Great Lakes Comprehensive Center
The Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) has been involved in a comprehensive project funded by the Great Lakes Comprehensive Center (GLCC) in partnership first with Learning Point Associates and subsequently with the American Institutes for Research. Throughout these years, CAL has built the capacity of educators, in both Michigan and Ohio, to deliver effective and engaging instruction to linguistically and culturally diverse students. Content topics included the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) Model, CAL’s What’s Different about Teaching Reading to Students Learning English program and Multi-Tiered Systems of Response and English Learners. The project format has included a range of professional development (PD) services including technical assistance, face-to-face sessions for teachers, a foundational and advanced-level Training of Trainers for facilitators and coaches, co-facilitation opportunities, materials and resources, online courses, webinars, conference presentations and a joint publication. Most recently the audience for the work has been Ohio’s instructional coaches and reading specialists, facilitating their collaboration, fostering professional idea sharing, and building their capacity to serve English learners and their teachers.
This most recent cohort, from the state of Ohio, has received the following support, services, and collaboration from CAL:
- Training of Trainers face-to-face workshops on the CAL SIOP Model (at Foundations and Advanced levels) and the What’s Different About Teaching Reading to Students Learning English program.
- Opportunities for those trained in the workshops to co-facilitate with the professional development specialists from CAL at various regional centers around the state of Ohio directly with teachers. These same trainers returned to their districts and facilitated school and district based workshops, professional learning communities (PLCs), and faculty meetings.
- Online course registrations on CAL’s self-paced Fundamentals of Sheltered Instruction: Featuring the SIOP Model and The Nature of Reading: Foundations of Literacy.
- Personnel from Ohio Department of Education, districts and schools showcased the program and its outcomes at a round table discussion at the Ohio TESOL Conference in Fall of 2018 where the theme of job-embedded approaches and implementation of the professional development support for English learners were showcased.
- A series of webinars to review elements and support implementation of the CAL SIOP and What’s Different about Teaching Reading to Students Learning English programs. The webinars were also an opportunity to demonstrate and share job-embedded PD formats, such as coaching, guided lesson design, lesson study, and co-teaching to support teachers’ implementation of the SIOP Model or delivery of literacy instruction for English learners.
To learn more, visit the Great Lakes Comprehensive Center website.
Project Resources
Project Report: Building Capacity to Support Instruction of English Learners in Ohio
This report includes a description of project initiatives, best practices modeled by the facilitators, and how participants implemented what they learned in schools throughout Ohio.
Download the free PDF:
Sample Training of Trainers Webinars
Featuring What's Different About Teaching Reading to Students Learning English
April 26, 2017 Webinar
March 31, 2017 Webinar
February 28, 2017 Webinar