We’ve had an engaging and productive fall fostering English learners’ success with new and ongoing long-term technical assistance projects, professional development (PD) in several states, various conference presentations, and the launch of two new online short courses in upcoming months.

Ongoing Technical Assistance Projects

• NCELA. We are continuing our work to manage the U.S. Department of Education, Office of English Language Acquisition’s National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition (NCELA) in partnership with the Manhattan Strategy Group and WestEd. SupportEd’s main role is to provide EL technical assistance to support the implementation of OELA’s grants and contribute to the development and dissemination of EL professional learning tools and resources.
• Syracuse City School District, New York. We are continuing our sixth year of our ongoing collaboration with the Syracuse City School District (SCSD) to enhance their programming for and instruction of ELs. This year, we are collaborating with SCSD around professional development materials to provide their schools options for flexible, job-embedded PD in support of ELs districtwide.
• Reading School District, Pennsylvania. We are continuing our work with Reading School District (RSD) to develop their first EL Action Plan (or Master Plan) for the district’s rapidly growing English learner population. We are also working with RSD to review and revise EL program models and the English language development instructional delivery plan, and develop a professional development plan, a K-12 ESL standards-aligned curriculum, and an ESL Program Handbook.
  
  

Face to Face, Blended, and Online Professional Development

• Allegheny Intermediate Unit, Pennsylvania. Beginning in October, content and ESL teachers will participate in an online series of four professional development modules created by SupportEd. The online module topics are scaffolding instruction in the content areas, teaching academic language to ELs, making text accessible for ELs, and formative assessment for ELs. The modules will be moderated and supported by Sydney Snyder and Marley Zeno.
• Henrico, Virginia. In October, Marley Zeno will be facilitating a day of professional development for ESOL teachers focusing on literacy skills and vocabulary instruction for ELs. The workshop will also focus on strategies for collaboration between ESOL teachers and content teachers.
• Lincoln Intermediate Unit #12, Pennsylvania. In October, Sydney Snyder and Marley Zeno will be facilitating two days of professional development entitled Unlocking English Learners’ Potential. Framed around our bestselling book, the workshop will focus on strategies for selecting academic vocabulary, strategies for supporting ELs’ acquisition of academic content and language, and strategies for scaffolding academic language development at the word, sentence, and discourse levels.
• Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland. Beginning in September, SupportEd is starting four cycles of blended professional development for ESOL and content teachers across seven elementary schools. The cycles will include a needs assessment, face-to-face professional development, an online professional development module, and classroom observation and coaching. The cycles will address scaffolding instruction of ELs in the content areas, academic language, and oral language development, among other topics.
• North Dakota SEA. In October, SupportEd Consultant Eleni Pappamihiel will facilitate an interactive workshop entitled Unlocking English Language Learners’ (ELs’) Potential: Strategies for Making Content Accessible. The workshop will focus on instructional strategies for supporting ELs’ engagement with grade-level academic content and ELs’ academic language development at the sentence and discourse levels. The workshop is framed around our book, Unlocking English Learners’ Potential: Strategies for Making Content Accessible, and all workshop attendees will receive a copy of the book.
• Prince William County Public Schools, Virginia. In October and November, Diane Staehr Fenner and Marley Zeno will present PD on formative assessment and equitable grading of ELs.
• School District of Philadelphia. We will continue our final year of work on the Together is Better co-teaching project. This year, we will conduct multiple classroom walkthroughs and PD facilitated by Kent Buckley-Ess. Our focus this year is on bringing together grade level teams for working sessions framed around hands-on lesson planning to support English learners during instruction.
  
  

Conference Presentations  

• WIDA 2019. In October, the SupportEd team will deliver multiple presentations at the WIDA Annual Conference in Providence, Rhode Island. The theme of this year’s conference is Teaching for Equity in a Multilingual World. Our presentations include:
  
  
  • Supporting English Learners’ Pathways to High School Graduation – Diane Staehr Fenner & Marley Zeno (Wednesday, October 16, 2019)
  • Breaking Down the Wall: Essential Shifts for English Learners’ Success – Diane Staehr Fenner (panel with authors from Breaking Down the Wall) (Wednesday, October 16, 2019)
  • Creating a School or District Culture for Multilingual Learner Equity – Diane Staehr Fenner & Joanna Duggan (Thursday, October 17, 2019)
  • Strategies for Building ELs’ Academic Language Workshop – Sydney Snyder & Jill Kester (Thursday, October 17, 2019)

• ARKTESOL 2019. On October 28, Diane Staehr Fenner will keynote and present a breakout session at the 20th Annual ARKTESOL conference in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
• NYSTESOL 2019. On November 15, Diane Staehr Fenner will be a plenary speaker at the 49th annual NYSTESOL conference in White Plains, NY.
  
  

Online Short Courses (coming soon!)

This fall, we’re excited to announce the launch of two online asynchronous “short courses” – a new format of online learning that SupportEd will offer in addition to our five 10-hour online courses.

We’ve condensed our research-based, proven practices in an easily accessible and self-paced format to help you expand on EL education strategies at your convenience. Reflect on and refine your approach to best supporting the academic achievement and language development of ELs while earning a certificate for professional development upon course completion. Keep an eye out for the official announcement and launch of our two upcoming short courses:

• NEW Supporting ELs’ Pathways to Graduation
• NEW Program Development Strategies for SLIFE and LTELs