# data[].attributes.body
Equitable assessment practices require thoughtful supports. In my recent math performance task, I used:

Pre-assessment vocabulary review using visuals and interactive practice.

Partner rehearsal before written tasks helps students clarify responses.

Why It Matters:

These adaptations lowered affective filters, allowing students to express their understanding through multiple formats, which aligns with WIDA (2012) guidelines.

Other key accommodations:

Extended time

Quiet space

Visual cues and sentence frames

Oral clarification

These ensure that assessments measure content knowledge, not just English proficiency (Huynh, 2023; ACCESS for ELLs, n.d.).

# data[].attributes.body
Self-reflection is critical for educators who serve diverse learners. Here are 5 powerful strategies:

1. Lesson Journaling: After each lesson, I jot down what worked and what didn’t.

2. Student Voice: I ask students to complete short reflection surveys or give verbal feedback.

3. Peer Coaching: Observing and being observed sharpens my perspective.

4. Data Monitoring: Reviewing language development scores helps me adjust supports.

5. Cultural Inquiry: I explore students’ backgrounds to better connect instruction to identity.

# data[].attributes.body
Continued learning is essential for ELL educators. I’ve identified three rich opportunities:

1. WIDA Workshops – Deepen understanding of language standards and instructional planning.

2. MDTESOL – Join a community of bilingual educators, attend conferences, and advocate for equitable policy (mdtesol.org).

3. American University’s ELL Blog – Offers accessible articles on strategies and current research: https://soeonline.american.edu/blog/english-language-learners-resources

Commitment: I plan to attend MDTESOL’s fall conference and engage in their advocacy webinars. These networks will help me stay current and contribute to systemic change.

# data[].attributes.body
As a multilingual classroom teacher, I’ve seen how digital tools can make content and language accessible for all learners. Here are some of the resources that have transformed how my ELL students engage with literacy and vocabulary:

Immersive Reader (Microsoft Tool)
Highlights and reads texts aloud, allowing for customization of spacing, fonts, colors, and translation, thereby improving ELL access to written materials (Office Tutorials, 2022).

Digital Word Walls
Promote vocabulary development by displaying interactive, categorized vocabulary with visuals that support English Language Learners' (ELLs') comprehension and academic discourse.

Storyline Online

https://www.storylineonline.net/

Storyline Online is a free literacy website where celebrity actors read children's books aloud, accompanied by animated illustrations. The SAG-AFTRA Foundation produces it and is widely used by educators to promote reading fluency, listening comprehension, and vocabulary development.

FigJam by Figma – https://www.figma.com/figjam
A collaborative whiteboard where students can brainstorm, use visuals, and organize information. Helps scaffold writing and idea development in a visual format (Gonzalez, 2025).

# data[].attributes.body
Observing classroom instruction helped me recognize two influential theories:

Krashen’s Input Hypothesis:

Emphasizes providing understandable language just above students’ current level.

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory:

Highlights learning through social interaction and guided support (Friedrichsen, n.d.).

I observed these theories in action through scaffolds such as visuals, sentence starters, modeling, and peer discussion. Teachers provided students with multiple entry points for meaning-making.

# data[].attributes.body
The resource emphasizes the importance of cultural understanding in education, highlighting that it is essential for creating inclusive and effective learning environments. Cultural understanding enables educators to connect more effectively with students from diverse backgrounds, thereby reducing biases and fostering respect (MultiBrief: Why Cultural Understanding Is Essential, n.d.).

📎 Flyer Link: Cultural Resource for Educators: Empowering Instruction for ELLs through Culturally Responsive Teaching

https://www.canva.com/design/DAGpc7EOsvQ/ZvU6kEJuQxLHiJzAyBl2gg/edit?utm_content=DAGpc7EOsvQ&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

According to Hill et al. (2022), reflection should be part of daily practice, with coaching and collaboration embedded in professional learning. This growth mindset fuels equity-driven instruction.

# data[].attributes.body
1. Reflect on your beliefs about how students learn language.

2. Connect those beliefs to specific strategies you use (e.g., group work, wait time, modeling).

3. Include your commitment to inclusive, culturally responsive teaching.

4. Keep it learner-centered and growth-oriented.

This process helped me articulate why I value language-rich environments and how theory guides my approach.

# data[].attributes.custom_properties.QpzE041M
Colorin Colorado. (2012, February 24). The changing ELL field: Seeing language and culture as assets [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTYARzClMr4

# data[].attributes.custom_properties.QpzE041M
Edutopia. (2023, December 7). Tailoring instruction to support English language learners [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1D362yrn_E

# data[].attributes.body
Friedrichsen, A. (n.d.). Second Language acquisition theories and what it means for teacher instruction. NWCommons. https://nwcommons.nwciowa.edu/education_masters/200/

# data[].attributes.body
Gonzalez, J. (2025, April 20). 6 Ed tech tools to try in 2023 | Cult of Pedagogy. Cult of Pedagogy. https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/6-ed-tech-tools-to-try-in-2023/

# data[].attributes.body
ACCESS for ELLs. (n.d.-b). WIDA. https://wida.wisc.edu/assess/access

# data[].attributes.body
Hill, H. C., Papay, J. P., & Research Partnership for Professional Learning (RPPL). (2022). Building Better PL: How to Strengthen Teacher Learning. In rpplpartnership.org (pp. 1–4).

# data[].attributes.body
Huynh, T. (2023, July 28). Making assessments more equitable for multilingual learners. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/making-assessments-equitable-multilingual-students/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Tailoring Instruction to Support English Language Learners

# data[].attributes.body
Office Tutorials. (2022, June 29). Microsoft Word - How to use IMMERSIVE READER (Features Overview) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iKgPvZFJLo

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The changing ELL field: Seeing language and culture as assets

# data[].attributes.body
Classroom Tip:

After reading a passage in ReadWorks, I have students use Jamboard to create a word web with key vocabulary. This helps reinforce meaning through visual and written modes.

Research Support:

Using visuals, audio, and interactive tasks supports language input and scaffolding for multilingual learners (WIDA, 2012; Huynh, 2023).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Meet Alma Milan

The needs, struggles, and achievements of English language learners are diverse and unique; understanding them is not always easy for educators. However, some educators were English language learners themselves and therefore have a bit of insiders' knowledge. Such is the case of Alma Milan, a certified ESL teacher at Kosciuszko Middle School. Of Filipino background, she came to the U.S. at age six, knowing three languages - none of which was English. She can recollect what it was like to be in a classroom and not knowing what anyone was saying! She believes that having been an ELL student herself, she is more sensitive to her students' needs - especially their fear of making mistakes.

Technology use is an intrinsic part of Alma's classroom; in fact, her class takes place in a computer lab. By using visual supports (clip art and other graphic images), the students are able to see an object and associate it with the words they see and hear. She uses Power Point presentations in her lectures to introduce colors, geography concepts, and an array of nouns. She finds this method especially important for visual learners and those students with low literacy levels. Through visual representations, she helps her students build the vocabulary needed for the content lessons in their regular classes (she is required to teach some of this content in the ESL class). Her school uses the "block system," and students have a daily ESL period equivalent to half a block each day (about a 45-minute period).

A method that she finds beneficial to her students is pairing them according to skill. She will pair someone with weak literacy skills with someone with higher literacy skills; in oral conversation exercises, she will pair a shy student with a more outgoing one - students usually find a way to compensate for each other's skills and help each other learn. Sharing seems to be prevalent in her teaching methods. She has done exercises that help her students explore the holidays and traditions of peers from other countries, using these as a basis for conversation starters and even writing exercises.

Because she wants her students to be self-learners, the Internet plays an important role in her classroom. Often she will create a list of sites with useful information (and very importantly, at an adequate reading level!), then ask her students to create a presentation based on research through those sites. She often has her students use webs or concept maps to organize the information from their searches.

As with many ELL/ESL/ESOL teachers, Alma struggles with the many different levels of proficiency among her students (some have high oral skills, but low reading and writing). All of Alma's students are Hispanic. Many of them were born in the U.S., then traveled back to their parents' home countries. Now, returning to the U.S. as young teenagers, they cannot recollect much from their early years.

It seems that Alma's rapport with her students transcends their time in her classroom, as many have stayed in contact after moving on to high school. As one of her colleagues told us "Alma is not difficult to adore; she is firm and strict. Her ideas are fresh and inspirational. Her students adore her. She truly has their best interest in mind, giving them every opportunity to be technologically literate, as well as assisting them in developing their language skills. Her expectations are high, and the students respond to this very well."

Thank you to Heidi Stutzki for nominating Alma and contributing to this story.

Do you know an outstanding ELL teacher? Paraprofessional? Student?

Click here to nominate them.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Using technology to create a visual learning environment

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The needs, struggles, and achievements of English language learners are diverse and unique; understanding them is not always easy for educators. However, some educators were English language learners themselves and therefore have a bit of insiders' knowledge. Such is the case of Alma Milan, a certified ESL teacher at Kosciuszko Middle School.

# data[].attributes.body
WIDA. (2012). WIDA focus on: The language of school. Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin–Madison. https://wida.wisc.edu/sites/default/files/resource/Focus-On-School.pdf