Section II: Pre-Instructional Student Assessment and

Elaboration
It is important for teachers to do assessments before starting a new lesson and/or new
unit and there are many ways for teachers to specifically assess CLD students. Throughout my
ESL/ELL courses, I have learned a variety of techniques and strategies for assessing CLD students
effectively. These techniques can easily be blended into a general education setting, and can be
adjusted based on any given classroom parameter or student need. Using assessment strategies
like a Student Biography Card, helps the teacher see the exact data about a students L1 and L2
proficiency levels in all categories of fluency (oral, written, reading). Teachers should use this
assessment strategy before any instructional planning or any other assessment strategy because
it gives valuable insight into the ability levels of your CLD students. Teachers can also use
activities like DOTS Charts, and Tri-Folds to assess students knowledge on a specific content.
These activities can help guide further instruction since they can tell a teacher how fast or slow a
lesson, unit, or even homework needs to go This can even be utilized to assess in-depth a topic
needs to be taught based on the students pre-knowledge and comprehension skills within their
L1 and L2.
After assessing students, it is important for teachers to use techniques that have students
to expressing higher-order thinking and elaborating more on what they already know. A great
way to do that is by using the Extension Wheel strategy. This has students build upon their
previous knowledge through collaboration with their peers; helping them elaborate more on
what they know. Another activity that is great for allowing students to elaborate more on what
they know is the Linking Language activity. The Linking Language activity has students working
both individually as well as peer to peer, assisting them in making connections between what
they already know and what they will be learning or have recently learned. Also, CLD students
are able to use both their L1 and L2 when doing these activities which helps them feel more
comfortable sharing their knowledge since they dont have to rely on their emerging L2 abilities
completely. Using assessment techniques and techniques to get students elaborating more on
what they know is integral to instructional planning. Without assessing students knowledge and
getting them to elaborate on what they already know, the teacher cannot create truly effective
lessons for their students.
When assessing students there are many outside factors that play a role in student
performance; primary culture, home environments, language patterns, socialization, and
educational experiences all have both positive and negative influence on performance. Teachers
should account for these factors during instructional planning and assessments by being familiar
with the CLD students personal biography cards, home language surveys, and other background
information. Once familiar with this information, the teacher can have a clearer understanding
for why and how a student does something when they are in the classroom. Furthermore,
teachers should collaborate with coworkers, administration, and even parents, to create
meaningful assessments that are in the CLD students best interests. Teachers and
Administrators should collaborate with each other during Professional Learning Community (PLC)
times or during Professional Development opportunities. Teachers can also collaborate with

Portfolio Platform Section 2 1

parents and students through surveys, town hall classroom meetings, and one-on-one
communication. Teachers who actively involve parents to help them better identify the CLD
students prior experiences, socialization patterns, and prior education, assist not only the
student but the entire family system. Teachers can do this by having students and parents work
on a Student Biography Quilt, home language surveys (which is key to understanding what a
students L1 would be and gives a better insight into what their home environment is like), and
general student biography cards (that could ask about how the student had done in school
previously, what they have done in school previously, etc.). By collaborating with others, the
teacher can insure that there is consistency across a CLD students classes (and consistency helps
CLD students feel more comfortable in the school environment as they continue to improve their
L2). With maintain a working relationship with the parents and students directly, the teacher
gives the students greater agency in their own learning, and it creates a strong parent-teacher-
school connection and more parent involvement in the school.
Finally, teachers should stay familiar with the various tools available to them to pre-
assess language and to observe the many facets of language. This means that the teachers
should be constantly practicing these tools, researching new ideas, and completing professional
development to continue their own education and proper utilization of these tools in order to
remain familiar with them. Teachers should use the knowledge they have about their CLD
students to conduct their own research about their students L1s and primary cultures so they
can be more aware and familiar with the various language patterns: how they compare to
English, and how the cultures of those students can affect a students behavior in the classroom.
Besides doing their own research to stay up to date on these tools and to make the connections
between their CLD students L1/cultures and their L2/new cultures, teachers should include the
various techniques and tools into their daily class routines. Using activities like DOTS Charts,
Linking Language, Extension Wheels as Bell Ringers or Exit Slips every day to check for student
understanding will keep the teacher practicing using the techniques and using the information
from those techniques to influence instructional planning so that they can create
assessments/lessons that are meaningful and effective for their students.

Portfolio Platform Section 2 2