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This collection holds materials from the Education Alliance at Brown University. The Education Alliance was a reform support organization committed to advancing equitable educational opportunities that prepare all student populations to succeed in the 21st century. From 1975-2021, the Alliance partnered with schools, districts and state departments of education to apply research findings in developing solutions to educational challenges. Its mission was to enhance learning for culturally and linguistically diverse students and focused on district and school improvement with special attention to underperformance and issues of equity and diversity. DOI: https://doi.org/10.26300/7eez-dz04

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Brown Digital Repository | Collection | The Education ...

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This collection holds materials from the Education Alliance at Brown University. The Education Alliance was a reform support organization committed to advancing equitable educational opportunities that prepare all student populations to succeed in the 21st century. From 1975-2021, the Alliance partnered with schools, districts and state departments of education to apply research findings in developing solutions to educational challenges.

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Today's children are increasingly more diverse in their cultures, languages, abilities, interests and learning styles. We must create environments where student differences are supported and celebrated so that all students are provided with the best opportunity to learn. This resource page focuses on what educators, school leaders and parents can do to promote culturally responsive environments - classrooms where students are connected and active members of the school community.

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Today's children are increasingly more diverse in their cultures, languages, abilities, interests and learning styles. We must create environments where student differences are supported and celebrated so that all students are provided with the best opportunity to learn.

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@amyfaust4

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The My Name, My Identity Campaign promotes awareness of valuing students' cultures and languages by learning about their stories, unique names and proper pronunciations.

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Element B

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Please [contact us](https://www.ted.com/contact) and let us know what happened.

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In response to the fear- and hate-mongering alive in our country today, I have joined Julie Landsman?a writer, teacher, and activist based in Minneapolis?to create the I Am From Project. Through our website ( iamfromproject.com) and Facebook page, we?re collecting art from around the country prompted by that theme. You can listen to our interview on the National Writing Project radio here: https://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/4673.

We want to gather the diversity of our voices, and we plan to archive the results online and to present them, in some form, in D.C. We?d love to have your voice among them!

The Kentucky Arts Council has wrapped up my Where I'm From?project with a total of 731 poems from eighty-three counties. My thanks to everyone at the Council, especially Tamara Coffey, who put all those poems online. You can visit this website to find the map where you can click on any county and read offerings from poets of all ages.

"Where I'm From" grew out of my response to a poem from Stories I Ain't Told Nobody Yet (Orchard Books, 1989; Theater Communications Group, 1991) by my friend, Tennessee writer Jo Carson. All of the People Pieces, as Jo calls them, are based on things folks actually said, and number 22 begins, "I want to know when you get to be from a place. " Jo's speaker, one of those people "that doesn't have roots like trees, " tells us "I am from Interstate 40" and "I am from the work my father did. "

In the summer of 1993, I decided to see what would happen if I made my own where-I'm-from lists, which I did, in a black and white speckled composition book. I edited them into a poem - not my usual way of working - but even when that was done I kept on making the lists. The process was too rich and too much fun to give up after only one poem. Realizing this, I decided to try it as an exercise with other writers, and it immediately took off. The list form is simple and familiar, and the question of where you are from reaches deep.

Since then, the poem as a writing prompt has traveled in amazing ways. People have used it at their family reunions, teachers have used it with kids all over the United States, in Ecuador and China; they have taken it to girls in juvenile detention, to men in prison for life, and to refugees in a camp in the Sudan. Its life beyond my notebook is a testimony to the power of poetry, of roots, and of teachers. My thanks to all of you who have taken it to heart and handed it on. It's a thrill to read the poems you send me, to have a window into that many young souls.

I hope you won't stop there, though. Besides being a poem in its own right, "Where I'm From" can be a map for a lot of other writing journeys. Here are some things I've thought of:

Where to Go with "Where I'm From"

While you can revise (edit, extend, rearrange) your "Where I'm From" list into a poem, you can also see it as a corridor of doors opening onto further knowledge and other kinds of writing. The key is to let yourself explore these rooms. Don't rush to decide what kind of writing you're going to do or to revise or finish a piece. Let your goal be the writing itself. Learn to let it lead you. This will help you lead students, both in their own writing and in their response as readers. Look for these elements in your WIF poem and see where else they might take you:

a place could open into a piece of descriptive writing or a scene from memory.

your parents' work could open into a memory of going with them, helping, being in the way. Could be a remembered dialogue between your parents about work. Could be a poem made from a litany of tools they used.

an important event could open into freewriting all the memories of that experience, then writing it as a scene, with description and dialogue. It's also possible to let the description become setting and directions and let the dialogue turn into a play.

food could open into a scene at the table, a character sketch of the person who prepared the food, a litany of different experiences with it, a process essay of how to make it.

music could take you to a scene where the music is playing; could provide you the chance to interleave the words of the song and words you might have said (or a narrative of what you were thinking and feeling at the time the song was first important to you ("Where I'm Singing From").

something someone said to you could open into a scene or a poem which captures that moment; could be what you wanted to say back but never did.

a significant object could open into a sensory exploration of the object-what it felt, sounded, smelled, looked, and tasted like; then where it came from, what happened to it, a memory of your connection with it. Is there a secret or a longing connected with this object? A message? If you could go back to yourself when this object was important to you, what would you ask, tell, or give yourself?

Remember, you are the expert on you. No one else sees the world as you do; no one else has your material to draw on. You don't have to know where to begin. Just start. Let it flow. Trust the work to find its own form.

Where Others Have Gone with "Where I'm From"

Watch a visual poem based on "Where I'm From" by George Ella Lyon, created by Julia Daniel for Tamalpais High School's Academy of Integrated Humanities and New Media (AIM), fall 2010:

A Young Artist's Own "Where I'm From" in Words and Image:
In Winter of 2008, Sage Hennequin Kuhens was enrolled in University of South Carolina Upstate's "Write Here, Write Now: Sharing Slices of Life Through the Magic of Digital Storytelling," a series of writing and publishing workshops sponsored by the Spartanburg Community Writing Center. At eight years old, Sage was the youngest among her group of about 50 or so students, and was determined to be as independent as she could be. Her delightful instructor, Tasha Thomas, encouraged her independence.

I'm from big blue herons to small river otters,
I'm from big Metasequioas to tall stalks of bamboo,
I'm from cousins that were unknown to the closest of friends,
I'm from my mom and dad to my lab-beagle dog, albino rats, and Madagascar hissing cockroaches,
I'm from roaring water falls to silent flowing streams,
I'm from terrifying Zombie walks and Scarowinds to a gentle princess-loving godsister and godbrother
I'm from pepperoni pizza to microwaved meatballs,
I'm from my inspiration station drawing and writing to a homemade book,
I'm from my old dog Chani to red-shouldered hawks,
I'm from Jack the magic clown to my weird parents,
I'm from a tiny baby to an educated sister showing baby MinMin what school's like,
I'm from bold looking deer to relaxing foxes,
I'm from making a fire in the county to ridin' in a cotton combine,
I'm from a fan of Alexa Vega and Miley Cyrus to a spy lovin' tween (me),
I'm from playing with cockroaches with a friend to Joe and I together,
I'm from my heritages to Mom's mystery heritages,
I have an opinion that none can change...life is great!

-Sage Hennequin Kuhens 1-29-08

The Hale Pono Boys and Girls Club of Hawaii posted ?Where I?m From? by Dixie Castillo on their blog. Read it here.

Here?s a poem based on ?Where I?m From? written by an eighth grade student as part of a study of The Killer Angels. The lesson plan is here.

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official site of george ella lyon writer and teacher

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new words: poems from the appalachian poetry project

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Where I'm From, a poem by George Ella Lyon, writer and teacher

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Where I'm From, a poem by George Ella Lyon, writer and teacher

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From workshop slide

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Edutopia

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Teachers can improve outcomes and build equity in the classroom by listening closely to their students. Here are six ways to do that.

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From workshop slide

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Johanna Paraiso, Grades 912 ELA/ELL Teacher

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Johanna Paraiso, Grades 912 ELA/ELL Teacher

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ELA.SL.11-12.1a

Common core State Standards

ELA: English Language Arts

SL: Speaking and Listening Standards 6-\x80\x9312

11-12: 11th & 12th Grades

1a:
Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one on
one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11-\x80\x9312 topics,
texts, and issues, building on others'\x80\x99 ideas and expressing their own clearly and
persuasively.

a. Come to discussions prepared, having read and researched material under
study; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence from texts
and other research on the topic or issue to stimulate a thoughtful, well reasoned
exchange of ideas.

b. Work with peers to promote civil, democratic discussions and decision making,
set clear goals and deadlines, and establish individual roles as
needed.

c. Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that probe
reasoning and evidence; ensure a hearing for a full range of positions on a
topic or issue; clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions; and promote
divergent and creative perspectives.

d. Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives; synthesize comments, claims,
and evidence made on all sides of an issue; resolve contradictions when
possible; and determine what additional information or research is required
to deepen the investigation or complete the task.

Download Common Core State Standards (PDF 1.2 MB)

Thought starters

1. How did Ms. Paraiso adapt the Socratic Seminar format?

2. What strategies does Ms. Paraiso use to help English Language Learners?

3. Why is it helpful to look at everyone's feedback before looking at individual feedback?

Teachers

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Adapting Socratic Seminar: Senior Project Reflection

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12th grade ELA teacher Johanna Paraiso has students adapts the Socratic Seminar format when having her students reflect on their senior research projects and presentations. Before this class, students participated in a culminating presentation. They begin class by reviewing everyone's feedback and discussing what they noticed.

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Academic conversation

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ELA.SL.6.1a

Common core State Standards

ELA: English Language Arts

SL: Speaking and Listening Standards 6-\x80\x9312

6: 6th Grade

1a:
Engage effectively in a range of collaborative
discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacherled)
with diverse partners on grade 6 topics,
texts, and issues, building on others'\x80\x99 ideas and
expressing their own clearly.

a. Come to discussions prepared, having read or
studied required material; explicitly draw on
that preparation by referring to evidence on
the topic, text, or issue to probe and reflect on
ideas under discussion.

b. Follow rules for collegial discussions, set
specific goals and deadlines, and define
individual roles as needed.

c. Pose and respond to specific questions with
elaboration and detail by making comments
that contribute to the topic, text, or issue
under discussion.

d. Review the key ideas expressed and
demonstrate understanding of multiple
perspectives through reflection and
paraphrasing.

Download Common Core State Standards (PDF 1.2 MB)

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Enjoy your first video for free. Subscribe for unlimited access.

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Discussion and Supporting Materials

Thought starters

1. How does Ms. Groves support English Language Learners?

2. What are the benefits of using the "Talking Rocks" strategy?

3. How do students use talk moves in their discussions?

School Details

Westlake Middle School
2629 Harrison Street
Oakland CA 94612

Data Provided By:

Teachers

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Academic Discussions: Analyzing Complex Texts

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Middle School ELD teacher Tamica Groves supports her English Language Learners to have academic discussions about nonfiction texts. Class begins with a review of how students can participate in academic discussions. As small groups discuss a text, they use talk moves and a "talking rocks" strategy.

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Strategies for Building Cultural Competency

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Strategies for Building Cultural Competency

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WordArt.com is an AI-powered word cloud generator that enables you to create amazing and unique word clouds with ease.

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WordArt.com is an online word cloud generator that enables you to create amazing and unique word clouds with ease

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Host interactive online meetings | Poll Everywhere

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Your browser either doesn't support Javascript, or you've turned it off. To use Mentimeter, please make sure to turn Javascript on. How do I enable Javascript?

Gain valuable insights from everyone around you with Word Clouds, Polls, and Quizzes.

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Protocols in English and other Languages

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With nearly 30 million users in 80% of US schools, the numbers speak for themselves: students, families, and educators love using Remind.

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Remind is a communication platform that reaches students and families where they are and supports learning wherever it happens. Millions of educators, students, and parents use Remind to connect with the people and resources that help them teach and learn.

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We express ourselves in different ways. On Flip, you can use our simple and fun built-in camera to record your thoughts, add effects and share within your Flip group as video, audio only or text in your web browser or mobile app.

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Flip (formerly Flipgrid) is a video discussion and video sharing app, free from Microsoft, built for classrooms and beyond. Learn more.

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Professional Development for Parent Engagement with English Learners

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Professional Development for Bilingual Parent Engagement for ESL, Family Reading & Vocabulary Development with English Learners.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Featuring Dr. Robin Scarcella, providing an overview to academic language instruction for English language learners, as well as teaching strategies, activity ideas, and recommended resources.

This free webcast is available online anytime.

It is made possible by AFT Teachers, a division of the American Federation of Teachers, as part of a Colorín Colorado partnership between AFT and Reading Rockets.

Transcript

Delia Pompa: What is academic language? How do we move our English language learners beyond survival English? I'm Delia Pompa. Please join me for our next Colorín Colorado webcast, academic language for English language learners.

[music]

Narrator: Funding for this Colorín Colorado webcast is provided by the American Federation of Teachers with additional support from the National Council of La Raza.

Delia Pompa: Hello. I'm Delia Pompa. Welcome to the Colorín Colorado webcast series. Today we're going to talk about academic language for English language learners. Joining me is Dr. Robin Scarcella. She is the Professor and Director of the Program in academic language and ESL at the University of California Irvine campus.

So, long title. It must be an important topic. What is academic language?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Academic language is a language used in school context. It's the language of text. It's a language of prestige and power in the United States. And those who have acquired academic language tend to go on and become very successful in academic settings.

Unfortunately, those students who do not apply our academic language oftentimes fail and sometimes end up dropping out of school.

Delia Pompa: I believe you brought an example to share with us.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Yes, I did. I brought these two letters from my student Vaughn. Vaughn came from Vietnam at age five. And she went through all of our public schools. And you can see that she wrote this letter because she was really distraught. Because she'd been placed in a beginning level English as a second language writing course at the University of California Irvine.

I was the Director of the Program. And she was my student. She did not want to be in this class. And so she wrote this letter. And she actually brought all her work from her high school. And she had poetry to share with me. And she had essays and a variety of different written work.

All of which was written in a very interesting style of informal, everyday English. It wasn't academic. And so she wrote this beautiful letter saying that she had read many books, that she had written and spoken English since-she said-"since time I come to the U.S."

And all her friends speak English. She always speaks English with her friends in the dorm, and she "reads many book," she writes. "Please do not makes me lose the face. I have competent in English."

Delia Pompa: And so you then put her through a program of instruction.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Even though she received straight A's in English in high school, I had to put her in my ESL academic English sequence of three courses. And at the end of the year, she wrote the second letter.

Delia Pompa: And so, in the second letter, you could tell the difference.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: You can see this amazing difference in her vocabulary, in her grammatical development, even in her rhetoric. "Hi, Robin," she begins. And then she goes on and she asks for a letter of recommendation. Well, she does get this letter. She does actually get an internship in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: And then she goes on after she graduates from UCI into graduate school. And you can see what excellent English she uses. Now, is her English perfect? Native English? No, of course not. But it's very good.

Delia Pompa: She's got all the conventions. And she's got academic language.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: She can go into any field she wants to.

Delia Pompa: Now, this brings up the question about the difference between social language and academic language. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Yes. You can see that in social everyday English, it's possible to communicate imprecisely without using English grammatically correctly. You don't need articles, "the" and "a" to really show what you mean. You don't need to have prepositions or use the correct preposition in your language. You can use basic everyday words. You can make your language very colorful by using slang. You can avoid pronoun reference if you want to. Especially if the addressee already knows what you're talking about.

Delia Pompa: Do you need to get to a certain level of social language before you move onto academic language?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: What's interesting is in the United States, we believe that students must acquire informal English first and then they can acquire academic English afterwards. In reality, it's very helpful for students to be able to begin a conversation and keep it going, have those basic conversational skills.

But at the same time, we can be laying the foundation for academic language. We need not wait until students have completely mastered informal, everyday English.

Delia Pompa: Well, are there activities a teacher can plan to help a student understand the difference between social language and academic language?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Yes, there are. One of my favorite activities is giving students a passage of academic language and then a passage of informal language and comparing them step-by-step. So that students understand: "Wow. When I look at informal English, it uses a lot of repetition of words. And when I look at academic language, it has a variety of words and more sophisticated words.

When I look at informal English, it's perfectly fine to begin a sentence with the words "and" and "but." But when I look at academic language, academic language has transition words such as however and moreover and in addition.

When I look at informal English, I can use stuff and slang such as guy, cool, awesome. But when I use academic language, I avoid using slang." So there's big differences. And that's a great strategy, instructional strategy for teaching students to recognize the difference.

So I give them two passages, one informal, one academic. And then I have them get together in groups or with a pair, partner, and actually write out a list of the features that characterize these. I do this again and again. So that students understand that academic English is different from informal English.

Delia Pompa: Well, you've talked about some written examples. But you started to talk a little bit about oral examples. Is it mainly a written problem? Or does it show up in oral language also?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Teachers often think that academic English is not an oral problem. It's a challenge, both in writing and in speech. And it's very important that teachers scaffold students' development of oral academic language. So that they're able to participate in academic discussions and debates and make presentations in front of their peers.

Teachers can use a variety of activities to scaffold their production of academic language. One of my favorite ones is preparing students in advance to talk orally in front of others by having them partner up and actually teach them academic words and grammatical features that they might use in making an academic presentation.

And then the next step is, of course, having them practice these with their partner before they do the oral presentation.

Because too often teachers have students, English learners, make presentations when the students aren't prepared.

Delia Pompa: They have no practice in it.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: They need to practice, practice, practice.

Delia Pompa: Well, speaking of practice, I think we've come to understand that a knowledge of a student's ability to read in his native language has a lot to do with predicting how he's going to do in English. Is the same true for academic language?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Absolutely. We know that if students have acquired academic language in their first languages, for example, in Spanish and then they come to the United States, they are able to acquire academic language much faster than if they didn't know academic language in their first language.

Delia Pompa: What you've described, and you work with elder students, don't you?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Yes.

Delia Pompa: But we've heard that they are beginning to test younger students for academic language. When ideally should teachers begin to worry about English, academic language, and working with students?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: We need to be concerned about teaching academic language at all grade levels and in all proficiency levels as well. However, when students first come into kindergarten, we're not going to be teaching them very sophisticated ways of writing and ways of expressing themselves in English.

We're going to be teaching them grade appropriate kindergarten talk, setting the background, the foundation, of academic language. And so, yes, we're going to be teaching them the conversational skills of the kindergarten. But we're also going to be teaching them vocabulary that's going to help them to acquire academic language later on.

By the time children reach the fourth grade, we are going to be transitioning into teaching more sophisticated academic language skills. And once they reach high school, we're going to have to make sure that students know a large vocabulary of academic words used across academic disciplines. And they have access to and they're able to use more complicated grammatical structures.

Delia Pompa: Well, tell us a little bit more about how students of different ages need to learn different kinds of things.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Yes, it's important that we make our instruction absolutely age appropriate. So when working with the young children, kindergarteners, for example, we found that young children are great language learners. And they love to participate in instructional conversations that are specifically designed to teach academic words, language structures, even the discourse.

Delia Pompa: Just to help our viewers, can you give us an example of something that a young student might learn that's academic language versus what an elder student would learn?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Sure. A young child is often going to be participating in show and tell, for example. But there are very school based ways to participate in show and tell and ways that are very informal. And the steps of participating in a show and tell for a young child has to be made explicit.

Delia Pompa: Like what's a word you would use that's academic?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: So today I'm going to "share" with you. Okay? Not just "tell" or "say" or "talk" about.

Delia Pompa: Learned a new word there.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: I'm going to share a particular experience I have had. Okay. Now, you've used the words sharing and experience. And these are very age appropriate. And you they're sophisticated for a young child. What I wouldn't expect a young child to do is a literary, a complex literary analysis.

Delia Pompa: And would you expect an older student to do that?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Absolutely.

Delia Pompa: Okay.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Absolutely.

Delia Pompa: Well, you've presented a wonderful overview. So let's get into some of the detail. What areas of language are specific to academic language? Are there areas of language that are more specific to academic language say than social language?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Yes. All language proficiency consists of several different components. So when I think of language proficiency, I always start thinking of phonology, of phonological component. So in academic English, a young child, anybody, needs to know the phonological component consisting of the sounds of the English language.

And they would have to know how to spell in English and that's particularly important in academic language, but not so important in informal language. And they would have to know the phonological features of the English language.

For example to pronounce academic words. Knowing the difference, for example, between anthropology and a shift in stress, anthropological; morphology, morphological...

Delia Pompa: That's a good example. We don't often think that you have to learn the difference.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: No. And yet, English learners really do need to know these shifts in the stress. And so the phonological component is very important. Also, in addition to that, the vocabulary component. We're not going to see many changes in our students' test scores certainly on all of the academic tests we give until teachers teach vocabulary on an ongoing, everyday basis. Vocabulary's extraordinarily important in academic English.

Delia Pompa: Give me an example. Go back to anthropology, anthropological. How would a teacher actually teach that? Is that by teaching vocabulary? Is that by giving examples? What does a teacher do to do that?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: It's a very good question, Delia. I think the answer is the teacher is going to teach vocabulary systematically and make sure that the students don't just learn the meaning of words, but know how to use a word.

So in teaching anthropology, anthropological, I would have the students listen to the word and repeat it at least three times, anthropology, anthropology, anthropology. Use it in a sentence from their textbook. So they get to see the whole sentence as it occurs.

And then I would talk about it to teach them how I would use it, making up other sentences. And then I'd have them use it. And they'd use it not just alone. But they'd use it in a sentence with a partner. And I'd have to do this again and again and again.

Knowing that all language learners aren't great learners at language. But some students just need to have more practice using the language and practice using the language accurately, not incorrectly.

Delia Pompa:: There are so many aspects of language that second language learners need to develop and learn. How does a teacher choose what aspects of language to teach as academic language?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: When the teacher is choosing a reading passage and teaching reading, the students are going to be doing reading. The teachers, their primary concern is looking at those words and identifying the words that an English language learner is going to have difficulty understanding and will undermine the student's efforts to understand that text.

And oftentimes, that would be an academic word, not always. And it's really important for teachers of English learners to know that it might be important to identify an academic word such as stimulate if a student's having difficulty learning. Or it might be important for the teacher to identify a single preposition or an adverb such as "hardly" or a conjunction such as "and."

The student's having difficulty learning. And that will make a difference in the student's comprehension. That's different in production.

Delia Pompa: Would the teacher be so specific as to say here's "stimulate" and you use it here. Another way you say it is X. Is it that specific?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Yes, it's that specific. It's absolutely that specific. It would be good-if you're only trying to teach students the meaning of words. And this is the case when you native speakers. They need to just say stimulate means and you give a meaning and a definition.

But for English language learners, it's different. Because we want students not just to understand their text. This is where I was going with your question. But to be able to use the words in production. And we have been ignoring word use for a long time. And teachers really need to support the way students actually use words.

So when students are going to be talking about the text, they need to know how to use the words. A really good activity for doing that, for teaching students how to use new words, is to give students a word bank and then to talk about the words and how they're used in the text.

And then to talk about how the teacher uses the words. Then to give the students the words, the definitions and a model sentence. And say: turn to your partner and I would like you to use some of the words we've discussed in describing X, Y, or Z.

Delia Pompa: So it goes beyond definition.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Absolutely has to go beyond definitions if you want children to be able to use words accurately. And we do.

Delia Pompa: Thank you so much. That was a very good overview. Now we're going to take a look at a school in Oregon where teachers are working on pinpointing those key vocabulary words and where young children, English language learners, are working on reading comprehension as part of their academic language training. [music]

Narrator: To reach Heritage Elementary School, you have to travel thirty miles south of Portland, Oregon, past hazelnut orchards and Russian Orthodox churches.

Teacher: We have children who are ethnic Russians from Russia, from Argentina, Latvia, Tajikistan, Brazil, Turkey, China. Narrator: These kids can speak some English. But that's hardly enough to get by in school.

Teacher: One misconception is that people feel that once a child starts speaking English and communicating with basic oral communication in the playground or at school, that child is able to succeed academically.

Narrator: It's just not the case. Because what some call survival English is a long way from mastering even the third grade academic curriculum. For Linea Salzman, part of the job is teaching the kids one word at a time. First in their native Russian and then in English.

Student: Plemya in English it means "tribe."

Narrator: It's critical to be this explicit. Because Russian is so different from English.

Student: Totem pole.

Narrator: And the school is relentless in making sure their students understand what they read.

Teacher: Now, I'm not going to show you every picture in the book. I've chosen a few that I thought would really help us to explore this idea of fire.

Narrator: In Larry Connolly's class, the kids are doing what's called a picture walk. They use the picture and draw on their background knowledge to predict what the story will be about.

Teacher: Well I've got a big question for you guys. What do you think this is a story about?

Student: Don't use matches and lighters. Or else you're going to get burned.

Narrator: The work may seem painstaking. But Heritage is committed to creating readers who will have a deep understanding of what they read.

Teacher: So often, the kids move through the text so quickly that they're not understanding much. And so we're using those cognitive strategies as a way of slowing them down and getting them kind of invested in the text.

Delia Pompa: The last teacher, the teacher mentioned having students slow down and invest in the text. What are some of the strategies that help students do that and sort of acquire academic language? Certainly, the teacher doesn't say slow down and invest in the text. Not to the students anyway.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: No. A close reading of text is very important for English language learners who need to acquire academic language. A teacher can have the student choose a very short reading passage and read that passage aloud to the students. So that the students get the melody of the language.

Okay. Now, what the teacher is doing is slowing down. And then after the students hear the language, the teacher can explain what's in that very short reading passage and then ask the students to read it again this time focusing on a few very specific features of academic language. And, of course, the teacher doesn't say now I want you to look at academic language.

But instead, the teacher might say we're going to be looking at how this piece of writing flows by looking at pronouns. And we're going to be underlining the pronouns and drawing a circle around the noun to which they refer. Okay. In this way, the students are learning the pronoun reference system in English.

Which is a huge stumbling block. And it improves their reading comprehension. Because now they know exactly what the he/she, it/we/they refer to. There's other things that the teacher can do. One of the features of academic language are words and their associates, fixed expressions or collocations. We don't think about it.

Delia Pompa: Say that again? Fixed expressions and?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Fixed expressions that are also called collocations. These are words and their associates. They're words that go together. We don't often think about it. But certain words just go together.

Delia Pompa: Like what?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: We sayâ€¦ peanut butter and jelly. Well, there's no jelly and peanut butter. You say salt and paper, not pepper and salt. Mr. and Mrs., not Mrs. and Mr. It's important that students learn these fixed expressions.

Delia Pompa: They're markers of knowing a second language well.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: They're markers of knowing a second language well. And they help the student use the language precisely. And when they're not used precisely, a convention is broken. They're expected and preferred. And it irritates the native speaker when you go in.

Delia Pompa: So that's an interesting way of looking at academic language. In some ways, it's really speaking like a native speaker and being able to sort of go with the flow.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Yes, absolutely. It absolutely is accurately and effectively and obtaining your communicative objective. So reading closely a text and looking at pronominal reference is really important. Looking at the way synonyms are used. Looking at word families, dissecting the paragraph very carefully, and talking about it helps students to incorporate the language that the author is using into his or her speech.

So one of my favorite activities for getting students to use academic language is summarization. In summarization, what students do is they read a very short passage and they summarize it orally to a friend.

Now, this may seem boring to you or me. But it's a real challenge for a non-native speaker. What they do is they appropriate the author's language into their own. And they begin to acquire the language. Or they can change partners several times. And you can...you can actually hear them getting more and more fluent. And, of course, it always helps to model the paragraph to the students before they do this.

Delia Pompa: You know, I'm thinking as a potential instructor working with teenagers say and some of the strategies that you describe really make the student focus very intently on a sentence or a paragraph. What kinds of instructional tricks does the teacher pull out of her bag to help the student not get bored frankly? Because they're teenagers.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Right. With teenagers-teenagers are wonderful to work with because they have such inquisitive minds. And they're questioning everything. And so I would first of all explain, make it every very explicit, what the language objective is. So today, we are going to be working on academic vocabulary of this specific passage on poverty.

Teenagers, being very interested in equity issues, I would assume that this text on poverty goes along with something in the textbook. And we're going to be talking about ways to eliminate or to stop poverty. And so I would be having them summarize the text and then following that, I would give them some ideas for ways to stop poverty, some vocabulary and some complete sentences to really get them going in case they lack proficiency.

Then when they pair up, they have already acquired the language proficiency to participate in a discussion on the topic of how do you prevent poverty. Because now they know that you can say we can stop poverty by plus verb plus "-ing" doing the following. And then they can practice using those expressions in sentences and expressing their own beliefs-this is not boring to a partner before they participate in an oral discussion with the entire class or maybe even make a presentation in front of the class.

Students always perform to the expectations. We don't expect a lot of teenagers. We need to expect more. Once they know that we expect them to think critically about issues and to use academic language, they will do it. Especially when they know that we are going to scaffold and help them acquire the language first, give them adequate time to practice this in a safe environment in which they won't be intimidated and then perform in front of their classmates.

Delia Pompa: Now, I'm imagining you have some of those same skills you have to teach say to third graders. But you're going to have a different strategy. Do you have a different strategy at each grade level?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Absolutely. It has to be cognitively appropriate as well as linguistically appropriate. Also keeping in mind that the students affect as well, at these different grade levels. When teaching young children, young children are highly capable of learning language.

We can teach some features of the language very explicitly. We can say that two plus two "equals," with an "S," four. We can talk about the zzz sound of a bumble bee. And we can get little ones out of their seats and moving around which is what we need to do.

We can engage them in songs that present them with academic language and jazz chants as well. We can be using even total physical response at times to teach them some of the academic words they need to know.

We can teach them language games, language repetition. We can use choral repetition with little ones and direct instruction. Absolutely.

Delia Pompa: I can hear the wheels turning for teachers watching this thinking: All right, how am I going to incorporate this into my day? Should this be a separate block of time? Do you setup a separate block of time to teach academic language?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Absolutely. The reason we need to do this is if we don't give attention to academic language, it's easy to overlook it. Now, when you're teaching little ones K through three, I would absolutely make sure that they have access to the curriculum.

And in addition, give them that extra time to learn academic language that they so need. In addition to the core curriculum. And it needs to support that core curriculum, not be so different from it that it's yet more language that students need to have. But rather supporting that core curriculum.

When a child, however, comes in at grade four, that child is going to be so far behind in terms of learning the language needed to learn academic language in content areas. That student's going to need to have an intensive language program with lots and lots of instruction in the area of academic English.

Every single day, students need vocabulary instruction. Every single day if all of their content, they need reading comprehension instruction. And every single day, they need writing instruction. Every single day: writing. They should be writing every single day. As well as direct scaffolded instruction of oral language.

Delia Pompa: I have a couple of questions that come to mind. The first is you say every single day. For five minutes every single day? For twenty minutes every single day? How much time should we devote to this, should teachers devote to this?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Well, I think in the younger grades, students need English language instruction. The amount of time is going to vary according to their needs. So if students have instructional gaps in their education, of course, you're going to need to give them more English language instruction. Because you need to fill in these gaps.

But if they don't have instructional gaps and they come in in grades K through three, it might be enough to give them an extra forty minutes-a block of time each day of forty-five minutes. That might be just sufficient.

Once they get into the upper grades, they're going to need more time. More than an hour of daily English language instruction that includes a component of academic language.

Delia Pompa: You talked about setting up a separate block of time. I'm also imagining that during the content instruction time, you're going to infuse some of the academic language strategies in there. And let's pick writing. Because you had some examples earlier. What are some strategies teachers can infuse into the writing process to focus on academic language?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Great. Some very useful strategies for teaching writing, one is anytime you give a writing assignment, don't assume that the students have the language in order to accomplish-to write the assignment.

Give them samples of what you expect. Multiple samples are even better. You know, it's hard to write. It's hard for anybody to write when you don't know what's expected of you. So you want to make your expectations abundantly clear.

In this essay I expect you to have a thesis statement. And I expect you to put it at the very end of the paragraph. Here are some examples. And this is what a thesis sentence does. So you're actually getting very explicit step-by-step instruction.

Delia Pompa: And then an example.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: And then an example. And also, very importantly is I give students the vocabulary, their grammatical structures, and some tips for organizing essays before they start. And I encourage them to use the words and the grammatical structures and the rhetorical tips in the writing. And I tell them, you know, if you do this it will really help improve your writing. This is not cheating. This is what I really want you to do.

Delia Pompa: These are supports.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: They're supports. And every time they write, they get better and better. And this type of advice is very good, not just for a writing instruction, English language, arts, teachers, say in high school or middle school, but for the science teacher in fourth grade who is having the students write a lab report.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Or for the social studies teacher who is having the students perhaps write a persuasive essay. So, what I really would like all teachers to do is to teach writing very explicitly, step-by-step, with lots and lots of support. And, of course, some instructional feedback.

But if you remember the letter from Vaughn, she had not received any instructional feedback. So she was one of the students who you could show her a word such as "firstofall" or "secondofall" or "thirdofall" and she would say, well, that's a word. I had a student like that. And I said here's "firstofall". And the student said, yes, it's a word. And I said, no, it's not.

It's "first of all." And the student said, well, no, it's "firstofall" and "secondofall" and "thirdofall." And so I had to take out a dictionary, a learners dictionary, very important.

Delia Pompa: A very confident student.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Yes, very confident. But she had never had any feedback. And so she had looked at the dictionary and she said, oh. It's first of all. You're right. Ah-hah. But if students don't get any instructional feedback, then they use forms again and again and again and they're writing, they will stabilize over time.

And that's when it's so important for a teacher to give some instructional feedback. Not in a punitive sense. But in an instructional, in a very constructive way. So that students will learn from their mistakes. Learning that a mistake is neither good nor bad, but just something that is perfectable, that will help them to learn from.

Delia Pompa: So it's a low stakes way before you get to the high stakes.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Yes, absolutely. And for some students, you'll have to tell them again and again and again and again. You'll have to be teaching subject/verb agreement. But they will learn. And that's what teachers need to know. And it's, of course, very good if teachers develop a technique that they use for providing instructional feedback that the whole school site adheres to.

Whether or not it's just underlining those words that are used incorrectly or highlighting them or writing in the margin or giving students some rules or using what I like symbols.

Delia Pompa: Oh, so this is a strategy that I hadn't heard. So everyone in the school should use that same approach.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Absolutely. We promote this in whole school districts. So that way when students go from one grade to the next, they don't have to learn new symbols. They know exactly what kind of feedback their teachers are going to give them. They know when the teacher's going to give them this feedback. They don't consider it at all punitive. They expect it.

Delia Pompa: You know, there are so many challenges teachers face. And this is an area that teachers are beginning to explore. They're beginning to explore academic language. They want to do the right thing. But they bump into these walls. And one of the walls seems to be states taking on alignment of curriculum ... of content actually and language. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Yes. It's an enormous challenge. States have been trying to link content objectives and language objectives. I think it's very important that teachers know when they're teaching content that the English language learners also need to know language. And they need to have language objectives.

It's good for them to know what they're teaching. The difficult part arises when the teacher chooses text, stories, reading passages, textbook passages, to help them-help the students acquire the content standards. Because anytime they choose a reading passage, there'll be a number of different language objectives that could be taught.

And when they teach a different reading text or have the students do a different oral language assignment, they're going to need different language objectives. So it's not possible therefore just to take the language content and objectives and just align them without looking at what it is that children do with language in the classroom and what it is they're reading in the classroom.

Delia Pompa: So not losing that focus on language and deliberately teaching language.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: That's right.

Delia Pompa: You have said so much to us. Why don't you take a sip of water? Well, I want to talk about another issue. And that has to doâ€¦it relates to what you just talked about. English language learners often are taught by many different teachers. And I wonder who's responsible for teaching academic language?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: We are all responsible for teaching academic language. Teachers are responsible for teaching academic language. In the elementary school it's the primary instructor who has the responsibility for laying the foundational piece for teaching academic language, a strong English language proficiency, a language proficiency in phonology and spelling and the sounds of the language and grammar and vocabulary absolutely critical.

And in the upper grades, that individual is going to be responsible for teaching academic language of reading, writing, speaking and listening. However, in the-the individuals in elementary school should be working very, very closely with a reading specialist.

If students can't read, they can't develop academic language. And the elementary school teachers need to be working very closely with their ESL, ELD specialist, absolutely.

Delia Pompa: We get into sort of a classic question around that when you get to high school.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Yes.

Delia Pompa: Let's take the example of the biology teacher.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Oh, yes. Perfect example.

Delia Pompa: Biology teacher is teaching something that doesn't seem very language related to some people. So how does that biology teacher support academic language?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: The biology teacher has a critical role. The biology teacher, first of all, should be relieved to know that I don't make that person responsible for teaching reading. If the child cannot read, doesn't know how to decode words, that biology teacher doesn't have to become a reading specialist. We have a scarcity.

Delia Pompa: I know some biology teachers.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Yes, they don't have to worry about that. Nor does a teacher have to worry if they've got somebody who's just beginning language, learning, just arrived in the United States. The teacher should know how to teach survival skills, yes.

But we really are required by law to make sure that that beginning language learner gets enough proficiency to access language. And a biology teacher will never be an English language specialist who can give that foundational piece.

The biology teacher, however, has the responsibility of teaching reading comprehension. And those biology texts are very, very difficult. And so the teacher needs to teach a variety of strategies, including using graphic organizers and note taking skills.

So that the students can access the reading. The biology teacher absolutely has the responsibility to scaffold discussions in biology using academic words and using the text. The biology teacher absolutely has the responsibility of teaching any kind of writing associated with the biology.

So that might mean, for example, teaching that lab report or teaching students how to conduct an experiment and write it up using inquiry.

Delia Pompa: I imagine there are also a lot of opportunities for teaching vocabulary in the content area.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Oh, it is.

Delia Pompa: And should that be a specific strategy?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Yes. And that's where content vocabulary should be taught. Content vocabulary in the high school should be taught in the content class and reinforced in other classes, such as the ESL class. The best place to teach the word photosynthesis is not in an ESL class. The best place to teach it is in a biology class.

Delia Pompa: In context.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Absolutely. And so that the student really understands what photosynthesis is. Yes, you can teach photosynthesis in an ESL classroom. But you're just going to be teaching the bare basics, a very rudimentary knowledge. This is not academic language. So the content teacher plays a key role in teaching ESL, ELD, English learners.

Delia Pompa: One group that presents teachers, all teachers, a number of challenges are students who are newcomers. Who come to us at the secondary level. Often haven't had a lot of education in their own country in their own language. And they have a short period of time before they have to graduate from high school and get all the credits. What is the role of both language teachers and content teachers in getting them to a level of having some academic language?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: We have a responsibility to our students, to all of our students, no matter when they enter school, no matter what their educational backgrounds are, to teach academic language. We have some excellent approaches and especially some good curricula materials available to provide students with the intensive English language instruction that they need at the secondary levels.

Students who arrive late in our system do need more instruction. We far underestimated the amount of instruction in English that they acquired-that they need to acquire academic language. So they might need to be in a three hour or four hour intensive language classroom and then take some other classes in addition to that.

And it might be the case that they need to take summer school. They might need to go before school, after school. If they need an extra year afterwards, our goal is to make sure that they have acquired enough academic language so that they can go on and be successful in the United States. And so I would say, yes. Give them more. Absolutely.

Delia Pompa: It seems to me that we often as educators of English language learners focus on that group of students who just came in, the newcomers. But there's also another group of students who are long-term ELLs, who have been in this country a long, long time, who have some of the same gaps in language, in academic language.

I know on a day-to-day basis, you work with college students, you work with older students. What are some of the challenges there? And what are some of the strategies? What can educators do at that point?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Oh, thank you. This is the largest growing population that we have in the United States. Our newcomers, especially at the secondary level, is rather small compared to this huge group of students that we have. Instruction, instruction, instruction. Practice. But knowing that it's practice perfect makes good practice, not just practicing. Students tend to acquire the language of those with whom they associate. We all do.

And so our students, such as my student whose letter you read, came into the United States and acquired the language of the friends with whom she associated. And she speaks a wonderful variety of informal English. But as you noted, it won't do her very much in terms of getting her ahead in academic settings.

So what we need to do is make sure that we get-that she attends to the language by using dictation exercises, for example. By using both oral close, a sentence completion activity. Or a written close activity where students fill in the blanks as we dictate a passage.

They need to summarize. We tell passages they need to write a lot with intensive feedback. And yes, we know that they can achieve high levels of success. They can become bi-dialectal, bi-lingual, multi-lingual.

Delia Pompa: For older students and for younger students, there must come a time when the support for academic language needs to sort of pull back. The teacher needs to pull back. And they need to become independent users of academic language. Does that happen magically? Or are there some strategies?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: A lot of our schools hope that that would happen. But we can't teach on hope. So what we really need to do is plan very explicitly. Think about it as I do with my own child, going onto college and beyond. You want to make sure that the child develops good learning strategies that will help that child to continue to learn.

I want all English learners in the United States to know about learner dictionaries and to use them. A learner dictionary is not just a dictionary that an individual has.

Delia Pompa: Tell me, because I don't know what a learner dictionary is.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: They're wonderful dictionaries. Many different publishing companies have them. They're really good. They tell a student what a word means. And then they give the students a lot of information about the word. They give the students even grammatical and discourse information about the word.

So they might say the word "discriminate" is used with the word "discriminate against someone." And then they give sample sentences. So I tell all of my students, whether native or not native, that they must have these dictionaries for English language learners. They're actually written for students. They're very appropriate beginning at grade four and beyond.

Delia Pompa: So it's a teacher in your pocket sort of.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: It's a teacher in your pocket. So they need that. They need to have self-editing skills. So that's why if teachers begin correcting young children and children love corrective feedback. They don't think it's wrong. They expect a teacher at age five and six.

They'll begin to give instructional feedback in the very young ages. And continue it. But always with the goal of making the student a self-editor. So that the student, when the student is finished with the ESL, ELD class, when he's in a mainstream class, the student goes to them and says, okay.

I'm great in these aspects of language. And I'm not so good in these aspects. I'm going to have to continue to work on subject/verb agreement. I know that I have a weakness in word forms and related parts of speech. And I'm going to be correcting those.

Because, you know, our goal in schools is not to make people perfect native English speakers. But we want to help people achieve a mastery over the English language as best as they can get.

Delia Pompa: You know, we've talked a lot about what teachers can do to help students gain academic language. And we often put it all on teachers. But what about other people in the educational system? What about principals? What about school district personnel? What can they do to help here?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Thanks, Delia. It's so important that we get principals and vice principals, everybody in the administration, to understand that it's not easy to teach academic language. And students really need to have good curricular programs. They need to investigate the very best curricular programs for teaching academic language.

So that the students have a coherent program for English language development. And we need to get the principals in the classrooms to watch the teachers. So that they'll understand how hard it is to teach academic language.

And to make sure that teachers get the appropriate support to teach academic language. We've had three generations of teachers who really haven't had much instruction in grammar themselves and can't tell the difference between a noun and a preposition.

Delia Pompa: Oh, dear.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: And oftentimes, they're ashamed of that. There's no reason to be ashamed at all. That was just the case of our public schools.

Delia Pompa: So what role does professional development play in all of this? Should administrators be shaking professional development in a certain way?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Yes, they need to make sure that when teachers are teaching content, for example, they may need to know how to scaffold the content to make sure that they're teaching language objectives. And when I'm in classrooms and I'm watching teachers teach in Los Angeles or wherever I am, I notice that what teachers are having the most difficulty with are language objectives, identifying what language they can teach to help students access the content and participate in the content instruction.

Delia Pompa: You know, teachers often talk about not having the time to plan together and collaborate together. What ideas do you have for creating that space for teachers to collaborate around common academic language targets?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Yes. Thank you. Teachers do need the time. It takes time. It takes them time to learn the language themselves. To teach students and the strategies. And so they need to have lesson planning time in which they come together to talk about the curriculum for English language development.

So that they work together as teams with their ESL, ELD coaches, with the reading specialists, the reading coaches, with the administration, with all the specialists in the schools. So that they give students more of a seamless education. And they get everybody on the same train going in the same direction.

Delia Pompa: I feel like we've just scratched the surface. What are some other resources you can tell us about quickly before we wind up that teachers could use or turn to in developing academic language?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Yes, thank you. If you go into our websites, and I'll leave you a list of our websites, you'll find that we have developed many websites for helping teachers develop grammar, vocabulary, a discourse of English language for helping students correct their own writing and for developing their grammar and vocabulary.

We also have useful websites where teachers can have the most recent sort of cutting edge research on what works for teaching English language learners.

Delia Pompa: We will certainly put a list of those up on the website. But is there one right now that you could tell us about as an example, a website, that's good for teachers to go to?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Yes, the "What Works" website is an excellent place. Because it gives very useful information about the types of strategies that are research based, that have been tried and tested with English language learners. And it demonstrates some of those for teachers as well.

Delia Pompa: Are there misconceptions out there about academic language that you feel that we need to address?

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Oh, yes.

Delia Pompa: Give us a few.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Oh, yes. There's one misconception is that it takes students so many years to acquire academic language. Maybe seven or twelve or ten. It can take students forever or never to acquire it if they don't get exposure to academic language, lots of practice in using academic language and instruction in using academic language, including instructional feedback.

So the amount of time is going to really vary greatly depending on how much instruction that they get in academic language. Another myth is that we can teach academic language in an ESL or an ELD class and then students don't need any afterwards. That is a complete myth.

Students, all of us, including me, need instruction to improve academic language development after they left the ESL, ELD class. Or after they left their English classroom. Everybody is in the process of acquiring academic language and improving upon it. Including me.

Delia Pompa: That's a good way to put it.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: And we need to continually be working on it with support. Now, what happens if you don't get those supports or if you stop working on it? Your language tends to plateau. And so that's why we need these continual supports.

One other myth is that academic language is easy to assess. Not so. It's very poorly defined for assessment purposes. Research is just beginning to develop that will help us identify the features of academic language that are accessible at the various proficiency levels.

So we're in the experimental stages. So a test of academic language is necessarily going to be experimental at this point.

Delia Pompa: So right now when we get test scores back on proficiency, we've got a slice of what students do academically.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Absolutely.

Delia Pompa: And we need to do some more work around that.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Absolutely.

Delia Pompa: You have been in this field so long and you've done so much. And it was just fascinating talking to you today. Would you like to leave us with some thoughts? Have you some thoughts today? A final thought perhaps.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: Yes. If you looked at Vaughn's letter, my student, who came into the United States at age five, and you can see her tremendous improvement with instruction at the end of a year. Now, it might take some students three years, four years, five years, a lot of instruction to acquire academic language.

It's highly teachable. Our students are extraordinarily bright. We're talking about one of the hardest working groups of students in the United States who have achieved great heights academically. We need to support them by teaching them academic English.

Delia Pompa: Thank you for that insight. That is I think a valuable one for all of us. And thank you for sharing all your knowledge with us today.

Dr. Robin Scarcella: It's been such a pleasure to talk to you.

Delia Pompa: And thank you all for joining us for this Colorín Colorado webcast.

For more information about the literacy of the young English language learners in your life, please visit us on the web at www.colorincolorado.org. Again thank you for joining us. And take care.

Narration: Funding for this for this Colorin Colorado webcast is provided by the American Federation of Teachers with additional support from the National Council of La Raza.

[music]

The Reading Rockets Professional Development Webcast Series is a production of WETA. The Reading Rockets project is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. This program was produced by WETA/Reading Rockets, which is solely responsible for its content. The views expressed in the program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of WETA/Reading Rockets, our funders, or our partners.

* To view this file, you'll need a copy of Acrobat Reader. Most computers already have it installed, or you can download it now.

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Academic Language and English Language Learners

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Featuring Dr. Robin Scarcella, providing an overview to academic language instruction for English language learners, as well as teaching strategies, activity ideas, and recommended resources. This free webcast is available online anytime. It is made possible by AFT Teachers, a division of the American Federation of Teachers, as part of a Colorín Colorado partnership between AFT and Reading Rockets.

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general, specific and technical langauge

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School districts have sought to create systemic plans for multilingual learners that move beyond compliance to insure coherence across their programs, policies and practices for their students and families. Understanding Language partners with districts to co-create, implement and refine their plans based on student evidence.

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Content and Language Objectives Should Be:
In Your Classroom They Should Be:
Use the template above to help you write your Content and Language Objectives. Make sure that your Content Objective includes the verbiage of the TEKS and how they will be accomplishing it. The Language Objective includes one of the 4 Domains from the ELPS (Speaking, Writing, Listening, Reading) and target academic vocabulary, language skill, or language function.

Research shows that teachers wait one to two seconds for a student to answer a question before moving on to another student or answering the question themselves. One way to ensure appropriate wait time is to incorporate a Total Response Signal. This will provide you with built-in wait time while you wait for 100% participation.

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Content and Language Objectives Should Be: In Your Classroom They Should Be: Use the template above to help you write your Content and Language Objectives. Make sure that your Content Objective includes the verbiage of the TEKS and how they will be accomplishing it.

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Engaging techniques for effective teaching

For every tool you'll find:

An explanation of how and when to use it

A template students can use to implement the tool

A place to take notes about how you use each tool

We're also adding videos that will show you the strategies in action.
View Our Tools

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Engaging techniques for effective teaching For every tool you'll find: An explanation of how and when to use it A template students can use to implement the tool A place to take notes about how you use each tool We're also adding videos that will show you the strategies in action.

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Resource for Developing Academic Language for Students

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As of today, there are nearly 5 million English Language Learners (ELLs) in U.S. schools, and ELLs are the fastest growing student population in the country. When these students enter school -- especially in the secondary grades -- they face the double challenge of learning a new language while simultaneously learning grade-level content in that language.
How can schools create learning environments designed to support these needs and accelerate learning so ELL students have a level playing field with their English-speaking peers?
In this new video series, Engaging Newcomers in Language and Content, we get to see newcomer ELL education in action by visiting Lawrence, Massachusetts, a city with a deep immigrant history and the home of the ENLACE Academy.

ENLACE, which stands for Engaging Newcomers in Language and Content Education, is an academy within Lawrence High School. Its mission is providing newcomer English learners with the academic and linguistic foundation and socio-emotional supports that will allow them to transition successfully and quickly into the mainstream high school environment, on track to pursue a college or career of their choice.
Combining the resources of a traditional public high school with the extra support of a small, specialized learning community, ENLACE's program is built around three pillars:

Language learning through rigorous content

High expectations plus high supports

A "two-generation" approach

40-50% of ENLACE students are known as SLIFE -- students with limited or interrupted formal education -- which means they bring limited literacy and numeracy skills in their native language and need additional support adjusting to the expectations of U.S. high school.

The ENLACE academic model is based in the belief that students learn language best through challenging, engaging, and hands-on academic content, so all students take a variety of classes daily, including English, math, science, social studies, and an elective. All teachers are trained to teach language through their subject area, and while students are grouped in heterogeneous cohorts, personalized learning time is built into the day to allow students to get extra help in small groups.

In these videos from ENLACE, we visit the classrooms of two 9th grade teachers, Matt Clements and Joe Burkett, who both bring academic language to life through engaging, content and language-rich units. Matt teaches a leadership seminar, where he encourages his students to use critical reasoning skills through debate. In Using Debate to Teach Academic Language, you'll see the debate structure used in a SLIFE classroom that's focused on not just fostering academic language but on leadership skills as well.

Leadership is a strong theme at ENLACE, as students study and act upon global issues, learning how to become change agents in their community. In Model UN for ELLs: Language & Leadership, students engage with issues of climate change while building their academic discussion skills through opportunities to speak formally through the United Nations caucus process.

Both of these videos demonstrate ENLACE's approach to language instruction: students learn and practice language as they read, write, speak, and listen about authentic, real-world issues in a learning community that supports risk-taking and confidence building. Through this approach, ENLACE empowers students to proudly and purposefully develop their multilingual and multicultural identities.

Systemic practices for developing academic language across the curriculum are a key to ENLACE's success. For example, common text structures, like a color-coded Claim-Evidence-Reasoning scaffold, provide students consistency in their classes as they develop their English language proficiency alongside their content knowledge and skills. Check out Scaffolding Text Structure for ELLs to see how students build on this common structure in their argumentation writing and speaking. Another example of a common, systemic practice in place across ENLACE is the use of Seven Step Vocabulary.

Since opening in 2015, ENLACE has achieved significant gains for English learners who have been in the U.S. less than two years. They have been able to accelerate students' language growth, moving nearly 70% of students from a beginner to an intermediate level of English proficiency in just one year.

For more resources to help your English Language Learners, check out Teaching Channel's ELL Deep Dive.
Allison Balter, Founding Principal of ENLACE Academy, has worked in education for ten years and has been a teacher and school leader working with English Language Learners in elementary, middle, and high school for the past seven. She also served as the ELL Director for a network of turnaround schools in Massachusetts. She is inspired every day by the students and families she works with and the phenomenal team of educators at ENLACE. Sarah Ottow, Founder and Director of Confianza: Equity, Language & Literacy, supports ENLACE's design and growth as an ELL professional learning coach. She is inspired by the systemic practices at ENLACE and shares far and wide how any school can accelerate academic language through a culturally responsive, student-centered approach.

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Engaging Newcomers in Language and Content

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As of today, there are nearly 5 million English Language Learners (ELLs) in U.S. schools, and ELLs are the fastest growing student population in the country. When these students enter school -- especially in the secondary grades -- they face the double challenge of learning a new language while simultaneously learning grade-level content in that language.

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With over 3.3 million Muslims living in America today, there is very little representation of Muslim kids in children's books. For a child, not seeing someone like them in the books they read can often make them feel invisible. An even bigger concern arises when other children don't see stories with Muslim kids in them, because then they think that those people are insignificant.

The first theme in our 'Countering Islamophobia through Stories' campaign, highlights diverse children's books featuring ''. We showcase stories of children in their unique cultural contexts where their Muslim identity merely serves as a backdrop to more pressing issues of fighting with siblings, making it to the baseball team and carving their own little niche to fit in.

These stories feature Muslim children and teens who succeed despite feeling excluded and misunderstood, weave magic, mystery and fantasy into multicultural tales, who show you the humanity of children living as refugees and who find love, friends and healing despite fear, racism and prejudices.

We hope that reading these relatable stories about the lives and hopes of Muslim kids ( Who doesn't want a world full of chocolate?) will help counter prevalent stereotypes of Muslims. For Muslim kids we hope it will reflect their reality, create a sense of inclusion and introduce them to heroes and heroines that inspire them.

: In this beautifully illustrated book, the textured landscapes of Lahore come alive to celebrate the spring festival of Basant with a kite flying competition. Malik, a young disabled boy, too has been planning for this day by making a special kite with which he wants to rule the skies. The story focusses on Malik's strength of character - a thoughtful boy who stands up to the bully, works together with his siblings, and shows kindness to a young girl. Author King for a Day Rukhsana Khan is a connoisseur of telling great stories about young children while subtly weaving in their cultural contexts. (Picture book, suited for a

Selected by the Big Red Lollipop : New York Public library as one of the 100 Greatest Books in 100 Years, this multi award winning book needs to be on your bookshelf! Big Red Lollipop is a simple story about an older sister's reluctance to taking her bratty younger sister to a birthday party with dynamic and vibrant visuals that complement Rukhsana Khan's charming story. A deep and well observed tale about immigrants, assimilation and identity. (Picture book, suited for ag

Razia's Ray of Hope: One Girl's Dream of an Education : An inspiring story drawn from a real life hero who runs a girls' school in Afghanistan. Razia longs to go to school but faces objection from the men in her family. A determined Razia manages to convince them and truly shows us how one person has the power to make a difference. The mixed-media illustrations bring Razia's world to life and adds dimension to the thought-provoking book.

Another great book based on a true story from Afghanistan is Nasreen's Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan

: Fadi's family immigration from Afghanistan to California is beset with tragedy as his younger sister gets left behind. In trying to adjust to a new home, school and a new culture, Fadi also bears the burden of guilt of losing her. Winning the photography contest featuring a prize to India is his best chance at redemption. Written with an eye for realistic detail, and an authentic portrayal of Afghan Pashtun culture, Shooting Kabul manages to educate readers on Afghan history, the Taliban and Islam while skillfully telling us a universal story about family, love and belonging. Read an interview with Naheed Senzai Shooting Kabul here. (Chapter book, suited for a
RELATED: Read an excerpt from Shooting Kabul and an interview with the author Naheed Senzai here here.
: A true blue (ok brown) teenage Muslim superhero? Bring her on! Kamala Khan is your average New Jersey teen trying to balance fitting in with her traditional family's expectations when she is endowed with extraordinary powers. Will she use it to help herself and her community? A gutsy non-traditional heroine buoyed by strong writing and visually popping art and did we mention a cape? Ms Marvel Vol. 1 (Comic book, suited for a

A look at the intersecting lives of four kids from across America and how 9/11 changed their lives and ushered them into adulthood. Told from four different perspectives - Nadira struggling with her religious identity, Sergio who lives with his grandmother in Brooklyn, Aimee from California whose mother is flying to New York for a meeting and Will who recently lost his father. A powerful account of young lives interrupted and the journey from hate and fear to a realization of our similarities. Nine, Ten: A September 11 story: (Chapter book, suited for a es10 -14)

When Bilal has to move suddenly from Pakistan to America, he encounters many unfamiliar things that confuse him. Enrolling in an ESL course, a summer baseball camp and having to make new friends, Bilal struggles with language, foreign customs and a longing for home and family. A moving and realistic depiction of the immigrant experience through the eyes of a child. A Long Pitch Home: (Chapter book, suited for a

Support our 'Counter Islamophobia through Stories ' campaign and help us make a difference:

(i) Spread the Word: Share our booklists and author interviews with friends, teachers, librarians and parents. We will be posting new booklists every week.

Use hashtag #counterIslamophobiathroughstories. For updates, follow us on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

Get one or more of these books for your home, and/or donate them to schools and libraries around you.
As a way to make these books easily available and accessible, we are offering a 20% discount on all books in our entire book collection titled "Counter Islamophobia Through Stories" Use code "KITAABWORLD20" to get 20% off anytime before February 28, 2017.
with children in your community. Use our books coupled with lesson plans to move from stories to ideas to action.

(iv) Share Your Story about an inspiring experience or your attempts to counter Islamophobia, and get featured on KitaabWorld! Email us at contact@kitaabworld.com.

Join us to create a bridge of cultural understanding book by book, story by story.

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With over 3.3 million Muslims living in America today, there is very little representation of Muslim kids in children's books. For a child, not seeing someone like them in the books they read can often make them feel invisible.

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The Freemans presentation on academic language

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The Freemans presentation on academic language

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Global Conversations in Literacy Research

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Yvonne Freeman & David Freeman - Academic Language for English Language Learners

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This strategy has discuss material in a four part systematic way. 1. K: What the student thinks they know 2. W: What the student wants to find out. 3. L: What the student learned 4. Q: any...

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by Nancy Motley

At the end of my first year of teaching, my principal asked what my plans were for the summer. After outlining my still-fuzzy summer agenda, she volun- me to include getting ESL certified in those plans. She explained that it would be great for my career, that I'd earn a $500 stipend ($84.32 after taxes, right?), and most importantly, that she really needed me to help our English learners next year. Always up for a challenge, I agreed. Despite having had very little professional development regarding English learners, I was a good test taker and earned my certification. Upon returning to school for my second year, I had a class roster that included a majority English learners.

While I was, admittedly, ill-equipped to meet my students' linguistic needs, I did know a few things, one of which was that they needed to talk. My English learners would not acquire more English unless they had a chance to use it. Knowing this, I did " think pair shares" and " turn and talks " all the time. Multiple times in each lesson, my students were able to talk with a partner or their table mates about what they were learning. They became less shy, and I felt confident that they were all acquiring more English.

That second year of teaching was hard work, with many ups and downs, but as my students and I entered "testing season" we were all feeling good. However, the feeling only lasted until I received my students' TELPAS (Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System) results back. Less than 50 percent of my English learners had increased at least one level in their language proficiency. I was devastated and felt like I had failed them. I was speechless when I saw that even in the speaking domain , only a handful of my hard-working students had demonstrated growth. How could this be? They talked ALL the TIME!!

I wish I could go back to my second-year-teacher self and tell her, "Talk isn't enough!" The opportunity to speak (which was plentiful in my room) is not equivalent to a structured plan for students to use the language of the lesson. You see, even though my students were talking a lot, they were only using the words in English with which they were comfortable.

Let's look at an example. Imagine my class was solving a two-digit by two-digit addition problem (15 + 44) for their math warm up, which is a review of the previous day's learning. In this scenario, I asked my students to turn to their partner and explain how they solved the problem. Here is what typically happened:

Alicia (to Michael, her partner): Umm...I did 5 and 4 and got 9 and then did this one (pointing to the tens place) for 5, so I got 59.

Michael (at Alicia): Me too. 59.

Did Michael and Alicia do what I asked them to do? Yes...with the words in English that they were comfortable with and already "owned." Did they acquire more English as a result of this opportunity to talk? I do not believe so.

In order for our English learners, Michael and Alicia, and any other students to acquire academic English, we've got to ensure they are actually using the words and phrases about which they are learning. This is easier to accomplish than you might think. All we have to do is them to use them. Simply put, we tell them the words we want to hear right before we ask them to speak. I call this targeting the talk.

Let's go back to the example above. What are the academic words or phrases I would want to hear? How about "ones place," "tens place," "sum," "equals?" I might want to focus on phrases like "number sentence" or "solved the problem." So how do I "target their talk" toward these terms? I ask them to use them. Here are some options for how that might sound:

Please explain how you solved the problem to your partner. I'm listening for you to use the words "ones place" and "tens place."

When it is your turn, use this stem: "I solved this addition number sentence by..."

As you talk with your partner, use the words from our anchor chart. Let's read them together: "addition," "equals," "sum."

If I had used any of the phrases above, the overwhelming majority of my class would have followed those directions, which would have resulted in each of them actually using the academic English of the lesson.
My "go-to" phrases for targeting student talk:

"It should sound like this..."

A few less direct ways to target student talk:

"Remember to use your words from the ______ (word wall, anchor chart, smart board)."

"Open your journals/notes, and use them while you talk."

Can you imagine how much language our students will acquire if everytime we ask them to speak to each other, we use one of these phrases? When we consistently target student conversation, they not only use the new vocabulary, but they become more comfortable with speaking in a more formal and academic way. We are "normalizing" academic conversation.

I'd suggest picking one or two of the phrases above and practicing. In order to remember, I like to post these phrases in various places in my room to serve as visual reminders for me to do it. While it might take some practice to build this habit, it is worth the effort. I can promise you that when we target student conversation, we do not end the year with disappointing TELPAS scores. We finish with a classroom full of students who have dramatically increased their proficiency in academic English.

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by Nancy Motley At the end of my first year of teaching, my principal asked what my plans were for the summer. After outlining my still-fuzzy summer agenda, she volun-told me to include getting ESL certified in those plans. She explained that it would be great for my career, that I'd earn a $500 stipend...

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This international edition of the WIDA ELD Standards was developed in response to growing interest from educators outside the U.S. for standards and assessments that can support and document the development of academic English among their students.

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WIDA Guiding Principles of Language Development

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WIDA Guiding Principles of Language Development

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Activity that brings the writing process to life with digital storytelling. A simple six-word story, created as a video with six unique camera shots, allows students the ability to tell a powerful visual story.

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LARRY SMITH is the founder and editor of SMITH Magazine, and its younger cousin, SMITH Teens. SMITH Magazine is best known for launching the Six-Word Memoir® project, which is a bestselling books series and a global phenomenon. Anticipating the microblogging explosion, SMITH originally launched the Six-Word Memoir project in November 2006 in partnership with Twitter with a simple online challenge asking: "Can you tell your life story in six words?" Now more then 1 million Six-Word Memoirs have been shared across SMITH Mag sites. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

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Explore an activity that brings the writing process to life with digital storytelling. A simple six-word story, created as a video with six unique camera shots, allows students the ability to tell a...

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Combining the six-word memoir with a film containing six shots gives students a way to introduce themselves at the beginning of the year.

I came upon the work of Don Goble, a multimedia instructor from St. Louis, Missouri, and his Six-Word Story, Six Unique Shots project when I was struggling with how to begin a new year in a new way. Letters from students and poster board montages bored me. The feel of a glue stick gave me hives. Don's project gave me pause. At that time, I had never made a film and my phone's camera challenged me. However, I took a breath and ditched the traditional. The results amazed me.

Six-Word Story, Six Unique Shots is a spin on the popular six-word memoir activity. Students begin by writing a six-word memoir, typically exploring their identity. They then create a 30-second film using only the six words of the memoir and six different types of film shots.

The structure offers students an opportunity to deeply dive into their own interiority-or not. Students share stories of addiction, body image issues, and anxiety. They also create films hailing their love of coffee. The degree of vulnerability is truly up to the individual.

You don't need to be tech savvy or possess fancy equipment to pull off this project. All you really need is a desire to do something different. I'll detail the schedule I use with a 90-minute block period.

A Fun Bit of Self-Exploration

Day 1: My students and I begin by analyzing Goble's students' examples. We discuss what an example tells us about the person. We talk about how an image communicates an idea and how a word supports an image and vice versa. Students begin drafting their memoir in class. They can complete their memoirs at home or in class, if you have the time.

Day 2: We start this day by learning about the effects of different film shots. When is an extreme close-up most impactful? How does a low angle give the subject more power? Action movies work great for analyzing shot types because so much of the emotional intensity and audience engagement relies on the director's choice of shots.

Day 3: Now is the time for students to storyboard their six-word memoirs into films. A storyboard is a series of small panels in which students sketch the look of a specific shot. It's essentially a rough draft of their film; when completed it has the appearance of a comic book. Students begin to focus on both content and the logistics of the project. Are the shots different from one another? Where is the ideal filming location? Are any props or costumes needed?

Artistic talent is secondary here-stick figures are fine. What's important is for students to align the purpose and weight of a word with the most effective shot. Considering the connection between word choice and meaning is something all developing writers can learn from doing.

Day 4: Today is the start of filming. Students may come in with fancy cameras, but most will probably use their phones. Before students begin filming, let them know that horizontal filming is a must. If they film vertically, the end result will be more difficult to edit, and it will look odd on screen. I use a fun tutorial to bring this message home; you should preview the video to ensure that it's appropriate for your classroom.

Day 5: Today students edit their films. There are essentially two options for editing hardware: the students' phones or computers with editing software such as iMovie, Final Cut, or Adobe Premiere.

Editing on the phone is the simplest way to get a great final product. Typically, iPhones come with a version of iMovie. Adobe Premiere Clip is a free editing app that works well with Android phones. With either program, the basic editing functions are easy to use.

Using computer software allows students many more advanced editing options, but I suggest keeping it simple. The Mac program iMovie is the easiest software to use and provides the basic editing options students will need. Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro are considerably more advanced (and not free).

Often, the most challenging part of the editing process is getting the footage from the phone to the computer. If the students have a Google account, they can access their footage from any computer. Students have to download the footage before placing it into any editing software. Students can also use Apple's Airdrop feature to transfer the footage, or a USB cable works well with both Apple and Android phones.

Once the film is complete, students share their final product with me by using Airdrop to send it to my computer, saving it to a hard drive, or sharing it with me via Google Drive. This allows me to review the work outside of class and to show each film on the big screen without needing to hook up each student's individual phone or computer.

Day 6: Film premiere! Bring the popcorn and get comfy.

Six days is a significant time investment, but consider the potential end product: engaged students with new skills, and a strong, safe class community.

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Breaking the Ice With Student-Made Videos

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Combining the six-word memoir with a film containing six shots gives students a way to introduce themselves at the beginning of the year. I came upon the work of Don Goble, a multimedia instructor from St. Louis, Missouri, and his Six-Word Story, Six Unique Shots project when I was struggling with how to begin a new year in a new way.

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Everything you need to know about grading rubrics and how you can implement them today!

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LESLLA

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Literacy Education and Second Language Learning for Adults

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Digital Libraries - Literacy Education and Second Language Learning for Adults

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This page hosts several websites compiling digital libraries of storybooks and other reading materials in a range of languages.

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Colby Sharp is a fifth grade teacher in Parma, Michigan. He is the author of The Creativity Project. Colby is the co-founder of Nerdy Book Club and Nerd Camp Michigan.

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A simple, yet profound idea

Our goal is to record the stories of American immigrants - whether they're naturalized citizens, permanent residents, refugees and asylees, or persons on temporary visas - and share them with as large of an audience as we can reach.

Share your story

We are excited to announce that "Green Card Youth Voices: Immigration Stories from a Minneapolis High School" has been awarded the for Best Multicultural Non Fiction Chapter Book in the Moonbeam Children's Book Awards. The Moonbeam Awards were founded as a way to open up book awards in children's publishing to all types of publishers and genres and to bring attention to the under-sung children's books and their creators. Each category has gold, silver, and bronze level awards.

In September of 2015 , Green Card Voices recorded 30 stories of immigrants from Wellstone International High School. These courageous youth coming from 13 countries sat with GCV team in the studio for several days and shared stories of family, school, change,
and dreams. After recording their stories, it became obvious to all that these powerful narratives needed to be shared with a wider audience. With the Wellstone teachers, Green Card Voices decided to create a book as a vehicle to generate awareness and take the stories outside the all immigrant classroom. The book was published in May, 2016.

Launched in 2013, Green Card Voices' mission is to share various stories of our nation's 40 million immigrants and put a human face to the current immigration debate. Simply, we hope to introduce immigrants to their neighbors.

Our organization focuses not only on capturing individual stories, but also on demonstrating the incredible breadth of the immigrant population. We want to show that immigrants work on our farms, serve our food, teach our children, create our technologies, and start our Fortune 500 companies.

We're traveling the country and listening to those with the courage to share their journey, documenting each story in an authentic and unbiased way. The chronicles of those whose stories we capture are both awe-inspiring and thought provoking, portraying the diversity of the immigrant experience in the United States.

Immigrants have played a vital role at each turn in our nation's history, and they continue to do so today. By sharing these stories, we can instill a sense of pride in our nation's immigrant population and thank them for all of their contributions.

Here is what some people have to say about us:

Students identified strongly with the photos [and] I found it powerful.

- Katie Murphy-Olsen, Wellstone International High School

People are touched by the creativity and art of the exhibit.

- Dylan Fresco, Actor, Writer, Musician, Educator

[The Green Card Voices exhibit] gave [our immigrant students] hope. They saw the variety available for them to do with their lives.

- Tara Kennedy, Wellstone International High School

Green Card Voices gave the feeling of a mirror for immigrant families [...]and provided a window for white students into other's worlds.

- Kathryn Mackin, Mahtomedi High School

Gorgeous photos [in the exhibit]. They lend themselves to be engaging.

- Kathy Seipp, Robbinsdale Middle School

What a great service - thank you, thank you, thank you!

- Mark Ritchie, Minnesota Secretary of State

Thank you so much for connecting Minneapolis Central Library with an offer of a Green Card Voices display. The library is proud to celebrate the diversity of new Americans and pleased to recognize the contributions of immigrants to so many facets of American life. I know that many of our patrons paused at the display to read the inspirational stories and reflect on their own family history as immigrants to this country.

- Marcelyn Sletten, Senior Librarian, Hennepin County Minneapolis Central Library

This is a very good project. You have succeeded in moving the discussion to a very human level, which is where it should be. People and their pictures tell their stories, not some hothead on TV or radio. Well done.

- Anonymous, Hosmer library visitor

I just wanted to express my gratitude for giving me the opportunity to interview with you and share my story. I really enjoyed meeting you and the rest of the group. You made me feel very welcomed. I really appreciate the work that you all are doing and I am very happy that I could help.

- Irma Marquez Trapero, Paralegal, immigrant from Mexico

I am so proud of our libraries and for Hosmer community's initiative in particular. As a kid of a Duluth librarian this has always been in my blood, but I truly am proud to see collective work, including this fantastic photo exhibit. Thank you!

- Monica Travis, Hosmer library visitor

Love this project! Beautifully constructed and such a powerful evidence of the fact that every person has a story. Thanks for sharing. I can't wait to share this site with students in Idaho!

- Teresa Clark, Storyteller, Author, Historian

The photo exhibit and stories of immigrants are great - it is very educational to address that immigrants are not only from Mexico.

- John Xavier, Hosmer library visitor

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Our goal is to record the stories of American immigrants - whether they're naturalized citizens, permanent residents, refugees and asylees, or persons on temporary visas - and share them with as large of an audience as we can reach.

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Guide for Selecting Anti-Bias Children’s Books

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Understanding how school discipline policies can contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline is essential for educators and families. Harsh punishments, automatic out-of-class time and police involvement for discipline can push young people out of classrooms and into the criminal legal system. But educators, parents and caregivers can help to change this harmful system by advocating for and implementing practices that prioritize mental health and well-being.

We offer this new resource page that highlights LFJ articles and content to open dialogue, shift practices and foster change to benefit all young people.

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Learning for Justice | Education Resources

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Learning for Justice provides free resources to educators-teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners-who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants.

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A 501(c)(3) nonprofit, WNDB aims to create a world where every reader can find themselves in the pages of a book. To reach this goal, we've created programs to mentor diverse writers and illustrators, support diverse publishing professionals, and provide books to classrooms nationwide.

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Primary Language Supports

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Videos and PD for educators

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SupportEd is led by author and ESOL expert Dr. Diane Staehr Fenner. Our team provides teachers of English learners, administrators, and other stakeholders in ELs' education with the skills and resources they need to champion ELs' success within and beyond their classrooms.

SupportEd offers interactive webinars with our team of experts as well as national experts as an opportunity to delve into professional development topics for better serving ELs. Recordings will be sent to registrants after each webinar.

Contact us at info@getsupported.net to learn more about how we can help you.

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Professional Development - Webinars - SupportEd

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SupportEd is led by author and ESOL expert Dr. Diane Staehr Fenner. Our team provides teachers of English learners, administrators, and other stakeholders in ELs' education with the skills and resources they need to champion ELs' success within and beyond their classrooms. SupportEd offers interactive webinars with our team of experts as well as national experts as an opportunity to delve into professional development topics for better serving ELs.

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Spread the loveMany teachers are poorly equipped to teach ethnically diverse student populations. Despite the growing numbers of culturally diverse students, some teacher education programs still hesitate to make multicultural education a focal point of their curriculum. Other programs are trying to figure out the most appropriate way to implement it.

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9 Strategies for Getting More Students to Talk

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9 Strategies for Getting More Students to Talk

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While it is possible to learn by listening, I've found that oral participation leads to greater gains in student literacy and engagement. English language learners in particular benefit from ample talk time, but they are not the only ones.

Yet I've also found that without careful planning, a few students do most of the talking while the majority of the class remains silent. My students all have ideas, but only some of them share those ideas on a regular basis. Adding wait time after I ask a question helps more students get into the conversation, but still the more confident students are more likely to raise their hands.

Because of this, I pay close attention to who is participating in my high school English classroom and to the structures I'm using to promote participation. I mix and match from the following strategies depending on the students in the room and my goals for the lesson.

9 Ways to Encourage More Students to Talk

1. Who talks first? When students turn and talk, I decide who talks first. The person on the right? The person whose birthday is coming soonest? The person with the longest hair? Without this direction, some students dominate partner talk time.

2. Write, pair, share: Many of us use the think, pair, share model, but substituting writing for silent thinking can improve both the quality of the conversation and the number of students who contribute. As students write, I walk around, reading over their shoulders and writing things like, "That's good. Say that!" on the papers of quieter or less confident students. I can also see which and how many students are stuck, so I know if I need to add more scaffolding.

3. Pairs and squares: I assign students a partner (pair) to work with for three weeks, as well as a square (two pairs combined). I promote camaraderie in pairs and squares by having students learn each other's names (with spelling and pronunciation), gender pronouns, and something people can't tell by looking at them. They also make up a handshake they use each day to greet each other.

They talk in their pairs from bell to bell between direct instruction about the topics of the day. Currently, my sophomores are engaging in a nonfiction unit on happiness, so today we discussed the correlation between money and happiness, and students worked in their pairs to annotate an article, but when we analyzed some rather complex graphs and charts, they moved into their squares so they could have more brain power.

After three weeks, each student thanks their partner for something they did for them and shares what they think was the pair's best moment together. By the end of the year, every student has worked with every other classmate-either in pairs or squares-which promotes a strong classroom community and helps students feel more comfortable participating.

4. Nonverbal agreement or disagreement: I have my students use the American Sign Language signs for "yes" and "no" in whole class discussion to show their agreement or disagreement with the speaker. This keeps students engaged, gives the speaker immediate feedback on their ideas, and gives all students a nonverbal voice.

5. Metacognitive goal-setting: Every few weeks, I have students reflect on their participation habits and set goals for a particular discussion. Students get an index card at the beginning of class and write a quantitative and a qualitative goal for their participation for the day. As they set their quantitative goals, I encourage them to think of "stepping up and stepping back"-what would be a healthy number of times for them to speak that day? Should they talk more frequently, or refrain from talking in order to make space for others to talk?

For their qualitative goal, they consider whether they need to ask more questions and whether they should do things like build on others' ideas or use text to support their points.

Throughout class, students take notes on their own contributions to the discussion, write down what they said (and didn't say), and tally the overall number of times they talked. They end class by reflecting on their participation. Did they meet their goals? Why or why not? Can they set some new goals for themselves? This card is their exit ticket for the day.

6. Talking piece: For some small group discussions, we use a ball as a talking piece that students pass around-only the person holding the ball can speak. Every student gets the ball once before anyone gets it a second time. This is particularly effective when discussing very emotionally charged topics, like issues of race or gender, when we want to be certain that everyone has the opportunity to share their experiences.

7. Musical give one, get one: When I want students to hear a lot of ideas, I have them write down their thoughts and then stand up, walk around to as many people as they can, and write down one idea of each person they talk to. I usually do this to music-students need to get to as many people as they can before the song ends.

8. Musical shares: This is similar to the last idea but is better for sharing longer, more in-depth answers. I put on a song, and students walk or dance around the room. When the music stops, they talk to the person closest to them about their ideas. I use a timer to ensure equity of sharing here-each person speaks for one minute.

9. Keeping track: I keep a blank grade book roster on a clipboard, and while students are working in pairs, I put a tally mark next to each student's name every time I hear them speak during class. I'm sure I don't catch everything, but the act of keeping track forces me to notice the participation patterns in the room and to seek out those who have learned to fly under the radar.

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9 Strategies for Getting More Students to Talk

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While it is possible to learn by listening, I've found that oral participation leads to greater gains in student literacy and engagement. English language learners in particular benefit from ample talk time, but they are not the only ones.

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Tricia Ebarvia

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NOTE: This post was originally published and written for Literacy Today, a publication of the International Literacy Association (ILA). Click on the image at the right to download or print a PDF of the original article (and click here browse the entire issue).

In May 2019, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) released its Hate at School report. Using information gathered from teacher questionnaires and news media reports, the SPLC found an alarming uptick in the number of incidents of hate and bias occurring in U.S. schools. Teachers reported that the most common driver of these incidents was racial or ethnic bias, with anti-LGBTQ bias a close second. Furthermore, a majority of these incidents occurred in spaces where adults were present: 32% in classrooms and 37% in shared spaces such as hallways, bathrooms, or other parts of the building.
Think about what that means. The majority of incidents of hate and bias occur in the presence of adults.
As teachers, we do our best to make sure that all of our students are safe and seen in our schools. But the truth is that even the most well-intentioned teachers will miss things-harmful things- sometimes in our own classrooms. What might be the microaggressions, for example, against Indigenous students, students of color, and LGBTQ students occurring in our classrooms that teachers-who are overwhelmingly white in the United States-may not notice? What unexamined biases do we as educators bring into our classrooms that could have a potentially harmful impact on our kids?

As literacy teachers, we have one of the most powerful resources available to fight against hate and bias: We have stories. The stories-and, more important, the counter-stories, the counternarratives-that we choose to share with students are instrumental in helping all our students be seen and heard, appreciated and understood. This is especially critical for students from communities whose stories are too often oversimplified, misrepresented, or rendered invisible in the dominant culture and mainstream media. Thus, centering and amplifying minoritized perspectives can help to foster community and the type of solidarity that counteracts and perhaps even prevents incidents of hate and bias in our schools.

STEPS TO TAKE

I am heartened by the inclusion of more diverse voices in the curriculum, but the truth is that it's not enough. Although schools may bring more "diverse" texts into the curriculum, these "contributions" and "ethnic additive" approaches, in the words of researcher James A. Banks, do little to actually change the system of power that marginalized those voices in the first place. After all, efforts to "diversify" the curriculum have been going on for decades, yet we know that inequities persist. Furthermore, "diverse" curricula can often mask systemic problems, including the fact that black, Latinx, and Indigenous students continue to be underrepresented in higher level academic courses while also disproportionately disciplined.

To be clear, including more diverse voices in our curriculum is an important, necessary step. Our students deserve windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors, to borrow language from scholar Rudine Sims Bishop, that represent the richness of their own lives and the lives of others. But our efforts cannot end there. We must interrogate not just what we teach but how and why. Some suggestions to think about:

Begin with the premise that public schools never intended to educate all children equally and look for the ways in which this holds true today. Likewise, the curriculum has never been neutral, but always ideological. In making decisions about what texts to include, look for the voices that are marginalized or missing and bring those voices into your text sets.

Consider the role that race and whiteness have played in your own socialization, particularly around your beliefs about schooling. How does your own racial socialization inform not only the types of texts you may value, but also the types of instructional choices you make?

Center the counternarratives. Although pairings of traditional canonical texts with voices of color offer rich possibilities for comparison, diverse texts can also stand on their own.

Include a diversity of voices within marginalized groups. To what extent are you perpetuating or challenging stereotypes based on your patterns of text selection?

Be mindful of the positionality of texts and the message this positionality sends. Are diverse voices centered in the curriculum as core and mentor texts, or are they optional? Does the entire class read The Great Gatsby while the books by authors of color are offered as summer reading, book clubs, or literature circles?

Know your purpose for adding or removing a text. Creating a more inclusive curriculum is not simply about replacing texts written by "dead, white males." It is about addressing the racism, sexism, homophobia, and other problematic issues reflected in these texts-and choosing better. Follow the discussions and participate in chats online like #DisruptTexts, #ClearTheAir, #THEBOOKCHAT, and #BreakRank.

Keep the issues facing people of color and Indigenous peoples current. Racism is not a problem of the past, solved by the Civil Rights era, but a continuing problem today. Create text sets that show the complexities of these issues in both historical and contemporary contexts. Colonization was not an event centered on 1492; Settler-colonialism continues today.

Resist color-avoidant* readings of texts. If a text includes any form of bigotry, be sure to address and unpack this with students. Otherwise, students might see silence as tacit acceptance of these attitudes.

Understand that not all oppression is the same. Anti-black racism manifests itself differently than sexism, and drawing a false equivalence among them can cause more harm.

Learn and relearn the history of Indigenous people, people of color, and the LGBTQ community. Because we often use literature to better understand people and time periods-and because our own understanding of history is often incomplete, if not inaccurate-bringing a more accurate understanding of history when we study a text is critical. Reading books like An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States (Beacon Press) by Dr. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz can be critical in this work (and don't miss the adaptation for young people).

DISRUPT THE SYSTEM

It's no doubt that equity work can feel overwhelming, especially as many of the problems in education are systemic. But as #DisruptTexts cofounder Kim Parker recently reminded me, people make up systems. And if we are people committed to equity, then we must understand our role in these systems and how we might disrupt them.

So diversify the curriculum, yes- but let's not stop there.

*NOTE: This language was changed from the originally published version to remove ableist language.

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NOTE: This post was originally published and written for Literacy Today, a publication of the International Literacy Association (ILA). Click on the image at the right to download or print a PDF of the original article (and click here browse the entire issue). In May 2019, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) released its Hate...

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Empatico is a free tool that connects classrooms around the world

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Empatico is a free tool that connects classrooms around the world

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Created by Empatico, the Empathy Framework is a tool that takes the current science one step further by recognizing there are also different levels of application. These include practicing empathy toward oneself, toward others and toward the rest of the world.

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Educational Hip-Hop Songs & Videos for All Subjects, K-12

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Flocabulary is a library of songs, videos and activities for K-12 online learning. Hundreds of thousands of teachers use Flocabulary’s educational raps and teaching lesson plans to supplement their instruction and engage students. Our team of artists and educators is not only committed to raising test scores, but also to fostering a love of learning in every child.

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Deck.Toys - Learning Paths for Lesson Adventures

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Just drag-and-drop your teaching content to build paths and activities for your students.

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From the organization's press release:

The 24th International Latino Book Awards Ceremony showcased the flourishing talent of the fastest-growing group in the U.S., with four ceremonies held on August 19th and 20th at Los Angeles City College. These Awards are by far the largest Latino cultural distinction in the country, honoring 249 winners in 105 categories this year. The grand total of authors and publishers honored over the last two decades now stands at 3,719, proof that books by and about Latinos are in high demand in both English and Spanish. Gold, Silver, and Bronze-place winners in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, children's books, translation, and many more were announced over the two-day event.

Here are the winners-gold, silver, and bronze medals-in the children's books categories. Click on the book covers for more information:

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The Alma Flor Ada Best Latino Focused Children's Picture Book Award - English
GOLD MEDAL Child of the Flower-Song People: Luz Jiménez, Daughter of the Nahua, Gloria Amescua, Illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh SILVER MEDAL Tía Fortuna's New Home, Ruth Behar, Illustrated by Devon Holzwarth BRONZE MEDAL Bisa's Carnaval, Joana Pastro, Illustrated by Carolina Coroa
The Alma Flor Ada Best Latino Focused Children's Picture Book Award - Spanish
GOLD MEDAL ¡Corre, pequeño Chaski! Una aventura en el camino Inka, Mariana Llanos, Illustrated by Mariana Ruiz Johnson SILVER MEDAL Pura's Cuentos: How Pura Belpré Libraries Reshaped Libraries with Her Stories, Annete Bay Pimentel, Illustrated by Magaly Morales
Best Children's Fiction Picture Book - Bilingual
GOLD MEDAL Let's Be Friends / Seamos Amigos, René Colato Laínez; Illustrated by Nomar Perez SILVER MEDAL Isabel and Her Colores Go to School, Alexandra Alessandri, Illustrated by Courtney Dawson
Best Children's Fiction Picture Book - English
GOLD MEDAL Abuelita and Me, Leonarda Carranza, illustrated by Rafael Mayani SILVER MEDAL Tía Fortuna's New Home, Ruth Behar, Illustrated by Devon Holzwarth BRONZE MEDAL May Your Life Be Deliciosa, Michael Genhart, Illustrated by Loris Lora
Mejor libro ilustrado de ficción para niños
GOLD MEDAL Pitu le Baila al Mar, Gama Valle; Illustrated by Yamel Figueroa SILVER MEDAL La Jirafa que no Cabía en su Cuento, Haydée Zayas Ramos BRONZE MEDAL El monstruo más feo del mundo, Luis Amavisca, Illustrated by Erica Salcedo
Best Children's Nonfiction Picture Book - English
GOLD MEDAL One Whole Me, Dia Mixon, Illustrated by Natalia Jiménez Osorio

SILVER MEDAL In the Spirit of a Dream: 13 Stories of American Immigrants of Color, Aida Salazar, Illustrated by Alina Chau BRONZE MEDAL Alphabet & Affirmations with The Black Unicorn, Sandra Elaine Scott
Best Children's Nonfiction Picture Book - Spanish or Bilingual
GOLD MEDAL Pura's Cuentos: How Pura Belpré Libraries Reshaped Libraries with Her Stories, Annete Bay Pimentel, Illustrated by Magaly Morales
Best Educational Children's Picture Book - Bilingual
GOLD MEDAL Pura's Cuentos: How Pura Belpré Libraries Reshaped Libraries with Her Stories, Annete Bay Pimentel, Illustrated by Magaly Morales SILVER MEDAL Popol Vuh Stories for Children, Denis O'Leary BRONZE MEDAL Lala and the Pond by the Rock / Lala y el Charco de la Piedra, Susana Illera Martínez
Best Educational Children's Picture Book - English
GOLD MEDAL Child of the Flower-Song People: Luz Jiménez, Daughter of the Nahua, Gloria Amescua, Illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh SILVER MEDAL We Move Together, Kelly Fritsch, Anne McGuire, Illustrated by Eduardo Trejos
Best Educational Children's Picture Book - Spanish
GOLD MEDAL Morderse las uñas, Paula Merlán, Illustrated by Brenda Figueroa
Most Inspirational Children's Picture Book - Bilingual
GOLD MEDAL Pura's Cuentos: How Pura Belpré Libraries Reshaped Libraries with Her Stories, Annete Bay Pimentel, Illustrated by Magaly Morales SILVER MEDAL The Last Butter!y / La última mariposa, Regina Moya & Carmen Tafolla
Most Inspirational Children's Picture Book - English
GOLD MEDAL Courageous Camila: A story about finding your inner warrior, Naibe Reynoso & Giselle Carrillo; Illustrated by María Tuti SILVER MEDAL The Voices of the Trees, Elisa Guerra y Fernando Reimers; Illustrated by Ana RoGu

BRONZE MEDAL Child of the Flower-Song People: Luz Jiménez, Daughter of the Nahua, Gloria Amescua, Illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh

Most Inspirational Children's Picture Book - Spanish
GOLD MEDAL Tienes un color especial, Lorena Sierco Espino; Mr. Momo, Lantia Publishing Group

SILVER MEDAL Memoria de un abedul, Daniel Cañas, Illustrated by Blanca Millán BRONZE MEDAL Peque y yo, Alicia Acosta, Illustrated by Mercé Galí
Best Learn to Read Book
GOLD MEDAL The Awesome Reading Adventures of Super Sammy and Marvelous Megan, Vanessa Caraveo
Best Youth Latino Focused Chapter Book
GOLD MEDAL Falling Short, Ernesto Cisneros SILVER MEDAL Sofía Acosta Makes a Scene, Emma Otheguy
Best Youth Chapter Fiction Book
GOLD MEDAL Falling Short, Ernesto Cisneros SILVER MEDAL Catalina Incognito, Jennifer Torres BRONZE MEDAL Julia y el mar, Olvido Guzman Pons

Most Inspirational Youth Chapter Book
GOLD MEDAL Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna, Alda P. Dobbs SILVER MEDAL Efren Divided, Ernesto Cisneros SILVER MEDAL Raulito: The First Latino Governor of Arizona, Roni Capin Rivera-Ashford
Best Young Adult Latino Focused Book
GOLD MEDAL On the Hook, Francisco X. Stork SILVER MEDAL Lifetime Passes, Terry Blas, Illustrated by Claudia Aguirre
Best Young Adult Fiction Book
GOLD MEDAL The Immortal Boy / El Inmortal, Francisco Montaña Ibáñez SILVER MEDAL Encarnación Castro's Journey in the Anza Expedition
1775-1776, Linda Castro Martinez SILVER MEDAL Three, Brenda Nicole Peña BRONZE MEDAL Fat Angie: Homecoming, e.E. Charlton Trujillo
Best Young Adult Fantasy & Adventure - English
GOLD MEDAL The Grimrose Girls, Laura Pohl SILVER MEDAL The Ghost Tracks, Celso Hurtado
Best Young Adult Fantasy & Adventure - Spanish
GOLD MEDAL El Último Dragón: Las espadas del legado, José del Real Antiquera SILVER MEDAL Catarina Freytas y el anillo perdido, Raymond Vollmond BRONZE MEDAL El Mundo del Olvido, Cristian Otárola Jiménez
Best Young Adult Romance Book
GOLD MEDAL Monstrua, NLa Contreras SILVER MEDAL La descendiente, Marie D.
Best Educational Young Adult Book
GOLD MEDAL No te creas todo lo que leas, Didi Whitefalcon, Illustrated by Verónica Rodríguez
SILVER MEDAL Voices of Diversity, Vanessa Caraveo
Most Inspirational Young Adult Book
GOLD MEDAL Harvesting Dreams, Erica Alfaro; Barker & Jules SILVER MEDAL Your Heart, My Sky, Margarita Engle; Simon & Schuster

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Exploring the world of Latinx YA, MG, & children's literature