Blog 6: ELL and Summer School

I have come across an exciting and interesting article to elaborate on in my own blog this week.  The article that is posted below got to my attention because of two words: summer school.  I think a lot of the teachers are happy to have those months off, but in reality there are students, teachers, and administrators still working very hard throughout the summer to either get a head start or make up for lost time.

Allowing for an extended school year is beneficial to me in several ways.  First, the skills that are lost over the summer because of lack of repetition, practice, or just general engagement.  Second, time with students who have learning disabilities, language barriers, or other obstacles to overcome. Finally, the motivation to see school as fun and productive at the same time.  All of these were mentioned in the article this week.

The article in general is about a super diverse district offering a 4 week development training for students learning English.  The diversity mentioned in the writing was a lot of different languages that some of our districts never really see a big population, but also the number of students enrolled in this camp.  There were close to a hundred 2nd and 3rd graders participating in this development program.  Reading the article and realizing the district has around 300 ELL students and close to 30 different languages within that population.

One thing that was refreshing and I'd like to bring attention to was the government funding as well as parental support for these types of programs going on throughout the summer at this district.  It is one thing to have a great backing and parents behind you, but having government funding to offer tools need, meals per day, and resources for students to excel during these months is critical.  I found that to be the best part of the article!

Article