The College and Career Readiness Standards for Adult Education (CCRSAE) have set the bar high for all learners. Now, how do we help our learners reach that bar? To assure that English learners (ELs) meet these rigorous standards, the classroom tasks or activities we choose need to be ambitious as well. This webinar series focuses on these key tasks—the “nuts and bolts” of classroom practice.
- ESOL teachers who use the CCRSAE standards to write learning objectives and who would like to explore classroom activities and tasks designed to help their learners meet these objectives.
This professional development activity/course is designed for:
In this webinar series, you will explore a framework for examining instructional tasks to determine the content, critical thinking, and language needed to successfully complete each task. The presenter will model how the recently developed English Language Proficiency (ELP) Standards can be used to support these task demands for adult ELs. Revisions to the Massachusetts ESOL Curriculum Framework are being informed by the ELP Standards, so you can get a head start as you become informed about what rigorous learner outcomes can look like at all levels of adult ESOL.
Through opportunities to practice this new process with sample instructional tasks covering varying levels, content, and language skills, you will learn to (1) recognize the level of rigor of a task (e.g., does it require students to use rich analytical skills and language?), and (2) identify the complexity of tasks in order to determine the scaffolds needed to foster successful outcomes for adult ELs. Throughout this process, you will be presented with a wide range of classroom task types that you can adapt for your setting.
Each of the three 1.5-hour interactive webinars focuses on one step in this process. Between sessions, you will complete short readings from the LINCS ESL Pro Issue Brief Meeting the Language Needs of Today’s Adult English Language Learner and complete short assignments, which you will report on and discuss in an online forum.
The course opens January 10, 2018, at 9:00 a.m.
Prior to the first webinar session, you are required to read the LINCS Issue Brief Meeting the Language Needs of Today’s Adult English Language Learners, complete a short pre-survey, and introduce yourself in a pre-webinar discussion forum.
In Webinar 1: What Do Rigorous Instructional Tasks Look Like?, you will use a task analysis process to identify the content, analytical skills, and language demands of various instructional tasks, and explain the language functions and forms therein.
Between the first and second webinars, you will choose an instructional task appropriate for the learners you teach, analyze the task using the framework presented, and share your outcomes in the discussion forum. You will respond to two colleagues’ posts by comparing their learning and posing follow-up questions.
In Webinar 2: Identifying Appropriate Scaffolds to Support ELs’ Success with Instructional Task Demands, you will explore the ELP Standards and use them to identify and create the necessary scaffolds for meeting the demands of rigorous instructional tasks.
Between Webinars 2 and 3, using your chosen instructional task, you will create three scaffolds to foster and promote the analytical skills and language functions and forms that learners need to successfully complete the task.
In Webinar 3: Building Scaffolds that Support Rigorous Outcomes in the ESOL Classroom, you will present the sample activity and scaffolds you have created to support rigorous task demands,identify components for further exploration in the LINCS ESL Pro suite of materials, and create an action plan for your own setting.
Your final task will be to share any changes to your scaffolded task and to then post it and your final reflections in the discussion forum.
The combined number of professional development hours from the three webinars and the self-directed activities for this offering is 10.
Dates and times:
Course Opens: January 10, 2018, 9:00 a.m.
Session One: January 17, 2018, 10:30 - 12:00
Session Two: January 31, 2018, 10:30 - 12:00
Session Three: February 14, 2018, 10:30 - 12:00
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Use a task analysis process for identifying the content, analytical skills, and language demands of instructional tasks
Explain language functions and forms
Explain the purpose for using the ELPs to guide instruction
Identify and create the necessary scaffolds for meeting rigorous instructional task demands
Present a sample activity and scaffolds they have created to support rigorous task demands
Identify components for further exploration in the ESL Pro Suite of Materials.
Create an action plan for developing rigorous tasks appropriate for your learners
Upon completion of this professional development activity/course, you will be able to:
Prior to the first webinar session, you are required to read the LINCS Issue Brief Meeting the Language Needs of Today’s Adult English Language Learners, complete a short pre-survey, and introduce yourself in a pre-webinar discussion forum.
Online
United States
