Grouping English Language Learners   

In this course, you will learn about English Language Learners (ELLs) and their proficiency levels to explore how to properly group students using flexible grouping methods.

This teacher professional development course will teach you about English Language Learners (ELLs) and provide you with an overview of their proficiency levels. With that information, you will learn how to group your ELLs based on your goals for your lessons. The course discusses flexible grouping and provides you with different methods for supporting your ELLs within their groups. The course comes with a downloadable PDF of the content, grouping planners, and other resources to help you build flexible groups within your classroom.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

• This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 10 or later.
• Mac: macOS 12 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox is preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
• Microsoft Word Online
  • Editing of a Microsoft Word document is required in this course. You may use a free version of Microsoft Word Online, or Google Docs if you do not have Microsoft Office installed on your computer. Model Teaching can provide support for this.
• Adobe Acrobat Reader
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

1. Understanding & Grouping English Language Learners Course Content
   1. The video and article will provide you with an understanding of English Language Learners and methods to group them so you can better support them in the classroom. The course also includes some "Reflect or Discuss" prompts to help you connect with the course content and ends with a "Try This Task" to guide you explicitly on how you might implement the ideas into the classroom.
2. Quiz
   1. You will answer questions related to ELLs and their proficiency levels. Quizzes are automatically scored and provide feedback on answer choice rationale.
3. Implementation Reflection
   1. The reflection prompt requires you to plan for use of the "try this task" by either reflecting on the content yourself or discussing them with the colleague. You will then discuss a new concept you can attempt to implement in the future based on something you learned in the course.
4. Considerations for Implementation
   1. This short statement helps you reflect on your ideas and assess whether you might be successful in your implementation.
5. Videos and Further Reading
   1. Additional content suggestions are provided to enhance and expand your understanding of English Language Learners and flexible grouping.

What you will learn

• Define English Language Learners (ELLs)
• Analyze English Language Learner levels and proficiency
• Compare different methods for ELL grouping
• Evaluate considerations for flexible grouping

How you will benefit

• Obtain a better understanding of each student's proficiency level and needs so that you can better design support methods for them
• The flexible grouping that you have built in your classroom will allow students to engage better with each other and with the content that you are providing to them
• Both English proficiency and academic knowledge will improve based on your purposeful grouping and support of your students