Reset, Reconnect, and Refocus After WIDA ACCESS

Getting back into routines after almost a month of WIDA ACCESS testing can feel overwhelming, for both teachers and students. In this post, I will share some tips for easing back into routines and normal schedules, along with fun lesson ideas to help create for a smooth transition from testing back into ELD group or class time. 

Tips for After WIDA Testing

1.Re-teach Routines

Welcome your ELD groups with a smile. Go over the routines, procedures, and expectations in your class/groups. If possible, remake your routine or class expectation posters so they feel new and exciting. As you review each of the routines and expectations, make sure students practice them. Some ideas are: 

• Acting out the routines

• Turn the review into a game by using classroom buttons to ask simple questions like "What do we do when someone else is sharing ideas?" or "Where can we find the pencil sharpener?," "Who can show us how to listen actively?" Whoever presses their button first gets to answer. These are the buttons I use in my class. I like these because they have different sounds, so this makes it easier to tell who pressed their button first. 

Some suggested sentence starters could be: 

• “One classroom routine I remember is ___.”

• “One routine I want to practice again is ___.” 

• “When I don’t know what to do, I can ___.” 

• “When it is time to ___, I ___.” 

• "If _____ happens, we can ______" 

This time of year is also when many newcomers arrive, making it a perfect opportunity to welcome them and explicitly teach ELD group/class expectations. 

2. Start slow 

Tell students you’re resetting together. Ease back in with shorter, fun, and community building lessons. I'll share some lesson ideas in the next section below.  

Some sentence stems to use could be: 

• "At the beginning of the year, my writing goal was____. My new writing goal is ______."

• "I feel I did well on the ______ part of WIDA because ____."

• "I feel confident about ____."

• "I predict my new speaking score will be ___."

• "One thing that was hard during testing was ___.”

4. Celebrate and Connect

Celebrate the end of WIDA testing season with your students! Doing a small celebration, by bringing their favorite snacks, can be a great way to restart on a positive note, especially with challenging groups or classes. Praise students for their hard work during testing and have them create a chart showing what they are proud of.

Some sentence starters to use: “One thing I’m excited to do again is ___.” “I feel ___ now that testing is finished.” 

Doing a mindfulness activity or community builder activity could be a great idea as well. Some suggestions are: coloring a mandala or other calming patterns, drawing something they're excited about and sharing it with the class, and choosing a breathing or calming exercise and explaining why they like it. There are many videos on Youtube on mindfulness for students. 

5. Go Over Schedules: 

Remind students of their schedules. If schedules have changed, provide an updated copy. For some of my ELD groups, I print schedules and have students glue them onto their desks or laptops so they always know when group time is. Use visual schedules whenever possible, especially for newcomers or students who benefit from visual supports.

Fun Lessons to Transition Back into Normal Schedules 

1. Role-Play

Have students act out classroom routines and procedures. Some ideas for role playing are: welcoming a new student, losing a personal item, making good choices during lunch, working as a team on a class project, or showing the steps to active listening.

Students can even write short scripts for their role-plays. This allows you and your students to review routines while practicing all language domains in a fun and meaningful way. In addition to acting out routines and expectations, students can plan scenarios related to some important concept they recently learned related to content. 

3. Grammar Activities 

Review previously taught grammar concepts.

Play games: Show a sentence using the concept or word (examples or non-examples) have students hold up cards with the words "True" or "False" to show their answer. Students can easily make the cards on index cards. This is an easy way to get all students participating without having to use oral responses, which allows newcomers, shy students, and other students who might be hesitant to respond in a whole group or small group lesson, to show what they know. Listen to "Hold Ups" episode on "5 Minute ELD."

Sorts: Create several sets of cards that studentrs can sort in different ways or just match (word to word, word to pictures, word to sentence, etc). Add some rigor by having students use the words in a sentence orally or in writing. Some sort ideas: Homophones, Homophone Lesson Slides, Present/Past, Adjectives, Verbs, Science vocabulary, etc. 

4. Discussions/Debates  

Post a question or prompt related to a topic your students have learned about. Have them choose a side and explain their point of view on the topic. Provide sentence starters and word banks based on their grade and English proficiency level. 

Some prompt/question ideas are: "Would you prefer having double recess time? Why or why not?" "Should lunch time be longer why or why not?" "What would happen if there was no sunlight on Earth?" "Should all plastic products like Ziplock bags and water bottles be banned from all stores? Why or why not? 

I wish you a smooth return to your regular ELD group or class schedules! 

Listen to this blog post on "5 Minute ELD"

For more resources and strategies to use with multilingual learners:

• Visit the website www.allabouteld.com

• Join a course: https://www.allabouteld.com/courses

• Shop for ready-to-use resources

• Listen to the "5 Minute ELD" Podcast

• Watch the All About ELD Youtube Channel