Just the beginning, and we are moving on full force!!

Today is the three week anniversary of this school year. So much has happened in these short weeks. Oh, and let's not forget the two weeks that we had professional development BEFORE students arrived. So, it is actually the five week anniversary today. Many new ideas, programs, plans and, of course, students have entered my classroom and my school. Here are just a few:

• WIDA English Language Development Standards: MI adopted these new standards and their assessments. It has been a race to learn all that I have to know in order to teach classroom teachers and others working with ELL students. New test to administer to new students, and learning how to score it and how to enter it to the new state website that has been a bit behind in releasing its new features.
• New Teachers: Some have never worked with ELLs before or are entering a new subject or grade level. When you work in a school where 40-50% of the students are ELL, you cannot wait until the second or third year of teaching to learn how to teach and assist ELLs; you have to do it right now.

• SIOP--Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol: This SIOP model helps teachers plan and deliver lessons that are accessible for ELLs. I needed to give some quick overviews on SIOP for our new teachers. Writing your content and language objectives for every class is not easy if you have never had to do that before.
• Interrupted Education Students: How many students do you have in your classroom that come from overseas? How many of those have missed one to four years of schooling? How do you start with a ninth grader who speaks no English, cannot multiply or divide in math, does not understand anything even in art or PE class? How do I equip teachers to work with these students? I am not even talking about how these students have to take our state assessment in a few weeks even though they speak no English. It is going to be an interesting year.
• My helpers: I am blessed to have parapro or part-time ELL tutor working with me this year. She is so competent that I do not have to wonder what she is doing. She knows what it takes to work with the students, and how to push them to the next level. She is detail oriented--meaning that she pushes me to be more focused on details as well. I also have a student teacher this fall. How did I get so lucky?? My student teacher already has her teaching certificate, and is now adding ESL endorsement to her certificate. Again, she is very competent. when give a task, she will run with it. I already feel that I am much further than I was last year at this time. I could not have asked for better helpers!!! P.S. I have TWO adults who volunteer their time to read with middle and high school ELLs!!!
• My past, present and future students: What a surprise i had a week ago when one of my old (and very favorite) students showed up as a pre-student teacher in my school! He totally made my day! Then I look at my present students and wonder, how many of them will become teachers, doctors, engineers, nurses, etc? How can I make sure that I give them the education that they need to follow their dreams? How can I make sure that their English proficiency improves? Like many of you, this means hours spent on making picture cards, laminating, searching or creating to make just the right teaching tools to assist my students.
• Rosetta Stone: I love that my district has purchased licenses for our ELLs. This year I am the one who organizes the registering of students from seven different schools. I am told it should only take extra time at the beginning of the year, but then there is also the monitoring that students are actually doing what they need to be doing. 

I am already thinking what reflections I will have at the ten week and twenty week anniversary this year. I am wondering what new things I will learn, what new resources I will find that prove to be essential in helping my students toward their proficiency in English, and how I will learn to balance my time with school and other obligations and personal aspirations this year.