Finishing Strong
Dr. Jana Moore, VATESOL K-12 SIG Leader has been teaching in the ELL classroom for 25 years, abroad and within, the US. Her specialties include working with newcomers as well as long-term English language learners, in addition to identifying gifted multilingual learners. Dr. Moore currently serves as the English Learner Program Lead for over 600 English language learners at Parkside MS in Prince William County, VA.
For many of us in the K-12 ELL classroom, we are coming to the part of the school year that seems to have a lull. The ACCESS test has been given; we are waiting for the test results. State testing, whether SOLs or benchmarks, are in full swing to help determine how much our learners accomplished for the year. It almost feels as though there is a pause. There is still plenty of curriculum to be taught, but most students and school staff are already starting to think about and plan for summer vacation (Guilty! I may have started my summer planner already!). But this is exactly the time when we need to be thinking forward and push for a strong finish. Some of the best finishes I have ever seen have come from classrooms that took the time to go back and reinforce some basics. Here are just three suggestions of things we can all do in our classrooms to keep our students rolling towards success as the school year draws to a close.
Encourage Speaking
Students love to talk to each other, so take advantage of this! Keep your students talking to each other, and you, in as many different ways as you can. Encourage them to use complete sentences as a means to practice good academic vocabulary with each other. Activities such as Think-Pair-Share, Gallery Walks, or Student Reports are all ways that students can talk. As an added bonus, I like to bring in Game Days with my students. During this time I have several selections of language, critical thinking, and math games for my students to choose to play. My rule? If you can say it in English, then you have to do it. Even my most reluctant speakers will try a few lines in English for a chance at Game Day.
Encourage Reading
This one cannot be overstated enough: keep your students reading. Work towards developing that love of reading, and not necessarily reading for a particular standard. Use this time to teach students how to find genres they love, and those they do not. We can teach our students to return books that they do not find interesting, and find those stories their minds and imaginations crave. Now is the perfect time to work on this skill, because it can continue into the summer, when they are on their own. Help them get library cards or learn to find books online: set learners up for a successful summer of reading.
