Save Time! Streamline Your Unit and Lesson Planning Using the WIDA Standards Digital Explorer

By Lynn Shafer Willner

Saving 10 minutes a day can add up to 30 hours a year.

Are you looking for ways to save time without skimping on the quality of your unit and lesson planning? The digital tools available in the WIDA Standards Digital Explorer and the reference codes in the Language Expectations (e.g., ELD-SS.2-3.Argue.Interpretive) can help you to more efficiently . . .

Identify unit goals for language development,
Select matching Proficiency Level Descriptors and/or Language Functions and their associated Language Features for language lesson objectives, and
Locate standards-aligned digital resources.

In this article, I’ll suggest three time-saving tips for using the WIDA Standards Digital Explorer as part of your design process. If you need a refresher, the article appendix contains an overview of the WIDA English Language Development (ELD) Standard Framework, 2020 Edition.

Table 1. Key Language Uses Across Academic Disciplines

Genre Family	Definition
Narrate	Language to convey real or imaginary experiences through stories and histories. Narratives can serve many purposes, including to instruct, entertain, teach, or support persuasion.
Inform	Language to provide factual information. As students convey information, they define, describe, compare, contrast, organize, categorize, or classify concepts, ideas, or phenomena.
Explain	Language to account for how things work or why things happen. As students explain, they substantiate the inner workings of natural, humanmade, and social phenomena.
Argue	Language to justify claims using evidence and reasoning. Argue can be used to advance or defend an idea or solution, change the audience’s point of view, bring about action, or accept a position or evaluation of an issue.

After you’ve selected content area and Key Language Use, add the grade-level cluster, look at the Language Expectations in the Standards Digital Explorer to see if they’ll fit with the language uses you had in mind for your unit language development goals. Because the Language Expectations for Standards 2-5 (that is, the Language for English Language Arts (ELA), mathematics, science, and social studies) automatically pair with those from the Language Expectations for Standard 1 (the Language for Social and Instructional Purposes), you should select at least one pair of Language Expectations for each unit.

(Figure 1 shows a pair of Language Expectations selected for a grade 3 unit.)

Figure 1. Sample Pairing of Language Expectations for Standard 1 and Standard 5

ELD Standard 1: Language for Social and Instructional Purposes – Sample from: ELD-SI.K-3.Argue

ELD Standard 5: Language for Social Studies – Sample from: ELD-SS.2-3.Argue.Interpretive

[Screenshots from WIDA Standards Digital Explorer]

Next, create your unit’s language goals. Yet rather than writing up the Key Language Uses and Language Expectations for your goals by hand, use the Standards Digital Explorer to quickly copy and paste text into your plans. For example, let’s see what this might look like in the following sample template for unit planning goals. (See Table 2 for the template and a Grade 3 sample.)

Table 2. Sample Unit Planning Template

Template

Unit Goals: You can use the Language Expectations to create unit goals. A general structure for learning goals at the unit level might be:

In [content area], when learning [unit focus for content standards], multilingual learners will [Key Language Use] using the language for learning in [Language Expectation set(s)].

Remember: Standards are not intended to be used as curriculum or instruction; standards-aligned goals serve as guideposts.

Grade 3 Sample

In social studies, when learning how to identify evidence that draws information from multiple sources in response to compelling questions, multilingual learners will identify arguments using the language for learning in Language Expectations: ELD-SI.K-3.Argue and ELD-SS.2-3.Argue.Interpretive.

ELD-SI.K-3.Argue Argue Multilingual learners will…

Ask questions about others’ opinions
Support own opinions with reasons
Clarify and elaborate ideas based on feedback
Defend change in one’s own thinking
Revise one’s own opinions based on new information

ELD-SS.2-3.Argue.Interpretive Multilingual learners interpret social studies arguments by:

Identifying topic and purpose (argue in favor or against a position, present a balanced interpretation, challenge perspective)
Analyzing relevant information from one or two sources to develop claims in response to compelling questions
Evaluating source credibility based on distinctions between fact and opinion

Language Expectations are designed to save you time. Before, with the 2012 WIDA ELD Standards Framework, you needed to create your own Model Performance Indicators (MPIs). Now, with the 2020 WIDA ELD Standards Framework, you’ll save time since WIDA has done extensive analysis to identify and describe the most high-leverage Language Expectations for each grade-level cluster, Key Language Use, and content area.

Figure 2 below provides more detailed directions on how to quickly copy and paste Language Expectation text from the WIDA Standards Digital Explorer.

Figure 2. Digital Explorer Directions to Copy, Print, & Pin Language Expectations

Recommendation: Use the Language Expectations as a “language bank” during your unit.

It merits repeating: When selecting unit goals, you’ll probably want to pair at least one Language Expectation from Standards 2-5 (Language for ELA, Mathematics, Science, or Social Studies) with one Language Expectation from Standard 1 (Language for Social and Instructional Purposes). Sometimes, you’ll want to include both the interpretive and expressive Language Expectations; other times, if it fits the unit purposes, you can pair Language Expectations for different Key Language Uses (e.g., Narrate and Inform). Give yourself a sufficiently large enough “language bank” from which you can later draw when creating your lesson objectives.

Figure 3 shows a unit level “bank” of three Language Expectations: Standards Statement 1 (K–3) Language Expectations for Narrate (top), along with Grades 2–3 Language Expectations for Language Arts, for interpretive mode (middle) and expressive mode (bottom). They have been “pinned” on the right side of the Digital Explorer screen view.

Figure 3. Pin Together a Standard 1 Language Expectation with Standard 2-5 Language Expectations

2. Save Time When Creating Language Lesson Objectives: Select matching Proficiency Level Descriptors and/or Language Functions and their associated Language Features

While unit goals provide the “destination” for your unit, your sequence of lessons offers different possible routes to move students toward the unit’s desired learning outcomes. If you use choice boards, for example, the students might be choosing part of the lesson sequence.

When creating language lesson objectives, you might select one or more [bulleted] Language Functions from the “bank” of Language Expectations you selected for your unit goals. After that, to describe the language work you’ll be doing with your students, you can add in Language Features from either (a) the PLDs that use the same communication mode as the Language Expectation or (b) by using the Language Features identified in the Expressive Language Expectations.

Table 3. Template for Planning Lesson Objectives

Template

Lesson Planning Objectives: Add language functions, language features, and connections with the PLDs to create a lesson objective:

In [content area], when learning [specific content standard(s)], multilingual learners will [Key Language Use] by [Language Function from Language Expectation], using [Language Features/connections with the PLDs], with appropriate scaffolding such as [scaffolding provided].

Grade 2 Sample

In mathematics, when learning how to use strategies based on place value to multiply, multilingual learners will explain by describing solution and steps used to solve problem with others, using connectors to order steps (first, next, then), and show causal relationships (because, so, then), with appropriate scaffolding such as graphic organizers and sentence starters.

Option 1: Use the Standards Digital Explorer to quickly connect Language Expectations with their related PLDs (Interpretive-to-Interpretive; Expressive-to-Expressive Communication Modes)

As you build out your lesson objectives, you can connect the Interpretive Language Expectations with the Interpretive PLDs and connect the Expressive Language Expectations with the Expressive PLDs. Click on the blue box at the bottom of the tile to show these relationships.

Figure 4 Language Expectation and Related Proficiency Level Descriptors

(A) Language Expectations [and bulleted Language Functions] link to grade-level academic content standards and apply to *all* students at all language proficiency levels.

(B) PLDs describe *individual* multilingual learners’ performance at the *end* of a specific language proficiency level. PLDs describe *progress towards* the Language Expectations.

Directions on How to Locate the Simplified Proficiency Level Descriptor (PLD) Matrices

After conducting a thorough review of the language development literature, WIDA staff distilled the PLD measures of individual student performance to five high-leverage Criteria of Language: Organization, Cohesion, Density, Grammatical Complexity, and Precision.

In the Standards Digital Explorer, the five Criteria of Language are organized in a vertical list. BONUS: If you click on the communication mode term just above the five Criteria of Language (i.e., the word Interpretive or Expressive), you’ll also be able to view a simple 5 x 6 PLD chart for each communication mode. As shown in Figure 6, that chart can be expanded when you click on the four arrows in the Interpretive and Expressive rows.

Figure 5. Location of PLD Matrices

To print out the PLD Matrices, select the communication mode and print “this item and its descendants.” See Figure 6 below.

Figure 6. Print Preview of the PLD Matrices

You can opt to print the tile at the top left and/or its descendants. You can also select additional item fields to print using the check boxes.

Full wording (with examples) of individual PLDs are found below the tables.

Option 2: Use the Standards Digital Explorer to select Language Functions and their associated Language Features

In some lessons, you may wish to focus student attention on different Language Features (e.g., types of nouns, preposition phrases, connectors, or other word choices) used to carry out a particular Language Function. In the Standards Digital Explorer, each Expressive Language Function (each bullet in the Language Expectations) has a list of example Language Features to generate ideas about students’ language choices with sentences, words, and phrases. As illustrated below in Figure 8, the Notes view shows the Expressive Language Features used to carry out different [bulleted] language functions.

Figure 7. Sample of Expressive Language Features (for each Language Expectation Bullet)

3. Locate Standards-Aligned Digital Resources More Quickly

Lastly, there are a few shortcuts for searching for resources. You can label curriculum and instructional resources and activities in relation to the Key Language Uses and/or the Language Expectation Reference Codes. Using this tagging system, you and your colleagues can set up a local system to share standards-aligned resources and activities and then, to collaboratively build them together.

Figure 8. The Language Expectation Reference Code

You can also search for corresponding content area standards in Satchel Commons. This is a newly developed digital repository of state and national academic content standards. A mirrored copy of the Standards Digital Explorer for the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition, is also listed here.

Figure 9. Satchel Commons Screenshot: Aligned Content and Language Standards

Final Thoughts

Digitized standards support planning and development time. They can also support collaboration and sharing among educators, present new ways to make language visible in content learning, and connect students’ own cultural and linguistic resources to support access to knowledge building discussions.

A Note about References
A detailed reference list for the concepts expressed in this article can be obtained from the WIDA English Language Development (ELD) Standard Framework, 2020 Edition.

About the Author
Lynn Shafer Willner designed the 2020 Digital Explorer, drawing from the architecture and alignment design she created for the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition.

Acknowledgements

Pepper Williams, of Common Good Learning Tools, created the Standards Satchel platform in which the 2020 Digital Explorer is housed. The author would like to thank him for his collaboration and expertise.
Fernanda Kray, Margo Gottlieb, Cindy Lundgren, Elizabeth Warren, Andrea Cammilleri, and Ruslana Westerlund are co-developers of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework. The author is most appreciative of their expertise, community, and collaboration.
Drake Accardi, Selena Franklin, Miguel Colón Ortiz, Becky Holmes provided feedback and editing on Standards Digital Explorer documents that informed the screenshots shown in this article.

Portions of this article contain excerpts from the WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition: Kindergarten-Grade 12 (WIDA, 2020), Wisconsin Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, on behalf of WIDA.

Appendix: Refresher on the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

The WIDA ELD Standards Framework draws attention to the importance of building on what K-12 multilingual learners can do with language during high-leverage content area activities in English language arts (ELA), mathematics, science, and social studies. Like a series of Russian dolls, the WIDA ELD Standards Framework unpacks standards for K-12 content-driven language learning in four nested components. These components create a comprehensive picture of language development within and across academic content areas. (In Figure A-1, the four nested components are shown on the left; associated planning questions are shown on the right.)

Figure A-1. The WIDA ELD Standards Framework
Four nested components and collaborative questions to foster content-driven language learning

Figure A-1

The first component, the five WIDA Standard Statements, is conceptual in nature work. These five statements emphasize the importance of providing multilingual learners with opportunities to understand how language works in the context of content area instruction.

Figure A-2. Conceptual Relationships among the Five WIDA Standards

Figure A-2

In Figure A-2 you can see how five standards statements work together: Throughout learning and assessment activities, WIDA Standard 1 (Language for Social and Instructional Purposes) integrates with Standard 2-5 (Language for Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies). For example, when you’re creating unit goals, it will be common to pair together Language Expectations from Standard 1 and Standards 2-5. This pairing emphasizes the use of everyday language as a springboard to co-construct meaning making in academic discussions and explorations.

Standard 1 (Language for Social and Instructional Purposes) not only jumpstarts content-driven language learning, but also weaves throughout it. Standard 1 Language Expectations are particularly useful for identifying unit goals that support knowledge building discussions with and among students. Students use social language, approximations, and translanguaging as a natural part of academic discussions and explorations. Using everyday language, multilingual learners connect to their personal experiences, community, and cultural resources. For ease of use, the Language Expectations for Standard 1 are organized in two groupings: Grades K-3 and Grades 4-12.

The second component of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework is Key Language Uses. They summarize four broad categories of language (to narrate, inform, explain, argue) which re-occur across different content areas. (See Key Language Uses Definitions in Table A-1.) Even though the four Key Language Uses are organized sequentially in a table below, they are not separate “boxes” for language to fit within, but naturally intersect, blend, and build on each other. For example, even when the primary purpose of a text is to argue, the text may contain supporting narratives (anecdotes or stories), informational texts (which name, define, describe, compare or contrast something), and/or explanations (about the how or why of a concept).

Table A-1. Key Language Uses Across Academic Disciplines

Genre Family	Definition
Narrate	Language to convey real or imaginary experiences through stories and histories. Narratives can serve many purposes, including to instruct, entertain, teach, or support persuasion.
Inform	Language to provide factual information. As students convey information, they define, describe, compare, contrast, organize, categorize, or classify concepts, ideas, or phenomena.
Explain	Language to account for how things work or why things happen. As students explain, they substantiate the inner workings of natural, humanmade, and social phenomena.
Argue	Language to justify claims using evidence and reasoning. Argue can be used to advance or defend an idea or solution, change the audience’s point of view, bring about action, or accept a position or evaluation of an issue.

Figure A-3. Example of a WIDA Language Expectation with Deconstructed Reference Code

The third component of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, the Language Expectations, is designed to make visible the depth of developmental expectations for language use across the six grade-level clusters (K, 1, 2-3, 4-5, 6-8, and 9-12). As shown in Figure 4, the selected language functions illustrate how a Key Language Use unfolds in common stages or schematic structures (Mohan, 1989; Rothery, 1989; Rose & Martin, 2012). These “bullets” show the most valued, common patterns for different disciplinary communities. For example, what counts as evidence is different in social studies (i.e., primary versus secondary sources) and science (i.e., data). (See, for example, Fang & Schleppegrell, 2008; Gebhard, 2019; de Oliveira et al, 2019).

Table A-2 provides a summary of the Key Language Use Distribution Tables found in the 2020 publication.

Table A-2. Summary of WIDA Key Language Use Distribution Tables

Grade-Level Cluster	WIDA Standard Statement	Narrate	Inform	Explain	Argue
Kindergarten	1. Language for Social and Instructional Purposes	◉	◉	◉	◉
Kindergarten	2. Language for English Language Arts	◉	◉		o
Kindergarten	3. Language for Mathematics	o	◉	o	o
Kindergarten	4. Language for Science		◉	◉	o
Kindergarten	5. Language for Social Studies		◉		o
1	1. Language for Social and Instructional Purposes	◉	◉	◉	◉
1	2. Language for English Language Arts	◉	◉		o
1	3. Language for Mathematics		◉	◉	o
1	4. Language for Science		◉	o	o
1	5. Language for Social Studies	o	◉		◉
2-3	1. Language for Social and Instructional Purposes	◉	◉	◉	◉
2-3	2. Language for English Language Arts	◉	◉		o
2-3	3. Language for Mathematics		o	◉	◉
2-3	4. Language for Science		o	◉	◉
2-3	5. Language for Social Studies	o		◉	◉
4-5	1. Language for Social and Instructional Purposes	◉	◉	◉	◉
4-5	2. Language for English Language Arts	◉	◉	o	◉
4-5	3. Language for Mathematics		o	◉	◉
4-5	4. Language for Science		o	◉	◉
4-5	5. Language for Social Studies	o		◉	◉
6-8	1. Language for Social and Instructional Purposes	◉	◉	◉	◉
6-8	2. Language for English Language Arts	◉	◉	o	◉
6-8	3. Language for Mathematics		o	◉	◉
6-8	4. Language for Science		o	◉	◉
6-8	5. Language for Social Studies	o		◉	◉
9-12	1. Language for Social and Instructional Purposes	◉	◉	◉	◉
9-12	2. Language for English Language Arts	◉	◉	o	◉
9-12	3. Language for Mathematics		o	◉	◉
9-12	4. Language for Science		o	◉	◉
9-12	5. Language for Social Studies	o		◉	◉

Table A-2 Key: Most Prominent Key Language Uses for that grade-level cluster = Fully shaded circles (Language Expectation available and assessed on ACCESS for ELLs in the future); Prominent = empty circle; Present = empty cell. All Key Language Uses are present in each grade-level cluster.

Figure A-4. Dimensions of Language Within a Sociocultural Context

The fourth component, the Proficiency Level Descriptors (PLDs), provide trajectories with typical language development targets (e.g., Bailey & Heritage, 2014; Cook & MacDonald, 2014) across five levels of English language proficiency. Similar to the single set of 2 012 K-12 WIDA Performance Definitions, the Grade-Level Cluster Proficiency Level Descriptors use three dimensions to conceptualize the linguistic system within a sociocultural context. (See Figure A-4.)

The 2020 Proficiency Level Descriptors have been carefully designed to maintain consistent criteria and equivalent levels of difficulty with those stipulated in the 2012 Performance Definitions, while also offering educators actual interpretations used with each grade-level cluster. As shown in Table A-3, the 2012 and 2020 Editions use consistent criteria in the discourse, sentence, and word/phrase dimensions.

Table A-3. Comparison of Criteria in 2012 Features of Academic Language Chart and 2020 Dimensions of Language Table (WIDA, 2020, Appendix D Excerpt)

	2012 Performance Definitions (2014 Features of Academic Language Table)	2020 Proficiency Level Descriptors
Discourse Dimension	Structure and variety of organized speech/written textCoherence and cohesion of ideas Density of speech/written text Amount of speech/written text*	Organization of language Cohesion of language Density of language
Sentence Dimension	Types and variety of grammatical constructions	Grammatical complexity of language
Word/Phrase Dimension	General, specific, and technical language Multiple meanings of words and phrases Collocations and idioms Nuances and shades of meaning	Precision of language 3 types of language (everyday, cross-disciplinary, and technical) Examples (e.g., multiple meanings, collocations, idioms, shades of meaning, etc.)

The 2020 ELD Standards Framework offers new opportunities for educators and policy makers to ensure access to rigorous instruction for multilingual learners. It can serve as a foundation for designing curriculum and instruction, as an advocacy tool, as well as a collaboration resource. Learning the ways of acting, interacting, valuing, and using tools in the disciplinary practices used by particular communities is an integral part of language learning (Gee, 2004).

To supplement your exploration of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition, try out this free Jeopardy Game, available at JeopardyLabs.com.
Suggestion: Play the game with your local professional learning community at your next meeting.

Online Articles about the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

Designing Assessments to Facilitate Oral Language Development – NJTESOL/NJBE Annual Voices Journal – This article shares a classroom-based assessment template that showcases the Key Language Uses. Rooted in the WIDA Guiding Principles of Language Development (2019), it provides teacher-practitioners with a model to follow as they plan for instruction and assessment under a new framework. It contains an overview of how the WIDA Key Language Uses were used to lay the groundwork for an oral language assessment design that utilizes one Key Language Use, Explain, a tour of the Key Language Use Assessment Template, and sample assessments from teacher practitioners.
Using proficiency level descriptors to plan instruction and assess multilingual learners – WAESOL Educator In this article, we take a deep dive into how Language Expectations relate to Proficiency Level Descriptors (PLDs), how to use PLDs to examine student work and assess students’ language skills, and how to plan instruction and scaffolding to support students at various levels.
Putting discourse first MinneTESOL Journal – Discourse is all about communication. Putting discourse first is a form of scaffolding that can yield more thoughtful discussions about the language choices speakers and writers make and how language awareness can help students advance their communicative purpose most effectively.
What’s the same and what’s been updated in the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition? MinneTESOL Journal – The WIDA English Language Development {ELD) Standards Framework, 2020 Edition, offers a more clearly organized framework to represent content-driven language learning. Grade-level cluster resources include Language Expectations to create unit-level language goals for all multilingual learners as well as Proficiency Level Descriptors for measuring individual student language growth.
Unlocking content-driven language learning through the Key Language Uses and Language Expectations SSTESOL Journal (begins on p. 44) This article shares an overview of the 2020 ELD Standards Framework, distinguishing it from prior ones, and highlighting some of its major components. In this article, we focus on the grade 2-3 cluster and language for mathematics to exemplify how as partners, content and language educators might begin to unravel the ELD Standards Framework and apply it to curriculum and instruction.
Transitioning from the ELPA21 English Language Proficiency Standards to the WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework WAESOL Educator – One part of Washington State’s transition to the WIDA consortium will include the shift from the ELPA21 English Language Proficiency (ELP) Standards (CCSSO, 2014a; 2014b) to the WIDA English Language Development (ELD) Standards Framework, 2020 Edition: Kindergarten-Grade 12 (WIDA, 2020). This article provides educators with an initial guide for bridging between the two standards.

The Author – Dr. Lynn Shafer Willner designs language standards for multilingual learners, digital tools, and accessibility/accommodations research and guidelines. As a member of the WIDA Assessment Team, her current work focuses on the integration of the WIDA Standards Framework into the WIDA suite of assessments. Most recently, Lynn developed the alignment architecture for the WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework (2020 Edition) and 2020 Digital Explorer. She has also authored a variety of articles on the WIDA Standards Framework and accessibility for multilingual learners. Lynn has a Ph.D. in Education from George Mason University with specializations in multilingual/multicultural education and instructional technology.

https://wida.wisc.edu/about/teams/staff/lynn-shafer-willner