ESL Pro Study Circles Webinar

Thanks so much for joining today's webinar on using the ESL Pro Study Circles, which are available on LINCS here: https://lincs.ed.gov/state-resources/federal-initiatives/esl-pro

Please use this thread to ask any questions of myself or Susan Finn Miller. You can also share your take-aways from the webinar. Or, if you have used the study circles, we'd love to hear about it! I'll also share the link to the recording here once it is available.

Thank you!

Comments

Hello colleagues, Thanks to those who participated on yesterday's webinar in which we shared the new ESL Pro Study Circle Guides. The LINCS ESL Pro materials were developed by leaders in the field, and, in my view, are among the best professional development resources available for ESOL teachers. For those who may not be familiar with ESL Pro, there are three suites of ESL Pro materials on the following highly relevant topics:

  • Meeting the Needs of Today's English Learners (focused on enhancing the rigor of instruction)
  • Integrating Digital Literacy into ESL Instruction
  • Contextualizing Instruction to Support English Learners for Career Pathways

Each suite features an issue brief, an online module, and a digital magazine (aka Companion Learning Resource), which is chock full of practical teaching ideas.

Now there are also ESL Pro Study Circle Guides that were created to support instructional leaders/professional development specialists to facilitate a study circle on any one of these topics. The goal for each study circle is to support teachers to dig deeply into the ESL Pro topic, apply what they learn in their practice, and share with one another what they learn. The study circle guides offer guidance and support as well as practical suggestions and talking points for study circle facilitators and are designed to be flexible so they can be adapted for any context. For example, suggestions are included for both face-to-face and online study circles.

One of the questions that came up during yesterday's webinar was how to recruit participants to join a study circle. I'll invite you to share your best ideas on effective strategies for recruiting. First of all, I think this will depend if you want to offer the study circle across a state or region or within a program. I think all are possibilities. Offering the study circle to a group of ESL teachers in a program would be highly effective. Study circles work best with a fairly small number of participants; I would say 4-6 at a minimum and maybe up to 12 at the most.

If you wanted to offer the study circle at the state or regional level, you could ask administrators to nominate participants with the expectation that these teacher leaders would share what they learn with their colleagues. Another idea might be to promote the study circle as a special event and ask teachers to apply. Explain that those with the most compelling applications would be accepted. What criteria would you recommend be used to evaluate the applications?

Looking forward to hearing members' ideas for additional ways to recruit study circle participants.

If you have any questions about the ESL Pro Study Circle Guides, please post them here. In addition, I am happy to consult with you if this would be helpful. Contact me at susanfinn_miller@iu13.org or 717-723-7315.

Cheers, Susan Finn Miller

LINCS Moderator & National Trainer