Writing Effective Language & Content Objectives for English Learners

Focused Area

Improving the Educational Setting of Students in ESOL Programs

Relevance to Focused Area

Language Objectives: The Key to Effective Content Area Instruction for English Learners.

Primary Strand

Academic Achievement & School Leadership

Relevance to Primary Strand

Writing effective content and language objectives to support English Learners in the classroom to improve academic achievement across all content areas and grade levels.

Brief Program Description

Language Objectives: The Key to Effective Content Area Instruction for English Learners, K-12.

Summary

While the explicit instructional support that ESL and bilingual teachers provide is essential to English learners' academic language development, English learners receive a majority of their instruction from general education and content area teachers who may not have experience teaching academic language development. The question then becomes: "What do general education teachers need to do in order to support the academic English development of language learners, especially when English learners are one of the many types of students they serve?" Participants will learn how to write effective language objectives, and will be offered "tools" to take with them to incorporate into their lesson toolkits to implement in the classroom and share with administrators and teacher colleagues.

Evidence

Implementing language objectives can be a powerful first step in ensuring that English Learners (ELs) have equal access to the curriculum even though they may not be fully proficient in the language. This is because the second language acquisition process requires opportunities for the language learner to be exposed to, practice with, and then be assessed on their language skills (Echevarria, Short, & Vogt, 2008).

Format

Poster Presentation

Biographical Sketch

Dr. Nancy E. Testa has been an educator in Connecticut for over 33 years. Nancy received her BS in Elementary Education and Spanish from The University of St. Joseph in Connecticut. She received her Master’s Degree in Elementary Education from Central Connecticut State University and received her Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University in 2008.

In her first years as an educator, Nancy taught pre-Kindergarten and full-day kindergarten before teaching middle and high school Spanish. In 2000, Nancy was recognized for excellence in classroom instruction and educational practices as East Hartford High School’s Teacher of the Year. Nancy was selected as the 2000 District Teacher of the Year for East Hartford Public Schools for her work and collaboration with students, teachers, administrators, families and community members. Nancy spearheaded numerous school and district initiatives and served on various committees, which included co-chairing and facilitating the high school’s NEASC accreditation process, designing curriculum and establishing a new, theme-based intermediate school, The Sunset Ridge Academy of Fine & Performing Arts and World Languages, which opened its doors in 2009. Nancy collaborated with administrators and teachers in Beijing and the Shandong Province of China from 2009-2015 in support of improved classroom instruction, curriculum and assessments of World Languages. In 2009, Nancy established a sister-school partnership between the district's intermediate school, middle school and the International Baccalaureate high school with 3 schools in the Shandong Province in China. This sister school partnership has expanded since its initiation. In addition, she worked with neighboring universities and school districts in support of student teacher placement and observational practices as well as co-facilitation of Connecticut’s State Department of Education’s New Teacher Mentoring Program. In 2012, Nancy served on the committee to draft the approved PEAC Teacher Evaluation Plan for Teachers of World Languages and ESL/Bilingual for the State of Connecticut. Nancy was instrumental in the initiation, development and successful implementation of the new EHPS Teacher Evaluation Plan and mentored principals and other district administrators during Year 1 & Year 2. She mentored and coached principals and other district administrators and continued to assist administrators and teachers with initial, mid-year and year-end performance expectations and appraisals. In addition, Dr. Testa delivered several workshops to district teachers regarding the new evaluation plan and performance expectations.

She has been affiliated with professional organizations such as COFLIC and CAPELL. In 2010, Nancy collaborated with the ESL District Coordinator, the Office of the Superintendent, the Board of Education Chairperson, numerous community outreach services, the Office of the Mayor of East Hartford and local businesses to launch the town’s first Community Resource Center with the intention of servicing and assisting parents and families with translation services, community outreach programs and local and state level assistance.

From 2009-2015, Dr. Testa was the East Hartford Public Schools K-12 District Administrator/Supervisor of 32 teachers and 12 tutors in the ESL/Bilingual, World Languages and The Gifted & Talented/Honors Program. She has spearheaded numerous initiatives around common core state standards as well as supported district program development and curricula writing to ensure student success and achievement. Her work has supported the expansive programming initiatives as well as ensuring that appropriate educational services were offered to young learners, families and educators. These initiatives include curricula writing, effective lesson planning, differentiation, district and school programming, teacher assignments and scheduling, delivery of instruction, assessment building, scheduling yearly state-mandated on-line testing of the LAS-Links assessment, ESL/Bilingual programming, teacher performance and evaluation. The effectiveness of her leadership and strong support of education initiatives has led to the establishment of highly effective K-12 programs, student success and academic achievement for all learners.

From 2015 to the present, Dr. Testa has been an Educational Consultant for Edwards Educational Services, Inc. and has established her own company, Testa Educational Services, LLC. During this time, she has consulted with administrators, teachers and students in Wayne Public Schools in Huntington, West Virginia and for Foundation Public Schools in Karachi, Pakistan. In October, Dr. Testa presented "Effective Teaching Strategies for English Learners" within the ESL strand at the National Youth at Risk Conference (NYAR) in San Antonio, Texas.

Nancy is also a part-time Bilingual Education Specialist for the Institute of Teaching & Learningfor Capitol Region Education Council (CREC) in Hartford, CT.

Start Date

10-26-2017 9:45 AM

End Date

10-26-2017 11:00 AM

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Oct 26th, 9:45 AM Oct 26th, 11:00 AM

Writing Effective Language & Content Objectives for English Learners

Language Objectives: The Key to Effective Content Area Instruction for English Learners, K-12.