Discussion 1: Engaging Parents

Take some time to read the article, A guide for engaging ELL families: Twenty strategies for school leaders.Choose one of the strategies outlined for connecting ELL families with the classroom and the student's learning experience. Then, using the Ashford University Library, find a peer-reviewed article that supports the method of engagement you've chosen. Explain how the method you've chosen aligns with the importance of involving families in ELL academic growth.

Some articles to consider are:

1. Integrating home and school identities of recent-immigrant Hispanic English language learners through classroom practices.
2. Increasing ELL parental involvement in our schools: Learning from the parents.
3. Literacy programs with parent involvement.
4. A place for all families.

Guided Response: Respond to two of your peers by reviewing what they've written to support engaging families in ELL academic growth. Then put yourself in the role of an ELL family member. What additional questions would you have for this teacher? Using what was written, do you see yourself being truly engaged? Why or why not?

Discussion 2: Family Teacher Collaboration

Using your school district's demographics as a guide, choose one of the subtopics in the NCCREST Practitioner Brief,Building collaboration between schools and parents of English language learners: Transcending barriers, creating opportunities, related to building a collaborative relationship with parents of ELLs that you are interested in learning more about in regards to academic progress. Then, conduct your own independent research using the Ashford University Library and Google Scholar to address at least two additional academic and social barriers on the topic you've chosen specific to the cultural demographics in your district (or you may use About San Diego Unified School District). Be sure to cite your references both in the response and at the end of the response in APA formatting

Guided Response: Respond to at least two of your peers by choosing one additional subtopic to research the cultural demographics addressed. Share these additional collaborative strategies along with at least one other scholarly source referenced in APA citation format.

Assignment: Professional Learning Community - Inservice

Part of being an effective teacher and delivering meaningful and relevant instruction to students who are learning English is to share your experiences and successes with fellow teachers as part of a Professional Learning Community (PLC), where teachers work collaboratively towards a common goal of professional development and sharing best practices. The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) further explains the importance of PLCs in an article published in Educational Leadership, What is a professional learning community?

As an expert in lesson planning using knowledge of student learning styles and cultural backgrounds based on language proficiency and academic readiness, your principal has asked that you share your skills during the next inservice workshop.

Choose one of the activities in ESL teacher as cultural broker as a foundation for a one-hour teacher workshop, keeping in mind your audience, their level of expertise, and time of day. The following components are required in your presentation:

1. Describe (in outline form) what will be presented during the hour-long presentation, including a brief summary of the activity and how you will provide at least three "Stop & Share" breaks throughout the lesson, where you provide critical thinking questions for teachers to discuss with a partner(s). See Definition of critical thinking: Reasonable reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do.

2. Explain how you will use the information from the activity presented to connect cultural backgrounds for future activities.

3. Describe examples of how to use the activity in an ELL classroom and how to differentiate your instruction based on hypothetical varying levels of language proficiency.

4. Explain how families can be participants in the activity in order to gain a deeper understanding of multicultural awareness.

Be sure that your presentation is engaging and appealing to different learning styles. It is encouraged that you go outside your comfort zone as a practice of empathy for your ELL students who, too, are learning outside their comfort zone. This presentation can be created using the following formats:

• PowerPoint
• Prezi
• Brainshark
• VoiceThread
• Screenr
• Another tool of your choosing

The presentation will be five to seven slides in length (or 3-5 minutes infusing an audio/video tool). Be sure to include a title and reference slide using APA format and at least two scholar resources in addition to the text.