UNDERSTANDING WIDA AND MPI IMPLEMENTATION

LOWELL PUBLIC SCHOOLS ELE DEPARTMENT:

DR. PHALA CHEA, JAANA THORARENSEN, CARRIE POWERS

MOODY SCHOOL: ROBERTA KEEFE, PRINCIPAL

LISA MICHEL, GR. 3-4 NEWCOMER TEACHER STEVEN IBARGUEN, GR. 3 TEACHER

DSAC WIDA NETWORK PROJECT � Four school districts:

� Haverhill, Methuen, Peabody, and Salem � Teams of four teachers, (2 classroom teachers and two ESL

teachers) and 1-2 administrators � Received a stipend for work completed

� Attend three full days of guided practice sessions on June 3, 6 and 30, 2014

� Collaboratively create a minimum of 3 MPI matrices for grade 5 model curriculum units

� Each district focused on a subject area (Math, Social Studies, Science, ELA)

LOWELL DEMOGRAPHICS Grade Span

Total SPED % Low Income %

FLNE Former ELL %

PK-12 14,031 15.1 75.1 39.6 7.4

ELL # ELL % Most Common Language/%

2nd Most Common Language/%

# of Languages

4,121 29.4 Spanish 37.1

Khmer 35.8

40

DESE 2013-2014 District Analysis and Review Tool (DART) for English Language Learners

MOODY SCHOOL DEMOGRAPHICS Grade Span

Total SPED % Low Income %

High Needs %

FLNE Former ELL %

K-4 270 5.6% 89.6% 94.8% 61.5% 0.4%

ELL # ELL % Most Common Language/%

2nd Most Common Language/%

165 61.1% Portuguese 46.1%

Arabic 12.1%

DESE 2013-2014 District Analysis and Review Tool (DART) for English Language Learners

UNDERSTANDING WIDA AND MPI IMPLEMENTATION

� Focus of the district’s Leadership Institute in August: �  analyze data to determine district’s 2014-15

Theory of Action � Approval from Superintendent and Assistant

Superintendent for Professional Development � Secure funds – Title III Grant

FOCUS OF UNDERSTANDING WIDA AND MPI IMPLEMENTATION PD

� Provide additional Professional Development to teachers who have completed the SEI Endorsement Course

� Build capacity within the district to differentiate instruction for ELLs

� Build a library of sample MPIs that can be shared within the district and/or other districts

UNDERSTANDING WIDA AND MPI IMPLEMENTATION PD

� Based on data, determine which schools should be offered this PD opportunity

� Meeting with Curriculum Coordinators to determine subject area and grade level focus: � Gr. 1-4 – Social Studies, “Children Discovering Justice”

Unit � Gr. 5-8 – Science Unit

� Meeting with Consultant � Present PD opportunity to principals

UNDERSTANDING WIDA AND MPI IMPLEMENTATION PD

� 6 schools participate in PD � Principals identify teachers for each

subject and grade level � 12 teachers & administrators from each

school participate, for a total of 65 educators

UNDERSTANDING WIDA & MPI IMPLEMENTATION

� Attend one full day of PD on Sept. 23, 24, or 25, 2014 � Complete two lessons and two unit plans on

Differentiation of Curriculum Units for ELLs � Submit two MPI lessons and unit plans by Oct. 22,

2014 on Google Drive � Attend a follow-up meeting on Oct. 22, 2014 to share

out in small groups

COMPONENTS OF LOWELL WIDA MPI PD

� Implement at least one of the lessons in their classrooms

� ELE Dept. observed implementation of lessons in October

� Share lesson & unit development and implementation process with colleagues during PLC/CPT/Faculty meetings between October-November 2014

� Earn compensation for 10 hours � Earn 20 PDPs for successfully completing all tasks

SCIENCE AND SOCIAL STUDIES SAMPLE TOPICS

�  Science topics � Seasons on Earth � How are Living Things

Classified? � Cycling of Matter � Inner and Outer

Planets of our Solar System

� Social Studies Topics � What is Freedom? � What are Rights &

Responsibilities? � Difficulties of Living in

the Colony of MA � Reasons Why People

Immigrate to the US

ESL NEWCOMER TEACHER GRADES 2, 3 & 4 •  27 students from Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, China, Nepal, Portugal,

Brazil, Jordan and Thailand •  9 different languages spoken & 6 Students with Limited or

Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFE) •  WIDA Language Proficiency Levels 1 (Entering) & 2 (Beginning)

Classroom Strategies-Modeling of Lessons, Use of Nonlinguistic Cues(Visuals & Intonations)Total Physical Response(TPR), Graphic Organizers, Dance, Songs, Interactive Word Walls, Clozes, Read Alouds & Think Alouds, Reader’s Theatre, Puppets, Dialogue Journals, Technology, Picture Word Inductive Models(PWIM), Cooperative Grouping, Scavenger Hunts, Picture Dictation, Show/Tell & Environment of Discovery Learning

Benefits of creating MPI’s with colleagues- •  Customize activities or assessments and differentiate instruction for our students •  Share ideas of scaffolding activities to maintain rigor of lessons •  Ongoing discussions of language skills our students need to engage standards and tasks •  Maintain focus on the features of academic language – words, sentences & discourse

GRADE 3 “MAINSTREAM” CLASS MOODY ELEMENTARY

LOWELL, MA.

u  25 students u  5 are FLNE from backgrounds where a language other than English is also

spoken u  16 are ELLs

u  4 are native English speakers u  6 languages are spoken including Portuguese (8), Spanish (2), Tigrinya (1),

Chinese (1), Nepali (1), and Swahili (1)

Range of WIDA ACCESS Proficiency levels: •  3 Developing (knowing and using social English

and some specific academic language) •  4 Expanding (knowing and using social English

and some technical academic language)

IMPACT OF MPIS ON TEACHING

Ø  Target instruction to appropriate proficiency level(s) making learning more accessible for ELLs

Ø  Promote best practices for optimal learning i.e. vocabulary instruction; language supports which include sensory, graphic, and interactive

PRINCIPAL’S REFLECTION

� Analysis of data � RETELL/SEI Endorsement � WIDA MPI PD � Implementing school wide changes � Next steps for additional PD

LESSONS LEARNED � Length of PD � Narrow the focus – subject/grade � Teachers are more aware of the learning

needs of ELLs � Participants are making instructional

changes

Questions?