Small Group Systematic ELD--1st Grade B/EI at Garfield Elementary with Roya Bazaei

VIDEO: SysELD Art of Getting Along: Edited 11-minute version in Roya Bazaei's class

VIDEO: SysELD Art of Getting Along: Full 21-minute version in Roya Bazaei's class

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I teach first grade at Garfield Elementary School in Oakland’s incredibly diverse San Antonio District. Well over half of our students are English Language Learners and we are welcoming a growing population of newcomers from all over the world. Over the past few years, teachers, coaches, and administration have put serious thought into how to structure our Designated ELD program most effectively. Here’s what we’ve come up with in first grade:

We start by administering an English proficiency exam (we use ADEPT) to all students (English Language Learners and native English speakers). In years past, students across all first grade classes were put into homogenous groups based on their levels of English proficiency, as determined by ADEPT results. Each first grade teacher was responsible for teaching a different proficiency level. For 30 minutes each day, all students would participate in a Designated ELD block, during which they may or may not have been with their homeroom teachers. We found that this was not the best model in first grade, as it presented challenges with transition time and classroom management, among others. In this year’s new system, each teacher creates homogenous small groups of his or her own homeroom students and teaches two, 20-minute small group Designated ELD lessons each day, while the rest of the class works independently.

Although this does mean fewer minutes per week of direct Designated ELD instruction for each student, it has allowed us to use our instructional minutes much more effectively (also, see "Integrate it" below for integrated ELD). We’ve cut down on transition time and time wasted because of behavior management challenges. It’s so much easier to manage your own students with whom you’ve built relationships and who have internalized your systems and expectations. Additionally, small group instruction allows teachers to gain a better understanding of each student’s mastery and to use the Systematic ELD curriculum to its fullest potential, adapting it to meet students’ unique strengths and needs. A few ways I’ve learned to do this are:

• Change the pace: Sometimes a lesson plan just has too much to cover in one session… so don’t! It’s ok to break up a lesson over two or three days, especially for newcomers.

• Supplement it: Sometimes I like to supplement SysELD lessons with relevant read alouds, book talks, songs, games, or other activities to switch things up and keep students interested, or to give a bit more scaffolding or practice.

• Integrate it: In schools like mine with so many ELLs, Designated ELD instruction can’t be isolated in a 30-40 minute block each day, so we do lots of Integrated ELD. It has to be woven into everything we do. We can model academic language and ensure that it is being used throughout the day. We can incorporate songs, chants, and shared reading across content areas. We can use quick turn and talks to practice challenging language structures (e.g. “If you could be any animal, what would you be?”). We can also add more Designated ELD time whole class to focus on some deep language instruction from which ALL students will benefit.

This is my fourth year using the Systematic ELD curriculum, and I continue to learn more and more about how to ensure that my students are getting the most out of it!

---Roya Bazaei, Garfield Elementary