PLNs and Twitter Chats

The #ellchat that I participated in was so fun!  I could have chatted for much longer, but the moderator ended it after an hour.  The questions were issues ELL teachers grapple with, and the answers that were shared were valuable things for me to think about.  Communication between districts all over the US is important because I realize I'm not alone in dealing with these issues, and we can share language support resources.  Certain language populations appear in parts of the US and it's important to know what students need in terms of support, in case my district has an influx of students with that language background. Plus it's always helpful to hear about others' solutions.  Twitter facilitates this easily.  My first twitter chat was definitely a win-win.

I was a little hesitant just joining right in, and I messed up a bit in the beginning and felt embarrassed, but I kept going and it was fine.  I know how my students feel when they try something new.  The questions were engaging.  The overall topic was Special Education for ELLs, and we discussed some of the issues teachers/districts might struggle with. I used tweetdeck so I could follow the chat, it made it very easy, and it saves the discussion.  I highly recommend using tweetdeck, it was a good way of keeping track of the comments. 
Here's a link to the transcript of our discussion:
https://www.participate.com/transcripts/ELLCHAT/c424161f-ce5c-4452-89c3-42f8f661f9f3

These were the moderator's questions:

1. How do ELLs w/ learning disabilities differ from typically developing ELLs? What have you noticed w/ students in your program?
2. Are ELLs in your district over-identified or under-identified?
3. What kinds of interventions and instructional strategies do you use for ELLs who are struggling?
4. Oh, by the way, what could your college have done better to prepare you to work with ELL students who also have disabilities?
5. What if ALL tchrs were prepared to succeed with ALL students?

Other questions developed over the course of the chat. Fantastic resources were shared:

(http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2016/06/state_struggle_to_identify_sup.html?r=294121751; https://www.amazon.com/Bilingual-Language-Development-Disorders-Spanish-English/dp/1598571710/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1598571710;
http://www.tesol.org/attend-and-learn/online-courses-seminars/separating-difference-from-disability-with-students-learning-english-as-an-additional-language;
http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/some-myths-regarding-ells-and-special-education)

The website at ColorinColorado.org is a wonderful resource for bilingual and ELL teachers. Their article about 3 myths regarding these students are ideas I have heard over and over again, although not so much lately. Educators are realizing the field might have had a bit of tunnel vision before, and new ideas and strategies are being considered.

During the twitter chat I met some new friends and added them to my twitter account, so my PLN is growing.  I love PLNs because if I've been at school all day, I don't usually feel like walking into another teacher's room and having an hour-long discussion with him/her.  I can't even if I wanted to, because most teachers are gone!  So I like to go home, relax a bit and walk my dog, then if I'm still curious, go to my twitter account and see what's happening with all the people I follow.  Staying current and sharing resources are probably my two biggest reasons for using my PLN. I also have to say that oh, it was probably 6-7 years ago, I was at an IRA conference in Orlando, Florida.  (That was one of the best conferences I ever attended.)  I met Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey, two professors at San Diego State who teach reading, very well-known in the field.  I became such a groupie!  I bought all their books and tried to see them at all the conferences.  But now, I just follow them on twitter and hear about all their latest stuff!  Back in the day I never imagined it could be this easy to communicate and find information, especially with someone across the country.