Professional Learning Community (PLC) Update for the project English Learner Collaborations: Extending the Reach of Primary Sources
Guest post by Jacqueline LaFrance
January, 2023
PLC Update for EL Collaborations
Published on Mon, 01/23/2023
EL Students Spellbound Uncovering History
Published on Tue, 12/06/2022
Students Spellbound by Uncovering their School's Early History
English Learners' Questions Connect School with Neighbors
Guest post by Jaqueline LaFrance
This post appeared in edited form in the Daily Hampshire Gazette column Chalk Talk, on November 18, 2022.
Language-aware lesson example: Colonial Daily Life (3rd Grade)
Explore primary sources to learn about daily life in Colonial Massachusetts.
Students will practice with posing questions about primary source documents and then analyzing the resources to learn more about life in Colonial Massachusetts. Students will summarize their learning in the final lesson.
What was everyday life like for people who lived near the ocean in Massachusetts 250 years ago?
What can a newspaper tell us about the lives of men, women, and children in 1767 Massachusetts?
Focus skills include:
Language-aware lesson example: Does the First Amendment say you can? (8th Grade)
Explore the First Amendment free speech rights
of students...through analysis of Supreme Court decisions.
Students will practice summarizing interpretations of Freedoms of Speech under
the First Amendment.
Language-aware lesson example: Is it ever okay to break a law? (High School)
Explore primary sources connected to the Civil Rights movement.
The English Learner Collaborations project of the Massachusetts Council for the Social Studies commissioned the development of lessons to illustrate applying English Language Development (ELD) teacher resources to History and Social Studies content.
By the end of the sequence of lessons linked below, students should be able to explain the principles of non-violent civil disobedience, and will be able to provide examples of non-violent civil disobedience.
English Learner Collaborations project to Teach the Language of Social Studies
Published on Mon, 10/04/2021
In a 10th grade classroom, a newly arrived student from Sudan, a returning student from a migrant worker family, and a student whose family came from Cambodia in the 1970s are among the 25 students in a US History class. These three students have been silent in all previous class discussions.It’s not just about simplifying the English. It’s also about helping to recognize claims of cause and effect.
Published on Sun, 01/05/2020
We are preparing to teach an upcoming section of our course, Accessing Inquiry for English Learners through Primary Sources, and reflecting on what specialists in English language acquisition tell us about making history and social studies accessible.
Tags:
Why Teach Immigrant History? Exploring Language Communities of the U.S.
Published on Mon, 12/16/2019
In 2010, when Emerging America first focused on teaching strategies using primary sources to engage and support English Learners, we built the course content around immigration history, expanding the investigation to include the history of American communities that speak languages other than English. A key part of making curriculum accessible to all learners is teaching topics, concepts, and skills that are directly relevant to their lives. Not all English Learners are immigrants, of course. Yet many are, and today’s volatile politics of immigration impact all English Learners.
Tags:
Social Justice Books
From Social Justice Books: A Teaching for Change Project, this powerful site offers more than 60 curated lists of literature and history books on social justice and multicultural points of view for children, young adults, and educators. Book lists are organized by topic areas–including Changemakers, Disabilities, Immigration (and specific immigrant groups), Organizing, and Voting Rights!
New EL-Accessible Lesson: Restricting Immigration to the U.S.
Published on Wed, 10/30/2019
A new lesson for high school students uses primary sources to engage students, including those whose reading levels may not yet be at grade level, in exploring the changes in policy in who is admitted to the United States.
Tags: