Do you need to reach out to someone in the know?

How to I assign reading to my students when a class is set up? Is there a way to do this in the course student view?

Hi Surendra Surujdeo-Maharaj  That is a great question! There are a couple of different ways you can share readings with students. My preferred way is to download the reading I am assigning and share it via Google Classroom (or any other management system you may use). You could also use the share link option to direct students to the article. This will allow them to adjust the lexile levels of the article or access the audio version. I have also been known to print out an article or two!  Hope that helps! And feel free to reach out with any other questions.

I would like to know how to better pace WHP 1200 to Present. I'm struggling with the number of assignments, grading, and the student's lack of prior foundational knowledge. I also have two ELL-only sections and need guidance with reaching those students as well.

Hi Alison Braun , have you tried the WHP Course Plan for New Jersey? It may help you with your pacing. The best advice I received when I started teaching OER Project courses was to "do less, well." Be selective in the assignments and activities you do, allowing them to delve into the content. Adding Todd Nussen , Curtis Greeley  andAndrea Wong to this conversation. They may have additional advice on using course materials with ELL students.

Be sure to reach out if you have any questions! 

Hi Alison.  While I am not teaching WHP 1200 this year, I am teaching a Big History/Origins class in an ELL hybrid model.  I'm lucky enough to have an ELL teacher (and a translator) in the room.  Are you teaching this one on your own or do you have support staff? 

I'm teaching it on my own. I have about 60% of the class is Portuguese speaking and the other 40% is Spanish speaking.

I have the course plan for NJ and I can't cram that all in. Also, I  like the "do less, well" advice but I worry if I do less I won't be able to meet all of my target standards. Most if not all of my students lack foundational knowledge, writing, and computer literacy skills to follow the NJ course plan.

That's definitely a lot to handle then (much respect to you).  As I mentioned, I'm fortunate enough to have support staff this year.  That being said, before they crated this hybrid model, for the past two years I was teaching to a class of about 30 students of which around 8 - 10 were ELLs.  I relied heavily on the translated articles and I really just focused on vocabulary, reading and writing for that group.  I'm not sure what your technology situation is in the classroom, but we're one to one with Chromebooks and my ELLs really liked it when I gave the ability to create infographics at the end of each unit with images and translations of the big ideas.  We also make Google Sites for each unit which they seemed to like because it allowed for a lot of digital work, images, and the ability to translate their ideas.  

Also, in my district (and state - NY), we're encouraged to use an ENL/ELL grading modification chart which allows me to give better grades to my ENL/ELL population based on effort. 

Alison Braun I would be happy to discuss how to help you pace the WHP 1200 course. I have been using this course with my 8th grade students for several years.  I am also in NJ.  While I do not have the ELL challenge, I think we could get you situated to get through the year successfully.  

Thank you very much for reaching out. I would love to hear your ideas. If you could email me your contact info. at abraun@riverside.k12.nj.us and a good time to talk, that would be great.