Week 4, Entry 6b: WIDA Standards website review

I found myself immediately comparing the Performance Definitions for the levels of English Language Proficiencies to the Stages of Second Language Asquisition from our text. Interestingly I could see many parallels with Preproduction not being represented (since this is practically a non-verbal stage that was acceptable). Level 1 was closely related to Early Production; levels 2 & 3 to Speech Emergence; level 4 to Intermediate Fluency and level 5 to Advanced Fluency.
Strengths of this document were reflected in the visual representation, definitions of terms, example topics by grade level (which are very universal) and subject areas. All these characteristics made it easier to understand and user friendly. I wish the State curriculum standards were presented in such an easy to follow format!
As a kindergarten teacher, I would certainly use this document to help determine what level my ELL students were currently and then look to the next level ability and use that information to help me scaffold instruction. I believe this document is laid out well enough to even share with ELL parents at conferences. I really liked the fact that grade levels were reflected all the way to 12th grade which makes the document relevant to educators pre-K to 12th grade, regardless of what level the student performs.