We are having a productive start to the new year fostering ELs’ success with five online courses, new and ongoing long-term technical assistance projects, professional development (PD) in several states, upcoming conference keynotes and presentations, and more.

Online EL Professional Development Courses (January 21 – March 6, 2020)

This winter, we are proud to run five online courses with participants from across the nation. Keep an eye out in the coming months for information about how you can join our summer 2020 session. In the meantime, we invite you to click below and learn more about how you can collaborate with us on pressing EL education topics and solutions this summer.

• Strategies for Making Content Accessible to ELs
• Strategies for Building ELs’ Academic Language
• Effectively Reaching SLIFE
• Creating a Culturally Responsive School Climate
• Effectively Advocating for English Learners

–

Ongoing Technical Assistance Projects

• NCELA. We are continuing our second year of work to manage the U.S. Department of Education, Office of English Language Acquisition’s National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition (NCELA) in partnership with the Manhattan Strategy Group and WestEd. SupportEd’s main role is to provide EL technical assistance to support the implementation of OELA’s grants and contribute to the development and dissemination of EL professional learning tools and resources.
• Syracuse City School District, New York. We are entering our sixth year of our ongoing collaboration with the Syracuse City School District (SCSD) to enhance their programming for and instruction of ELs. This year, we are collaborating with SCSD around professional development materials to provide their schools options for flexible, job-embedded PD in support of ELs districtwide.
• Reading School District, Pennsylvania. We are continuing our partnership with Reading School District (RSD) to assist in evaluating and adjusting their approach to serving the district’s rapidly growing EL population. We are working with RSD to review and revise EL program models and the English language development instructional delivery plan and develop a professional development plan, a K-12 ESL standards-aligned curriculum. We are also working with a cohort of teachers at a middle school to provide ongoing instructional coaching framed around supporting ELs in co-taught classrooms.
• Southern Westchester BOCES. We are providing technical support and coaching to educators and administrators focused on support for ELs enrolled in a career and technical education program at the Center for Career Services.

–

Face to Face, Blended, and Online Professional Development

• Office of the State Superintendent of Education, District of Columbia. In January, Diane Staehr Fenner and Marley Zeno facilitated two days of professional development on assessment and grading and an additional a day of professional development focused on literacy and numeracy development for SLIFE in the secondary setting. The SLIFE workshop discussed frameworks for effective SLIFE instruction and key strategies for supporting the reading, writing, and math development of SLIFE.
• Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland. This year, we are continuing work with MCPS through three cycles of blended professional development created for ESOL and content teachers across seven elementary schools. These cycles include a needs assessment, face-to-face professional development, an online professional development module, and classroom observation and coaching. The cycles address scaffolding instruction of ELs in the content areas, academic language, and oral language development, among other topics. In January, Diane Staehr Fenner and Marley Zeno facilitated an interactive workshop entitled Supporting ELs’ Academic and Oral Language Development.
• Questar III BOCES, New York. In February, Marley Zeno will facilitate two days of professional development. The first workshop will explore the strengths and needs ELs bring to project-based learning. The workshop will focus on building ELs’ oral and academic language through project-based learning, scaffolding project-based learning opportunities for ELs, and incorporating EL strategies into project-based learning design. In the second workshop participants will analyze the background knowledge and language demands of science texts. The workshop will focus on exploring and applying strategies for supporting ELs’ acquisition of academic language in science and strategies for scaffolding science lessons for a range of grade levels and EL proficiency levels.
• Reading School District, Pennsylvania. In March, SupportEd Consultant Eleni Pappamihiel will facilitate an interactive workshop entitled ELs and Social-Emotional Support: The Role of the Paraprofessional.
• Allegheny Intermediate Unit, Pennsylvania. Since October, content and ESL teachers from the Allegheny Intermediate Unit have participated in an online series of professional development modules created by SupportEd and moderated by Sydney Snyder and Marley Zeno. The online module topics are scaffolding instruction in the content areas, teaching academic language to ELs, making text accessible for ELs, and formative assessment for ELs.
• School District of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We are entering our final year of work on the Together is Better co-teaching project. This year, we will conduct multiple classroom walkthroughs and PD facilitated by Kent Buckley-Ess. Our focus is on bringing together grade level teams for working sessions framed around hands-on lesson planning to support ELs during instruction.

–

Conference Keynotes and Presentations  

• TNTESOL 2020. On February 7, Diane Staehr Fenner will keynote and present a breakout session at TNTESOL’s annual west TN mini conference. This year’s conference, Supporting English Learners: Strong Partnerships and Promising Practices, will be held at the University of Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee.
• 2020 TexTESOL IV. On February 29, Diane Staehr Fenner will keynote and present a breakout session at TexTESOL IV’s annual regional conference. This year’s conference, entitled Teaching in a Culturally Responsive World, is in Houston, Texas.