Register HERE for any (and all) of the EL-Centered PDs!
When: Monday, September 8, 2025
Intended Audience:
Paraeducators and Instructional Assistants who support multilingual learners.
This professional development session is designed for paraeducators and instructional assistants who work with students who are English learners. The training will focus on how to support students as they engage in productive struggle—the process of working through language challenges in meaningful ways. This one-day session will include real classroom examples, role-play practice, and strategies for encouraging students to express complex ideas using the language they know. By the end of the workshop, participants will feel more confident helping students build independence and confidence in their English language development.
Facilitators:
Shari Russell, EL Instructional Lead (email: shari_russell@fuhsd.org)
Welton Kwong, Coordinator of Curriculum and Teacher Leadership (email: welton_kwong@fuhsd.org)
When: Wednesday, September 17, 2025
Intended Audience:
ALL CURRENT FUHSD ELD 1-2-3 TEACHERS, including newly starting and seasoned
Please join us for a dynamic professional development day focused on designing powerful, standards-based ELD instruction through thematic units and QTEL (Quality Teaching for English Learners) lesson design.
In the morning, we’ll ground our learning in research-based lesson structures that exemplify the spirit of our EL program across levels. Teachers will dive into existing sample units and strategies, examine the ELD standards through a vertical alignment lens, and discuss inductive approaches to teaching grammar. We’ll also analyze what proficient student work looks like at each level of language development to align our learning goals with real outcomes.
In the afternoon, participants will break out by course level: ELD 1 will collaborate with Shari Russell to decide on themes and skills progression, while ELD 2 and 3 teachers will work with Welton Kwong and independently audit and refine current materials. All teams will also calendar remaining team release days for the year to keep the momentum going. Anticipate 3-5 additional PD days depending on your ELD team.
Come ready to collaborate, create, and amplify your ELD instructional practice!
Facilitators:
Shari Russell, EL Instructional Lead (email: shari_russell@fuhsd.org)
Welton Kwong, Coordinator of Curriculum and Teacher Leadership (email: welton_kwong@fuhsd.org)
When: Friday, October 3, 2025
Intended Audience:
ALL FUHSD Teachers and Administrators who support multilingual learners!
How often do you ask students to describe what they see? What about requiring students to justify an opinion? These are two of the many skill demands that make up the English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC). In the spring, nearly 10% of FUHSD students will take the ELPAC as one of several indicators of their language proficiency. Join us to learn more about what our students experience with this “take until you pass” test, knowing that it integrates skills we value in our classrooms and communities.
Facilitators:
Shari Russell, EL Instructional Lead (email: shari_russell@fuhsd.org)
Welton Kwong, Coordinator of Curriculum and Teacher Leadership (email: welton_kwong@fuhsd.org)
Purpose:
Explain what the ELPAC is, looks like, and how students experience it.
Experience and critique ELPAC subtest experiences as compared to both real-world experiences and classroom experiences.
Look for opportunities to:
Amplify! an upcoming lesson plan, and/or
Create a lesson plan that includes ELPAC-like experiences to implement in the near future.
You’ll end the day with:
A list of ELPAC experiences that easily translate to both real-world and classroom contexts.
A bank of ELPAC-related resources (official and unofficial)
A lesson plan that can be implemented in the near future
A scheduled coaching check-in to reflect on implementation (and continue revising/creating plans as desired!)
When: Monday, November 17, 2025
Intended Audience:
ALL FUHSD TEACHERS interested in revising/creatings lessons with multilingual learners in mind! (Elective/CTE Teachers: this one is for YOU, too!)
If you’ve ever thought:
“I know my students who are English language learners need language support, but what does that actually look like?”
“Am I scaffolding this right?”
"What does an "sheltered" Amplified! course really look like in my subject-area?”
…then THIS is the professional development session for you!
Join us for a collaborative effort to design “high challenge; high support” experiences for our multilingual learners. Together, we will compare a variety of general education and sheltered Amplified! curricula to strategize approaches that you can apply in your own classroom. Bring your course unit plan and a lesson you'd like to enhance with language support, whether on your own or with your peers, and leave with actionable strategies you can implement immediately.
Facilitator:
Shari Russell, EL Instructional Lead (email: shari_russell@fuhsd.org)
Purpose:
Examine and analyze example course maps and detailed lesson segments that both
meet essential course objectives and
include intentional language support routines and strategies.
Collaboratively examine and develop course maps and instructional materials specifically for the courses represented by those in attendance!
You’ll end the day with:
A promising procedure for designing “high challenge; high support” lessons
A bank of scaffolding strategies that especially support language learning
A scaffolded course map or lesson segment for your own course instruction
If desired, a calendared site or course-specific future collaboration time with live support from Shari Russell and/or Welton Kwong!
NOTE: If you attended any subject area’s Amplifying! Instruction PDs from Spring 2024-Spring 2025, please know that the first half of our work together will largely be the same as previous Amplified! PDs; however, you may want to join us in the afternoon for collaborative application time. If you are returning for collaboration time only, please indicate that on your registration form. Thank you!
When: Monday, January 12, 2026
Intended Audience:
FUHSD Teachers who previously attended the fall sessions of Critical Thinking - Inductive Reasoning who want to extend their learning with a multilingual learner lens.
Please join us for <EL and Inductive Reasoning>
Facilitator:
Shari Russell, EL Instructional Lead (email: shari_russell@fuhsd.org)
Register HERE for any (and all) of the EL-Centered PDs!