1.    Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
February is the month when K-12 schools and adult education across the country celebrate accomplishments of African Americans. Often times, learning about Black History seems to end when February does and Black History is absent from the overall curriculum, textbooks, or reading texts for the rest of the year.
 
In this monthly mailing, ACLS features the Black History Month Resource Guide for Educators and Families, a comprehensive list of resources from the Center for Racial Justice in Education to help educators make Black History an ongoing part of everyday curriculum “as educators continue to uplift every student and reinforce that Black Lives Matter every day" 1.
 
While this guide provides a wide range of high-quality resources to choose from (e.g., lesson plans, articles, and curriculum-related resources), here are some articles that caught our attention:
·         Five Things Not to Do During Black History Month  by Zaretta Hammond
·         Black History Month Is Over. Now What? By Dena Simmons
·         Teaching Hard History  from Teaching Tolerance
·         Black History Teaching Resources from Smithsonian Education.
 
2.    Curriculum and Instruction
·         Research Spotlight

• In this new book - Dispelling Misconceptions about English Language Learners; Research-Based Ways to Improve Instruction - author Barbara Gottschalk highlights common misapprehensions that teachers may hold about ELLs using research to dispel each myth and offering practical advice such as engagement with academic content, scaffolded instruction, and opportunities to practice the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, and writing).
•  In this article from ASCD Educational Leadership magazine, authors Brian Goodwin and Bradley Rentz summarize what most researchers generally agree on in terms of how to help English language learners with subject-specific content:
• Build a solid foundation of first language reading
•  Employ visuals
• Teach essential words directly
• Engage students in peer-supported learning
• Combine techniques.

For programs that have a large number of English learners in their ABE content
classes, this article ca be used to promote thoughtful discussion about classroom
practice.
 
·         Training Events from the ELA, Math and ESOL Curriculum and Instruction Centers
 
ELA

• EBRI Diagnostic Assessments of Reading (February 26-April 10)
• Learn how to administer and interpret diagnostic reading assessments for adult learners, build individual reading profiles, and use this information to plan effective evidence-based reading instruction.
• Introduction  to Learning Disabilities in Adults (March 11-April 29
• Learn how to identify behaviors that indicate an individual may have LD and instructional accommodations appropriate for individuals with LD.
• The Professional Adult Educator (March 5-April 16)
• Learn how to develop and/or strengthen proficiency around standards, curriculum, assessment, planning, instructional design, and teaching approaches.
• Trauma Informed Classroom (March 20)
• Learn how to define and describe the different types of traumatic experiences and offer practical, hands-on solutions.

Math

• The Introduction to the Mathematics Proficiency Guide (March 9)

• Explore the guide and its built-in self-assessment and to learn how you can use this instructional look-fors to support effective math instruction. 

• CALM Progressions:
  • Three new CALM progressions so students can more quickly move through the curriculum. Contact Donna Curry at donnac@gwi.net for a CALM Orientation.
• Math Teacher Survey Reminder:
  • The math Curriculum and Instruction Center kindly asks directors to remind their math teachers to take the math survey from the SABES Math Curriculum and Instruction Center. The results will help the Center better understand what and how math teachers teach and how to support them provide rigorous math instruction.

ESOL

• The Components of Language (February 29)
• Learn how to address the components of language in an appropriate and communication-focused way and build adult ESOL learners' language awareness and college and career language skills through appropriate classroom activities
• Introduction to Teaching Basic Literacy to English Learners (March 6)
• Practice research-grounded teaching methodologies such as Language Experience Approach, Whole-Part-Whole, and phonics-based instruction and how to differentiate instruction to meet diverse student needs.
• ESOL Curriculum and Instructional Design (March 13)
• Learn how to use the MA ELPS to guide curriculum development and instruction and the Backward Design approach to short-term and long-term instructional planning.

3.    Assessment
 
Reminder: We are currently in the recertification period for BEST Plus 2.0 administrators and CLAS-E Writing scorers. Please ensure that your staff received recertification instructions from the UMass Center for Educational Assessment (CEA) as the email with instructions may be in their spam folder. If you have any questions, please contact the CEA at aclstesthelp@educ.umass.edu.
 
4.    Voices from the Field
 
a)    This month, ACLS would like to feature the East Boston Harborside (EBH) adult education program’s approach to professional development related to instructional strategies and digital literacy skills. Below we hear from Carol Baglio, EBH program director. If you are interested in learning more about this model, Carol can be reached via email at cbaglio@ebhcs.org .
 
At the East Boston Harborside Community School, one of the many challenges of being a very large part-time evening program is our staff’s capacity to access high-quality professional development (HQPD). Most of our staff work full-time jobs during the day and work afternoon and evening hours at our program, which limits their ability to attend some of the HQPD workshops offered by SABES. To address this challenge, we thought of approaching it differently.
 
Over the course of the last one and a half years, our program goal has been to create HQPD opportunities for staff at our monthly meetings. During the school year 2018-2019, we tackled this goal by having SABES conduct two evenings of digital literacy-related PD at our site.
 
This school year, we changed our approach to implementing this goal by connecting instructional PD to digital literacy.  We provided access to a Google Classroom to all our instructional staff with two objectives in mind:
1.    Provide online instructional PD to teachers who, due to scheduling conflicts, are not able to attend onsite PD;
2.    Improve teachers’ digital literacy skills by providing PD via the Google Classroom format and use this format as a mirror for teachers to use in their classroom instruction.
 
At our first staff meeting, we went over instructions on how to access and post comments on the Google Classroom site, as well as our specific plan for sharing discussion topics via the site on a regular basis.
 
The topics we usually post include, but are not limited to, discussion guiding questions, links to published articles or instructional videos, or other resources that highlight best practices related to the proposed topic.
 
The first topic we tackled was scaffolding which we covered from September to the first week in November 2019.  We posted a new lesson every other week to allow for teacher responses, with a total of four lessons covered. Click here to see some of the scaffolding lessons and the comments they stirred among staff.
Next we proposed differentiated instruction, a topic we covered from November 2019 to January 2020 and we are currently exploring student engagement.  Click here to see some of the differentiated instruction lessons.
As mentioned earlier, one of the goals of offering instructional PD support via a Google Classroom format is to mirror how teachers can incorporate technology in their class and ways they can engage students in using technology to enhance their learning.  While participating in the Google Classroom for PD purposes, teachers can also see firsthand how beneficial this technology could be for their students. One of our program goals is for all teachers to create their own Google Classroom and improve students’ overall digital literacy skills beyond the classroom setting. 
 
b)    Reminder
 
State as a Partner Curriculum and Instruction Webinar: Friday, March 6, 2020, 10-11.30 am (snow date: Friday, March 20, 2020).
 
To register for the webinar, participants must use this link: http://www.doe.mass.edu/conference/?ConferenceID=10170&preview=yes
 
To access the webinar, participants must use this link: http://sabes.adobeconnect.com/sapc/, enter their name and the following room code: 2020
 
Once in the webinar, participants should use their phone to dial the following conference call-in number: 1.877.820.7831 and enter the guest passcode: 277528.
 
Participants are encouraged to email their questions in advance of the webinars to Dana Varzan-Parker at dvarzan-parker@doe.mass.edu.

 

Did you know that the SABES Math Curriculum and Instruction Center has:
·         A blog where you can read (and post comments) about a variety of math instruction-related topics such as placement testing,  differentiated instruction, estimation,  integrating statistics in content areas, and much more?
·         A CALM Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) section where you can read important information about the CALM such as how CALM can be used with multilevel classes or for HSE preparation, and how lessons can be adapted to individual classes and more?
 

 

 
NETWORK 2020 is fast approaching.  In addition to the outstanding workshops offered, NETWORK also affords an opportunity for programs to nominate students and colleagues for the Outstanding Student and Outstanding Educator awards, and for the Ruth Derfler Memorial Scholarship award. The nomination forms, available on the MCAE website, www.mcae.net, are due by March 4, 2020. 
 
Remember, NETWORK will be held on Friday, April 3, 2020 at the Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel, Marlborough, MA. Registration details will be announced soon.