Teaching ESL can be a lonely job. Quite often, you are the only person in your school who teaches English Language Development to ELLs. But even if you’re not the only such teacher, too often the professional development that’s provided is aimed at regular education teachers to give them training in how to work with ELLs. The needs of ELL teachers, which are distinct from those of mainstream teachers, aren’t addressed. At least, that was the case in the district where I worked.
If that sounds familiar to you, you’ll want to join Laurah from Tools for Teachers by Laurah J and me when we discuss Online Professional Development for Teachers of ELLs in our next #ELLEdTech chat. It’s on Sunday, February 18, 2018, at 7pm Eastern/4pm Pacific time. We’ll be sharing some web-based sources of PD that are specifically for ESOL educators. We’d love for you to contribute your favorite sources, too! Details are below.
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| Join us on Sunday, 2/18/18; source: The ESL Nexus |
Schedule and Questions
7:00 = Introduction: Tell us your name, location, level/grade and subject taught. #ELLEdTech
7:05 = Q1: What are some online resources you use for ESL-centered professional development? #ELLEdTech
7:13 = Q2: How do these tools help support your professional growth and learning? #ELLEdTech
7:21 = Q3: What are the advantages & benefits of using these tools? #ELLEdTech
7:29 = Q4: Are there any cons or drawbacks to online professional development? #ELLEdTech
7:37 = Q5: What advice do you have for teachers who want to make use of online tools to further their professional growth? #ELLEdTech
Directions for Joining the Chat
1. Log into Twitter on Sunday; the chat runs from 7:00 – 7:45pm Eastern.
2. Search for tweets with the hashtag #ELLEdTech in the search bar. Make sure to click “All tweets.”
3. The first five minutes will be spent introducing ourselves.
4. Starting at 7:05, @ESOL_Odyssey or @The_ESL_Nexus will post questions every 8 minutes using Q1, Q2, Q3, etc. to identify the questions and the hashtag #ELLEdTech.
5. Answer the questions by prefacing them with A1, A2, A3, etc. and use the hashtag #ELLEdTech.
6. Follow any teachers who respond and are also using #ELLEdTech.
7. Like (click the heart icon) and post responses to other teachers’ tweets.
You can schedule your answers to the questions in advance by using an online scheduler such as TweetDeck or HootSuite (and remember to use A1, A2, etc. and #ELLEdTech). Links are encouraged, but use tinyurl, bitly, goo.gl or ow.ly to shorten your link so it can be included in your tweet. Just click one of those links, paste the longer link in the app’s box to shorten it for Twitter, then paste the shortened link into your tweet. If youhave relevant images, we encourage you to post them, too.
Is this your first Twitter chat? Here are our rules:
1. Please stay on topic.
2. Please do not post about paid products unless explicitly asked.
3. If you arrive after the chat has started, please try to read the previous tweets before joining in.
4. Feel free to just read, like, and/or retweet if you prefer — we know the first time can be a little overwhelming!
5. Always use the hashtag #ELLEdTech when tweeting.
6. Make sure your twitter feed is set to “public.” (And do remember that Twitter is completely public; that means anyone–students, parents, administrators–may see what you tweet.)
You are welcome to let your teacher friends who might be interested in joining us know about this Twitter chat. We look forward to chatting with you on Sunday!
February 16, 2018
