As the EL population continues to grow, more teachers find themselves wanting EL-focused professional learning opportunities.

Our Module of the Month series focuses on one Ellevation Strategies module and activity monthly to develop best instructional strategies. Educators can follow along independently or discuss these in PLCs, principal meetings, or other collaborative workshops. 

Ellevation Strategies’ May module: Introduction to Foster Interactions

Build classroom culture that welcomes an exchange of ideas and authentic interactions – encouraging ELs to collaboratively practice using new content and language while tapping into their wide range of experiences.

Let’s look closer at classroom conversations. Structured conversations provide learners with the support to practice language structures and new vocabulary in authentic contexts.

Ellevation Strategies’ May activity: Find the Fib

Find the Fib provides an opportunity for learners to defend their thinking as they review content. Utilizing sentence stems and small groups along with the Find the Fib graphic organizer sets students up to be successful in peer-to-peer conversations while encouraging them to think critically about language and content.

The Ellevation Educator Facebook Group is a place to learn how educators across the nation foster interactions with their students. Share your experiences and ask the community for recommendations, ideas, and insights.

We recently posted Module of the Month discussion questions for the Facebook Group: 

• Think back on your professional development. How did you build confidence to become an educator? What authentic conversations contributed to you confidently instructing students?
• Reflect on your current lessons. What peer interactions are available to your learners? How do you provide clear expectations for peer-to-peer conversations?

We provide examples for grade-level content in our Content Examples tab in the Find the Fib activity page.