LT+3+-+2.27.12+-+SIFE+Students

=Working with SIFE (Students with Interrupted Formal Education)=

Objectives:
 * 1) CMWBAT identify needs and challenges specific to SIFE students.
 * 2) CMWBAT incorporate strategies to support SIFE students into their daily lessons.
 * 3) CMWBAT identify ways to advocate for SIFE students and SIFE programs in their schools.

SIFE students often arrive with limited literacy and large gaps in their academic knowledge and skills in their native language. It can be challenging to meet the needs of these students in a mainstream, SEI, or ESL setting, and there is growing recognition at the state level that these students and their teachers need more support. This workshop will address challenges and best practices for working with immigrant students who arrive with interrupted formal education. It will feature three guest speakers who will speak to issues of theory, practice, and policy related to SIFE.

__**Pre-Reading:**__

[|Advocates for Children of New York. (2010). Students with Interrupted Formal Education: A Challenge for New York City Public Schools.]

__**Guest Speakers:**__


 * Heidi Perez** has been the district ESL facilitator for the Lawrence Public Schools for the last two years. She has been an ESL teacher and leader in Lawrence for the past 20 years and has also served as a staff developer. Heidi’s interest in working with SIFE began when she was a teacher in the Lawrence Adult Learning Center, where she taught adult immigrants who were learning to read for the first time. She also teaches courses at Salem State.


 * Laurie Hartwick** is an ESL teacher at Lawrence High School, and she has been teaching in Lawrence for more than 15 years. She delivers category trainings to teachers in the Lawrence Public Schools and has also taught in the Lawrence Adult Learning Center. Laurie also teaches at the university level, both at Merrimack College and Salem State University.


 * //Heidi and Laurie's PowerPoint Presentation: [[file:SIFE Teach for America(3).ppt]]//**


 * Shaina Gilbert** is a 2010 Corps Member who has taught middle school SIFE students at TechBoston Academy in Dorchester for the past two years. She uses the native language of her students, Haitian Creole, to help support them in content instruction and fill academic gaps they bring.


 * //Shaina's PowerPoint Presentation://** [[file:SIFE TFA Pres (SGilbert).ppt]]


 * __Other Resources:__**

During this session we emphasized the importance of getting to know your SIFE students so you understand their prior experience (if any) with formal education and the gaps they bring in their schooling. Here is a template you can use to interview students you suspect may be SIFE and use to begin planning targeted, effective instruction.