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

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

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.