English Language Development and Acquisition

Moderation state
funded
Grant Applicant
Jess DeLallo
School Site
Truckee Elementary
Grant Date
2016-11-01T12:00:00
Description

The 2016-2017 focus for English Language Development (for all students, including our newcomers with limited or no English) is speaking and listening. The purpose of this grant is to provide additional opportunities for students to acquire, practice and polish their speaking and listening skills in English. Unfortunately, the current, Board adopted, English Language Arts (ELA) and English Language Development (ELD) curricula are aligned to the old state standards, not the Common Core standards. Therefore, all ELA and ELD programs must be significantly supplemented and augmented in order to ensure that the more rigorous Common Core standards are being addressed in the classroom.

Benefits of Program

Students will able to engage with the Rosetta Stone software at their own level and pace in order to augment their English Language acquisition. Students will also be able to work on their speaking and listening skills when using the Swivl because they will be able to record an entire conversation and archive it in a safe and secure data base that is accessible only by school personnel and students. By logging into the Swivl database, and videoing their conversations, students will be able to monitor and critique their progress throughout the year, which, researchers such as John Hattie and Robert Marzano suggest is one of the most powerful high-yield strategies that can be used with students. Finally, the differentiated reading books and literacy centers will help student to read passages that are scaffolded at multiple levels (low, medium and high), but rigorously help students learn reading and other literacy strategies that they can transfer to all areas of their academic lives.

Success of Program

Success of the program can be evaluated in two different ways: informal and formal assessments. Teachers will be able to mark progress of students based on student work and local assessments (i.e. classroom tests, progress in reading levels, etc.). Students will be able to self-assess their progress over the course of the year as the compare their conversations at the beginning of the year and the end (and along the way, of course). Once students become more comfortable and confident in their speaking, listening and reading skills, they often choose to participate more in class. We will have formal data to compare by next October 31st, when all English Language Learners (ELLs) are required to be evaluated with the state's standardized test for assessing ELLs progress, the CELDT (California English Language Development Test).

Implementation

Newcomers, and ELD students working in centers during the regular ELD classes, will be able to access the Rosetta Stone program on the classroom computers in my room, and on two computers in the computer lab. The Swivl technology can be used by up to 5 students at once to completely record a conversation, which can then be archived, reviewed and critiqued by students and staff with login access. The differentiated readers and literacy center kits will be used in the ELD classroom as we work in centers, and work whole group to strengthen our literacy skills (i.e. phonemic awareness, close reading strategies, vocabulary development, critical thinking skills, etc.).

Can you share this grant with your grade level or subject team?

Yes! Rosetta Stone can be loaded onto the computers in my room, and also on a few computers in the computer lab. Similarly, the differentiated readers can be shared with all grade levels since they are differentiated high, medium and low for student comprehension. The literacy centers can also be shared by the Kinder and First Grade classes.

Sustainability
Once the Rosetta Stone software is purchased, it should be sustained without cost to the school. The Swivl platform comes with one year access to the database for free. After the first year, their is a $50 annual subscription to the database, which can be sustained by the classroom account. The literacy center kits and differentiated readers are one-time purchases.
Amount Funded
$2241.00
Budget Notes

The cost is approximately $2607.19, but prices on Amazon often fluctuate just a bit.

Shipping
$0.00
Taxes
$110.69
Other funding sources

Title I and other EL resources funds that would be appropriate to use for this request are currently encumbered for other instructional purposes.

Supporting Links
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B1NzWMZXEpLwOEpkMDJtWUVrSVE?usp=sharing
Notes

Please see the Google Drive folder with copies of the carts for Amazon and Swivl, and the quote from Rosetta Stone. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B1NzWMZXEpLwOEpkMDJtWUVrSVE?usp=sharing