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Play it again, Sam!

Easy for Bogart to say!  But when you are an English Language Learner, phrases like this can be challenging.  Finding the right words for the immediate situation is truly a struggle.  However, when we practice anything, the process becomes less stressful and more successful.  The same is true for our immigrant families.


How can we, as educators, teachers, and librarians personalize this practice for our at-risk students?

            As librarians, we are a fully cooperating partner on the student’s instructional team.  Mackin Education Resources sponsored a Future Ready Librarian webinar in 2016 that outlined key aspects of personalized learning and centered on how librarians can use their expertise in this endeavor.  One tenet specific to our ELL students is the directive to “target instruction to support learners while continuing to challenge each learner” (edWeb.net, 2016).  Here you see a graphic showing how teacher librarians address specific targets in instruction. 

I hope you will direct your attention to the curriculum, instruction and assessment wedge (teal blue).  The outer bands there (and on every wedge) illustrate how teacher librarians can support and exemplify the core parts of personalized learning.  Specifically, they should be able to “empower students as creators” and “curate digital resources and tools.”  I went looking for resources that could do just that for our ELL students.

            Which is why I feel I struck gold when I visited Larry Ferlazzo’s blog entitled Websites of the Day.  His blog is an excellent starting place for finding resources to use with our ELL students.  When you visit his site for the first time, take a moment to click on the helpful link at the top. 

It was here that I found the link to “A Collection of my Best Resources on Teaching English Language Learners” and what a winner link that turned out to be. 

            I have picked one resource to demonstrate for you.  Enjoy!


Resources:

Alliance for Excellent Education.  (n.d.). Future Ready Librarians. https://futureready.org/thenetwork/strands/future-ready-librarians/

edWeb.net. (2016, October 19). Future Ready Librarians [Video]. https://home.edweb.net/webinar/future-ready-librarians/

 Ferlazzo, L. (2017, December 1). A collection of my best resources on teaching English language learners. Edublogs.org. https://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2017/12/01/a-collection-of-my-best-resources-on-teaching-english-language-learners/

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  1. UnknownOctober 15, 2020 at 12:50 PM

    Anna,
    As usual, your blog has given me a great idea! While I love this 2.0 tool for English Language Learners, I have a background in early childhood education. My thought is that students could use a photograph and add in speech bubbles to make a one image story or as a jumping off inspiration point for them to begin the writing process. Early elementary ELL learners could use a photograph of themselves to tell one word pieces of information like their favorite color, food, or age to introduce themselves. This could even be a partner activity where they create a story together.
    I love that this allows learners at any level to create. Students are generally more excited about projects that are fun and allow them to make something and it is in line with "empowers students as creators" from the Future Ready Librarians infographic.
    Melissa Bryan

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  2. UnknownOctober 18, 2020 at 9:40 AM

    Anna,

    This is a clever idea for ELL students. I love that it is user friendly and fun. We are just beginning to produce our student run news show and I think they kids wil love using this in our PowerPoint slides for broadcast. Thanks for sharing!

    Suzanne Spearman

    ReplyDelete

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