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Flipgrid is where social and emotional learning happens! The leading video discussion platform for millions of PreK to PhD educators, students, and families.

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This section of the book has impacted my thinking about translanguaging in that it wanted me to provide more opportunities for student choice in writing so that they will truly learn to ENJOY writing and view it as a powerful tool. I want to incorporate more "we GET to…" rather than we "have to" so that students view writing as something they look forward to rather than a chore. I also appreciated this section for the reminders that many things can 'count' as writing and can build up to writing, including rich detailed pictures that students draw. The shared writing and interactive writing practice in the curriculum is also a great opportunity to model translanguaging for students and give them permission to write fluidly in both languages.

I agree with my colleagues about the constraints of assessments on allowing students to develop at their own pace as bilingual writers. This process is often rushed (and thus not fully developed) when students are newcomers but have to catch up to their grade level peers. We need to meet students where they are as writers.

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After finishing the reading for this week it is evident that we as educators to bilingual students must understand the profound implications of how our students understand writing. When setting forth an assignment there are important questions we should be asking ourselves. What is the purpose for writing I offer in my class? Do my students have opportunities to write for an authentic audience? Most importantly, in what ways can I support the development of the emergent bilingual writer’s ideas? Often, when writing with my students I find myself telling my students that if they cannot think of a word in English to tell me what it is in Spanish. This way  we can make that connection for their reading, writing, speaking and listening. Maybe even find a cognate for the word to make that home language connection.  I encourage my students to tell me their thoughts in Spanish and then see if they can convey those same thoughts in English on paper. I encourage that if some of their writing is in Spanish and some in English that that is okay. I like the fact that they are simply participating and wanting to be part of a lesson, discussions, etc. I think that reading to an authentic audience is also important. It helps my students take accountability for their work and feel more comfortable with their peers.

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As a kindergarten teacher much of the writing we do in class is shared writing. The example shared in the section "Writing That is Connected to the World" on page 145 resonated with me. It was a shared writing experience where the bilingual teacher incorporated the students native language into the shared writing. I see how this experience really validates a students' ideas and encourages them to share their thoughts. After reading this I incorporated using a little Spanish in my classroom during math and the students had different reactions. Some students thought it was silly, but other students seemed to connect to the language experience. I think I would like to try to incorporate the example presented in the book during my next shared writing experience.

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Let's together dive deeper into adopting adopting a translanguaging stance and perspective towards student writing. We will use the sense chart to help us go beyond what we immediately see, to include other lenses and senses.

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As an educator of ELLs, students come to my room with multiple languages. I have always tried to tap into their strengths, and that has always included other languages. I feel that very often, the reading and writing we ask of students in school is not meaningful to them. Very often, activities meant to be meaningful, such as writing a card to your family, loses meaning when students are aware hat their parents won't be able to read the final product since it is not in their language, or their anticipated audience may not be literate. This makes the writing void of authenticity and purpose for the child. I think that the idea of translanguaging allows students to bring themselves and their audience to their writing and make it more meaningful to them. Unfortunately, much of what we are asked to do as educators, takes that authenticity away from what students are doing in school, and instead sets goals devoid of personal connection, and instead related to standardized expectations. One thing I used to do, which I feel I need to return to , is the use of dialogue journals. Students wrote to me in an effort to communicate a message, anyway they could, and I responded. It allowed for translanguaging, illustrations, and sometimes, expressing that they couldn't get their ideas in writing. I feel that this was an authentic means of communicating and expressing thoughts, and had a great impact on them learning to write.

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As Melissa and I are co-teaching our stand-alone students this year, we collaborated to answer these questions.

This has been a learning experience for us.  We found that by allowing students to construct their own responses in relation to something with significant meaning in their lives, they didn’t need as much assistance as they typically would.  Students were able to use their personal experiences and make connections to others.  Many of our students wrote in both languages because some things simply cannot be translated without loss of meaning or sentiment.  This allowed them to focus on what they wanted to say rather than on saying it “perfectly” in English.  Although we have always welcomed the use of any language in class discussion, because these topics resonated with our students, they could not help but use their native language where they felt it was most appropriate in conveying meaning and feeling about a particular topic.  Going forward, we feel the best approach would be to provide students with a variety of topics and have them choose what resonates with them. What would they like to read and write about? What topics interest them? Etc.

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My thoughts about my readings in Part III.
It is clear that we must eliminate any confines that we create for emergent bilingual writers. Reading these chapters makes me feel a great deal of empathy for these children. Forcing them to think and write only in English indeeds limits their maximum potential. Much of this has come from directives I have been given over the years. I was led to believe that we must be sure to speak, write and think in English as that is the way that these students will learn English much more quickly. I now see that it is more important to hear what the students are thinking in any way that they can communicate this. I have begun to allow the students to write in either language and have already seen much more participation. I will encourage them to do so in the future as well.

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Thoughts on Part 3:
I firmly agree with the authors when they say that we have to be student driven, not data driven. We must get to know our students strengths and use them to develop their writing. Even if our emergent bilingual students are only producing visual pictures that still shows us that they have a voice and want to say something. I t is our job to put those pictures into words. We must not be forced into a "curriculum model"that is neither appropriate nor successful for our bilingual learners or we will force them to shut down. I particularly loved the quote on page 208, " while some students may seem to lack typical school knowledge, they all have experiences." Once teachers can come to realize this, we might start getting somewhere with our students. Bilingual students have twice the experience that monolingual students have ( at least linguistically) and we need to capitalize on that!

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Many of the theories, concepts and practices I have read and learned about in my experience as a bilingual learner and an educator center around the theme that our entire linquistic repertoire plays an integral part in our development of speaking, listening, reading and writing (in any language). I firmly agree. The challenges arise when pacing benchmarks, assessments, pacing guides and academic expectations take presedence over this understanding. As a bilingual teacher I have had to navigate between professional demands and the developmental progress of language acquisition in emergent bilingual students. It is one of the reasons I wanted to be part of this book club. Discussions like these ground and remind me that although many of my TBE students have not made the same writing progress as some of their peers, they have made their own personal progress. Reading about familiar terms such as language experience approach and names like Vygotsky remind me that each individual learner is at a different level and they each may need a different approach. I can use and refer to terms such as Descriptive Review when I assess the drawings and letters of their writing. Also, I remember the many practices I can use (readers theatre, journals, drawing, interactive writing) to continue to guide the writing process of all my students.

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My takeaways from reading Part III:

I believe we must redefine what our writing expectations, even the writing framework, for our emergent bilinguals. I feel like I have unknowingly been "boxing them in" and not tapping into their complete reservoirs of knowledge and skills. I've spent a lot of time modifying and adapting writing activities for my students so that they can reach GE objectives and goals, not realizing its been hindering their potential. Moving forward, I would like to incorporate more student choice in writing. I'd like to delve further into who my students are as writers, not how they perform in writing specific genres. I want to encourage my students to use BOTH languages while writing, and help them understand why it is so powerful to do so.

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As a follow up activity to this poem (My Name is Jorge, by Jane Medina the students completed Google Slides entitled "Mi nombre es".  I adapted the lesson by having them find images and write words or sentences (in English and/or Spanish) about their favorite things.   S. Moreira

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My Name, My Identity -  My Name Is Jorge

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Part 1

1) TAKE NOTES: On a piece of paper or separate document, write down 3 new words, ideas or concepts, 2 new teaching ideas, and 1 quote from Part 3 of Rooted in Strength by Espinosa & Ascenzi-Moreno. Do not post your notes.

2) REPRESENT YOUR THINKING VISUALLY: Using your notes, create a beautiful word cloud of ideas using EdWordle. Attach your word cloud to your post for this forum.

3) WRITE: Synthesize your ideas and thinking by writing a one-paragraph response to the question: In what ways has translanguaging impacted your thinking, stance and practices regarding multilingual learners as writers? What would you do differently? Why?

4) Choose two peers' posts to comment on: Draw connections, challenge ideas, identify key concepts, or provoke change by inviting your peers to transform beliefs and attitudes through action.

Part 2

1) Choose one of your multilingual students' pieces of writing. You can choose one of the students you work with as a teacher in schools or one of your virtual partners.

2) Using the framework and practices suggested in Chapter 10 of Rooted in Strength by Espinosa & Ascenzi-Moreno, apply a descriptive review of the multilingual student's writing from a perspective of strength (P. 196-200).

Gather information about the student's personal interactions, interests and modes of thinking.

Make low inferences about the writing. Make an effort not to "correct" student's writing. Try to understand how they are constructing the text, what linguistic and multimodal resources they are using and what message they are trying to convey.

What are the strengths of the text? How can you help your student take risks and continue to draw on their entire linguistic repertoire to make meaning? What new features can be added to their linguistic repertoire?

3) Post a picture of your notes as you describe your student's writing as well as the student's writing piece.

4) Comment on two peers' students' writings. What other strengths do you see?

*Revisit discussions to promote a back and forth dialogue, replying to peers that have commented on your work whenever possible.

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Rooted in Strength Questioning! - Google Jamboard

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12/9/21 Chalk Talk: What does it mean to develop a translanguaging stance as a teacher?

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12/9/21 Chalk Talk: What does it mean to develop a translanguaging stance as a teacher?

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Chalk Talk: https://thinkingpathwayz.weebly.com/chalktalk.html

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What does it mean to develop a translanguaging stace as a teacher? - Google Jamboard

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What does it mean to develop a translanguaging stace as a teacher?

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Part 1 Asynchronous Activity - Due January 13, 2022

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Part 1 Asynchronous Activity - Due January 13, 2022

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Flipgrid is where social and emotional learning happens! The leading video discussion platform for millions of PreK to PhD educators, students, and families.