PD in your Pjs: How to
navigate #EllChat_BkClub on Twitter
Currently,
#EllChat_BkClub is in its 6th round with a book study on Boosting
Achievement by Carol Salva (@MsSalva) and Anna Matis (@AnnaTeachesELLs).
Participation is at an all-time high thanks to Carol’s fabulous skill-set in
both writing and sparking interest in her book and also the power of our
community to sustain interest via new pathways for participants to share ideas
and reflections about the book’s content. Whether you’re a veteran participant
to our book chat, a new member, or you’ve never heard of us, here’s all you
need to know about navigating #EllChat_BkClub on Twitter.
1.
Who to Follow: #EllChat_BkClub was the brainchild of
myself, Katie Toppel, a K-5 ELD Teacher/ESOL Adjunct Professor and Tan Huynh,
an ELL teacher in Laos/author of empoweringells.com. It began with the idea that
it would be fun to both read Collaboration and Co-teaching by Andrea Honigsfeld
and Maria Dove and then discuss via Twiiter.
We never expected how big our community would grow, but it has blossomed
into an outstanding group of educators who are passionate about ELLs. We
continuously engage in book chats based on books the participants have voted on
and we think we’ve started a pretty exciting movement that capitalizes on
engaging, convenient, and personalized professional development. Some key
players to follow on Twitter are:
·
Katie
Toppel, @Toppel_ELD
·
Tan
Huynh, @TanELLClassroom
·
Carlota
Holder, @Carlota_Holder
·
Valentina
Gonzalez, @ValentinaESL
·
Emily
Francis, @emilyfranESL
·
Shaeley
Santiago, @HSESLTeacher
Some authors who we’ve read/plan to read:
·
Carol
Salva, Boosting Achievement, @MsSalva
·
Dr.
Andrea Honigsfeld, Collaboaration and Co-teaching/ELL Frontiers,
@AndreaHonigsfel
·
Dr.
Jana Echevarria, No More Low Expectations for English Learners @jechev
·
Cathy Beck, Leading Learning for ELL
Students, @Cathypetreebeck
·
Nancy
Motley, Talk Read Talk Write, @NancyMotleyTRTW
2.
How to “join”: First and foremost we want to emphasize
that anyone is welcome to participate in #EllChat_BkClub. People in a variety
of different educational realms have come together in the interest of improving
instruction for ELLs. There is absolutely no exclusivity about our group and we
welcome everyone! There is not an official way to “join” #EllChat_BkClub. If
you’re interested in participating, search #EllChat_BkClub and take it from
there. You can click on “recent” and you will see the most recent tweets that
have included the hashtag.
3.
How to Participate: We now have quite a variety of ways to
engage and the beauty of #EllChat_BkClub is that participants can engage to
whatever extent they wish! Here is a breakdown of the different ways to
comment/reflect on the book:
·
Weekly Questions: I post a reading schedule prior to each
round as well as weekly questions from my Twitter account (@Toppel_ELD). The
questions are listed such as 1Q2. The first number indicates which week of the
chat the question is for (chats typically last between 4-6 weeks depending on
the length of the book). The Q stands for Question. The second number indicates
the number of the question (we typically have between 3 and 9 questions each
week). 1Q2 would be week 1, question 2. Participants can respond to any/all
questions if they wish. We ask that responses identify which question is being
answered by using the numbers listed and changing the Q to an A to indicate
Answer. For example if a participant is answering 1Q2 they would include 1A2 in
their tweet. Make sure to include our
hashtag so other participants can find your tweets!
·
Photo Tweets: Tweet a pic of your highlighted text,
your notes/takeaways, or yourself reading the book. We kicked off round 6 with
book selfies, which was really fun! Make sure to include our hashtag so other participants
can find your tweets!
·
Regular Tweets: Nothing fancy here, just tweet anything
about the book that fits within 144 characters. Maybe there’s a quote you liked
or an idea that came to mind when reading….anything goes. Make sure to include
our hashtag so other participants can find your tweets!
·
BookSnaps: Some participants use #BookSnaps to
capture interesting quotes and passages from the text. Essentially a book snap
is a photo of text (possibly highlighted text) that allows the reader to annotate
and reflect on the content. Many booksnappers add Bitmojis as well. A Bitmoji
is your own personal emoji that you can design to look like you. You can create
booksnaps using a variety of methods, however common ones are Snapchat, Seesaw,
and Buncee.
To learn how to create your own book
snaps, see a tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_p8S2hIVqQ
To learn how to create your
personalize Bitmoji, see a tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVK85B5htuA
·
Padlet: Sometimes we use Padlet (a virtual bulletin board) to
create a shared spot to brainstorm ideas around a particular concept or
question. For Boosting Achievement we asked participants to post ideas relating
to how teachers can go about getting to know and building relationships/trust
with SIFE. The link to the padlet will be tweeted and then any participants can
contribute. Take a look at our Boosting Achievement padlet here: https://padlet.com/katie_toppel/e4rccqyg3m29
·
Flipgrid: We use Flipgrid to add a video
component to our discussions. The link to the flipgrid is tweeted and then
participants can record videos up to one minute and thirty seconds in length,
responding to the questions that were posed or just sharing their thoughts
about what they’ve been reading. More than one response can be added when 1:30
just isn’t enough time! Check out our Boosting Achievement Flipgrid here:
https://flipgrid.com/481e29
·
Google Hangouts/Youtube LIVE: During this round, we started doing
weekly Google Hangouts to discuss the readings. A request for participants will
be tweeted and you can choose to either participate in the Google Hangout (in
which case you will be sent a link to join via Direct Message and you video
chat/discuss with other participants, the author, and #EllChat_BkClub
co-founders while the discussion is being broadcast to YouTube) or you can
choose to just watch the discussion (in which case you access the video via a
link that is tweeted out).
As our community
of passionate, enthusiastic educators grows, we will likely continue to add
additional ways to participate, discuss, and reflect on the amazing books that
we are reading. To date we have read the following books:
·
Collaboration
and Co-Teaching by Andrea Honigsfeld and Maria Dove
·
ELL
Frontiers by Heather Parris, Lisa Estrada, and Andrea Honigsfeld
·
Writers
are Readers by Lester Laminack and Reba Wadsworth
·
Academic
Conversations by Jeff Zwiers & Marie Crawford
·
Culturally
Responsive Teaching and the Brain by Zaretta Hammond
·
Boosting
Achievement by Carol Salva and Anna Matis
We look forward
to growing our community and providing stellar PD for interested
educators! Take a look at what some of our participants tweeted about
#EllChat_BkClub:
“I’m blessed to have stumbled onto this PLC making
connections w/other Ts has helped me visualize different EL classrooms
throughout the US.”
“Great forum to discuss and share ideas. Being exposed to
different perspectives and experiences. Learn new things from each other.”
“Love the opportunity to share my point of view and also
learn educators point of view. Very interactive and centered on #ELLs.
Effective PD.”
“I followed to ID good reads for me. It was like having a
series of book talks by multiple colleauges. Found some gems. Thank you.”
“Love sharing exp with Ts from all over with varies Ss
pop-poeople eager to help, share, learn & collaborate! Inspiring me to be a
better T!”
“I love that the author herself and her close collaborators
are actively participating and responding to all our comments. Helps us
process”
“I love the ideas, perspectives & resources from so many
teachers who share my passion for the success of ELLs. Together we are better.”
Together we ARE better.
Join us in revolutionizing and personalizing your professional
development!
