The weather is warm, the flowers are blooming. That means it's assessment season! Sorry, you'll never look at spring the same way again.  

Whether gearing up for a classroom-based assessment or one that is more formal, teachers usually ask,  

"Does the GLAD® model include any strategies for summative assessment, or to help students prepare for summative assessment?" 

The Graffiti Wall is just such a strategy! We don't often have time to model it in a training, so if you haven't seen it yet here are some tips.  

• The teacher composes test questions for the number of teams in the class. One question each is written at the top of a piece of chart paper and they are placed around the room.  
• You may choose to hang the question chart next to another chart that could be a resource for the answer. 
• The questions can be written in black ink, the teacher color, or the color of the corresponding team that will begin at that chart. ...

Ever feel chatty when you’re happy?  Or so angry you just want to yell?  Ever talk late into the night with the love of your life? Or have sadness so deep words are lost in the swell? 

Emotions are the language of the heart. They release, captivate and invite us to speak.  In so many ways it is the overflow of the heart from which we speak… or are silenced.

Safety and stress produce and repress language. This is particularly true for those attempting to communicate in bi and multilingual settings. When we’re stressed, we all tend to revert back to what we know. Imagine trying to learn a new language, personally, in the midst of a pandemic. And then trying to communicate only in that language. It’s like trying to diet in the midst of a pandemic. Just too much!

And yet, that’s exactly what our emerging bi and multilingual students have been expected to do all year long. Our language learners deserve a standing ovation and our deepest...

The birds are singing, the flowers are blooming, and hope is spreading all around us. Yes, it's spring!

This year, we needed the signs of new life that spring brings more than ever. 

Whether your students are in the classroom or joining you from home, consider all the ways you can bring fresh life into their daily learning experience. Perhaps you'll adopt a class bunny (for the courageous!), plant seeds, or go on a geometry treasure hunt in nature.

 Some of my favorite writing lessons came from taking students outside in the spring to observe and write about the growing flora and fauna.  One spring we fit all our writing standards into an insect unit. We wrote insect poetry, scientific journaling on the butterfly life cycle (watching pupas emerge in the classroom), creative writing inspired by Chris Van Allsburg's, Two Bad Ants, and of course our very own entomologist reports on each student's insect of choice.

Those of you already teaching with GLAD® strategies...

Over the past year we all had to pivot our work and discover innovative ways to use GLAD® strategies online. Just like you, we've experimented with a number of online tools to deliver our instruction to students without diminishing the rationale and power of GLAD®.

A tip when creating a digital activity is to ask yourself,

"Does this online tool support or strengthen the purpose for this strategy, or am I trying to adapt the strategy too much to fit the parameters of the online tool?"

If the later is true, then it's not the tool for you. Keep looking for a way to deliver your GLAD® instruction that retains the language development aspects of the model. 

Many of our initial ideas were scrapped, but we persevered, found work-arounds for app limitations and gleaned great ideas from others along the way. And we're still at it - continually developing new ideas to take us forward into hybrid learning! 

We've highlighted a few online tutorials in...

Does the idea of hybrid teaching make you hyperventilate? How can I meet the needs of students online and in the classroom, while staying safe and sane myself? 

You’re not alone!

 Teachers across the country are currently tackling the challenges and opportunities of hybrid teaching models. A flipped classroom may be the key you’re looking for – without flipping out yourself.

 Since you spent the last year learning how to implement distanced learning, the easiest way to pivot to a blended model is to keep doing what you’re already doing. Retain your digital LMS. Post all assignments digitally. Then get ready to FLIP!

 What is a flipped classroom?

 The flipped classroom is a “pedagogical approach in which direct instruction moves from the group learning space to the individual learning space, and the resulting group space is transformed into a dynamic, interactive learning environment where the educator guides students as...

Let’s face it! The quarantine 15 is a real thing! It’s because we’re sitting on our backsides in front of the computer all day long. Students and teachers are used to getting up and moving around the classroom. We need that oxygen moving through our brains to think clearly and stay engaged. 

 How can we incorporate movement during online learning? 

 It’s going to benefit our waistlines and chins, as well as our brains if we can think of ways to get moving during online instruction. In a GLAD classroom, there are multiple times throughout the day where we move students from their seats.  We move to the carpet.  Students stand when reporting an answer. We all move during chants and other strategies. We encourage you to continue those practices online. 

When students are reporting an answer during synchronous learning, have them stand. Teach them to back up a little bit so they’re still in the camera view. 

Continue...

Online 10/2 Lectures

Going asynchronous with Pictorials, Graphic Organizers or Comparative Input Charts? Keep engagement high with short video chunks and interactive engagement.   

Spoiler alert - today's online tip is based on a FREE app and works with any video lesson! Quick and easy! 

Acceleration - A Language Rich Jumpstart for the New Year

Are you as eager to start the New Year as we are? This year, consider giving yourself, your team, staff or district a jumpstart with ACCELERATION.

Acceleration is language rich PD that answers the questions and provides the support teachers need now to meet the needs of their language learners (and the rest of their class) whether you're online, onsite or going hybrid.

Your 6 week session provides weekly strategy support, community encouragement and online tips.

Acceleration BEGINS JANUARY 19th, so spread the word and get ready for a refreshing and energizing launch to a NEW YEAR! 

We can't wait...

There's so much to learn from each other this year! This certainly includes how to adapt GLAD® strategies for online applications. We have had so much fun creating mini tutorials featuring one or more GLAD strategies! Check it out! 

You can see this and many others in the Community feature of the year-long Path to Proficiency. We post new App tutorials monthly and sometimes twice monthly. We also post weekly within the 6-week Acceleration online PD.  

 Time is running out to join us for these timely and valuable online PD opportunities. The registration deadline for the 2020-2021 school year is Monday, November 9th!  

Your biggest fans! 

Jody & Sara 

nextstepsprojectglad.com 

[email protected] 

Asset-based instruction and ensuring equal access for all students are cornerstones of the OCDE Project GLAD® model.  

In order to create an inclusive environment with equal access, the teacher has to consider: 

• Logistics - where students are seated and who they're grouped with
• Relationship building - student to student, teacher to student, and with families
• Pedagogical considerations - using best practices to make content accessible for your grade level. 

During online learning, technological access creates an added challenge to equity.  

Districts are already struggling with hardware and internet access for all students and staff. But that's not all. The very practice of a video conference in a synchronous digital classroom is creating issues of inequity. Now that the classroom is being brought into the home, our homes and the homes of our students are front and center and all of the inequalities can be visually witnessed by all.  

The Project GLAD® model embeds classroom, team, and individual management strategies that create interaction in the classroom. Students practice language with teams and partners. They move around the classroom to bring oxygen and glucose to the brain that stimulates thinking. Students are provided daily opportunities for decision making and problem solving. Respectful, interactive, language-rich classrooms are the result.

 How can teachers move interactive management practices to an online setting?

 In our GLAD® classrooms we create heterogenous mixed ability groupings of 3 or 4 students. These teams allow students to put heads together and share their thinking, listen to others’ thinking, reading, and problem solving, as well as come up with team responses for reporting out an answer.

When teaching in an online setting, the teacher would create a list of heterogenous grouped students, but instead of seating students together in a classroom setting, these...