Summary
Contents
Engage your ELL students with digital tools! The Corwin Connected Educators series is your key to unlocking the greatest resource available to all educators: other educators. ELL students deserve a classroom environment full of choice, inquiry, and creativity. By blending technology with teaching, your students can thrive. John Spencer’s insights will enable you to • Introduce project-based, differentiated instruction in your ELL classroom • Expand your use of innovative technology • Strengthen your students’ English language skills Being a Connected Educator is more than a set of actions: it’s a belief in the potential of technology to fuel lifelong learning. To explore other books in the series, visit the Corwin Connected Educators website at http://www.corwin.com/connectededucators/. “John Spencer is the kind of teacher that I wish my own kids had and that all students deserve. This book shows clearly and practically how technology can be used to give all students greater choice and a more powerful voice. This book inspired me to rethink my own approach and what I’m planning to do in my classroom tomorrow.” Philip Cummings, 6th Grade Teacher Presbyterian Day School “Spencer provides a clear framework for teachers to help students improve their language skills. A teacher can pick this book up and be provided with specific ideas and techniques which can be implemented in a classroom immediately.” Josh Stumpenhorst, Teacher Lincoln Junior High School Naperville, IL
Introduction
Introduction
A few years ago, I transferred into a self-contained ELL classroom. Suddenly, I had to teach a four-hour language block (an hour of grammar, an hour of reading, an hour of writing, and an hour of oral language development) while also teaching the social studies, math, and science. Having previously taught a project-based gifted inclusion class, I wasn’t sure what type of framework I should use in the upcoming school year.
I contacted Jeremy Macdonald, a current technology director, who, at the time, was an expert ELL teacher.
“Could you talk to me about how I should approach ELL?”
“Are you looking for specific language strategies?” he asked.
“I feel like I know about the language support strategies. What I don’t know is how to organize a typical ...