Positioning ELLs/Bilingual Learners at the Core of the Core
Implications for Evaluating Teachers and Principals and for
Using a Comprehensive Body of Evidence to Drive Decisionmaking
Rebecca Freeman Field (rdfield@casloninc.com)
Agenda
Before: Laying a strong foundation for learning
 Clarifying our goals, objectives, and assessments
 Common Core  Six fundamental shifts in instruction
o Do Now!
 Building a shared background: What is academic language?
o Vocabulary notebook, expert jigsaw, Mini-lesson
During: Focusing on ALL students, particularly ELLs
 Using the guiding questions
o Think-aloud protocol, notemaking guides
o Differentiating instruction and assessment template
 Implications for evaluation systems, assessment and accountability systems, and curriculum
development…
After: Taking it to our districts and schools
 Leadership and professional development planning on the local level
o Action planning guide
Learning Outcomes: Participants (with further support and practice) will be able to…
 Use state-mandated English language proficiency (ELP) data to differentiate instruction and
assessment for ELLs in all classes.
 Evaluate teachers to determine the degree to which they can effectively differentiate instruction
and assessment for the ELLs/bilingual learners in their classes.
 Evaluate principals to determine the degree to which they create structures that support equal
access for ELLs, and appropriate professional learning opportunities for all educators who
work with ELLs.
 Evaluate instructional programs districtwide to determine the degree to which ELLs have equal
access to educational opportunities.
 Use an authentic body of evidence to improve instruction, guide program and professional
development, and realistically respond to current accountability requirements.
Materials
Go to http://ellguide.caslonpublishing.com/ to download this handout, the accompanying
powerpoint, and the supplemental notemaking guide and action planning template. Contact
Rebecca (rdfield@casloninc.com) if you have any comments or questions, especially if you’d like
to continue the conversation about positioning ELLS/bilingual learners at the core of the Core.
Freeman Field, Rebecca. Positioning ELLs/bilingual learners at the core of the Core
©Caslon, Inc. (2012).
1
Big Ideas/Enduring Understandings


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The Common Core focuses on academic language and literacy. All students are to read, write,
and have evidence-based conversations about a wide range of texts across content areas. Students
are to read like detectives and write like investigative reporters, (or like scientists, mathematicians,
novelists, literary critics…).
Equal treatment does not mean equal access. When we instruct and assess students from
linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds as if they were monolingual English speakers,
ELLs/bilingual learners at different stages of language and literacy development may be denied
equal opportunities to learn.
Meeting students where they are does not mean paying no attention to results or learning
outcomes or results. When we know what each student can do relative to all of our goals, targets,
and objectives, and we know what we expect for all students, we can project and document realistic
and attainable learning trajectories.
ELLs/ bilingual learners draw on all of the languages in their bilingual, multidialectal
linguistic repertoires to learn content and develop academic literacies across content areas.
Teachers and educational leaders need to shift their beliefs and practices in ways that…
o Draw on the home languages/literacies/cultural practices of ELLs/bilingual learners as powerful
resources to develop at school
o Activate prior content-area knowledge/concepts/skills/cultural practices learned through any
language as important funds of knowledge to build on and extend at school
Literacy scaffolds are not permanent structures. Decisions made about strategically removing
these temporary supports should be based on strong evidence of student growth.
Essential Questions
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
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What do all educators need to know about academic language and literacy in order to shift
their instruction in ways that are aligned with the top design principals of the Common Core and six
fundamental instructional shifts in ELA that effective implementation requires?
How can teachers use state-mandated ELP data to differentiate instruction and assessment for ELLs
within the context of the general education classroom so that all students, particularly ELLs, can
reach the same high standards as all students are expected to meet?
What does scaffolding look like in practice?
What is the relationship between language arts and language development? What does a
comprehensive approach to literacy look in practice?
How can we implement Common Core most effectively in our sociocultural context?
Critical Conversations


What are some implications of looking at the Common Core (curriculum, instruction, and
assessment; teacher evaluation systems, data-driven decisionmaking, the growth model, developing,
monitoring, and evaluating instructional programs, professional development) through a language
and culture lens (i.e., from a holistic, strengths-based, grounded sociocultural perspective)?
How can we structure leadership and professional learning opportunities in our states, districts,
programs, schools and communities so that our ELLs/bilingual learners are positioned at the core of
the Core and our sociocultural context grounds and shapes all of our decisionmaking?
Freeman Field, Rebecca. Positioning ELLs/bilingual learners at the core of the Core
©Caslon, Inc. (2012).
2
Content Targets: Participants will be able to…

Explain what ELLs/bilingual learners at different stages of English language proficiency levels can be
expected to do with reading, writing, listening, and speaking independently and with instructional
support and scaffolding.
 Analyze exemplar units to make explicit the content, language, literacy, and cultural demands implicit
in those units for all students.
 Explain how to differentiate instruction and assessment for ELLs/bilingual learners in their classrooms
and schools.
 Clarify the role of academic language in general education (core content) and ESL (language)
instruction.
 Describe ways that core content (language arts/literacy, social studies, math) and language development
(ESL, Native Language Arts, world language) teachers can collaborate to ensure that all students,
particularly ELLs/bilingual learners have equal access to educational opportunities in their districts and
schools.
 Explain how to use state-mandated English language proficiency data to demonstrate student growth.
Note: Content targets and objectives are about big ideas and should be the same for all students.
Language Targets: Participants will…
Use content-obligatory and content-compatible vocabulary orally and in writing
 English language learners; emergent bilinguals; bilingual learners
 ELP scores: composite score, domain scores (R,W,L,S); Continuum of language development;
 Social language, academic language, discourse, register, genre, text type, paragraph, sentence, word
 Evidence-based conversations about text
 Additive bilingualism; subtractive bilingualism; developmental bilingualism
 Monolingual/assimilationist perspective; multilingual/sociocultural perspective
 Formative assessment, summative assessment, common assessments, evaluation, accountability
 Differentiating instruction and assessment for ELLs/bilingual learners in content-area classes
 Oracy (academic vocabulary, language structures, dialogue), reading, writing, metalanguage, paired
literacy
 ELA/literacy, native language arts; ELP, content learning; language development
Use oracy, reading, writing, metalanguage to question, clarify, identify, describe, compare, and explain.
Note: Language objectives should be differentiated for students according to ELP level etc.
Common Content and Language Assessments
Educational leaders will demonstrate their content growth and language learning relative to all content and
language targets using the following common assessments:
1. Teacher-evaluation frameworks/rubrics/observation protocols/checklists that focus on (and require
evidence of) the degree to which classroom teachers scaffold and support core content learning and
academic language development for their students.
2. Principal evaluation frameworks/rubrics/observation protocols/checklists that focus on and require
evidence of the degree to which principals scaffold and support a comprehensive approach to
instructional programming and professional learning about content learning and academic language
development in their schools.
3. Data-driven instruction frameworks that draw on authentic evidence of students’ content learning and
academic language development.
4. Curriculum development frameworks that focus on content learning and academic language
development.
Freeman Field, Rebecca. Positioning ELLs/bilingual learners at the core of the Core
©Caslon, Inc. (2012).
3
5. Accountability systems that are driven by evidence of student growth and achievement in content-area
subjects and students’ development and proficiency in academic language development in all
instructional languages.
Common Core: Top three design principles
1. Ensure that when students graduate, they are truly college and career ready.
2. Evidence always matters. Evidence about what it means to be truly college and career ready.
3. Focus on what matters most. Focused enough so that is realistic to achieve these goals.
Common CoreSix Fundamental Shifts in ELA Instruction
1. PK-5: Balancing information and literature
2. Building knowledge in the disciplines
3. Staircase of complexity
4. Text-based answers
5. Writing from sources
6. Academic vocabulary
(Source: David Coleman, http://engageny.org/resource/common-core-in-ela-literacy-an-overview)
Do Now!
These six fundamental shifts in ELA can be summed up as expecting all students to read like
detectives and write like investigative reporters. Citing evidence from your prior learning and our
work to this point, jot down a few ideas you have about what is involved in shifting educational
practices in ways that enable all students, particularly ELLs/bilingual learners, to achieve the high
content and academic language demands of the core? What questions do you have?
Extension: Readers respond…
Freeman Field, Rebecca. Positioning ELLs/bilingual learners at the core of the Core
©Caslon, Inc. (2012).
4
Building a Shared Background: What is academic language?
Step 1: Activate and build necessary background knowledge and key vocabulary that
participants/students need to engage with, comprehend, and demonstrate understanding of key
concepts and skills within each activity in the workshop/unit.
Example: Vocabulary Notebook
Word
Connections/Questions
 Where have I heard it?
 What does it remind me of?
 What questions do I have about it?
Meaning(s)
From class
From texts (dictionary, articles)
Academic
language
Freeman Field, Rebecca. Positioning ELLs/bilingual learners at the core of the Core
©Caslon, Inc. (2012).
5
Step 2: Structure opportunities for students to begin to analyze and question the key
concepts or terms academic language.
Example: Part 1 of Expert jigsaw activity.
Organize into small groups, and each group looks at one of the sets of target vocabulary words below.
Group 1: social language, academic language
Group 2: discourse, register, genre, text type
Group 3: language of math, language of ELA/literacy, language of science, language of social studies,
language of the Common Core
Group 4: phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics
Group 5: reading, writing, listening, speaking
DO NOW! Individually or with a partner from your small group, jot down what you know and want to
know about your set of vocabulary words.
You can add more ideas or questions to your vocabulary notebook above…
Step 3: Structure opportunities for students to make explicit what they know and to clearly
articulate a shared purpose for learning.
Example: Part 2 of Expert jigsaw activity Note-making guide (K-W-L-S). Work with your small group and
use your KWLS guide to synthesize and share background knowledge about your set of target words.
What do you Know?
What do you Wonder What did you Learn?
about/Want to know?
What do you Still
want to know?
Step 4: Build a solid foundation for learning.
Example: Organize into new groups. Each group should include at least one representative from each of
the original 5 groups. Each group shares (orally and/or in writing in whatever format teachers/students
choose) a graphic representation illustrating what your group knows and wants to know about academic
language to address their specific purposes (articulated in the content and language targets; e.g., to
develop a teacher evaluation framework that includes a focus on academic language) using key vocabulary
as evidence of their comprehension. Teacher/PD provider synthesizes evidence of background knowledge
and questions relative to content and language targets and objectives.
Freeman Field, Rebecca. Positioning ELLs/bilingual learners at the core of the Core
©Caslon, Inc. (2012).
6
Step 5: Extend background knowledge about key concept or term.
Example: Mini-lesson: What is academic language?
 The language we use to correctly and appropriately learn, teach, and communicate about academic
content
 The language we use to assess and evaluate content learning and academic achievement
 The language of books and other academic, professional, or technical texts
 The language of standards and standardized tests
 The language of schooling and academic discourse communities
Content
knowledge
and skills
Social
language
Academic
language
Academic
achievement
Sociocultural context…
Broadening our understanding of academic language: Discourse perspectives
Register  Genre  Text type  Sentence  Word
 A functional approach (CoCoMo, IRC/WIDA, Santa Fe, NM; June, 2012)
Text Interaction  Context
 Interactional sociolinguistics, ethnography of communication, critical discourse analysis
(Freeman, 2004).
Multilingual, sociocultural perspective
 Language-as-resource (Ruiz, 1984); Cultural funds of knowledge (Moll, 2012)
 Dynamic notion of bi/mult language/literacy development and use (de Jong, 2011; Garcia, 2010)
 Bilingual, multidialectal repertoires (Zentella, 1994; Garcia, 2010)
Comprehensive biliteracy framework
 Literacy Squared: Oracy (vocabulary, language structures, dialogue), reading, writing, paired
literacy, metalanguage
Step 6: Structure activities that invite participants/students to revisit, revise, and extend their earlier
understanding of the key concept or term as evidenced in an earlier literacy scaffold.
Example: Return to the Do Now! on page 4 (individually or with a partner). How might you revise your
response? What additional questions do you have?
Freeman Field, Rebecca. Positioning ELLs/bilingual learners at the core of the Core
©Caslon, Inc. (2012).
7
Using Guiding Questions to Inform Instruction
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Who are our students?
What are our goals?
How are our students performing relative to our goals? What evidence do we collect?
How do we use that evidence to inform our decisionmaking?
What support systems do we have in place to ensure that all of our students, particularly our ELLs,
reach all goals?
6. What are our strengths?
7. What future possibilities can we see?
8. What action steps can we take?
9. What resources will we need?
You can make notes throughout this think-aloud protocol on your notemaking guide. Then you can use
these notes to outline action steps on your action planning guide.
Q-1: Who are my students?
Key Concept
 All teachers need authentic evidence of what each of their students can do with content,
language and literacy so that teachers can effectively scaffold and support each student’s
growth relative to all relevant standards, goals, targets, and objectives.
 State-mandated ELP data is an important start and it’s already in the building.
Step 1: Who are the ELLs/bilingual learners in my class?




Marco is a Level 1 ELL from the Dominican Republic who speaks Spanish. Marco arrived in the United States
earlier this year. The ESL teacher determined informally that Marco can read and write in Spanish, but probably
below grade level. According to the district’s ESL placement test, Marco is a Level 1 Listening, Level 1 Speaking,
Level 1 Reading, and Level 1 Writing. His levels are indicated on the Can-do descriptors on the next page.
Damaris is a Level 3 ELL who was born in the continental United States into a Puerto Rican family that speaks
mostly Spanish at home and in the neighborhood. Damaris has attended school in the US since kindergarten,
and she has been in pull-out ESL each year. There is no bilingual program at the school, and Damaris has not
learned to read and write in Spanish. According to the ACCESS for ELLs, Damaris is a Level 5 Listening, Level 4
Speaking, Level 3 Reading, and Level 2 Writing. Her levels are indicated on the Can-do descriptors .
Ko Than Nu is a Level 3 ELL from Burma who speaks Karen. Ko Than Nu is a refugee and has been in the United
States for two years. He had no formal schooling before coming to the United States, nor had he learned to read
or write. When Ko Than Nu arrived, he was placed in a newcomer/port of entry class that focused on literacy
and numeracy development, with attention to the cultural norms of US schools and society. According to the
ACCESS for ELLs, Ko Than Nu is a Level 4 Listening and Speaking, and a Level 2 Reading and Writing. His levels are
indicated on the Can-do descriptors.
Tasfiah is a Level 3 ELL from Bangladesh who speaks Bengali. Tasfiah arrived in the United States in the middle
of last year. She has a strong educational background which included English instruction every year in
Bangladesh. However, Tasfiah’s English instruction gave her little opportunity to speak English at school, and
she has had little exposure to American English prior to her arrival. According to the ACCESS for ELLs, Tasfiah is a
Level 2 Listening, Level 1 Speaking, Level 5 Reading, and Level 4 Writing. Her levels are indicated on the Can-do
descriptors .
Step 2: Who are the “English speakers” in my class (e.g., English reading/ writing levels, home
language and literacy practices, additional languages, prior schooling, culture)?
 What baseline information do I/we collect on these students that I/we can use to ground our
formative assessments and common summative assessments?
 How can we use this evidence to inform instruction and document student growth?
Step 3: Applications  Go to your notemaking guide, Q-1.
Freeman Field, Rebecca. Positioning ELLs/bilingual learners at the core of the Core
©Caslon, Inc. (2012).
8
Figure: CAN DO Descriptors for the Levels of English Language Proficiency, PreK-12 (Source: www.wida.us.org)
For the given level of English language proficiency, with support, English language learners can:
READING
WRITING
 Point to stated pictures,
words, phrases
 Follow one-step oral
directions
 Match oral statements to
objects, figures or
illustrations
MARCO
 Name objects, people,
pictures
 Answer WH- (who, what,
when, where, which)
questions
TASFIAH
MARCO
 Match icons and symbols to
words, phrases or
environmental print
 Identify concepts about
print and text features
MARCO
 Label objects, pictures,
diagrams
 Draw in response to a
prompt
 Produce icons, symbols,
words, phrases to convey
meaning
MARCO
Level 2
Beginning
Level 3
Developing
Level 4
Expanding
Level 5
Bridging
 Sort pictures, objects
according to oral
instructions
 Follow two-step oral
directions
 Match information from
oral descriptions to
objects, illustrations
TASFIAH
 Ask WH-questions
 Describe pictures, events,
objects, people
 Restate facts
 Locate, select, order
information from oral
descriptions
 Follow multi-step oral
directions
 Categorize or sequence oral
information using pictures,
objects
 Compare/contrast functions,
relationships from oral
information
 Analyze and apply oral
information
 Identify cause and effect
from oral discourse
KO THAN NU
 Draw conclusions from oral
information
 Construct models based on oral
discourse
 Make connections from oral
discourse
DAMARIS
 Formulate hypotheses,
make predictions
 Describe processes,
procedures
 Engage in debates
 Explain phenomena, give
examples, and justify responses
 Express and defend points of
view
 Locate and classify
information
 Identify facts and explicit
messages
 Select language patterns
associated with facts
KO THAN NU
 Make lists
 Produce drawings,
phrases, short sentences,
notes
 Give information
requested from oral or
written directions
KO THAN NU
DAMARIS
 Sequence pictures, events,
processes
 Identify main ideas
 Use context clues to
determine meaning of
words
DAMARIS
 Produce bare-bones
expository or narrative
texts
 Compare/contrast
information
 Describe events, people,
processes, procedures
 Discuss stories, issues,
concepts
 Give speeches, oral reports
 Offer creative solutions to
issues, problems
KO THAN NU
DAMARIS
 Interpret information or data
 Find details that support
main ideas
 Identify word families,
figures of speech
 Summarize information from
graphics or notes
 Edit and revise writing
 Create original ideas or
detailed responses
TASFIAH
 Apply information to new
contexts
 React to multiple genres and
discourses
 Author multiple forms/genres of
writing
Freeman Field, Rebecca. Positioning ELLs/bilingual learners at the core of the Core
©Caslon, Inc. (2012).
9
 Conduct research to glean
information from multiple
sources
 Draw conclusions from explicit
and implicit text
TASFIAH
Level 6 Reaching
SPEAKING
LISTENING
Level 1
Entering
Q-2: What are our goals?
Key Concept
Academic language is what connects our work in ELA/literacy, ESL, and other content areas. We therefore need
to explicitly articulate content and academic language targets for all students in the units of instruction we
implement in our classes.
Step 1: Start with the Common Core.
All students will…
1. Closely read exemplar texts.
2. Engage in evidence-based conversations about exemplar texts.
3. Write for specific purposes citing evidence from source texts.
Step 2: Select (or develop) an exemplar unit of instruction that you will adapt to a specific class.
Exemplar text: Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an America Slave, Written by HimselfGrade 8. Originally published in Boston: Anti-Slavery Office, 1845.Exemplar unit retrieved from
http://engageny.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Middle-School-Exemplar-Frederick-Douglass.doc.
Step 3: Identify standards targeted in exemplar unit.
Example: ELA/Literacy Standards  Anchor Standard: RL 8.1. Key Ideas and Details: Cite the textual evidence that
most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Step 4: Make explicit the cognitive functions/demands of the content standard for all students
Example: RL 8.1. Students must be able to comprehend and use oral and written to…
 Cite textual evidence from exemplar text to describe and explain the key ideas and details of that text
 Cite textual evidence to describe and explain inferences drawn from text
 Cite textual evidence to describe and explain the logical argument/information structure of the text.
Step 5: Connect your state’s ELP framework to the Common Core standards used in the unit.
Step 6: Identify what your ELLs can do with R, W, L, S at their independent and instructional levels.
Step 7: Look closely at the learning objective of the unit.
Step 8: Look closely at the tasks in the unit to understand how all students are supposed to meet the learning
objectives.
Step 9: Look at the guiding questions for students.
Step 10: Look closely at the directions for teachers.
Step 11: Synthesize and transform your review of the goals, learning outcomes, tasks, directions for teachers, guiding
questions for students into big ideas/enduring understandings.
Step 12: Synthesize and transform your review of the goals, learning outcomes, tasks, directions for teachers, guiding
questions for students, big ideas/enduring understandings of the unit into essential questions.
Step 13: Write content and language targets.
Step 14: Applications  Go to your notemaking guide, Q-2.
Freeman Field, Rebecca. Positioning bilingual learners at the core of the Core
©Caslon, Inc. (2012).
10
Q-3: How are our students performing relative to our goals? What evidence do we collect?
Q- 4: How do we use that evidence to drive our decisionmaking?
Key Concept
• We need to collect and use an authentic body of evidence to drive instruction, evaluation of teachers,
principals, and instructional programs, and accountability systems. When we are talking about ELLs, this
means we must AT LEAST include the state-mandated ELP data that is already in the building.
• Districts need to take the lead in developing common summative and formative assessments.
Applications  Go to your notemaking guide, Q-3 and Q-4.
Q-5: What support systems do we have in place to ensure that our ELLs can reach all core content and
language proficiency standards and accountability requirements?
Key Concept
When all teachers can…
1. Clearly articulate what the ELLs in their classes can do with R,W,L,S in English and other languages, and
2. Clearly articulate their content and language targets and common assessments for all students, and
3. Differentiate instruction and assessment in ways that engage all students, particularly our ELLs, in core
content learning all day every day
We will have made great strides toward providing our ELLs equal access to educational opportunities in our schools.
Step 1: Begin with the end in mind.
Step 2: Rewrite this assignment in terms of content and language objectives.
Step3: Identify common content and language assessments that yield authentic evidence of student performance.
Step 4: Plan a sequence of activities.
Step 5: Organize a library of activities, scaffolds, and supports you can draw on throughout the unit as needed.
Step 6: Use the differentiating instruction and assessment for ELLs template (Fairbairn & Jones-Vo, 2010) to guide
your work.
Step 7: Implement the activities that constitute the unit, continually gathering evidence of what all students,
particularly ELLs, can do relative to your core content and English language development goals, targets,
and objectives. Use this formative assessment to guide your instruction.
Step 8: Applications Go to your notemaking guide, Q-5.
Synthesizing and Planning the Work.
 Stepping back from the classroom: Implications for evaluation systems, assessment and
accountability systems, and curriculum development.
 Leadership and professional learning: Action steps.
Professional Development Resources from Caslon www.caslonpublishing.com
Beeman, K. & Urow, C. (in press). Teaching for Biliteracy: Strengthening Bridges Between Languages.
Cloud, N., Lakin, J., Leininger, E., & Maxwell, L. (2010). Teaching Adolescent English Language Learners: Essential Strategies for
Middle and High School.
De Jong, E. Foundations for Multilingualism in Education: from Principles to Practice.
Fairbairn, S. & Jones-Vo, S. (2010). Differentiating Instruction and Assessment for English Language Learners: A Guide for K-12
Teachers.
Gottlieb, M. & Nguyen, D. (2007). Assessment and Accountability in Language Education Programs: A Guide for Administrators
and Teachers.
Hamayan, E. & Freeman, R. (2012). English Language Learners at School: A Guide for Administrators, 2 nd Edition.
Hamayan, E., Marler, B., Sanchez-Lopez, C. & Damico, J. (2007). Special Education Considerations for English Language Learners:
Delivering a Continuum of Services.
Wagner, S. & King, T. (in press). Implementing Effective Instruction for English Language Learners: 12 Key Practices for
Administrators, Teachers, and Leadership Teams.
Wright, Wayne E. (2010). Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice.
Freeman Field, Rebecca. Positioning bilingual learners at the core of the Core
©Caslon, Inc. (2012).
11
Exemplar Text
Vocabulary
The plan which I adopted, and the one by which I was most successful, was that of making friends of all the little white boys whom I met in the street. As
many of these as I could, I converted into teachers. With their kindly aid, obtained at different times and in different places, I finally succeeded in learning
to read. When I was sent on errands, I always took my book with me, and by going on one part of my errand quickly, I found time to get a lesson before my
return. I used also to carry bread with me, enough of which was always in the house, and to which I was always welcome; for I was much better off in this
regard than many of the poor white children in our neighborhood. This bread I used to bestow upon the hungry little urchins, who, in return, would give
me that more valuable bread of knowledge. I am strongly tempted to give the names of two or three of those little boys, as a testimonial of the gratitude
and affection I bear them; but prudence forbids;—not that it would injure me, but it might embarrass them; for it is almost an unpardonable offence to
teach slaves to read in this Christian country. It is enough to say of the dear little fellows, that they lived on Philpot Street, very near Durgin and Bailey’s
ship-yard. I used to talk this matter of slavery over with them. I would sometimes say to them, I wished I could be as free as they would be when they got
to be men. “You will be free as soon as you are twenty-one, but I am a slave for life! Have not I as good a right to be free as you have?” These words used
to trouble them; they would express for me the liveliest sympathy, and console me with the hope that something would occur by which I might be free.
I was now about twelve years old, and the thought of being a slave for life began to bear heavily upon my heart. Just about this time, I got hold of a
book entitled “The Columbian Orator.” Every opportunity I got, I used to read this book. Among much of other interesting matter, I found in it a dialogue
between a master and his slave. The slave was represented as having run away from his master three times. The dialogue represented the conversation
which took place between them, when the slave was retaken the third time. In this dialogue, the whole argument in behalf of slavery was brought forward
by the master, all of which was disposed of by the slave. The slave was made to say some very smart as well as impressive things in reply to his master—
things which had the desired though unexpected effect; for the conversation resulted in the voluntary emancipation of the slave on the part of the master.
In the same book, I met with one of Sheridan’s mighty speeches on and in behalf of Catholic emancipation. These were choice documents to me. I
read them over and over again with unabated interest. They gave tongue to interesting thoughts of my own soul, which had frequently flashed through my
mind, and died away for want of utterance. The moral which I gained from the dialogue was the power of truth over the conscience of even a slaveholder.
What I got from Sheridan was a bold denunciation of slavery, and a powerful vindication of human rights. The reading of these documents enabled me to
utter my thoughts, and to meet the arguments brought forward to sustain slavery; but while they relieved me of one difficulty, they brought on another
even more painful than the one of which I was relieved. The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers. I could regard them in no
other light than a band of successful robbers, who had left their homes, and gone to Africa, and stolen us from our homes, and in a strange land reduced us
to slavery. I loathed them as being the meanest as well as the most wicked of men. As I read and contemplated the subject, behold! that very
discontentment which Master Hugh had predicted would follow my learning to read had already come, to torment and sting my soul to unutterable
anguish. As I writhed under it, I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing. It had given me a view of my wretched
condition, without the remedy. It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out. In moments of agony, I envied my fellowslaves for their stupidity. I have often wished myself a beast. I preferred the condition of the meanest reptile to my own. Any thing, no matter what, to get
rid of thinking! It was this everlasting thinking of my condition that tormented me. There was no getting rid of it. It was pressed upon me by every object
within sight or hearing, animate or inanimate. The silver trump of freedom had roused my soul to eternal wakefulness. Freedom now appeared, to
disappear no more forever. It was heard in every sound, and seen in every thing. It was ever present to torment me with a sense of my wretched condition.
I saw nothing without seeing it, I heard nothing without hearing it, and felt nothing without feeling it. It looked from every star, it smiled in every calm,
breathed in every wind, and moved in every storm.
Freeman Field, Rebecca. Positioning bilingual learners at the core of the Core
©Caslon, Inc. (2012).
12
chore (singular)
give to
show of
thankfulness;
state of being wise
and careful
place where ships
are repaired or built
speaker
thrown out
release
a movement to
allow people from
this religion to have
full rights
speaking out loud
publicly condemn
keep alive
hate
squirmed or
struggled
miserable;
alive;
resource or
advantage more
important than any
other (short for
trumpet)
Notemaking Guide: First Reading
NAME: _____________________________________________________________
DATE: _____________________________________________________________
TITLE: _____________________________________________________________
AUTHOR: _________________________________________________________
Purpose of Reading:
The Big Ideas
What the author says in the text…
Words, questions, connections
What you think about the text
Freeman Field, Rebecca. Positioning bilingual learners at the core of the Core
©Caslon, Inc. (2012).
13
Revisiting the Text
NAME: _____________________________________________________________
DATE: _____________________________________________________________
TITLE: _____________________________________________________________
AUTHOR: _________________________________________________________
Purpose of Reading:
Summary
Extension
Freeman Field, Rebecca. Positioning bilingual learners at the core of the Core
©Caslon, Inc. (2012).
14
Three-two-one Ticket-out-the-door
At the beginning of the session, I (Rebecca Freeman Field) argued that we could use the
following frameworks and systems that are currently under development across New York and in
other states across the country.
Common Content and Language Assessments
Educational leaders will demonstrate their content growth and language learning relative to all
content and language targets using the following common assessments:
1. Teacher-evaluation frameworks/rubrics/observation protocols/checklists that focus on
(and require evidence of) the degree to which classroom teachers scaffold and support
core content learning and academic language development for their students.
2. Principal evaluation frameworks/rubrics/observation protocols/checklists that focus on
and require evidence of the degree to which principals scaffold and support a
comprehensive approach to instructional programming and professional learning about
content learning and academic language development in their schools.
3. Data-driven instruction frameworks that draw on authentic evidence of students’ content
learning and academic language development.
4. Curriculum development frameworks that focus on content learning and academic
language development.
5. Accountability systems that are driven by evidence of student growth and achievement in
content-area subjects and students’ development and proficiency in academic language
development in all instructional languages.
Reflect back on your work in this session and throughout this week in relation to the work you
are preparing to do for the fall. Please write a brief response to the following and hand it in as
you leave.

Write things that have stood out for you.

Write two future possibilities you can see.

Write one question you still have.
Freeman Field, Rebecca. Positioning bilingual learners at the core of the Core
©Caslon, Inc. (2012).
15