us to create, and get grant monies for, a special course that is geared toward those students who want to continue in the academic program. We call it the bridge course. Linda allowed us to really own the class; we were able to choose the textbook, write the curriculum, and help hire the instructors. This freedom was substantial because we knew what the students needed to be prepared for our program, of course, and that simply gives students a better chance of success as they make the transition.

In addition, we took this opportunity to revamp our class levels. We had previously noted that students leaving our program still lacked some of the writing skills and academic vocabulary to help them succeed in mainstream English courses, so we reorganized. We moved a lot of the basics that we were teaching in our lowest level to the bridge course; material from the second level course could then be introduced in our first level, etc. This gave us room at the higher end to spend more time on more advanced topics without adding any more credits to our core program – which means no extra money spent on tuition by the students.

We started this new model just last year so the results haven’t been calculated yet; however, I’m teaching those higher level courses this semester, and I feel very confident that our students are going to get much more out of their academic experience.

 

Debbie DeBlasio, 732-224-2762, ddeblasio@brookdalecc.edu,
Department Chair and Associate Professor, Languages and ESL

  

Bilingual Elementary

My Summer Lessons Learned

By Sandra Nahmias

As the summer draws to a close and we settle into the new school year, it seems opportune to reflect upon all I learned during the summer that I can make use of during the coming year. It has been my experience that even seemingly inconsequential tidbits of information one accumulates can prove indispensable at unanticipated professional and personal moments (think of the film “Slumdog Millionaire”).

Here’s what I learned this past summer that perhaps you yourselves might find useful.

It’s important to make yourself visible. At the end of the past school year. I asked to be a part of my school’s Data Team. A cohort of eight educators spent three days analyzing year-end English Language Arts and Math Assessment Data in order to determine student areas of strength and need in the school’s K-5 student population as well as to find trends in the analyzed data. I made myself the voice of the ELL (English Language Learner) subgroup within the school population, and so I was part of the school wide conversation.  I was able to contribute to the discussions about the data pertinent to ELLs and speak to why that data presented itself as it did.  LESSON LEARNED: Make your voice a part of the solution, especially when it comes to ELLs.

There’s always more to learn. I attended the NJDOE’s three-day Sheltered English Instruction Training of Trainers workshop along with teams of administrators and teachers from different New Jersey districts. My attendance was timely for I will now be able to provide Professional Development in my district to both content-specific middle school teachers and elementary school general education teachers who will have received the above mentioned Data Team data and will be seeking strategies to teach the ELLs in their classrooms. By spreading the knowledge gained, I will be providing tools for ELL school achievement and as such will be advocating for ELLs. LESSON LEARNED: Share any knowledge acquired about teaching ELLs for it can be used to further their academic success.

Learning comes from unexpected sources. We’ve been under construction in our home, surrounded by architects, contractors, subcontractors, inspectors, designers, installers: you name it.  I experienced firsthand what our ELLs experience with language and what acquiring language within a socio-cultural context means. I learned about hinges and wood nails; levels and hacksaws; a combination square and a knot in carpentry; joist hangers; toe kicks; holidays in painting; and a plethora of trivia that revealed to me a new world. LESSON LEARNED: Ask questions and listen to answers and you’ll expand your vocabulary and schema just as our students must do.

I am sure that my learning will continue, for every school year my students prove to be an inspirational source of that learning.  All of you must feel similarly or you wouldn’t be teaching and advocating for ELLs.

It’s just what we do.

Good luck (and learning) in the new school year!

Sandra Nahmias, Bilingual Elementary 1 – 8 Education Special Interest Group Representative,
Bilingual/ESL Teacher, Grades 1 and 2, School Two, Linden, New Jersey and WIDA Certified Trainer
201-412-5905, nahmfam@comcast.net

 

 

Bilingual/ESL Middle School

A Holistic School Start for Everyone

By Michelle Land

Every year, as the summer comes to a close, teachers begin to plan.  While many teachers are anxious about what a new school year may bring, I believe that the ESL/bilingual teacher has added layers of anxiety and stress.  For most mainstream teachers, new students come to them with their own unique skill set and needs but at least a similar background and curricular experiences from the same school, district, or even state.  This information serves the mainstream teacher well, as certain expectations and cultural norms are common and provide a basis for the classroom experience. 

The ESL/bilingual teachers do not always have this luxury.  Although they may get students who have been in their district, or in the country, for the past few years, they also are the port of entry students from other countries.  Some new students come with background documentation from their school in their home country, but often it is missing, incomplete, or incomprehensible until translated.  That leaves the ESL/bilingual teacher with a lot of detective work to do in the hopes of providing the student with the best and most successful learning environment. 

Some questions the teacher might ask to determine academic accomplishments are:

 

But when working with the ESL/bilingual student, other important questions of a holistic nature must be asked as well as they form different facets of our students’ lives. 

 

While investigation into a student’s background can seem daunting, the rewards will be realized as the teacher uses this information to address student needs holistically.  This, in turn, helps students focus on their education and achieve success.  Ironically, just as a student needs a holistic approach to be successful at school, so, too, does a teacher. 

Teachers are known for their empathy and dedication to their craft.  Unfortunately, the extreme demands on teachers make it difficult for them to take care of themselves – especially the first days of school.  Responsibilities, assignments, and legalities, many of which are shortened with acronyms, never seem to end on these initial days of school.  As teachers rush around trying their best to fulfill their obligations and answer all the questions necessary to do our jobs and help our students have a successful start, we need to also attend to our own needs and interests outside of school. 

We identify ourselves as teachers, but that is just one facet of our lives.  Our families, our hobbies, health, religion, and social activities are also important facets of our persona.  These need to be cultivated, protected, and cared for so that we can be our best selves, both at work and at home. 

Michelle Land is the NJTESOL/NJBE Bilingual/ESL Middle School 6-8 SIG Representative.  She teaches ESL at Randolph Township Schools.  michelleland88@gmail.com   

 

Early Childhood

Advocacy and Collaboration and Publicity, Oh My!

By Carole Maurer

Representatives from Pre-K Our Way presented at the 2016 New Jersey Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages and New Jersey Bilingual Educators (NJTESOL/NJBE) Spring Conference. They shared their purpose and mission with our members: To expand high quality, state funded preschool programs throughout more NJ communities, asserting that where in the state three- and four-year-olds live should not exclude them from public preschool.

With a common passion for advocacy, Pre-K Our Way and NJTESOL/NJBE have formed a natural collaboration. NJTESOL/NJBE is now an official Pre-K Our Way advocate. In a press release announcing the relationship, Pre-K Our Way published the following. “According to a new federal policy statement, the number of dual language learner or children who have a home language other than English has grown significantly over the years. Due to this population growth and the recognized achievement gap of this specialized group, Dr. Joanne Negrin, president of NJTESOL/NJBE, said, ‘In order for dual language learners to succeed in school, it is essential that they receive appropriate developmental and language supports during their early childhood years. The first step in providing those supports is to ensure that as many dual language learners as possible have access to high quality early childhood programs. For this reason, we are joining Pre-K Our Way in advocating for funding for pre-k expansion in more of NJ’s communities.’”

So what does this collaboration mean to us as NJTESOL/NJBE members? It means that our organization has publicly made a commitment to support Pre-K Our Way. We can do this by learning more, and publicizing the cause. Sign up for updates, attend local meetings, like and share videos and information on social media, call or email legislators, share Pre-K Our Way resources with friends and professional contacts. Begin your advocacy work by visiting https://prekourway.org and exploring the website.  

This collaboration is exciting, and something to be proud of. The benefits of pre-k on three and four-year-olds, especially ELLs, are countless. Let’s all do our part in making it happen for NJ’s young children.

Carole Maurer, Early Childhood SIG, ESL Teacher, Ocean City School District
cmaurer@njtesol-njbe.org

Parent and Community Action

Evidence of Empathy

By Angeline Sturgis

My school district's 2016 opening day was a memorable one for the faculty and staff. We were honored to have a notable keynote speaker, Dr. Michele Borba, educational psychologist and best-selling author. She spoke about the "empathy deficit" in our children's lives, and the impact that has on their well-being, their education, their futures, and the future of our society. She calls it "The Selfie Syndrome."

Borba is deeply committed to character education, and turning around the self-absorbed trend in our "all-about-me world." She spoke without pausing for over an hour and a half, and I sat riveted, thankful for her insights and determined to focus on her message as a personal goal for my upcoming academic year.

I am an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher in a small, K-3 school in central New Jersey, and in that position, I have the privilege of working with the forty or so families that speak Spanish whose children attend our school. After Dr. Borba's presentation, I couldn't help thinking about other teachers I've met in New Jersey whose passions have taken them on the same path. It quickly dawned on me that there IS a lot of caring that goes on in the work we do. There is energetic empathy going on all around us in the ESL world. I wanted to shout, "Dr. Borba, come see the ESL teachers!"

Then I began to think about the source of this caring--- these brave parents who have immigrated to the United States, in most cases, for the most altruistic reason parents can choose: to provide a better life for their children. The parents I know work multiple jobs, manage their households well, get their kids to school on time, spotlessly clean, and with enviable hairdos. (Believe me, I take notice: I've got two sons and could never produce intricate braids if my life depended on it. ) They celebrate their family's milestones, often inviting teachers to participate, and are generous with their talents as small business owners, cooks, and child-minders.

We use Character Education principles as discipline guidelines in our National District of Character, and our Latino children are regularly chosen as outstanding examples of "Bucket-fillers" and "Up-standers," and honestly do not present themselves as "self-absorbed" or "all-about-me." Quite the contrary. I believe they are inspirational to the rest of the school, their classmates as well as the staff. They come by it honestly, don't they? They've got the DNA from both of their courageous parents. Parents that left one life to provide a better one. Parents that believed with hard work and a pure intention, they could provide a better life than they had in the country of their birth.

With inspiration like this, those of us who work with immigrant families are blessed to experience the empathy of parents for their children, families for their communities, and gratitude for contact with some of the purest hearts a person could ever meet.

Keep up the good work, ESL teachers. Keep reaching out, praising, filling buckets, marveling at the American spirit, however new and from whatever distance it has traveled.

To read more about Dr. Borba's work, visit her website www.micheleborba.com . You will be inspired and empowered when you read why "Kids and adults who understand and appreciate the people around them are better able to collaborate, innovate, and problem solve. Studies show they're happier, too."  Hmmm. That sounds like a lot of ESL teachers I know!

Angeline Sturgis, Parent and Community Action Representative, ESL Teacher, Eldridge Park School, asturgis@ltps.org

 

 

Special Education

What I did on my Summer Vacation

By Sonya Bertini

In two days, I will be starting my 37th year as a teacher and, as always in September, I am sad to see another summer fade away, but at the same time I am excited about the new school year filled with countless challenges and funny stories. I am happy to report that I had a wonderful summer. In early July, I went to Madison, Wisconsin, to participate as a panelist for the WIDA standard-setting session. I met with some dynamic and interesting educators from as far away as Alaska and Hawaii. The work was tedious and it was clear that different states have different ideas as to what the cutoff point, in the different domains, is for students performing “on par” with native English speaking students. During the July session, we panelists had to determine what a student should be able to do in all the domains right at the point that s/he can be exited from an English language learner program. I come from a secondary background, and I base my judgement on what students are required to do on the PARCC test. Therefore, my expectations are high. I do not believe a student should be exited before obtaining an overall composite proficiency score of at least a 5. New Jersey presently has the lowest cut off point (4.5) of the whole consortium. I find this score to be too low as did all the other panelists. I strongly believe that this is an area where we should advocate as members of NJTESOL/NJBE. Too many of our students may be exiting ELL programs far too early. They are obliged to take state exams without any accommodations as a result. In addition, they are sitting in classrooms without necessary language learning supports before they are ready to do so. It is detrimental to their overall academic success. It is my belief that the older a student is, the more support s/he needs to meet the requirements of the curriculum. So, something to really consider.

Two more summer highlights had nothing to do with teaching or testing. At the end of July, I joined my husband in Philadelphia where he was a delegate at the Democratic National Convention. I witnessed a woman accepting the nomination for the presidency by a major political party for the first time. It was exhilarating and very emotional for me. In August, my husband, two dear friends, and I took a cruise out of Miami for a seven day trip to Cuba. I will never forget sailing into Havana, with Cubans lined up at the Malecon shouting “Bienvenidos Americanos!” What a transformational trip. I was again reminded of how extremely beneficial it is to be bilingual. My husband, friends, and I were able to leave the organized tour and go off to explore Havana, Cienfuegos, and Santiago on our own. I spoke to several Cubans, quite candidly, about their way of life, current situation, and political beliefs. Two even invited us into their homes. I was so touched by their hospitality, graciousness, warmth, and pride – in their country and culture. I will forever remember what two of the young men I met said to us as we were leaving to go back on our ship, “Our governments may not get along, but we people – we love each other, right?” Priceless and an experience I could have never had if I were not able to speak the language. I guess it’s pretty obvious that I whole heartedly recommend a trip to Cuba!

I hope all of you have a wonderful school year. I look forward to corresponding with you on the Hotlist.

Sonya Bertini, SPED SIG Representative, Bilingual Resource Room Teacher, Vineland High School, Vineland, NJ

Teacher Education

The edTPA: The Education Teacher Performance Assessment

By Bryan Meadows

Ready or not, the edTPA is coming to New Jersey. Beginning on September 1, 2017, all teacher candidates seeking initial certification must perform successfully on a state-approved performance assessment. At present, the edTPA is the single assessment approved by the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE). For teacher educators affiliated with university-level traditional teacher preparation programs, the edTPA requirement calls for careful review of program and course design so that our candidates are adequately prepared for the task. As we each individually modify our respective programs to align with the edTPA assessment, I take this time to review some basic information about the design of the edTPA, share a few initial suggestions of how to incorporate edTPA into traditional teacher education programs, and provide links to online support materials of interest to those who are preparing future language teachers.  

The edTPA (Education Teacher Performance Assessment) was developed at the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE; https://scale.stanford.edu/ ). SCALE describes the edTPA as a “student-centered” assessment in that candidates demonstrate their “having a positive impact on student learning” (SCALE, 2015). The assessment is also based on multiple measures such as lesson plans, teaching videos and artifacts, student work samples, and candidate narratives. Candidates organize their submission portfolio according to three tasks:
(1) Planning for Instruction and Assessment,  (2) Instructing and Engaging Students in Learning, and (3) Assessing Student Learning. Threaded through all three tasks is an emphasis on academic language development in content-based instruction. Specifically, candidates are to focus on academic language functions (e.g., compare, explain, describe) in the context of grammatical, pragmatic, discourse, and metalinguistic competencies.

The assessment is discipline-specific. Teacher candidates seeking initial certification in ESL (Cert #1475) will complete the English as an Additional Language (EAL) version and follow the EAL Handbook when preparing. There is no performance assessment for candidates seeking Bilingual/Bicultural teacher certification (Cert #1480) because Bilingual/Bicultural is a co-certificate and therefore not an initial one.  Presumably, initial certificate seekers complete the edTPA for their first certification, and then the Bilingual/Bicultural co-certificate is combined afterwards. For an update on NJDOE regulations pertaining to educator preparation, visit http://www.nj.gov/education/educators/rpr/preparation/ .

In an NYS-TESOL webinar, Laura Baecher offers some suggestions for preparing ESL candidates for the edTPA:


There are many resources available online that will be of interest to teacher educators. Directly from SCALE (Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity,) there are guiding documents such as:


The EAL (English as an Additional Language) Handbook and other guidance documents are available to teacher educators at the edTPA-AACTE website: http://edtpa.aacte.org/ . Teacher educator login is available through one’s educational institution. If you are new to the website, the quick reference document, “Top 10 edTPA Resources”, is a terrific place to start. It is publicly available without login credentials at https://secure.aacte.org/apps/rl/res_get.php?fid=2496&ref=rl .

There are additional resources available online of interest to NJTESOL/NJBE members. The TEIS (Teacher Education Interest Section) of TESOL has put together a webinar discussing the EAL-specific edTPA. It can be found on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fffPOYOsGkY&feature=youtube . Also, Colorín Colorado has published a brief article on preparing language teachers for the edTPA. The article is available at http://www.colorincolorado.org/blog/preparing-new-teachers-work-ells-overview-edtpa . Laura Baecher, Associate Professor of TESOL at Hunter College, is a lead author of both resources. One final resource is a collection of tips for producing teaching videos, produced by The Teaching Channel. This could be helpful information for teacher candidates who might be unfamiliar with videotaping their own lessons. The video may be accessed here: https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/videotaping-tips-for-teachers .

I wish everyone a successful transition to the new edTPA requirement. As the Sept. 1, 2017 date draws near, I look forward to a constructive dialogue where we can share with one another tips and strategies for a successful transition.  

References 

Baecher, L. (Jan 31, 2014). NYSTESOL teacher education SIG webinar: Preparing TESOL candidates for the edTPA. [PowerPoint  presentation]. Available at http://nystesol.org/pdf/sigs/webinar.pdf  on September 3, 2016 .

SCALE (Jun 2015). edTPA orientation for program leaders, faculty, and P-12 partners. [PowerPoint presentation]. Available  at https://secure.aacte.org/apps/rl/res_get.php?fid=235&ref=rl  on September 3, 2016.

Bryan Meadows, Ph.D., Teacher Education Special Interest Group, Fairleigh Dickinson University
meadowsb@fdu.edu

 

SIGs FALL 2016