Toni Leston, ESL Coordinator

High School for Civil Rights

Promising and Outstanding Practices
School Year 2015/2016
This school year, my colleague, Ms. Pallow-Muller, and I participated in a program
called Brooklyn Connections, whose aim it is to teach students about the inquiry
and research process along with the use of primary and secondary resources
available to them in the archives at the Grand Army Plaza branch, as well as in their
own neighborhood branches. Throughout the spring semester, a representative
from the Brooklyn Connections program visited our school and co-taught a unit on
utilizing primary and secondary resources as students began to conduct research of
their choice of one aspect of Brooklyn history. We also had the pleasure of visiting
the Central Library where we were granted access to the archives and secret
repositories below that contain a wealth of artifacts. My students donned white
gloves and utilized magnifying glasses to conduct their examinations of the treasure
troves of Brooklyn past. The students level of excitement was palpable. One of
students commented as we entered the majestic Grand Army Plaza branch, Miss,
you mean I could come here anytime and just hang out and read books? That, I
recognized, as a seed planted in the mind of a student whose exposure to the world
outside of East New York is limited.
In the process of conducting their research, my class of intermediate to advanced
English Language Learners chose to study the small-school movement that took
root in the Thomas Jefferson Campus. My students, in order to conduct their
research, used the primary source of interviews with teachers, staff
and
administration of High School for Civil Rights. Additionally, they gathered
information from newspaper articles on events that spawned the change, studied
various maps of East New York, and talked about the neighborhoods changing
demographic over the decades. They also viewed photographs and yearbooks of
Thomas Jefferson, and held group discussions on how the populations of the area
had evolved over time. Further, we extended our discussion to the proposed
gentrification plans for the area surrounding our school and the farther reaches of
East New York. Examination of these primary and secondary resources and our
class discussions led students to ask questions about how our campus came to be
divided into four schools, and then eventually to interview faculty, staff, and
administration who had been here through the transition. The feedback
represented varied opinions, and our class discussed the different attitudes
reflected in the responses of various interviewees.
As we continued examining data, students began to work collaboratively alongside
me and Ms. Muller to put together a Power Point presentation with Audacity audio
overlay, in which the students introduced themselves and their countries of origin
and presented their findings. They talked about some of the interviews they had

conducted and gave their own voice to how the small-school learning environment
has helped their language learning and rapport with their teachers.
On the day of the convocation, in which all participating Brooklyn schools presented
their projects, I had two English Language Learners who had volunteered to
introduce and explain the research prior to presenting. The audience consisted of
approximately 150 to 200 students, and my group was the only group of English
language learners. I held a lump in my throat as I waited for my students to present,
just a bit concerned that the audience might laugh at their accents and their limited
English. That fear, however, quickly dissolved as I heard them speak. The audience
was quiet and respectful, and my students rolled through it. I was so proud of their
efforts on the project, and especially on their willingness to present to a large
audience of students, teachers, librarians, and library officials, despite their stilldeveloping language skills.
It was an experience that will not soon be forgotten, and one that will carry over to
the rest of their high school experience, paving the road to understanding the
inquiry and research process that prepares students for college-level work, and
certainly one that has boosted their confidence in using the English language for
communicating at a higher level within a professional and scholarly community.

Photography Gallery:

Using documents for inquiry

archives with Deenah

Our introduction to the

Examining various types of maps of New York City

Looking at official documents of Brooklyn past

ELLs examining road maps of Brooklyn

Deenah and Ms. Muller examining

demographic maps in the archives

Thomas Jefferson yearbook pages,

from days of yore

Our first visit to BPL, Grand Army Plaza

Jasiery examining
our triboard

My students and I on stage prior to our presentation on BPL stage