using assessment to guide instruction
- Ask the teacher to share the documentation collected for one English learner in his/her class. Select one strand of the ELD foundations and have the teacher identify which items provide information about the child’s development in that strand. Next, ask the teacher to develop a brief narrative summarizing the child’s development in that strand. Then use the California Preschool Curriculum Framework and the Preschool English Learner Guide to help the teacher identify ways the teachers can support this child’s learning in that strand. (PCF, pp. 179, 189)
- With the teacher, conduct a brief co-observation of a child who is an English learner. Read and discuss the anecdotal records. Together identify what the records reflect about the child’s English language development. Discuss what strategies were used to support the child’s English language development during the lesson and ask the teacher to identify one or two additional strategies that could be used to support the child. (PCF, 187; NAEYC, 2005)
- Share the “Flannel Board Activity: An Example of Building Listening Skills” from the Preschool Curriculum Framework with the teachers. Discuss how the teacher used assessment data to plan instruction and additional strategies the teacher might use to support Lonia’s development in the Listening or other strands. (PCF, p. 193)
- Invite a teacher to share samples of his or her children’s portfolios. Select one strand of the ELD foundations on which to focus. Discuss what the portfolio items indicate about the child’s development in the selected strand. Together review the strategies for the strand in the Preschool Curriculum Framework (e.g., Speaking, PCF, pp. 198-199). Then, ask the teacher to select one or two strategies to utilize to support the child’s English language development in that strand. On a follow up visit, provide time for the teacher to reflect on the implementation. (PCF, Chapter 5)
- Together with the teacher, review the documentation collected for an English learner who is a successive bilingual. Using the assessment information, ask the teacher to identify the child’s current stage of communication (e.g., observational/listening). Examine the “Strategies for Responding to Stages of Communication that Children Move Into and Out of as They Learn a Second Language” from the PEL Guide. Ask the teacher to select one to two strategies he/she will used to support the child’s English language development. On the next visit, provide time for reflection about the implementation. (PEL, pp. 54-55)
