What I Learned About Supporting Multilingual Learners in Four Months of The Hybrid Learning Model
By Sarah Said
Many of us are halfway through the 2020-2021 school year. It’s been a storm, but a rainbow of new ideas will shine as we move forward in our schools and districts. For some of us, like myself we have navigated a good chunk of our school year in a hybrid learning model, some of us are moving into a hybrid model of instruction for the first time and some of us are still waiting for news of what the rest of our school year will look like. We need to be prepared for what is ahead. This virus and its effects didn’t magically disappear as the calendar changed to January 1st. We are still riding this wave and learning. Below I will share what I’ve learned about supporting multilingual learners in our hybrid learning model.
We need to do what we can to ensure our students are learning, but at the same time we have to remember that we need to give our students and ourselves grace as we adjust into a hybrid model. With this, we need to check our communication to ensure that our students and families are understanding of the model, the daily changing schedules and learning expectations. And, systems need to be created as our students are moving between home and school for parts of their week. Most importantly, we need to find ways to create equity for students at home as they are navigating instruction through zoom and you are delivering instruction to their peers in the classroom.
The Importance of Communication
As we have been in remote learning models, communication has been vital with families to assure students are online and support families in navigating instruction. Learn more about methods to engage families in remote learning here. Here is what I think is different in a hybrid model, the day to day communication is critical particularly in native language in order to assure that students understand what days they attend school and what days and times they are online remote learning.
Sounds simple, right? But for families juggling jobs, multiple children in multiple schools, and multigenerational homes where families may take care of elderly parents there is a lot that a person has to remember in these times. We don’t want to assume that people remember when their child needs to be online in the first few days. Send mass communication in native language as often as you can. In my program, we created infographics explaining the model, sent video messages via Seesaw for Schools Announcements, and sent mass text messages making parents aware of the cohort dates and times.
We also felt it was important to continue to engage families in the school community. On in person days, we have made sure to be masked and outside greeting parents and students as we checked temperatures daily. Being outdoors was important to us to keep that connection with families and help them have a sense of safety and security. We continued to work hard to stay connected with families online. We did this through weekly community crew meetings school wide done virtually by our school. Also, we have weekly storytimes where staff and community members read to students and their families, then just have conversation about topics in the story.
Supporting Students Between At Home and In Person Learning
This toggling between home and school is difficult for us adults--imagine what it feels like for children. Especially when that child is new to the country or is still gaining English language proficiency it can really be a confusing time for them to continue to keep changing schedules and models.
Have a System For Paper Management Between Home and School
Yes, many of our schools have become one-to-one because of this pandemic, but using paper and pencil is vital for developing fine motor skills in younger students and also cognition in older students. Also, it is probably good for students’ vision and piece of mind to have them off of a screen. Paper and pencil activity should still happen in some form. In my experience, managing that paper and pencil was difficult for students with organization issues pre-pandemic--this has been even harder.
What worked for us? One grade level had students utilize a five pocket accordion folder that was organized by subject. This was brought back and forth between school and home with the chromebooks that students were using. For most students it was successful--some still struggled. Teachers also kept handouts in google classroom that students can pull up and write down on lined paper when handouts were not with them. For students at home, to ensure accountability on paper and pencil tasks, teachers had students take a picture of completed notes and handouts. Teachers provided those students with feedback virtually as well.
Take Advantage of In-Person Times for Clarification
When our most vulnerable learners were in our building, we took advantage of the time for native language explanations and front loading. We also made sure that this was time for clarification of content or instructions that students were confused on for large scale concepts and activities. Taking the time in person for small group learning tasks (which can be organized in a hybrid setting while at home students work asynchronously) and reteaching content in person can be helpful for supporting students on days when they are at home.
Be Creative With Engagement When Students Are in the Building
You still need to engage students as you are teaching them both online and in person at the same time, also known as concurrent or simultaneous hybrid instruction. Some schools have the ability to have separate teachers for remote and in person--where some schools have a teacher who is teaching both groups of students- one on zoom and one in person at the same time. My school is using a model where one classroom teacher is teaching both groups of students at the same time. Teachers at times are supported by teaching assistants and have Multilingual Specialist and Special Education specialists co teaching with them at various times. Creativity is critical when trying to create systems of engagement in your classroom to support language instruction.
Being in an EL education school, we have been fortunate enough to be provided with guidance from the organization. One tool that we have utilized to support engaging all students is the guide to classroom protocols created by practitioners at EL education and in schools who are supported by them. These protocols are ways to help teachers start discussions with students online and in person.
Teachers have also gotten creative with the way they use breakout rooms with online and in person learners. To help teachers manage learners but create community, teachers have created breakout rooms where in person students are grouped with remote students in activities and discussions. Teachers can then manage the students by walking around the room and looking over the shoulders of in person students. Students who need to have discussion to develop their language can do so in a small group and can receive support from the teacher when needed.
Creating Equity for Students Learning At Home
The biggest fear we have as teachers is that we are not being equitable in our support for kids in person and kids at home. I noticed that our Multilingual learners at times struggled with following hybrid instruction from the classroom as they are at home. I rethought our department’s schedule after noticing this and created short Zoom sessions where our specialists have gotten online to preview and review content. These are shorter 20 minute Zoom sessions where learning targets and key vocabulary is front loaded for ELA and content based literacy instruction. The previews have not only been effective for students' language knowledge, but we prepare them to assure they have the physical and online resources needed for the classroom teachers’ instruction. Then we hop into the classroom Zooms at times where teachers are in breakout rooms with students and do small group instruction with both in person and remote students. Later in the day, we support remote students through 20 minute reviews of the content they have learned. Also, many of our classroom teachers have office hours where they answer student questions to clarify confusion.
For key concepts that are overarching for the content students are learning, we create video reviews via Seesaw where video instruction is used to support translanguaging and vocabulary enrichment. We also have pre recorded our breakdown of learning targets to be used by the whole class. Teachers have students watch these videos and write their understandings of them in person as they are waiting for the online students to join the class zoom. Students at home complete these reflections pre or post-lesson.
You need to be okay with the mess that you feel like you are in when you begin hybrid learning. It is stressful, and it does take a lot of work to get off the ground. Have faith in yourself and the students you serve. You will get through this wave. Patience is important and at times your patience will be tested. But don’t give up and be open to new ideas that people bring to you. You will feel uncomfortable these next few months- but you will learn unforgettable lessons.