English Learners (ELs) are diverse—linguistically, culturally, socioeconomically, and academically. Some ELs have been schooled partially in the US, while others were previously schooled in their home countries . For some students, schooling has included disrupted or limited educational experiences for a variety of reasons (e .g ., poverty, politics, cultural norms, etc .) . Home language, level of literacy, age, and school experience are all variables that impact proficiency in English . ELs in the US come from linguistic environments containing over 400 languages, including Spanish (which 75% of all ELs speak), Arabic, Chinese, Vietnamese, French/Haitian Creole, Navajo, Somali, and Nepali among others (Office of English Language Acquisition, 2017) . Additionally, some ELs are dually identified as advanced or gifted learners . Others have not been formally identified, but have been designated as having gifted potential based on their advanced performance in certain content areas . These students must be afforded challenge, as well as enhanced linguistic and cognitive opportunities . Other exceptionalities include ELs who have an identified disability (see Supporting Students with Disabilities) . In order to respond to the wide range of needs, Connect includes supports for differentiation through Universal Design for Learning (UDL) . This is a researchbased framework for guiding educational practice (CAST, 2018) . UDL focuses on planning instruction to meet the varied needs of students . This involves the use of effective teaching practices and the intentional differentiation of instruction to meet the needs of the full continuum of learners (Chita-Tegmark et al ., 2012) . Connect is designed with choices for action, expression, and engagement . The curriculum includes: • Varied ways of presenting information and content, • Varied ways for students to express what they know, and • Varied ways of stimulating students’ interest and motivation for learning . CAST includes multiple means of representation . This is crucial to the development of linguistic comprehension and content knowledge . Visual supports, such as images and illustrations, multimedia (including videos and audio support), graphic organizers, and kinesthetic activities among many others, foster this . By these same means, students can express themselves as well through listening, speaking, reading, and writing . From conversations to poetry, informational language to graphic depictions, and use of realia in the environment, ELs are encouraged to grow individually. The differentiated activities are also structured so that that students have multiple paths to express what they know. Students are invited to act things out, illustrate, record responses, work with peers, write in multiple ways through multiple opportunities, match, list, and read in a variety of ways . The pedagogy is designed to be responsive and motivating as students move from the survival language they need to the content area language they must learn for academic success . As ELs progress through the stages of language acquisition, the process is not typically linear. It depends entirely on the individual student, their background, and unique context . There will be times, for example, when an EL displays a higher level of proficiency in oral language, but at the same time exhibits a lower level of proficiency in writing . ELs often understand more than they can express . In other cases, ELs might be able to successfully read using one strategy but need greater support with a different strategy. Not only is the path not linear in terms of language domains, but the time spent moving through the levels is not equal, as the length of time it will take varies by student . Therefore, recognizing the levels and supporting students where they are is essential . To that end, each page includes two added means of differentiation: • Scaffold includes suggested supports at a more basic and concrete linguistic level, and • Amplify includes suggested ways to extend and enhance the language and concept . These two areas are lesson-responsive and are designed to be completed at point-of-use . They are specific and are intended to meet students at their level—to support them and push them forward . DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION Txxxviii 26
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