Finishing Strong: Personalized Catch-Up Plans for HS ELS

April 4th

Finishing Strong: Personalized Catch-Up Plans & Choice Boards for EL Success

Hosted by: Eugenia Krimmel

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00:00

What is something that amazes you about ELs?

Warm-Up Activity

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Agenda

Welcome & Warm -Up

5 minutes

Why Catch-Up Plans & Choice Boards?

10 minutes

Creating Personalized Catch-Up Plans

15 minutes

Designing Choice Boards for ELs

15 minutes

Wrap-Up & Share Out

5 minutes

01

Why Catch-Up Plans & Choice Boards?

EL Challenges

home support limitations

gaps in understanding

missing assignments

language barriers

disengagement

Differentiation

Choice-Based Assessments

Adjusted Workload

Flexible Grouping

Visuals

Sentence Stems

Scaffolding

Chunking

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Assessment for ELs

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Let's brainstorm ideas!

Creating Personalized Catch-Up Plans

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What strategies have you used before? What worked?

Catch-up plans provide structure!

Task

1. Small Group Activity: Each group gets an EL student profile (varied proficiency levels 1-4). 2. Use the Catch-Up Plan Template to create a personalized plan including:

• Priority skills to review
• Scaffolded supports (sentence stems, visuals, peer partners)
• Options for demonstrating learning

3. Share out key takeaways.

Catch-Up Plan Activity

10 minutes Choose your room

Student Profile Level 3

Student Profile Level 1

Examples of Completed Catch-Up Plan Padlet

Editable Catch-Up Plan Template

Student Profile Level 2

Student Profile Level 4

2 minutes-Share out

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Why Choice Boards?

UDL

Credit: https://theesleducator.com/

Designing Choice Boards for ELs

Choice Boards from the EL Perspective

Here's a breakdown of how choice boards can be overwhelming for EL students:

Language Complexity: ESL students may struggle to understand the instructions or descriptions of the activities presented on the board, especially if they are not yet fluent in English.

Lack of Familiarity: ESL students may not be familiar with the activities or concepts presented on the board, making it difficult to choose something they feel comfortable with.

Overwhelming Number of Choices: A board with too many options can be daunting, leading to paralysis instead of empowerment.

Cultural Differences: ESL students may come from different cultural backgrounds, and some activities on the board might not be culturally relevant or appropriate.

Lack of Background Knowledge: ESL students may lack the necessary background knowledge to understand or engage with certain activities on the board.

Lack of Structure: Some ESL students may benefit from a more structured approach to learning, and a choice board might feel like too much freedom.

Fear of Failure: ESL students may be hesitant to choose an activity if they are afraid they won't be able to complete it successfully.

EL Style Choice Boards

Unlike most choice boards with 6 – 9 options, ELs get too overwhelmed by the text of those and the busy look of so much. Simplify EL Choice boards to 3-4 choices! Easier for them and easier on you 😊

Some ELs are more confident in oral skills and less in literacy skills, or some are not ready to produce words yet, so they communicate their understanding through drawing or even video responses with gestures or demonstrations.

Typical grade-level Choice Boards for Assessment – notice how the options are task-based. EL Boards is task-based, too, but in language skill categories. Why?

9th-Grade Science Lesson Learning Objective: Describe how planets move in the solar system in relation to each other and the sun. Name one fact about each planet and the sun and summarize how planets orbit without crashing.

Why is this choice board not good for ELs at any ESL Level?

Source: https://visionaryteaching.com/science-choice-boards-a-formula-for-authentic-assessment/

Characteristics of EL Style Choice Boards • Only 3 choices for Levels 1 & 2; 3-4 choices for Levels 3 & 4 – no more • Choices fall into categories: Speak, write, draw, physical (select-an-answer or gesture, etc. ) • Not too cluttered with images or words that will zap their mental energy; only images that clarify information or task

Solar System Choice Board EL Style Levels 1 & 2 Example: 9th Grade Science

SAME Learning Objective: Chhose 1 action to answer all the questions: Describe how planets move in the solar system in relation to each other and the sun. Name one fact about each planet and the sun and summarize how planets orbit without crashing.

Levels 3 & 4 Example: 9th Grade Science

SAME Learning Objective: Choose 1 action to answer all questions Describe how planets move in the solar system in relation to each other and the sun. Name one fact about each planet and the sun; summarize how planets orbit without crashing.

Quick Write/Share - Name one thing you learned in this presentation in the chat or unmute and tell us!

Your Turn - Next Steps

Choose a Choice Board you use in your course, and modify it EL Style! 1. Look at the learning objective 2. Know your ELs' ESL Levels 3. Select 3-4 ways ELs can express their learning through Read - Write- Draw - or Video Demonstration 4. Plan those assessment options BEFORE you plan your EL variant so you are sure they have sufficient knowledge and skill in your lesson before tackling the assessments 5. Make it simple, add meaningful visuals to aid comprehension of tasks 6. Analyze results afterwards to see if ELs were successful or if you need to make changes to your EL Style Choice Board.

Let's finish the year strong!

Thanks

ekrimmel@ccaeducate.me

CCA FEEDBACK SURVEY

Level 3 - Developing Name: Ivan Grade: 11 Home Language: Russian Subject: Math Background: Transferred to CCA from Brick and Mortar in December. Can communicate orally but struggles with academic vocabulary. Writes in sentences, but needs improvement with spelling and grammar. Challenges: Needs help structuring written responses and using subject-specific vocabulary. Support Needed: Frayer Model, word banks, sentence stems, graphic organizers, oral responses, speech-to-text, and model responses.

Why Missing Work? Due to language barriers and/or unclear instructions: students may not complete assignments correctly, skip questions, or need extra time.

Adjusted Workload

Reduced items and reading

Based on student needs, 1. adjust or reduce workload by modifying the number of problems 2. amount of reading (text reduction) 3. assignment length

• Diffit
• MagicSchool
• ChatGPT
• Copilot

Visual Aids: Infographics, videos, picture dictionaries, graphic organizers, realia.

Gaps in understanding: (Limited Prior Knowledge) Some ELs may have gaps in foundational skills due to different educational backgrounds or beginning English proficiency level SLIFE status (Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education).

Example of a Completed Catch-Up Plan

Student Name: JuanGrade Level: 9th English Proficiency Level: WIDA 1 - Entering Key Learning Goals:

• Understand key vocabulary in science unit (e.g., evaporation, condensation).
• Complete missing graphic organizer for water cycle.
• Practice using simple sentences to explain concepts.

Scaffolded Supports: ✅ Visuals & Graphic Organizers ✅ Sentence Stems & Word Banks ✅ Peer Partner Support ✅ Extended Time

Catch-Up Task Options:

• Option 1: Complete a labeled water cycle diagram with key terms.
• Option 2: Record an oral explanation of the water cycle using sentence stems.

Demonstrating Learning: ✅ Oral Explanation ✅ Illustrated Response ✅SentenceFrames Completion Timeline Check-in Date: April 10th Final Completion Deadline: April 17th

Level 1 - Entering Name: Juan Grade: 9 Home Language: Spanish Subject: Science Background: Recently arrived from El Salvador, minimal English. Student reads and writes in home language. Challenges: Struggles with speaking and reading. Reading Instructions and completing assignments independently is difficult. Support Needed: Visual aids, TPR, guided practice sentence frames, bilingual glossary, chunked information, adjusted workload and teacher check-ins.

Level 2 - Emerging Name: Fatima Grade: 10 Home Language: Arabic Subject: Specials Background: One year in U.S. schools, understands simple sentences but struggles with writing. Conversational English has developed. Challenges: Needs extra time to complete assignments and benefits from sentence frames. Support Needed: Visual aids, TPR, Sentence frames, guided practice, voice recording speech-to-text, chunked information, adjusted workload, and teacher check-ins.

Chunking Information

Breaking tasks and text into manageable steps in ways students can access key content. Allow students to learn the same material as native English-speaking students as they continue to develop their English language skills.

Level 4 - Expanding Name: Joana Grade : 12 Home Language: Portuguese Subject: Social Studies Background: Three years at CCA, participates in discussions in Live Class but needs support in complex writing tasks. Difficulty with grammar, spelling, and figurative language. Challenges: Struggles with organizing essays and using advanced grammar structures. Support Needed: Peer editing, writing templates, rubrics, model activities, and transition word lists, close reads, and color-coding sentences.

Sentence Frames vs. Stems for ELs scaffolding

Choice-Based Assessments Tasks: Allowing ELs to demonstrate learning through drawings, physical actions, storyboards, oral responses, or simplified writing tasks. Match assessments to students' learning profiles and language proficiency to allow them to "show what they know".