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From your readings this week discuss your position on (1) how does (or doesn’t) standards- based instruction benefit ELLs and (2) how as a teacher you could engage in culturally sensitive pedagogy to meet the demands of standards based pedagogy, and (3) create supportive, accepting, student-centered classroom environments.
Your discussions must be supported by information from the text, the module pages and at least one outside source. Proper APA citations for in text and references are also expected.
Module info given:
In the current climate of standards-based assessment and instruction the educational system is set up to define specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound goals for student achievement. Student achievement is measured against a specific standard for each content area. The goal is to expose all students to challenging curricula and prepare students to function successfully in the post-secondary world and beyond in an increasingly complex world.
Standards That Impact English Language Learners
WIDA standards for English language proficiency https://wida.wisc.edu/teach/standards
Florida standards for content areas http://www.fldoe.org/academics/standards/
Both these standards cannot work alone to serve the needs of ELs. The expertise of both ESL teachers and content teachers is needed to help ELLs achieve, so it’s critical to have professional training that helps teachers see the big picture of instruction.
According to (Boals et. al, 2015), “keeping track of students’ developing language can occur simultaneously with tracking their developing content knowledge. There’s no need to create new assignments to obtain samples of student language.”
What are the components of a standard-based language learning system?
Establishing clear learning targets – long term and interim targets are established
Balance between formative and summative assessment – student have many opportunities to practice and that there are classroom summative, interim, and formative assessment in place for progress monitoring.
Multiple opportunities and ways to demonstrate proficiency – a variety of evidence is collected to determine if student proficiency levels are on each learning target.
Flexibility for individual learners – collaborative work between the ESL teacher and the content area teachers can ensure that appropriate scaffolding and accommodations
so that ELL students can gain language proficiency and content knowledge.
Equity and consistency across the district – Diversity and bilingualism are honored as assets
Clear communication about student learning – Grades clearly reflect student academic achievement on the long-term learning targets.
In order to be effective, differentiation of instruction requires that the teachers be knowledgeable about the student, perform ongoing evaluation of students’ needs and consciously design instructional activities and assessment to meet those goals.