Lesson Planning with the ELL in Mind

Go to Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/ell-lesson

Introduction

**Course Review: Lesson Planning with the ELL in Mind on Coursera** In a world that is increasingly diverse, the need for effective teaching strategies that accommodate English Language Learners (ELLs) has never been more urgent. The Coursera course, "Lesson Planning with the ELL in Mind," offers an essential toolkit for educators looking to enhance their lesson planning skills specifically for ELL students. ### Course Overview This comprehensive course is structured to help educators design lesson plans that cater effectively to the language levels and unique needs of ELL students. Through the analysis of content language and cognitive demands, participants will gain the skills necessary to align language objectives with institutional standards, modify existing materials, and develop supportive tools like graphic organizers and language frames. ### What You Will Learn The course is divided into six weeks, each focusing on a crucial aspect of lesson planning: 1. **ELL Language and Communication Skills Across the Curriculum**: The first week dives into the basics of second language acquisition (SLA). Participants will learn about BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills) and CALP (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency), allowing them to assess their students’ language skills meaningfully. 2. **ELL Cognitive and Learning Skills Across the Curriculum**: Moving into cognitive strategies, the second week teaches how to engage ELL students in content learning while fostering their autonomy as learners. Educators will also learn how to create a supportive classroom environment to reduce affective filters, which can hinder comprehension. 3. **Lesson Planning with the ELL in Mind**: The third week emphasizes the practical aspects of lesson planning. Educators will learn how to write effective language learning outcomes that align with content learning outcomes, ensuring a holistic approach to lesson design. 4. **Materials and Lesson Delivery**: In the fourth week, the focus shifts to selecting and adapting teaching materials. Educators will learn how to analyze materials at various levels to ensure they meet the cognitive and linguistic needs of their ELL students. 5. **ELL Lesson Planning in Action**: The fifth week is particularly insightful as it allows participants to analyze real-world lessons developed with ELL considerations. This helps educators to discern best practices in vocabulary selection, grammatical structure, and alignment with state standards. 6. **Assessment**: Finally, the course culminates with a chance for educators to synthesize their knowledge and apply what they have learned in their teaching contexts, with opportunities for peer review. ### Strengths of the Course - **Practical Application**: The course is designed for active learning, encouraging educators to apply theories in practical settings. - **DiverseLearning Strategies**: It encompasses various learning styles and provides strategies for both teaching and assessing ELLs. - **Expert Guidance**: The course is developed by experienced educators who understand the nuances of teaching in diverse classrooms and provide relevant, updated information about SLA theories and their applications. ### Recommendations This course is highly recommended for teachers, instructional leaders, and curriculum developers who are committed to fostering an inclusive classroom environment for ELL students. Whether you are a seasoned educator or new to the teaching field, "Lesson Planning with the ELL in Mind" will equip you with actionable strategies and insights that can significantly impact the learning experience of your ELL students. In conclusion, if you wish to elevate your teaching practice and provide your students with the support they need to thrive in their language journey, this Coursera course is an invaluable resource. Enroll today to start your journey toward more inclusive and effective lesson planning!

Syllabus

ELL Language and Communication Skills Across the Curriculum

Welcome to week 1! This module is very important as it introduces you to the basics of second language acquisition. By the end of this module, you will be able to: conceptualize theories of SLA as they apply to ELL students in your mainstream classrooms, assess your student’s language skills and abilities using BICS and CALP, classify vocabulary types specific to your content, identify grammar structures specific to your content, identify language functions specific to your content and strategically pre-plan vocabulary and language functions necessary for lessons in your mainstream classroom. Lots to learn! Let's get started!

Welcome to week 2! This week you will continue to work through pre-planning stages of lesson design as you keep in mind your ELLs. By the end of this module, you will be able to engage cognitive skills of ELLs through the learning of content, develop ELL autonomy by teaching students how to learn, evaluate the affective filter of your ELL students, strategically design classroom environment to reduce affective filter and strategically pre-plan cognitive and learning skills necessary for lessons in your mainstream classroom.

Welcome to week 3! We are excited to begin writing and creating the lesson plan and activities to support our students' learning of content and development of language. By the end of this module, you will be able to write language learning outcomes to support your content learning outcomes, plan/adapt lesson activities that support cognitive and linguistic access for ELLs, identify language demands of existing activities, lessons, textbooks and content and strategically plan lesson objectives and activities in your mainstream classroom with your ELL in mind. Happy Lesson Planning!

Welcome to week 4! Now that you have created your lesson, it is time to start thinking about the materials you will need to make sure that the lesson is successful. By the end of this module, you will be able to apply thoughtful criteria for selecting materials in your mainstream classroom (meet input and cognition demands), adapt materials for ELLs using a word level, sentence level and text level analysis, modify existing text to provide linguistic access to your ELLs, create materials to provide linguistic access to your ELLs and strategically select and adapt materials in lesson planning with your ELL in mind. Let's get started!

Welcome to week 5! This is a unique module in that you will have a chance to see some lesson plans in action. We will share 3 lesson plans fully developed with the ELL in mind. By the end of this module, you will be able to: identify key aspects of Second Language Acquisition in 3 fully developed lesson plans, analyze ways to select vocabulary, grammatical structures, language functions, cognitive skills, and learning skills within these 3 model lessons, recognize alignment of learning outcomes to state standards within these 3 model lessons, identify modified texts and materials for ELLs and apply these same concepts to your own lessons, objectives, and materials.

Welcome to week 6! Congratulations and well done. It is now time to apply the many strategies for lesson planning with the ELL in mind to your own teaching context. By the end of this module, you will be able to synthesize course material, complete the final exam and complete the optional peer review. Good luck!