Boulder Valley School District's ESL Summer School Program
Program Overview
The student population in Boulder Valley School District is changing every year to reflect the diversity in the area. Many students coming into the district do not have the language skills to initially be successful in an English-only environment. I have been the Site Coordinator of the PK-8 program that serves students from several BVSD elementary and middle schools. My site served over 300 students and had over 20 staff members that worked together to provide a science-based literacy curriculum to these students.
The program also included a Family Literacy component that offered ESL and GED classes to parents and community members. A part of this program included inviting parents into summer school classrooms to help them connect with what their children were learning in school.
The program also included a Family Literacy component that offered ESL and GED classes to parents and community members. A part of this program included inviting parents into summer school classrooms to help them connect with what their children were learning in school.
Staff Testimonials
_Liz Santi -- Middle School Teacher
I had the most amazing experience teaching with Andrea Smith this summer, and feel extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to work for her at Aspen Creek K-8 where she was the site coordinator for the ESL summer school program. Andrea is dynamic, hands-on, and exploding with energy and wonderful ideas that she shares with all of us to make this experience as educational and fun as possible for all the students and the staff. She has been the key to how successful this ESL program has been through her outstanding skills at organization, decision making, problem solving, idea generation and team building. She is energetic and enthusiastic, and she has high expectations of the educators in this program, which we rise to meet each day. Her staff work together as a well oiled team collaborating every day on how we can do even better to meet the challenges of teaching such an ethnically and academically diverse group of students. It has been an honor and a privilege to work with Andrea and I hope I get the opportunity to come back next summer and do it all over again. It was truly one of the best teaching experiences of my life!
Colleen Rosado -- Fellow Site Coordinator
Andrea possesses an excellent balance of both observer and communicator. Her solid understanding of how to teach specific groups of students and her expertise in this area is a talent to developing educational materials. She demonstrated this in the modification of the Science curriculum for middle level English language learners in the district’s Science SELLS program. From her experience as a middle school educator, Andrea successfully decided what kinds of learning experiences would be most valuable in reaching the objectives set forth by the guaranteed viable curriculum. Her sound decisions about curriculum options supported the organization and coordination of an efficient work product. In addition to modifying the curriculum to meet the needs of English language learners, Andrea provided instructional leadership to the middle level Science teachers. She was able to effectively support teachers’ needs by initially assisting in their professional development and then by maintaining open communication and support for teachers during the six week program. Andrea possesses strong interpersonal and communication skills. She successfully understood the needs of educators and provided feedback, additional resources, and support in the classroom implementation of the curriculum.
I had the most amazing experience teaching with Andrea Smith this summer, and feel extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to work for her at Aspen Creek K-8 where she was the site coordinator for the ESL summer school program. Andrea is dynamic, hands-on, and exploding with energy and wonderful ideas that she shares with all of us to make this experience as educational and fun as possible for all the students and the staff. She has been the key to how successful this ESL program has been through her outstanding skills at organization, decision making, problem solving, idea generation and team building. She is energetic and enthusiastic, and she has high expectations of the educators in this program, which we rise to meet each day. Her staff work together as a well oiled team collaborating every day on how we can do even better to meet the challenges of teaching such an ethnically and academically diverse group of students. It has been an honor and a privilege to work with Andrea and I hope I get the opportunity to come back next summer and do it all over again. It was truly one of the best teaching experiences of my life!
Colleen Rosado -- Fellow Site Coordinator
Andrea possesses an excellent balance of both observer and communicator. Her solid understanding of how to teach specific groups of students and her expertise in this area is a talent to developing educational materials. She demonstrated this in the modification of the Science curriculum for middle level English language learners in the district’s Science SELLS program. From her experience as a middle school educator, Andrea successfully decided what kinds of learning experiences would be most valuable in reaching the objectives set forth by the guaranteed viable curriculum. Her sound decisions about curriculum options supported the organization and coordination of an efficient work product. In addition to modifying the curriculum to meet the needs of English language learners, Andrea provided instructional leadership to the middle level Science teachers. She was able to effectively support teachers’ needs by initially assisting in their professional development and then by maintaining open communication and support for teachers during the six week program. Andrea possesses strong interpersonal and communication skills. She successfully understood the needs of educators and provided feedback, additional resources, and support in the classroom implementation of the curriculum.
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