Episode Transcript
DIESOL 037
Ixchell Reyes: [00:00:00] The DIESOL podcast,
Brent Warner: [00:00:01] Digital Integration in English as a Second or Other Language.
Episode 37, EdTech and Elementary ESL with Angela Barnett.
Welcome to DIESOL. This is episode 37 and we are your hosts. I am Brent Warner.
Ixchell Reyes: [00:00:29] And I’m Ixchell Reyes
Brent Warner: [00:00:31] Ixchell, how are you?
Ixchell Reyes: [00:00:33] I’m back in the States
Brent Warner: [00:00:36] Congratulations
Ixchell Reyes: [00:00:36] and we are what? A quarter through 2021.
Brent Warner: [00:00:39] already. Who knew?
Ixchell Reyes: [00:00:40] Yep. By the time. Yeah, almost a quarter through.
Brent Warner: [00:00:43] Have you gotten the shot yet?
Ixchell Reyes: [00:00:45] Not yet. I’m on the list. Have you?
Brent Warner: [00:00:47] No. Cause I had COVID and so I’m like
Ixchell Reyes: [00:00:49] Oh yeah.
Brent Warner: [00:00:51] if you get a there’s all this, like the information is getting there, but it’s a little unclear about like what you’re supposed to do. If you’re a person who had COVID. So, um,
Ixchell Reyes: [00:01:00] You’re not a priority anymore.
Brent Warner: [00:01:02] I’m not going anywhere. I’m here. I’m locked into my cave, so I’m
Ixchell Reyes: [00:01:05] Nope. So
hopefully by the next episode, I don’t know. Uh, but my state is opening up that we opened up a hundred percent and this is Texas, by the way, we opened up a hundred percent, I think, last Wednesday.
Brent Warner: [00:01:18] Opening up meaning, you can take your masks down and
breathe on people
Ixchell Reyes: [00:01:22] uh, the mask mandate is gone and the businesses are at a hundred percent. So I don’t know what’s going to happen.
I’ll just sit back and observe.
Brent Warner: [00:01:33] so more, uh, more Postmates for Ixchell. All right. Um, so today we’re talking about a topic that we haven’t really talked about, which I’m excited about. So.
Ixchell Reyes: [00:01:43] Me too. Um, I started out as a, as a kindergarten teacher thinking I was going to be a dual immersion elementary school teacher. And of course, The universe wanted me elsewhere, but that’s an area that’s always, you know, close to my heart as well because, um, I love children and I love elementary education.
So today we are lucky to have Angela Barnett and we’ll give her a proper introduction here.
Brent Warner: [00:02:07] Yes, Angela is a third grade teacher and been in education for almost 20 years, uh, with N M E D in cross-cultural teaching. Um, Angela provides district PD and for CUE as well as a lead learner. Um, leadership roles include ELA and ELD program designee, tech site lead, avid site coordinator, teacher induction mentor, um, OCCUE board member and, um, 3rdchat, #3rdchat.
Co-moderator so Angela, you’re not busy at all. How are you doing today?
Angela Barnett: [00:02:40] Good, Thank you!
Brent Warner: [00:02:43] You’re like, Oh, I forgot. I had to do all those things. I got go guys.
Angela Barnett: [00:02:48] You know, I don’t talk about it a lot. So sometimes I I’m one of those people who do get a little embarrassed, but when those things are said whatever reason, um, but yes,
Brent Warner: [00:02:59] well, yeah, that’s a, that’s a fair amount of things and know, it keeps, it keeps you fairly busy. So, um, so we want to talk to you today about supporting elementary ELL ELLs. It’s a different world than than what Ixchell, and I normally do. And. I don’t know, Ixhell, if you feel the same way, like a lot of the times I’m like, okay, we can deal with, um, Oh, puppy,
Ixchell Reyes: [00:03:22] Oh a puppy! You guys are not seeing this, but there’s the cutest little puppy on the screen.
Brent Warner: [00:03:26] You’re gonna have to send a picture of that dog to into the show notes so that everybody can know what’s going on
Angela Barnett: [00:03:32] I will sorry.
Brent Warner: [00:03:34] dog’s name?
Angela Barnett: [00:03:35] Oh, his name is
Brent Warner: [00:03:37] did I know?
Angela Barnett: [00:03:39] well, he was a rescue and I wasn’t going to keep him, so I did not come up with a name. Um, so pup stuck,
Ixchell Reyes: [00:03:48] Was he a pandemic pup?
Angela Barnett: [00:03:50] No, he’s actually about nine years old. Yeah. Hard to tell, but yeah, he’s about nine years old. Um, and he’s, he’s doing good.
Brent Warner: [00:04:01] Well welcome pup to the show. We’re
Ixchell Reyes: [00:04:02] That’s our other, other special guest.
First time we’ve had one on the show.
Brent Warner: [00:04:07] Does pup have an Instagram account?
Angela Barnett: [00:04:09] No.
Brent Warner: [00:04:12] Okay. So, uh, back to topic so we are going to talk about elementary ELL. And like we were saying, I, you know, I often feel like the stuff that we talk about Ixchell, like can stretch all the way down to high school ELD and even junior high ELD a lot of the time, but then I kind of feel faded or a little bit worried about like, ah, is the stuff I’m talking about cool for elementary, like, I don’t know as much or I don’t feel as confident in, like in saying that. So I’m really happy to have Angela on, to talk a little bit about what it looks like. What technology looks like for language learners at younger levels and that whole world. So Let’s jump into it.
Ixchell Reyes: [00:04:51] I know. I, I agree.
Brent Warner: [00:04:52] Yeah. Yeah.
Ixchell Reyes: [00:04:55] Okay. So one of the things Brent and I, I know I mentioned, I started out as a, as a kindergarten teacher and a lot of the strategies that I learned in my credential program. I never thought that they would stretch over into the adult world. I know you said that you sometimes feel disconnected from those levels, but I’m, I’m asking, I’m now curious if they’re being, after working with adults for so long, I’m curious as to what working with ELs or ELLs looks like
at your school, Angela, is it sheltered instruction? Is it separated? What does that look like?
Angela Barnett: [00:05:28] Yeah, so at my particular site over the years, we’ve had about a 50% population of English language learners.
And what that would look like is. 50% throughout classrooms as well. So in my class, I can go up to 30 students. And so there would be about 15 students who were identified as English language learners and what I do as a general ed teacher, as I would teach the English language learners through, we, we call it with our standards Integrated and Designated time.
And so for integrated, that means they, ELD standards are covered across content areas and throughout the day. So I teach all subjects, English Language Arts, social studies, science, math et cetera. And then for designated ELD California state requires 30 minutes a day protected time for English language learners.
So. Because at the time leading up to this year, the numbers were so high and due to time constraints, I would teach as a whole group. So our curriculum supports our ELD and ELA. So when we’re reading a story in our ELA curriculum, the story is reflected in our ELD books. And so it’s just modified.
And we focus more on the speaking, the writing, the language piece of it, whereas in English language arts the students are seeing the story twice, but then that’s where we’re focusing on those comprehension skills and strategies. So it’s, it’s more application piece in ELD communication-wise and Now, now that we’re online also.
So we transitioned to the ELPAC and so English Language Learners take this assessment every single year. And now our numbers have dropped since the test has changed. Which is, it’s very interesting. I don’t really know what the data is on that, but now this year I only have seven students in my class.
I have 26 kids and seven are identified as English Language Learners. And so now when we’ve been virtual since March, so at the end of the day, we have this like asynchronous hour. So I spent 30 minutes in a breakout room with those particular seven students, which is kind of nice because when we were in person, we really didn’t get that like one-on-one time with a small group because it also wasn’t a small group.
So it does, it does look different virtually, and it does look different this year than it did in the past.
Brent Warner: [00:08:15] So you have however many students, let’s say 30 and this right now is different, but in the past you had 15 of them, or half of them are English Language Learners. So basically you’re, you’re kind of saying that you had to. You taught the same lessons, but you had to scaffold it in a different way, right? So that the students here are working on, “Hey, we’re talking about volcanoes” and those types of things. And you’re having to separate out like vocabulary words that maybe language learners don’t have. But, uh, you know, you understand that your sorry, you had a term for the students who are not the, uh, language learners, right?
Angela Barnett: [00:08:56] Oh, so we, we use the acronym E O as English Only.
Brent Warner: [00:09:01] Okay. So, so EOs are our people, the students who don’t need those vocabulary time. Right. And the ELLs are the ones who do need the vocabulary time. And so you kind of have to build the lesson and a half every time that you’re, you’re building out a lesson plan, right?
Angela Barnett: [00:09:20] Absolutely. And so, and not only is it the vocabulary, but it’s also a lot of grammar because of the speaking and writing. So a lot of times and I, and I can only I’m speaking from the elementary perspective, but A lot of times, the way a student might think or speak is how they write. And so we want to make sure that when they’re speaking, they’re speaking in complete sentences, so that way, when they go to their writing it will, it will reflect that, that type of thinking now, which is funny though, because now that we’re online, students have the impression that they can write to me, like they’re texting me.
So that’s, so that’s something that that’s a hurdle that I’m trying to overcome as we’re teaching virtually, but normally when we’re in person, it’s a lot, you know, let’s make sure we, we restate questions. So make sure we restate the question when we’re answering and we don’t just answer with “because” and then that way it reflects in their writing as well.
Brent Warner: [00:10:16] If it makes you feel any better, I still get emails like that too.
Ixchell Reyes: [00:10:19] Yep. And that with our adult learner, that skill transferring over the brain is not quite, you know, it’s like, Oh, well, let’s, let’s use shorthand.
Angela Barnett: [00:10:28] Exactly.
Brent Warner: [00:10:30] I’m also thinking like, to me, I would be like third graders are texting or is that like, do third graders have phones these days? Is that, I don’t know. I don’t have any third graders around me, so…
Track 2: [00:10:39] um, yes. Um, and the, I have quite a few students who have like a … like a separate device, whether it’s a tablet of some store or a phone. So whether it’s like texting with their parents. So I hear that a lot, like they text with their parents or an, I don’t know, but I’m sure there’s other like, well, I guess when they’re gaming, like there’s a chatbox.
So, so in sense, they’re texting while they’re gaming, so we’re using the chatbox. So it’s that sense of texting, but they’re, they’re very familiar with texting when, at least the term
Brent Warner: [00:11:13] Yeah, it’s part of the world. I just hadn’t thought of it in that way. You know, like sometimes brain is just kind of like. You know, it’s just not thinking about that. So that’s a super interesting, okay. So we talked a little bit about your changes, but now we’re dealing with this whole world online for you now, right? And all of the crazy conversations going around on about like teachers teaching online and elementary and how to deal with kids. And, you know for me, a lot of times, you know, my, my adult students are fairly autonomous and they need guidance in certain things, but not in the same way that kids do. So I’m interested to know what adjustments you’ve made for teaching online.
Angela Barnett: [00:11:54] Okay. So when it comes to the integration of ELD, there there’s really no changes because I’m constantly, and I feel like because. And I think one of the things I have to add, I, and I mentioned this earlier on the side with Brent was a lot of educators and parents don’t realize that when an at the elementary level, when they’re enrolling students for the first time at a school or in a district, they’re given a home survey a home language survey and the survey will ask, you know, is there another language spoken at home?
And if it’s, yes, Many times almost a hundred percent of the time students will be identified as an English Language Learner. Regardless if they themselves speak a second language. And that’s why a lot of times our population at my site was much higher because we do have families who do speak different languages, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that their child is fluent.
Or speaks that language. So that’s, that’s something that’s been very challenging because a lot of times those students who are identified as an English language learner are now -I would consider stuck in that program. And sometimes it leads into middle school and high school. And the reason is, is because they might be performing below grade level, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s due to a conflict of language, like not being able to understand the language or that they have like a learning deficit of some sort.
So they’re not even receiving extra services. So I think, you know, that that’s a conversation, another conversation I’m sure at another time, but I, I think that’s something that I hope people start becoming more aware of because it does affect our students as they become older.
Brent Warner: [00:13:44] time. That’s like a failure of state policy, right? I mean, essentially.
Angela Barnett: [00:13:48] Yeah, because we see a lot of students who yeah. It’s unfortunate, but we see it in middle school and high school that they’re, they’re given, uh, like extra classes extra English classes or language classes. And, and that’s not exactly what they need. Sometimes they just need different supports, but they don’t qualify.
And, and so then a lot of times students become end up failing or becoming like having this negative Like relationship with education because they’re constantly being piled on. So kind of like my English language learners that have this extra 30 minutes, right. Or a different program, sometimes they’re placed in intervention classes and it’s sad because it’s, you know, we’re pushing it onto them, which sometimes it becomes a negative effect.
It doesn’t always end up, you know, positively affecting them at the end.
Ixchell Reyes: [00:14:41] You know, Angela, I’m hearing you talk about this and this is – I’m a Language Learner. My first language is Spanish. And the same thing happened to me because we filled out a form that said, um, we spoke Spanish in the home. Um, I was now put on a track that was the English learner track and it followed me all the way to middle school.
And I was, I was a pretty good student. I liked academics. I had a good relationship with school, but I remember one of my instructors asking me, why aren’t you in AP English? And I remember answering, well, I didn’t think I was good enough because I was always put into those remedial classes where my issue was not the language part.
It was, I just needed to catch up with stuff I’d missed out from being in a pull-out program. So I, I can relate to that. I can relate to that. Yeah. It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s unfortunate, you know, because you, there, there becomes like the stigma, I guess, you know, and, and I feel like there, there needs, we need to do better.
Angela Barnett: [00:15:39] Right? Like we keep hearing that a lot. Like we just need to do better. And like, I have a student this year, this is, this doesn’t happen often. But I will get a student who we would say is a level one, like just only speaks Spanish and leading into this year, virtual. Oh my gosh, this works when I’m in person, because I’ve got all my stuff, right?
Like I can act things out. I can grab stuff to show the student, you know, but virtually it makes it so much harder and I don’t speak Spanish. And so, but I’m, I. I really try to encourage that speaking, even if you don’t know, like describe it to me you know, what is something you, you know, That is in relation to cause that’s another thing is like I’ve got English language learners in my class who supposedly speaks Spanish.
So even if she threw out a Spanish word, I can’t guarantee that these English language learners can help translate because they don’t speak Spanish. So, um, but it’s, she’s done amazing. Like, and I think that’s key is when you do get a student who only speaks a certain language and you’re trying to get them to speak English is definitely encouraged. Don’t discourage because even though I know how any of us who have traveled, you know, and don’t speak the native language, it’s hard and you feel embarrassed or you don’t want to reach out. But if you continuously encourage? Now this little girl wants to stay after class with me every single day.
She wants to show me her art. She wants to talk to me and show me like everything in anything. And for me, it’s just, I just need her to keep talking. If I can get her to keep talking. Um, her language is building and then she becomes more confident. So that’s that’s and I think that’s what the idea of ELD is that designate a time is just getting those students talking and sharing.
Ixchell Reyes: [00:17:34] Yeah. That’s, that’s exciting to hear that when students are responding that way. So along those lines what do young students respond best to in language learning.
Angela Barnett: [00:17:44] So when I first started at the school site The funds for the class that I was placed in third grade were all English Language Learners. So it was, it was weird. This doesn’t ever happen, but every single student was an English Language Learner.
And I went to my very first educational conference, CABE and it was in Long Beach and One of the PDs that they offered or, like workshops breakouts was GLAD, which is Guided Language Acquisition Design. And this was like one of the best trainings or PDs I had ever done. And I’ll say even to now, because this works for every and all students, all learners and, um, it’s, it’s explicitly teaching.
While, like integrated ELD, like without really even knowing. So like how Brent, like you were talking about like those like that vocabulary. And then with language learners and Ixchell, you were saying like kindergarten, you know, like when you would see like the labels around the room, like “trashcan” “door,” like and that’s what you do with your lessons.
So like one of the strategies is called a pictorial input chart. So it’s basically like labeling and color coding. And one of the things that I did with my students for like social studies is. The process of like producers and consumers, like kind of farm to table. And so we created this chart together and the process of raisins, like growing raisins, where do they go?
They get picked up on a truck, they move, um, you know, to the grocery store, you buy it at the grocery store type of thing. And it’s all labeling and pictures. And it’s funny because now there’s like, Sketch-n-Tell. And it’s like, Oh my gosh, I’ve been doing this for years with my students by utilizing GLAD strategies.
And it’s all of that, like visual, like language and vocabulary. A lot of it is visual. And then Science, like currently, like with life cycles, drawing out those life cycles, labeling them. And then one of my favorites, which is funny too, is sentence patterning chart. So what it is, it’s like, so I come from an avid school site for elementary, and so we do note-taking and I’ll call them like column notes or Cornell notes.
But years ago, when I was doing the sentence. Patterning a chart they’re column notes, and you would first teach like noun and verb and you color code them nouns or red forbs or purple. And, and then you’d add from there, like an adjective is green and you add the column and you keep building onto it until you’re building those sentences.
And not only is it color coded, we can also add images as well. So if they weren’t sure what I, what it, what that noun was? You draw a little picture. And then that would build upon the sentences for students. So then what we would do is take some times, you know, we’re reading a text. So even though we’re reading an informational text for comprehension, you could still review grammar.
So you could take the same text and then start color coding. It let’s find the nouns, let’s find the verbs type of thing. So now you’re doing that integrated ELD, like in social studies, science. And so I would just have to say like, definitely like my kiddos, like we use post-its and colored pencils.
So they really like, even though we’re doing like note taking. Because I’m an avid school that’s, basically all those things are, they don’t really realize it becomes more fun to them because now they’re using those things, which for me, in elementary, we never did that. Like, I didn’t start using like colored highlighters to like college, like, you know, and so now it’s like bringing that into the elementary level.
So, and, and they really like it. They love taking out their post-its and using their colors. And then they’re making those connections as well.
Brent Warner: [00:21:31] So, this is awesome. This is giving me a me, me a good sense of like what your classes maybe look like and what the settings look like. So I think let’s take a break and then when we come back, what we’ll do is talk a little bit about specific tools, especially for online, how you’re engaging students with with some of the technology and all of those things.
All right. iTunes review. Ixchell, we got our first one of 2021?
Ixchell Reyes: [00:21:58] Yay three months in, we got one and they actually wrote a lot.
Brent Warner: [00:22:02] Yeah. You want to read that one?
Ixchell Reyes: [00:22:06] I’ll read it Okay So this is a review by rip off alerter
Brent Warner: [00:22:11] that’s quite a, quite a name, but all right, let’s go for it. It’s a review!
Ixchell Reyes: [00:22:15] So. Yeah. So they wrote As a long time, ESL educator and ed tech enthusiasts. This is one podcast where I never miss an episode. Brent, and Ixchell’s podcast is still the only one that focuses in specific focuses in specifically on ESL and technology, which is so necessary. I appreciate their conversation style and learn something valuable in every episode.
They interview educators and leaders in both fields. And I practically run to my computer after to look up the tools and tips they share. I especially appreciate that they begin with recent and relevant research, apply it to the conversation about technology and offer practical tips as well. If you’re teaching ESL, you must listen.
Brent Warner: [00:22:56] Thank you so much.
Ixchell Reyes: [00:22:57] So thank you.
Brent Warner: [00:22:59] that’s a super nice. So reach out to us if that’s you we will send you a DIESOL pin, we’ve got them. And and we’re happy to get the first one to 2021, you know, that’s that’s exciting. Thank you so much.
All right. So Angela, when you were talking about you know, some of these GLAD techniques and things, the first, the first thing that I was thinking about was. For me. And you can tell me if you, if you disagree, but I was like, Oh, read and write like text TextHelp’s, read and write, like click on a word, get the picture dictionary showing up on the word immediately over it.
Highlight the words. It’ll tell you which ones are the nouns and which ones are the verbs and those types of things like the technology is already doing it right inside of there. I dunno if you w you know what you feel about that, but I was thinking. So let’s start talking about the tech. What tech are you liking?
What’s helping your students? What are they at the third grade level, what are they comfortable with? Let’s just dig in.
Track 2: [00:23:55] Okay. So I am in love with read and write. I love text help. However, my district does not provide that for my students, so we don’t get the bells and whistles on that. But yes, if anybody’s interested and there’s any admin out there or IT, people for districts it is a must have because it’s all inclusive.
Not only is it all inclusive. It supports state testing. I know nobody likes to hear that. However, we have our students who are English language learners. We have English language learners who have an IEP, whether it’s for RSP or for speech and text help matches the accommodations that are found on the cast.
So I. We really need to think about how we sup like, if we’re going to mandate testing, we have to think about the way to support those students. So I’m just going to put that in there. I know that’s not something everybody likes to talk about, but we’ve got to really support those kiddos at a young age because everybody’s talking about testing is stress.
Angela Barnett: [00:24:52] Well, yeah, testing is stress, but what can we use to minimize that stress? I have the power to help. Sorry, gotta say that.
Ixchell Reyes: [00:25:01] It’s good to put it out there.
Angela Barnett: [00:25:02] But yeah, as far as tech though, like I’m going to Flipgrid. I know a lot of people utilize Flipgrid. Although I do know there’s a lot of people who don’t utilize Flipgrid and for integrated ELD, you can use it across content areas.
So I do use Flipgrid if nobody knows what it is it’s well, now that has been adopted by Microsoft. There’s so many like you can do video, you can just do audio. So there’s so many different ways to record. But I use it in math, especially for students to sh like in third grade, students have to be able to explain the process, so steps of an equation.
And so it’s a great way for them to show and tell me if they understand how to solve a problem. Um, social studies this year, virtual. So I use Flipgrid in person, but now with us being virtual, like my tech has been has increased immensely. And so this year my students did a landmarks report for social studies and they had a choice whether they wanted to.
Do a site’s presentation, which I taught them how to do, or some students who wanted to actually create the model. Cause some students and families like to do that and then share it in a virtual presentation through Flipgrid. So they were able to do that. So then we have for Flipgrid, it’s great for those speaking and listening standards.
So speaking and listening standards for all students, but also for our ELD Stu students as well, English language learners Quill. So Quill is a grammar application and it is standards based for grade level. And, you know, I had, I used Quill in person, but again, when we are teaching virtually. My time is very limited.
And so I have to think of a centralism and what, what needs to be whole group with the teacher, what doesn’t need to be whole group and Quill teaches students how to write student sentence grammatically at our grade level. Right? So there’s also diagnostics, which are great. So there’s diagnostics you can give for the whole group.
And then there’s also ELL diagnostics and they match the levels. So the diagnostic for English language learners one is for entering and emerging, which I give all my emails at the beginning of the year. And then mid-year, I do give the second one. It is much harder, but I do have, like, I have a student.
Who is Filipino? She’s an English language learner, but all the data I’ve collected so far, she’s like, like scoring at a fifth and sixth grade level on like comprehension and reading. And, and so, you know, there’s the student who hopefully will be re-designated hopefully, you know, after third grade,
But I do give that second diagnostic just to see where she’s at. But Quill is fantastic too, because it also provides teacher led group lessons, which are very similar to paradoc like if you do a synchronous pear deck, it’s kind of like that with Quill, they just give you the lesson and you , you guide it as the teacher.
So and then all the other lessons can be done asynchronously, which is what I mostly do with my students.
Brent Warner: [00:28:13] So with Quill. I remember you and I did a presentation, a little, Sorry. I was like, that’s a little while ago. It was like, now it’s like two years ago, but, but you talked about Quill then as well. And I can’t remember because I didn’t, I didn’t end up using it. I was interested in it and I just, you know, you know how you get overwhelmed with too many things to explore. Does Quill have a pricing structure or what, what’s the deal with with getting it working.
Angela Barnett: [00:28:40] Yeah, so there is a premium, however I use free free. Good. Like I’ll say good enough. You get enough data from the free version. But premium also like if you share it out and stuff, like if they give you a link and you decide to share the link and somebody signs up, then they give you like a free month.
So it’s, it’s, there’s an easy way of collecting premium, but honestly the free version is it’s awesome. So I. I always say, at least try it free. You won’t be disappointed. And they’re and they’re doable. Like the packs, like I watched the kids, like I have go guardian are through our district, so I’m able to watch them do their lessons and as I’m watching them it, it helps, it talks to them.
Not orally talks them through it, but if they make a mistake. Um, notes pop-up to have them think about it or have them work through what they might be missing, but there’s always examples. So I always tell my kids because a lot of them are gamers. You know what happens when you just press okay. And you didn’t read that box up, popped up.
Right. And so that’s what happens with these as well. If you don’t read at first the directions or the pop-ups. You’re going to miss something. So I always reference gaming with a lot of them. Cause that’s what they can relate to. But yeah, Quill, I love because it is standard space and grade level basis.
Brent Warner: [00:30:01] Cool. Uh, you got more? So what else, what else are you
liking for your kids?
Angela Barnett: [00:30:05] Okay. So I know I just kind of so video, so again, we’re not in person, so I don’t have like all my like stuff like. Go-to is like my pictures, anything I would use to model for like vocabulary or understanding. So now I’m using video quite often and slides, I will insert a video into slide Google slides because it won’t take the students to YouTube.
They can watch it within the side and not be distracted, which is great for the little guys. And some of the ones that I, the channels that I. Go to, or like Nash, Nash national geographic for kids and for science and number rock for math, which is great. And then I also use use ed puzzle. So I will create videos and video quizzes and ed puzzle because students are practicing that listening piece.
So listening, isn’t all just, you know, following directions, it’s that listening comprehension piece, which ed puzzle lends itself to. And that’s again like as an elementary teacher third grade avid it’s you it’s explicitly teaching how to take notes when watching a video. So we can’t assume that students know how to use tech in like an academic meaningful way.
So, and I don’t, and I’m not, I’m a supporter of teaching things separately either. So I feel like, you know, if I’m teaching ed puzzle, it’s within a lesson double duty. I’m not going to teach it separate from something. I know some, some like to do that. I just don’t, I don’t feel like I have the time to do that.
And the same with Flipgrid. So I’m always going to explicitly teach using these tools with students. You don’t want to assume either that, you know, Oh, well they probably learned it the year before from their previous teacher. That’s not always the case. And maybe they did. But that’s okay. You want everybody to start with like a level playing fields?
You know, you want to make sure they understand what your expectations are using that tech. Why, why are we using this tech and Mrs. Barnett’s class? This is why So, and then again, I mentioned avid strategies. So that goes along with just what I’ve mentioned previously. Like, I, I’m a huge supporter of blended learning.
So I still have my kids using spirals at home. We’re using our workbooks. And, and then what we do is we translate that digitally. So like if I’m teaching note taking and color coding, And our workbook I, we have Kami or, you know, inserting, and I know nobody likes the word worksheet, but y’know, it is what it is.
And you know, you got it, you’re teaching those skills. Like, what does note taking look like? You know, what does that mean? Like basically we use annotating, right? So I I’m using, I have to use that language is we’re annotating. This we’re an it like, so we’re circling the keywords, we’re underlining the important cases what numbers and math do I need to use.
So, and then jigsaw is a strategy and give one, get one. So we’re, if we’re talking ELD and using that language, so give one, get one, is everybody write down, you know, To, to land forms that we learned in social studies. And so I’d put them in groups and you would share your landforms and then the students would take a different color.
So, so maybe like orange and okay, well, I didn’t write down mountain, so I’m gonna write down mountain in orange. Cause that’s when I got from my friend and I’m going to give you Hill because you don’t have that on your paper. So it’s what, what do you remember that recall? And then what can you share?
So it’s, nobody’s ever getting anything wrong per se, but that, that at least everybody’s recognized for remembering some of the information.
Brent Warner: [00:33:53] I love how that structure for You know, there’s, there’s no punitive-ness in it. It’s all about building and helping each buildup. Right? Like it’s a great approach to it. And, you know, you can use the tech to do all of that stuff, so well, so I really appreciate, that.,
So Angela, that’s a lot of stuff that people can look at and explore there. There’s plenty to get into. So let’s jump out and and wrap up and we’re going to move over to our fun finds.
Ixchell Reyes: [00:34:26] All right. It is time for our fun finds. And this time around, I’ve been obsessed with clubhouse. I know a lot of people have heard about it. It’s kind of the latest craze in my education circles. And so I got an invite. Um, it is, I guess, if I had to describe it right now, it’s, it’s an app it’s limited only to iOS devices.
So. Sorry, Android fans. It’s a drop in listening. Social media meets radio meets networking. And I don’t know if that clarifies.
Brent Warner: [00:34:58] Yeah, that’s super obvious what that means.
Ixchell Reyes: [00:35:02] But it is really cool. You can listen in on panels of, you know, experts talking about specific topics. You might be a guest on there. There’s no cameras, it’s just speaking. So it’s sort of like the radio component, but you also can follow people in the audience or the speakers. And it’s actually really, really cool.
I’ve actually already listened to several talks. And connected with people that even on Twitter I hadn’t heard of yet. So, um, and I know that, you know, Twitter is my go-to for everything. So clubhouse, if you need an invite reach out to one of us, we can invite you.
Brent Warner: [00:35:33] Yeah, I’ve got I haven’t used it quite as much as you have yet, but I’ve got like a five or so extra invites. it, just let me know or let Ixchell know. And we’ll, we’ll
Ixchell Reyes: [00:35:43] And if you’re on clubhouse, add, follow us.
Brent Warner: [00:35:45] Oh, yeah. Um, so mine is a little different from what I normally do, but, uh, it’s a guy named Roman Booteen.
Um, he is on Instagram and what he does, he’s just an artist, but he does coin art. And what he does is he kind of strips the face off of a coin and then he. Drills in with like a fine you know, some sort of fine tool and redesigns everything on the coin, or sometimes he does lighters or different things, but then he gets so intricate, this, this, this like Russian guy, and he’s just.
Off somewhere in Russia doing these insane coin art. Um, and he does these little things. So you can like push a little tab on the top of the coin and it makes little parts of the coin move. So it’s like someone will like be holding like a Victorian mask over their face, and then you push the button and it opens and closes.
He did one where you stick your finger inside of it and it’s a trap and it like it puts down spikes on your finger Like All these really crazy And I just love watching his work he’ll sit there and like show you how he’s doing it and the process. And it’s like, it’s just insane. fine detailed, fine art. And it’s just a really cool thing. That’s different from, you know, it’s like all these people are doing. They’re like, Oh, here’s my cool funky video. But this guy has just old-fashioned nose to the grindstone. Hardcore work and I just really appreciate the, the work that he does.
You can’t get any of his coins because they’re not allowed to sell them outside of Russia for whatever, like legal import export rules are, but he’s like, if you want it. He basically puts something up online. He says, if you want it, you have to have someone come to Russia to get it. And people straight up do it.
Cause he sells it for so much money. He’s got like, you know, a couple hundred thousand followers and like people who really appreciate it and they’ll go. So anyways, Roman Booteen I, I think it’s just at Roman Boutine on Instagram, definitely worth checking out.
Ixchell Reyes: [00:37:39] Cool.
Brent Warner: [00:37:41] Angela, what do you like.
Ixchell Reyes: [00:37:43] So I chose a show on Netflix because you know, it’s those downtimes at night. I, I need my downtime and I need something that just, it makes me laugh and brings me joy. And I have to say the show, nailed it on Netflix. Brings me joy. I love Nicole Byers on there so much. And she has this what is chocolateir
Angela Barnett: [00:38:07] I don’t even know if I’m saying it right. Um, Jacques, I don’t know his last name as a cohost and just, it’s just great. It’s it’s pure like comedy with baking. It’s.
Brent Warner: [00:38:23] Is this a, is this like a drama or is it like a talk something
Angela Barnett: [00:38:27] So it’s uh, okay, so it’s a it’s a baking competition and what it it’s it’s somebody said it, this on one of the episodes, it’s the best of the worst. So it’s like the worst bakers that come in with these challenges. Now the challenges are off the wall. Like I have to give them that because they’re insane, but what the creations are like, You just laugh and not only do you laugh, like Nicole, like you’ll see the judges like spit out food.
Like I love it. And like, she’ll literally tell like another contestant. Don’t worry. You’re not winning like so bad. Um, so it’s, it’s one of those where it’s like up front, like comedy that’s real and it’s, it’s like low stakes competition. I mean, the winner does win $10,000, which is pretty cool. But and I think as a teacher though, watching like people not follow directions or follow a recipe, like I love it so much.
So it’s just, I watched at least one episode, maybe two, but I literally laugh out loud. Like
Brent Warner: [00:39:36] All right.
Ixchell Reyes: [00:39:36] That sounds fantastic.
Brent Warner: [00:39:38] Nailed it on, on Netflix.
Ixchell Reyes: [00:39:44] Thank you so much sitting to this show, you could win a one of a kind DIESOL pin by leaving us a review on Apple podcasts. And if you’re giving us a shout out any other way to hang us on social media, um, Angela, you’re getting one for being a guest on our show. So we’ll send that out with some swag.
Angela Barnett: [00:40:02] Awesome. Thank you.
Brent Warner: [00:40:05] We’ll make sure you get that as soon possible. We also have a Patreon. So we did set up the third tier. So we have a $1 tier, a $3 tier and a $6 tier. If you you know, if you want to support the show, awesome. There’s different values at different shows and, um, I’m not going to push it too much, but if you, if you like, please feel free.
If not. Please feel free, but Ixchell we have Drinks with DIESOL coming up?
Ixchell Reyes: [00:40:29] we do. It’s been a while. a while since we had this
Brent Warner: [00:40:32] Yeah. this is going to be on the 26. We’d have not talked about this pre-show five o’clock does that work? Pacific time? Okay. So, uh, the 26, this is an open invite and Angela, you’re welcome to come to this too
Angela Barnett: [00:40:46] I’m writing it down!
Brent Warner: [00:40:47] Yeah. So basically we we open up a meeting, anybody who wants come in can come hang out We have some drinks we talk a little bit we play some games we give away some prizes And we just kind of relax with our colleagues who are on other parts of the continent the world if they want to we haven’t we had international yet? had across the States for sure.
Ixchell Reyes: [00:41:09] we had across the States. I think it’s our timeframe, but Hey, you never know.
Brent Warner: [00:41:13] So please join us. Uh, you can go sign up at DIESOL.org/drinks and we’ll get you the link so you can join us and everybody’s invited. For show notes, we’ve got a little bit more for show notes. DIESOL.org/ 37. And of course you can listen to us on VoicEd Canada at voiced.ca. And you can find us on Twitter.
Um, you can find the show at @DIESOLpod. You can find me at @BrentGWarner.
Ixchell Reyes: [00:41:40] If You can find me, Ixchell at IXY underscore PIXY that’s I X Y underscore P I X Y.
Angela Barnett: [00:41:47] And you can find me Angela at @MrsBarnett_TCHR for teacher.
Brent Warner: [00:41:53] Awesome. Uh, Oh, Angela, we forgot to talk about CUE.
Angela Barnett: [00:41:58] Oh yes,
Brent Warner: [00:42:01] you were getting
Ixchell Reyes: [00:42:01] but wait, there’s more
Brent Warner: [00:42:03] Yeah. There’s more there. Here’s the bonus content.
Angela Barnett: [00:42:05] I’m jam packed today.
Brent Warner: [00:42:06] So you’re presenting at CUE right. I’m presenting CUE, too and actually Ixchell, did you know, you’re presenting at CUE as well.
Ixchell Reyes: [00:42:13] I do it’s in the back of my mind presenting at CUE
Angela Barnett: [00:42:18] yay we all
Brent Warner: [00:42:20] We’re doing with Brian Briggs, the podcasters round table. So that should be fun. It’s different than meet the podcasters. This one’s a little bit more of like kind of go around the circle and give some advice about podcasting and some things like that. So that should be a good one.
And then I am doing a presentation or two as well. So that should be fun. One is. Called keys to the car, which is about encouraging student autonomy. And the other one is is one that I’ve done a few times, which is the pedagogy of podcasting helping teachers kind of set up their structure for how they might introduce and use podcasting in the classroom.
Angela, you want to share one or two of the 23 that you’re doing this time?
Angela Barnett: [00:42:59] Brent. Um, so one of the one that I’m super excited about is focused on SEL, social, emotional learning, and executive functions. And for my session, it can be applied to any grade level. But if you’re curious as to see what. My classroom looks like or what we’ve been doing virtually since March come to my session, I will be sharing examples.
True examples that I’ve been using for my students and with my students. And one thing I’ll add is, you know, if you’re curious, I don’t teach to black screens or black boxes. So if you’re wondering how I got there, you might want to attend my session. Hmm.
Brent Warner: [00:43:39] very cool. Interesting. All right. So we’ll be able to find you on cue and follow you on Twitter as well at you did say but @MrsBarnett_tchr.
Angela Barnett: [00:43:52] In Lithuanian. Thank you is aciu. Aciu for tuning in to the DIESOL podcast.
Brent Warner: [00:44:01] Thanks everybody.
Ixchell Reyes: [00:44:02] See you next time!

Many of our interviews have been with instructors of adult learners, so this time around we are fortunate to sit down with Angela Barnett (@MrsBarnett_tchr), third-grade teacher, and educator for close to 20 years to talk about the challenges and changes she’s faced with ELLs during the pandemic. Angela holds an M.ED in Cross-Cultural Teaching and provides district PD and for CUE as a lead learner. Some of her leadership roles include ELA/ELD program designee, Tech site lead, AVID site coord, teacher induction mentor. She’s an OCCUE board member and #3rdChat co-moderator on Twitter.

Supporting Elementary ELLs

The Pictorial Input Chart can be used across content areas.  The example picture from my classroom was created during a Social Studies lesson on Producers and Consumers.  I used raisins as the product during this lesson because it is one of California’s main resources.  Even though this was a teacher created anchor chart, my students worked on their version in their spiral.  I began using this type of visual note taking in 2013, after attending a CABE conference.  We made connections to science by making our own raisins at school.

Pictorial Input Chart
Raisins Made in Class

Tools Discussed

Pup-Pup

From Angela: My rescued Fur-Baby was found literally on the street completely emaciated about 8 years ago.  He lives a full life and keeps me company during virtual teaching.  Pup loves long naps during the day, cuddles after he eats, and wrestling with his toys.

Fun Finds

Virtual Spring CUE ’21

Angela’s Sessions:

  • OCCUE – Orange Squeeze: SEL – Student Edition (3/23 @5pm)
  • Flipping the Science Lesson Plan: A HyperDoc Approach to the NGSS 5E Model with Kristin Oropeza (3/21 @2pm)

Brent’s Sessions:

  • Podcasting Roundtable (3/20 @4pm)
  • Pedagogy of Podcasting (3/23 @6pm)
  • Keys to the Car: Helping ELLs Develop Autonomy (3/25 @3pm)

Ixchell’s Session:

  • Podcasting Roundtable (3/20 @4pm)

Drinks with DIESOL

Drinks with DIESOL! It’s been a while since we had a happy hour – feel free to join us on Friday, 3/26 at 5pm – DIESOL.org/drinks

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