The WIDA Consortium is dedicated to research, design, and implementation of high quality culturally and linguistically appropriate systems to support multilingual learners in Kindergarten through twelfth grade. For accountability purposes, WIDA member states must administer the ACCESS test for ELLS test to ensure students are making progress in their language acquisition and meeting the language acquisition standards.
We spend so long preparing for testing and getting testing completed, but what do we do once the testing season is over? Getting back into the swing of things after weeks and weeks of testing can be really tough. In today’s episode, I share some tips with you for how to get back on track after ACCESS testing.
- Do a classroom reset. You can do a classroom reset anytime, not just at the beginning of the new year or after testing. Try class routine rehearsals, classroom expectations Kahoot, or goal setting for the rest of the school year.
- Meet the students where they are. For example, if they are in the thick of reading a novel while you were testing the other students, are there activities related to that novel that will help the story come to life? Vocabulary building activities, relating the content to real life, and mixing up the environment (think about taking students outside or changing up your classroom scenery somewho) are all ways to do this.
- Start a new project. Projects allow students to engage in a topic of interest, to work on all 4 language domains (reading, writing, speaking, and listening), and guarantee lesson planning is done for you because you can build activities off the same project for weeks. Listen to hear about the project I do with my students every year.
- Grab lesson resources that are done for you so that you can make the most of your limited, valuable time as a teacher. My ESL Teaching Roadmap is a great place to start, and it is on sale until February 24!
What you will hear about teaching after testing:
- Ideas for classroom resets
- Strategies for meeting your students where they are
- Projects to do to get students engaged
- Ways to save yourself time with Lesson planning in order to come to class in the right frame of mind
Resources
As mentioned in the episode, I am linking some useful resources!
- The ESL Teaching Roadmap monthly membership discount 20% – valid February 20-24, 2022
- ESL Teacher Support – 1:1 coaching session with Ieva Grauslys (©Simply Ieva)
- 25 Authentic Speaking Activities for Your ESL Classroom
- Simply Ieva ESL Teachers Pay Teachers Store
- Teachable Platform – Courses and Workshops
- Follow me on Instagram
- Join the Simply Ieva Facebook Group
- Simply Ieva Youtube Channel
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