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Professional Growth Reflection

Throughout the course of this program, I have learned a lot about school improvement processes, state accountability, school leadership, and adult learning. Last year, after being a high school ESL teacher for nearly five years, I stepped into a new role as a Multilingual Learner instructional coach working with three of the schools in our district. This was a newly created position for Shelby County, so it was a learning curve as our district ML team navigated what this role should look like. Being in this new position while implementing my culminating project allowed me to spend more time working with school and district administrators, having access to “big picture” data, and learning how and why decisions are made.

My project focused on improving teacher confidence and competency in teaching language and literacy skills, ultimately improving instruction for all students, including Multilingual Learners. In my role as ML Instructional Coach, I was able to provide some whole-staff professional development opportunities and work with specific teachers and PLCs as they designed lessons and units. As our school is TSI for English Learners plus monitored (recently exited) students, this aligns with school improvement goals of novice reduction, increased reading and math proficiency, and increased graduation rates of sub groups including Multilingual Learners.

Working with the school administrators and instructional leadership team this year, I have learned how to better analyze student data and “play the game” of state assessment and accountability. While high-stakes assessments are not the end-all be-all, they play an important part in our school’s accountability and each student matters. This year, we have been tracking data for individual students in our gap groups (IXL data, graduation/credit requirements, college and career readiness, grades, etc.) in order to put plans in place to increase achievement for these students. As a whole-school effort, students have shown growth overall. According to IXL diagnostic data, roughly 20% of our ML sophomores are projected to score proficient on KSA Reading and Math, surpassing the state average of 9% of MLs scoring proficient in Reading and 10% of MLs scoring proficient in Math. Through conversations and surveys, teachers have also indicated that their confidence/knowledge about teaching Multilingual Learners.

I have grown this year in collaborating with teachers and analyzing data and its implications. I have also been able to practice my leadership skills by sharing my expertise through facilitating some professional development opportunities for school faculty. With increasing achievement for ML students being a priority school improvement goal this year, conversations with teachers about individual students and instructional practices have led to increased intentionality. While I was asked to work specifically with two PLCs, I wish I had checked in and followed up with a wider range of teachers more frequently throughout the year. Going forward, as our schools start to implement stronger schoolwide systems and structures for student learning and intervention, I plan to continue to support teaching and learning for all students and be more intentional about how and when I support and follow up with teachers. I would like to set up more consistent and efficient personal systems for coaching cycles, providing resources, and giving feedback.

Culminating Project Reflection

My project started from a combination of school data and a passion for literacy and Multilingual Learners. Being in the ML world and knowing that our ML students (roughly 16% of our student population) are a “gap group” for us, I felt that this would be a worthwhile focus where I could share some of my expertise with colleagues. I then began diving into our School Report Card and other data, which indicated that the vast majority of our ML students are not scoring proficient in Reading, even if they have been enrolled in our school district since preschool. Our school has been identified as TSI for English Learners for three years in a row, so it is obvious that something needs to change in order to meet the needs of these students and ensure that they are learning at high levels.

The initial project proposal started out “bigger” than it was actually able to be during this school year. I had originally planned to implement monthly personalized PD with core content departments relating to language, literacy, and EL best practices, as well as monitor our new intervention system and provide learning around teaching foundational literacy skills. With so many new district initiatives, new curriculum for Math and English, a new block schedule, and other expectations placed on teachers, the original scale of this project simply wasn’t totally feasible this school year. There were several curveballs this year, with change in school administration being one of the tougher challenges.

As I began to implement my project, I was able to plan and facilitate three larger professional development opportunities, with two of those being required for all faculty at Collins. For the first opportunity, I partnered with one of the other ML Instructional Coaches in Shelby County to plan and present a session about two of our “Top Five” ML strategies at our district Inspired Learning Conference. Teachers and administrators from all over the district had the opportunity to choose this presentation as one of their sessions. The next PD opportunity included meetings with small groups of teachers during their planning period to go over PSP accommodations and English proficiency levels of individual students on their rosters. For the third opportunity, I partnered with another of our district ML Instructional Coaches to plan and facilitate an immersive Spanish lesson experience using strategies to make content comprehensible despite the language barrier. When asked to reflect on their experiences with each PD opportunity, most teachers indicated that their confidence/knowledge of teaching MLs increased and that each session was useful for them. Looking back, I wish I had followed up more consistently with more teachers.

This year, the school has been focused on bettering core instruction and learning how to implement an intervention period at the high school level to ultimately increase learning for students and increase Reading and Math proficiency on KSA to try to move out of TSI status. Because 10th graders take the Reading and Math tests on KSA, we narrowed our focus and I was asked to work closely with English 2 and Geometry teachers and 10th grade ML students. We created a spreadsheet to document IXL data/growth, language proficiency levels, grades, and 8th grade KSA scores for all sophomore ML and monitored (former ML) students throughout the year. One of the school’s 90-day goals was that 80% of identified gap group students (Sophomore ML and ECE) will grow at least 50 points in performance on the Math and Reading IXL diagnostic assessments. While not quite yet at 80%, there has been some significant growth for a lot of students. While I initially planned to work with all core content areas, data and school goals led us to narrow down to sophomores for now.

Also, this was the first year that true intervention time, and not just a glorified study hall, was built into the master schedule. At the high school level, intervention structures and instruction is a “muddy” process and everyone was learning to build the plane as we flew it. The school implemented some schoolwide structures, expectations, and a scheduling platform as a starting point. At the time, compliance and getting intervention off the ground was the most important focus, so I didn’t have as much of an impact in this part of my project as initially proposed. I worked mainly with our ML Instructional Assistants to decide which ML students to schedule during Titan Time, help determine which skills to intervene on, help provide resources, and help them determine priorities for students (finishing assignments, remediating tests, providing language instruction).

Going forward, our school instructional leadership team has learned a lot about RTI and MTSS this year and putting systems in place to ensure that intervention is both logistically possible and that it can be effective. Strong Tier 1 and Tier 2 instruction rely a lot on cohesive PLCs and discussions about data and instructional strategies. PLCs will be a focus next year, and I plan to be more intentional with various PLCs, including elective course PLCs, as I help support teachers and advocate for students in those conversations. Increased clarity around student learning and effective instructional strategies will lead to gains in student achievement. Ultimately, this project is just a small piece of the puzzle and it will be an ongoing process for years to come as we figure out how to ensure that all students, including MLs, are learning at high levels and are prepared for life after high school.

I chose to share my reflections on a Padlet I created with resources for teachers. This Padlet is available to teachers through our district ML resource Google Site. Since my project was mostly focused on instruction and achievement of Multilingual Learners, I thought this was a fitting outlet to share my project reflections and will hopefully be useful for colleagues.

Shared Media Link: https://padlet.com/meikahamblin/el-strategies-resources-m6clae2ni3r02v0z

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"Excited to Learn English" by Luke Mackin is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
"Teachers are so overwhelmed, they see an ELL kid as one more thing, rather than as someone who has something really powerful to contribute to the class." Listen now or read the transcript:
In Episode 1 of the Cult of Pedagogy Podcast, we meet Kim, a middle school ESL teacher. She talks about the complexities of teaching English-language learners, like the power imbalance that arises when the kids speak English but the parents don't, why ELL students won't look their teachers in the eye, and the well-intended mistake so many content area teachers make when working with a diverse population. She describes technology tools that improve language learning, instructional strategies that make a huge difference, and what she would do if she could design standardized testing for ELL students.

Language teachers, policymakers and anyone who serves an ELL population will learn a lot from this one. ♦

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Kim talks about the complexities of teaching English-language learners and the well-intended mistake so many teachers make when working with this population.

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It's a given that we want our students to read well.
We want them to handle challenging material strategically, to comprehend all of its nuances clearly, to break it down and analyze it, and more than anything, to remember what they read.

Lately, the mandate to support student reading has been directed outside the English language arts classroom: Teachers of history, science, and other subjects are now expected to weave literacy instruction into their teaching of content. But how should they do that? What are the most effective ways to help students learn to read challenging content-area texts?

One way is to teach them text structures. This is different from text features - the headings, subheadings, and supporting visuals that writers use to highlight key points. A text structure is its overall organization: Common text structures are cause and effect, sequence, and compare/contrast. And research shows that when students are explicitly taught to identify text structures while they read, they understand the material better and retain more of it after reading (National Institute for Literacy, 2007).

This video shows you how to teach text structures:

Tools to Get You Started

Graphic Organizers

Teaching text structures is much easier with the help of graphic organizers. The organizers featured in this video, along with several others, are included in this Graphic Organizer Multi-Pack, available now in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.

Signal Terms

Students will be able to identify text structures more easily if they become familiar with signal terms, words and phrases that frequently occur in certain types of texts. Here's a free chart from the University of Tennessee's Center for Literacy, Education & Employment that shows common text structures with their signal terms: Informational-Text-Structures

Further Reading

What Content-Area Teachers Should Know About Adolescent Literacy
National Institute for Literacy, 2007
Every teacher interested in supporting students' reading and writing should grab a copy of this free 61-page PDF. It includes the strategies mentioned here, plus dozens of others for supporting student reading and writing in the content areas.

20 Strategies to Teach Text Structure
Kristi Orcutt, ESSDACK.org
This PDF provides some fantastic ideas for teaching students how to recognize text structures and use them to improve their comprehension.

Like what you've seen so far?
If you found this article useful, I'd love to have you come back for more.Join my mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration - in quick, bite-sized packages - all geared toward making your teaching more effective and joyful. To thank you, I'll send you a free copy of my new e-booklet, 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half. I look forward to getting to know you better!

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When We All Teach Text Structures, Everyone Wins

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Teachers of history, science, and other subjects are now expected to weave literacy instruction into their teaching of content. But how should they do that? What are the most effective ways to help students learn to read challenging content-area texts?

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Listen to this post as a podcast:
A note on terminology: The acronym ESL is used less often now in schools than it used to be, because we recognize that many students who are learning English already speak several other languages, so English would not be a "second" language. I use it several times in the post because schools sometimes refer to the teachers as ESL teachers, and the term is still widely used as a search term for this topic. My intent in using the acronym is to make this post easier to find online.

You have a new student, and he speaks no English. His family has just moved to your town from Japan, and though he receives English as a Second Language (ESL) support, he will also be sitting in your room every day to give him more exposure to his new language. How can you be a good teacher to someone who barely understands you?

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, an average of 9 percent of students in U.S. public schools are English Language Learners (ELLs); that number is closer to 14 percent in cities. Although many of these students start off in high-intensity, whole-day English programs, most are integrated into mainstream classrooms within a year, well before their English language skills would be considered proficient.

How prepared are you to teach these students? If you're like most classroom teachers, you have little to no training in the most effective methods for working with English language learners (Walker, Shafer, & Iiams, 2004). So that means we have a problem here: Lots of ELL kids in regular classrooms, and no teacher training to ensure the success of that placement.

Below, three ESL teachers tell us what they know about the things regular classroom teachers can do to improve instruction for ELL students. These 12 strategies are simple, they are not very time consuming, and best of all, they will help everyone in your class learn better:

1. Make it Visual

"Avoid giving instructions in the air," says Melissa Eddington, an Ohio-based ESL teacher. "ELL kids have a harder time processing spoken language." So instructions - even basic directions for classroom procedures - should be written on the board whenever possible. Challenging concepts should be diagrammed or supported with pictures. And modeling the steps of a process or showing students what a finished product should look like can go a long way toward helping students understand. "Sometimes showing our students what to do is all they need in order to do it," Eddington says. Not only will this kind of nonlinguistic representation improve comprehension for ELL students, it will help all of your students grasp concepts better.

2. Build in more group work.

"Kids aren't just empty glasses that we pour stuff into and then at the end of the day they dump it back onto a test," says Kim, an ESL teacher who was the subject of my very first podcast interview. "If you really want the kids to learn, they've got to be engaged." That means less teacher-led, whole-class instruction, and more small groups, where students can practice language with their peers in a more personal, lower-risk setting. And if ELL students attend your class with a resource teacher, make use of that person: In most cases the resource teacher doesn't have to work exclusively with the ESL students; they can work with smaller groups that happen to contain these students, helping to improve the teacher-student ratio and give kids more time to practice.

3. Communicate with the ESL teacher.

Mary Yurkosky, a former ESL teacher in Massachusetts, credits much of her students' success to the strong relationship she had with the regular classroom teachers. "The classroom teachers were always talking to me about what they were doing in their classes," she says. "They made it so easy for me to support them: If a teacher was going to be doing a unit on plants, I could make sure we used some of that same vocabulary in the ESL class."

Ideally, this could be systematized, where ESL teachers could regularly get copies of lesson plans or collaborate with regular classroom teachers to build solid back-and-forth support, but "it doesn't have to be that much work," Yurkosky insists. "Just talk to each other. Talk about what's going on in your classrooms, invite each other to special presentations, share what your students are learning, and the words will naturally find their way into the ESL class."

4. Honor the "silent period."

Many new language learners go through a silent period, during which they will speak very little, if at all. "Don't force them to talk if they don't want to," says Eddington, "A lot of students who come from cultures outside of America want to be perfect when they speak, so they will not share until they feel they are at a point where they're perfect." Just knowing that this is a normal stage in second language acquisition should help relieve any pressure you feel to move them toward talking too quickly.

5. Allow some scaffolding with the native language.

Although it has been a hotly debated topic in the language-learning community, allowing students some use of their first language (L1) in second-language (L2) classrooms is gaining acceptance. When a student is still very new to a language, it's okay to pair him with other students who speak his native language. "Some students are afraid to open their mouths at all for fear of sounding stupid or just not knowing the words to use," Yurkosky says. "Letting them explain things or ask questions in their first language gets them to relax and feel like a part of the class."

And this doesn't only apply to spoken language. If you give students a written assignment, but the ELL student doesn't yet have the proficiency to handle writing his response in English, "Don't make them just sit there and do nothing," Eddington says. "Allow them to write in their first language if they're able. This allows them to still participate in journal writing or a math extended response, even if you can't read what they write." There has even been some evidence that allowing second-language learners to pre-write and brainstorm in L1 results in higher-quality writing in L2 in later stages of the writing process (Yigzaw, 2012).

6. Look out for culturally unique vocabulary.

"For most of these kids, their background knowledge is lacking, especially with things that are unique to American or westernized culture," says Eddington. It's important to directly teach certain vocabulary words: "Show them videos of what it looks like to toss pizza dough, show pictures of a juke box or a clothing rack - things that are not common in their own language."

One way to differentiate for ELL students is to consider the whole list of terms you're going to teach for a unit, and if you think an ELL student may be overwhelmed by such a long list, omit those that are not essential to understanding the larger topic at hand.

7. Use sentence frames to give students practice with academic language.

All students, not just English language learners, need practice with academic conversations. Sentence frames - partially completed sentences like "I disagree with what _________ said because..." - show students how to structure language in a formal way. Keep these posted in a highly visible spot in your classroom and require students to refer to them during discussions and while they write.

For this kind of language to really sink in, though, Kim says it has to become a regular part of class. "They won't do it if it's not the norm in the class, because they'll be embarrassed to use it among their peers," she says. "But if they can put it off on the teacher and say, Oh, well, you know, Miss Kim makes me talk like this, then they don't look as hoity-toity as they would otherwise."

8. Pre-teach whenever possible.

If you're going to be reading a certain article next week, give ESL students a copy of it now. If you plan to show a YouTube video tomorrow, send a link to your ESL students today. Any chance you can give these students to preview material will increase the odds that they'll understand it on the day you present it to everyone else. "That kind of thing is wonderful," Yurkosky says. "The kids feel so empowered if they've had a chance to look at the material ahead of time."

9. Learn about the cultural background of your students...

Our second-language populations grow more diverse every year. Taking the time to learn the basics of where a child comes from - exactly, not 'somewhere in the Middle East/South America/Asia/Africa' - tells the student that you respect her enough to bother. Kim remembers one time when she had to set the record straight about the diverse South American population at her school: "I was listening to the teachers talking about the 'Mexican' kids in our building," she says, "and I was like, 'We don't have any Mexicans.'" Not taking the time to at least correctly identify a child's country of origin, much like not bothering to pronounce their name correctly, is a kind of microaggression, a small, subtle insult that communicates hostility toward people of color. Make a commitment to be someone who bothers to get it right.

Once you have the country straight, take things up a notch by learning about students' religious and cultural practices. If he is a practicing Muslim, he should be told if one of the pizzas you ordered for the class party has sausage on it. If she comes from a culture where eye contact with adults is viewed as disrespectful, you'll know not to force her to look you in the eye when she's talking.

10. ...but don't make a child speak for his entire culture.

In her podcast interview, Kim shared a story about watching a teacher ask a new Iraqi student how he felt about the war in his country, right in the middle of class. "That's not cultural inclusiveness," she explains. "I've seen teachers do this and then pat themselves on the back. The students' English is limited so they can't express themselves very well, and they don't want to 'represent'; they just want to be there." If you anticipate a theme coming up in your class that's going to be relevant to one of your students, have a conversation with them in advance, or check with your ESL teacher to see if they think it's appropriate for in-class discussion.

11. Show them how to take themselves less seriously...

By modeling the risk-taking that's required to learn a new language, you help students develop the courage to take their own risks, and to have a sense of humor about it. "I tried to say the word 'paint' ( pinta) in Portuguese and instead I said the word for 'penis' ( pinto). They all roared with laughter while I stood there with a What?? look on my face," Yurkosky says. "When they explained what I'd said, I laughed so hard! I told them that laughing was fine because sometimes mistakes are really funny, but ridicule is never okay."

12. ...but always take them seriously.

One of Kim's pet peeves about how teachers interact with English language learners is the way they often see students' efforts as 'cute,' missing the whole point of what the student is trying to say. "A student will be desperate to communicate, and the teacher will get distracted by the delivery and miss the message," she says. "That's painful for me to watch." It bothers her when teachers mistake a lack of language for a lack of intelligence or maturity. When a child can't express themselves as well as they would in their native language, it's far too easy to assume the concepts just aren't in their heads.

"It breaks my heart when I hear teachers say (ELL kids) don't know anything," says Eddington. "These are brilliant kids and they know a lot. They just can't tell us in English yet." Make a conscious effort to see past the accent and the mispronunciations and treat every interaction - every student - with the respect they deserve.

"They're doing twice the job of everybody else in the class," Kim adds, "even though the result looks like half as much." ♦

Further Reading

The ESL/ELL Teacher's Survival Guide is one of the highest-rated books on teaching English-language learners available. In addition to offering an overview of the research on second-language learners and best practices in teaching ESL, it also includes a whole section on teaching ESL in the content areas and another specifically geared toward teaching ELL students in mainstream classrooms.
References:
Walker, A., Shafer, J., & Iiams, M. (2004). "Not in my classroom": Teacher attitudes towards English language learners in the mainstream classroom. NABE Journal of Research and Practice, 2(1), 130-160.

Yigzaw, A. (2012). Impact of L1 use in L2 English writing classes. Ethiopian Journal of Education and Sciences, 8(1), 11-27.

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12 Ways to Support English Learners in the Mainstream Classroom

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Advice from three ESL teachers on the things regular classroom teachers can do to help English language learners thrive in mainstream classrooms.

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Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students
by Zaretta Hammond, 192 pages, Corwin, November 2014

This article contains Amazon Affiliate links. If you click these and make a purchase from Amazon, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

For eight years, I taught students who would likely be labeled "at risk." Not all of my kids fit that description, but at least half belonged to the groups we talk about when we talk about the opportunity* gap: Students whose race, culture, home language, or socioeconomic status are not necessarily a match with what many schools teach and value. I did my best to meet their needs, to challenge them and set them up for success in life, but when I look back with the knowledge I have gained over the last few years, I know I did a crappy job.

I think about Dion, one of my seventh graders, who sat listlessly through most of my classes, whose assignments were always half-finished, who always scored low on tests, who used his cute, slow smile as a cover any time I tried to push him to get his work done. I'd keep him in at lunch and after school, let him do piles of make-up work to try to bring his grade from an F to a D, and talk to him about how he needed to change his habits. But none of it worked. All of us, his other teachers and myself, met with Dion and his mom more than once to try and figure out how to get Dion to improve.

The discussion often went like this:

"What do you think is the problem here?" from one of my colleagues.

Dion shrugged. "I'm not doing my work."

From another teacher: "And what do you need to do differently?"

Another shrug. "Start doing my work, I guess."

Nothing changed. Dion managed to keep his grades up just enough to move on to eighth grade. His skills never improved, his habits stayed about the same, and he went on with his life, like hundreds of others moving through that same school system every year.

If we had read Zaretta Hammond's book, Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain , things could have been completely different for us, for Dion, and for so many other students in our school. This practical, insightful, and absolutely necessary book will help teachers do a better job of teaching a more diverse group of students.

A Brain-based Blueprint for Reaching Diverse Students

Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain is not just a "bag of tricks" teachers can pull from to help students from more diverse backgrounds do better. It is a thoughtful, holistic, brain-based approach to teaching the whole child.

By looking through the lens of neuroscience, Hammond shows us how the brain responds to various teaching approaches and learning environments, and helps us understand why, despite our best efforts, many students simply haven't responded to the kinds of interventions many schools put in place for them. "The problem of the achievement gap won't be solved by simply trying to motivate students of color to become more engaged learners," she writes. "We have to create school environments that welcome their natural ways of learning and shape content so that they see its connection to their lives and funds of knowledge."

The book is built around the Ready for Rigor Framework, four separate practice areas that, if used together, give us the tools for culturally responsive teaching. The practice areas are:

Awareness. Before teachers can truly meet the needs of diverse learners, we must develop the right mindset. This requires us to understand what "culture" really means, fully explore our own cultural beliefs and biases, and study how the brain learns.

Learning Partnerships. To succeed in school, diverse learners need to feel as if they are in partnership with their teachers. To create these relationships, we need to build trust with students, help them develop positive mindsets, and give them the language to talk about their learning.

Information Processing. Teachers need to understand how to expand students' intellective capacity so they can engage in deeper, more complex learning. This requires teachers to learn brain-based information processing strategies common to oral cultures like metaphors, rhythmic mnemonics, and "story-ifying" the content.

Community Building. Culturally responsive teachers work to create supportive, welcoming environments, places that feel socially and emotionally safe, so that students are comfortable enough taking the risks required to stretch their brains.

Apart from being incredibly useful and clear, what's great about this book is that it won't make teachers defensive. Rather than attacking teachers for taking the wrong approach, Hammond simply shows us why some methods are ineffective, then explains why a different approach works better. This lack of judgment is likely to give her message a bigger reach, and to help far more teachers develop the skills they need for this important work.

We Can Do Better

Maya Angelou said, "Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better." I believe most teachers are doing the best they can to serve all of their students. They just don't have enough tools. This book is without question a way to know better. I urge anyone who works with culturally diverse students, second-language students, or students who have grown up in poverty to read Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain . There's no way for me to reach Dion now, but there are millions of others just like him. Now we have the tools to really change their academic paths.

Now we know better. We just have to do it. ♦

Zaretta Hammond is a former English teacher who has been doing instructional design, school coaching, and professional development around the issues of equity, literacy, and culturally responsive teaching for the past 18 years. To read more of her work, visit her blog, Ready for Rigor, or follow her on Twitter at @Ready4Rigor.
See All Book Reviews Buy this Book Now
*Author's note, June 2018: This post has been revised slightly since its original publication in 2015, when I used the term "achievement gap" throughout. At the time, I was not aware of the way this term perpetuates deficit thinking about some of our students. My revisions are an attempt to use language that better represents our need to reach all children in a way that works for them.

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A Must-Have Guide to Culturally Responsive Teaching

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This practical, insightful, and absolutely necessary book is a guide for teachers who want to help culturally and linguistically diverse students not just survive, but thrive.

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Last month, I reviewed Zaretta Hammond's fantastic book, Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. Now I'm proud to have Zaretta here as a guest writer to share some specific strategies with us.

Culturally responsive teaching. Everybody is talking about it. The big question is: How do you actually make lessons culturally responsive? That comes up regularly when I am working with groups of teachers to improve outcomes for diverse students who are struggling. I remember working with a group of sixth grade teachers on improving learning for their at-risk students. These teachers were frustrated that their students, 95 percent of them students of color and English language learners, were not applying themselves to learning.

I suggested that we explore making lessons more culturally relevant in order to accelerate student learning. I remember the reaction of Janice, the science teacher. "I am not going to be rappin' about the periodic table," she said defiantly as she crossed her arms and sat back in her chair.

I couldn't blame her. Google "culturally responsive teaching" and you can find a dozen videos of well-meaning teachers leading some call-and-response chant about exponents or rapping about the Boston Tea Party while students sit back and giggle. That's because we usually talk about culturally responsive teaching only as an engagement strategy designed to motivate at-risk students to take learning seriously. Or we try to find a race-based connection to the content to make it "relevant" to minority students.

One of the biggest misconceptions about culturally responsive teaching is thinking you have to tie the lesson's content to African American or Latino students' racial background. The common belief is if you mention Africa, Mexico, or famous black and brown high achievers, it will spark students' attention. Then they will be motivated to participate.

In reality, culturally responsive teaching is less about using racial pride as a motivator and more about mimicking students' cultural learning styles and tools. These are the strategies their moms, dads, grandmas, and other community folks use to teach them life skills and basic concepts long before they come to school and during out-of-school time.

Culturally responsive teaching leverages the brain's memory systems and information processing structures. Why? Many diverse students come from oral cultural traditions. This means their primary ways of knowledge transfer and meaning-making are oral and active. It's a common cultural tradition that cuts across racial groups: African American, Latino, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander communities all have strong oral cultures. Each of these cultural groups uses the brain's memory systems for turning inert information into useable knowledge. They use memory strategies to make learning sticky, like connecting what needs to be remembered to a rhythm or music (that's why we still know the ABC song) or by reciting it in fun ways like a poem, riddle, or limerick.

I asked Janice what area of learning she wanted to help her kids improve. She said science vocabulary; they weren't learning the weekly words and it was getting in the way of their understanding of key concepts. She was frustrated and at the end of her rope. I asked how she was teaching it. She used the typical approach: On Monday, she listed the words on the board. Students copied them down and were required to look each word up and use it in a sentence. On Wednesday, there was a vocabulary test.

I suggested that we design word study to be more culturally responsive by making it more like the students' own cultural learning process. She was open for trying something different.

I offered her these three tips for transforming any lesson into something that looked and felt more culturally responsive to diverse students, something that would allow them to engage more and process the content effectively.

Games are the power strategy for culturally-grounded learning because they get the brain's attention and require active processing. Attention is the first step in learning. We cannot learn, remember, or understand what we don't first pay attention to. Call and response is just a way to get the brain's attention. Most games employ a lot of the cultural tools you'd find in oral traditions - repetition, solving a puzzle, making connections between things that don't seem to be related (Ever play Taboo or Apples to Apples?).

Organizing learning so that students rely on each other will build on diverse students' communal orientation. This communal orientation can be summed up in the African proverb, "I am because we are." Even making learning slightly competitive in a good-natured way increases students' level of attention and engagement. It's why the T.V. show Survivor has been around for so many years; it's a social-based game.

The brain is wired to remember stories and to use the story structure to make sense of the world. That's why every culture has creation stories. In oral traditions, stories play a bigger role in teaching lessons about manners, morality, or simply what plants to eat or not eat in the wilderness because it's the way content is remembered. Diverse students (and all students, really) learn content more effectively if they can create a coherent narrative about the topic or process presented. That's the brain's way of weaving it all together. (Bonus: It also offers a great way to check for understanding and correct misconceptions.)

So Janice took her weekly list of science vocabulary and created a variety of sorting and matching games for students. She built a set of simple card games based on Go Fish or Old Maid. In addition she created some team games. Each week students had different active ways to learn the vocabulary. For 10-15 minutes a couple of times during the week, students got to play these learning games rather than look up words in a dictionary. She gave them instructions for making the games at home if they wanted to.

Instead of the traditional weekly vocab test, she asked them to "storify" their understanding of key concept words like metamorphosis, using vocabulary from past weeks.

When I checked in with the group a few weeks later, she was the first one to share. She said student engagement was like night and day. Now all students were participating. She said she knew they were learning the vocabulary at a deeper level because they were actually using the new science terms during discussions and in their writing with no prompting from her.

The big A-ha's for the group that day were that (1) Culturally responsive teaching doesn't have to be some performance the teacher does to entertain students and (2) It doesn't have to mention race or reference culture at all. Instead, what makes a practice culturally responsive is that it mimics students' own cultural learning tools. They all realized that these practices are helpful for all students, not targeted at minority students.

The real trick is to use these strategies regularly as part of your instructional routine rather than doing them randomly every now and then. Consistency is the key. ♦

Learn more about how to improve diverse students' information processing skills and actually grow their brains in Zaretta Hammond's book, Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students .

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3 Tips to Make Any Lesson More Culturally Responsive

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Google "culturally responsive teaching" and you can find a dozen videos of well-meaning teachers leading some call-and-response chant about exponents or rapping about the Boston Tea Party while students sit back and giggle.

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The Great and Powerful Graphic Organizer | Cult of Pedagogy

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Beneath its simplicity lies an absolute dynamo, a vehicle that can cement learning more firmly than a lot of the other stuff we try, in a lot less time.

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Listen to the interview with Angela Peery:
Sponsored by Google for Education's Applied Digital Skills and fastIEP

I've been an educator for 36 years, and if there's one thing I think every educator can agree on, it's that increasing the number of words our students know is a good thing. Period.

This is supported by decades of research:

A rich vocabulary supports content knowledge in all disciplines. Conceptual understanding, along with both general and specific word knowledge, impacts learning at every age level, starting with oral language development in preschool. When older students know the meaning of specific words and are able to put related words together during a unit of study, they can connect to new content more readily and remember more (Marzano & Simms, 2013).

Word knowledge is key for reading comprehension. Kindergarten students' word knowledge predicts reading comprehension in second grade (Catts, Fey, Zhang, & Tomblin, 1999; Roth, Speece, & Cooper, 2002), and this persists through fourth grade (Wagner, Muse, & Tannenbaum, 2007). Even more surprisingly, Cunningham and Stanovich (1997) find that first-grade students' vocabulary knowledge predicts their reading comprehension level much later, in the eleventh grade.

Students who are deficient in vocabulary face numerous obstacles, including having much lower reading comprehension. Their reading range is thus limited, their writing lacks specificity and voice, and their spoken language lacks range of word choice. They risk reading less (both in volume and frequency), not understanding content-area texts or concepts well, writing lackluster essays and reports, and not being able to express themselves as well verbally.

This is why all teachers should address vocabulary instruction head-on.

But what words should be taught? In English language arts/reading classrooms, explicit vocabulary instruction should focus on general academic words (Beck, McKeown & Kucan, 2013). These words cut across disciplines and help students speak, read, and write well in all the academic settings in which they'll find themselves. In every discipline, there are also domain-specific terms students need to understand and learn.

8 Vocabulary-Building Strategies

Good vocabulary instruction can and should happen throughout the school day. This can happen through incidental learning, when students talk with and listen to others, watch videos, play games, and read independently, through explicit instruction, which are more structured activities, or with the help of digital tools.

The strategies that follow, most of which require very little preparation time, come from three of my books, shown below:

Strategy 1: Informal Conversations

One of the most powerful things teachers (and adults in the home) can do is to have rich conversations with children. Recent research on conversational turns (LENA, 2017) indicates that the more turns a young child takes in conversation with an adult, the more they grow their vocabulary and verbal acuity in general.

So asking questions of a student, receiving their responses, adding information, and asking them to reflect or add more information-in other words, keeping the conversation going-is important in vocabulary development. This idea has great potential for non-instructional segments of the preschool elementary day like snack time, lining up to go to lunch, and restroom breaks. It also has potential for older students.

Strategy 2: Anchored Word Learning

Anchored Word Learning (Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2002) is ideal to use with elementary students where read-alouds are typically part of the daily routine. It can also be used in the upper grades, especially with complex text that is being read aloud and discussed together as a whole class.

For young children, picture books provide excellent sources of higher-level, sophisticated words that are important for expanding vocabulary. They expose students to words they would not typically read within leveled books or on their own. For older children, excerpts from novels, nonfiction texts of various types, and content-area texts can all be used for anchored word learning.

Isabel Beck suggests selecting three general academic words each time the teacher reads aloud a picture book or trade book; these should not be esoteric or archaic terms, but words likely to come up in other academic texts. Older students may be able to handle more words during a read-aloud and class discussion, but teachers are cautioned not to select too many words for one lesson. Three to five words is usually sufficient.

Prior to reading, teachers need to complete three simple preparation steps:

1. Select a read-aloud. Choose from books by favorite authors, recommended books, new books, old favorites, picture books, trade books, and content-area texts that impart critical information.

2. Identify three to five words for direct instruction. Select words which will expand students' vocabulary and will likely appear in varied contexts-or focus on words critically important to the content being taught. "Nice to know" words don't have a place here. The idea is to teach important words that are likely to appear in various contexts or words you really want students to know.

3. Mark the words in the text with a sticky note or with a highlighter and annotations if the text is on paper.

Once this preparation is complete, follow these steps with students:

1. Read the entire text aloud. Don't stop in the first reading to discuss the words at length. Students need to hear complex texts being read aloud fluently-especially a first reading-so they can start to process the story itself or the complicated ideas present in many nonfiction and content-specific texts.

2. After reading the text through once, go back and bring attention to each targeted word. You may want to reread the sentences and/or paragraphs in which each word appears.

3. Have students say each word aloud.

4. Write each word so it's visible to students. You may want to have students write the words down as well (or use their fingers and "write" the words in the air or in the palms of their hands). With younger students, spell the word as you write it. Call attention to any interesting spelling feature, such as double letters, silent E, prefixes, etc.

5. Provide a student-friendly definition of each word. You may want to repeat this several times.

6. Provide examples for each word beyond the context of the text. Encourage children to provide examples of their own so they personalize the word, relating it to their own context. This is a great time to use think-pair-share or turn-and-talk.

7. If desired, post these words on your academic word wall. If you're an ELA/reading teacher, you may want to have a section of the word wall dedicated to words from read-alouds.

Strategy 3: TIP Chart

This adaptation of a word wall features a visual in addition to a brief definition. TIP stands for term, information, and picture. Basically, a TIP Chart (Rollins, 2014) is a three-column poster displayed so students can quickly use it to remind them of the meaning of an important content-area ( tier three) word. In essence, it's a vocabulary anchor chart.

Unlike the well-known Frayer Model, the TIP Chart is useful for words that are fairly straightforward in meaning-not ones with heavy conceptual weight. Once completed, the TIP Chart serves as an "at a glance" reference for important disciplinary terms; this purpose must be kept in mind if the strategy is to be most beneficial.

TIP charts are displayed prominently for the whole class to see, but students can also keep personal TIP charts in their notebooks or digital files as well. The teacher can first model how to create the chart, and later, students can be involved in deciding what information to record and what picture to draw to go with each word.

The best time to use the strategy is when beginning a new chunk of instruction, like a chapter or unit. With the chart ready, announce the first word and call students' attention to the importance of this word in the current segment of instruction. Write the word in column one. Then share the formal and full definition, which ideally would also be printed in the text or on a screen or board in the classroom. Along with students, from this full definition, develop a short, student-friendly definition or a brief list that you write in the middle column. Do not write the full, formal definition in column two. Lastly, provide or co-create a simple visual in column three.

So, for the term soliloquy in my 9 th grade English class, I would first give the formal definition: A long, usually serious speech that a character in a play makes to an audience and that reveals the character's thoughts. We might talk for a minute about the fact that playwrights use soliloquies so the audience understands what a character is thinking. So, in the middle column, we might write the student-friendly, casual definition: When someone in the play thinks out loud. And, to emphasize the fact that this kind of speech is usually given with the character standing alone on the stage, I might then draw a single stick figure with lines or a speech bubble emanating from its face to indicate that he or she is speaking.

The TIP Chart in my class might look something like this:

Here's a social studies example. For the term "monopoly," the full definition might be "the exclusive possession or control of the supply or trade in a commodity or service." It is assumed that the teacher is also teaching the term "commodity" along with "monopoly." In column two for "monopoly," the teacher may write "control of a product or service." In the third column, he or she might draw a large square that surrounds smaller squares, thus showing the dominance of the one provider. Students might also suggest something that symbolizes a monopoly to them, like an iPhone surrounded by other types of cell phones, but the iPhone appears much larger or more prominent, or the other phones are crossed out.

Teachers can gradually do less in whole-class fashion with TIP charts and encourage students to create their own in hard-copy notebooks or digital notebooks using Google Docs, LiveBinders, or OneNote. Students might preview the first part of each chapter or unit (in any class) and try to complete a personal TIP chart to be kept in their organizational system. They could also collaborate with other students to create TIP charts, so that if any individual is confused about a word, they can get ideas from others. This is a portable strategy students can use with any content area and any textbook from elementary school well into college.

Strategy 4: Save the Last Word for Me

Save the Last Word for Me (Beers, 2003) is an ideal strategy to promote peer conversation, increase engagement, and promote deeper processing about vocabulary and content. Although it's usually applied to conversations about literature, its clearly defined structure is perfect for reviewing vocabulary and gaining deeper understanding of specific terms.

It is fairly typical for teachers to provide guided review activities before a unit test, midterm, or final exam. Let's say the instructional unit includes about 25 terms which students must recognize and understand how to use correctly within context. Save the Last Word for Me serves as an engaging vehicle for students to practice doing so in preparation for an assessment.

The steps for employing this strategy are as follows; the first three need to be completed ahead of time:

1. Print multiple sets of cards with a target word on one side and the definition on the reverse side (one set for each group of students).

2. Print the directions for the activity (see below).

3. Place the printed directions and terms in a plastic bag or manila envelope for each group of students.

4. Divide students into groups of three to five. It's important that groups are small so each student has an opportunity to discuss. The goal is for students to review and deepen understanding about concepts and specific terms, so making sure they clarify their thinking aloud is important.

To begin, one student draws a card from the deck and another student defines the term. Moving around the circle, each student adds to the definition, refining and adding examples along the way. The person who draws the cards gets the "last word" and can add to the definition or revise it before students agree upon a definition. You may want to model the process in whole-class fashion first or by having a small group model the process as the rest of the class watches.

Sometimes, if the bank of terms is large, I suggest simply printing one master deck of cards and place five or six cards in each bag. After a few minutes, signal the groups to trade bags of terms and, in so doing, each group gets new terms to review.

While Save the Last Word for Me is low-tech, sometimes simpler is better. It delivers by supporting interaction and engagement, deeper conversations, and higher-level processing.
Student Directions for Save the Last Word for Me

One student selects a card from the deck and says the term aloud with the other group members.

On a piece of paper, each student jots down what they know about the term. (This can also be "in your head" and each person takes about 30 seconds to think about what they know about the meaning.)

When everyone is finished, each person takes a turn sharing their reflections/responses. As each participant shares their thoughts, other students can share thoughts and responses.

The student who drew the card gets the last word by sharing their reflections/reactions or by stating a fresh view if the responses of others have altered their original thinking.

If students are unsure or need clarification, they refer to the text, notes, and/or handouts for clarification.

Another student draws a new card, and the process is repeated.

Strategy 5: SNAP Minilessons

Setting aside specific time daily, weekly, or periodically to explicitly teach general academic vocabulary through minilessons (of 5 to 15 minutes each) is another way you can provide explicit instruction.

Each minilesson in my books contains four core components or steps, which the acronym SNAP in the title represents:

S: Seeing and saying each word

N: Naming a category or group each word belongs to or noticing connections to related words or word families

A: Acting on the words (engaging in a brief task or conversation about the words)

P: Producing an individual, original application of the words

The example below is intended for secondary students.

Click here to see this lesson in a Google Doc.

Strategy 6: Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy

The primary purpose of the Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy (VSS) (Haggard, 1986) is to help students generate a list of words to be learned based on their prior knowledge and experience with reading and texts. This strategy can stimulate word growth and independence as students read texts and select vocabulary which they deem important to understanding the content.

VSS includes the following steps:

Selecting words

Defining words

Finalizing word lists

Extending word knowledge

The strategy can be used to support general word learning from one's environment or to support vocabulary learning from assigned and self-selected texts.

A colleague of mine routinely used this strategy to support general word learning with college freshmen. Every week, students "collected" three words from their environment (watching, listening, and reading) that they thought important to learn. For each word, students included the following information

An accurate definition

Where they heard or read the word including a bit of the context

A justification for why they thought the word was important to learn

Words were shared and discussed in class at an established time each week. Students also recorded their words in personal vocabulary notebooks. VSS engaged students in lively discussions and specifically raised word consciousness, a critical goal of word learning.

Another way VSS can be implemented is to specifically support word acquisition from content-area text. To support content learning, students can work in cooperative groups and read a chapter from a textbook (or any text). As they read, they identify words they think should be studied and mastered. During class discussion, groups then share their words and why they think the terms are important to mastering content. Additional steps can include developing a class list that contains one word from each group, creating TIP charts with the words, and having students teach minilessons focused on the words to each other.

Strategy 7: Word Talks

Word talks were derived from a similar strategy called book talks, in which students give a brief (less than five minutes) presentation about a book they recommend to their peers for independent reading. Word talks are similar in that they require a student to give a brief presentation on one or several words that they feel are important for their peers to know. This strategy is, like some others in this chapter, excellent for general academic words, not highly specialized, domain-specific words. Also, it can be easily combined with the Vocabulary Self-Collection strategy discussed earlier.

Some teachers who use word talks schedule a certain day a week or a certain day per month on which several students get up and do their word talks. Other teachers schedule a rotation so that a few times a week, one student is doing a word talk that day. Because the word talks consist of a student teaching their peers, it's important to make time for this, because students tend to find the periods in which their classmates are leading discussion much more memorable than when the teacher is; students often have a way of saying something that "clicks" with their peers just because it's said in a kid-friendly way.

What kind of words should students share in word talks? Many students share from their independent reading and their media and technology use. Teachers can ask students to provide a rationale for each word chosen if they like, but they can also allow students to share any word that might be interesting. I find myself thinking of the character Sam in the Netflix series Atypical as a high school student. He would have certainly loved to share words related to penguins and Antarctica in word talks.

In a word talk in one of my high school classes, a student selected the following words to share: ascent, descent, decompression, and recompression. Can you tell what the student was learning to do outside of school? Scuba diving. This student was studying for her initial scuba certification and thought these words would be good to share because although they have scuba-specific meanings, they also have application to non-scuba situations.

Word talks are great opportunities for some students to showcase their interests and expertise, but most importantly, they make clear that continual word learning is important.

Strategy 8: Digital Tools for Independent Practice

The following websites/programs offer support for you as a teacher as well as independent practice activities for students:

Flocabulary
This robust program includes hip-hop type videos to help students learn new terminology.

Freerice
This site has an addictive vocabulary game with five difficulty levels, with levels one and two being appropriate for students in grades three and up.

Vocabador
This game allows students to study SAT vocabulary words, choose an avatar, and "get into the ring" to play against other virtual wrestlers.

There's nothing negative that comes about when anyone grows their vocabulary-and for students, there are many, many positives. By adding even a few of these strategies to your repertoire, you'll help students build vocabularies that will support them no matter what path they choose to pursue.
References
Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., & Kucan, L. (2013). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.

Beers, K. (2003). When kids can't read, what teachers can do: A guide for teachers 6-12. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Catts, H. W., Fey, M. E., Zhang, X., & Tomblin, J. B. (1999). Language basis of reading and reading disabilities: Evidence from a longitudinal investigation. Scientific Studies of Reading, 3(4), 331-361.

Cunningham, A. E., & Stanovich, K. E. (1997). Early reading acquisition and its relation to reading experience and ability 10 years later. Developmental Psychology, 33(6), 934-945.

Haggard, M. R. (1986). The vocabulary self-collection strategy: Using student interest and world knowledge to enhance vocabulary growth. Journal of Reading, 29(7), 634-642.

LENA. 2017. Proving the Power of Talk: 10 Years of Research on the Impact of Language on Young Children. Available at https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/3975639/Research_Summary.pdf?utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lena.org%2F.

Marzano, R. J., & Simms, J. A. (2013). Vocabulary for the Common Core. Bloomington, IN: Marzano Research.

Rollins, S. P. (2014). Learning in the fast lane: 8 ways to put all students on the road to academic success. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Wagner, R. K., Muse, A. E., & Tannenbaum, K. R. (Eds.). (2007). Vocabulary acquisition: Implications for reading comprehension. New York: Guilford Press.

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By adding even a few of these strategies to your repertoire, you'll help students build vocabularies that will support them no matter what path they choose to pursue.

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Any Lauryn Hill fans out there would instantly recognize the opening chords to her classic hip-hop song, "Doo Wop (That Thing)," but how many of us could explain the line, "Don't forget about the deen/ the Siratul Mustaqim" without googling it? If you're not familiar with the term, I can save you the search: Siratul Mustaqim is Arabic for "the straight path." But why didn't she just say that? It's not by accident-she's code-switching.

What is Code-Switching?

Code-switching. Some of us have heard of it, most of us have witnessed it, many of us do it on a regular basis. But what is it, exactly? Why do people code-switch? And what does it have to do with teaching?

Code-switching is the act of alternating between languages during conversation. (For the purposes of this post, language is used as an umbrella term encompassing forms of speech including formally recognized languages, dialects, and nonverbal communication.) Code-switchers seamlessly switch back and forth without pause, often starting a sentence in one language and ending it in another. Sometimes they insert words from another language in the middle of a sentence, a behavior referred to as code-mixing. And it's not just words that change-when code-switching, people might speak faster or slower, louder or softer, mix up the pitch of their voice, change their laugh, and even vary their facial expressions and body language.

Why do people code-switch? Well, it depends. Code-switching is a very personal and complex behavior that occurs for a number of reasons. It's used to clarify or emphasize a point, and at times, to elude eavesdroppers. Strong emotions can prompt a switch, as does a sudden change in topic. Sometimes a word simply comes to mind faster in one language. Other times it's just simpler to say one word in another language ( deen) than produce an English approximation on the spot ("living according to one's religious principles").

Code-switching helps us express ourselves in a way that makes sense for us at that moment. Some people code-switch in every conversation, while others use it more strategically, depending on the situation. For example, your children might speak one way with you but sound totally different when they're off with their friends. People who code-switch are experts at navigating social situations and determining how to use language to our advantage. It helps us stand out; show who we are, unequivocally and unapologetically. It's how we establish community-a greeting of ¡Hola! or Assalamu Alaikum instantly signals cultural or religious solidarity. Conversely, people code-switch to assimilate, downplaying or modifying their natural speech to fit in where they're made to feel they don't belong.

Code-switching is both art and tool, subtext and premise, bridge and platform on which we build a conversation. Code switchers use language to deliver ideas with efficiency and style. When Ms. Hill called in her Muslim fans in that lyric, she chose the language of Islam to speak directly to them. That choice served her both lyrically and linguistically, expressing a complex idea to a specific audience in a single word. And with it, she reminds us that because we matter, so do our words.

Why Language Matters

Language is identity. It shapes and informs our thinking, our values, and our relationships. It binds us to our roots and informs how we interact with the world. This should be reflected in our teaching. Gloria Ladson-Billings says, "The goal of cultural competence is to ensure that students remain firmly grounded in their culture of origin (and learn it well) while acquiring knowledge and skill in at least one additional culture" ( Ladson-Billings, 2014). Code-switching is a feature of that multiculturalism, a skill set to be nurtured and developed. Language-affirming practices help us better understand what our students need to learn and grow.

The trouble is that not all students feel they can bring their whole selves into the classroom. Even the most well-meaning teachers can unwittingly do more harm than good. Many bicultural and bilingual children report experiencing a sense of loss when they acquire their second language ( Casesa, 2013) and it's not by coincidence that their educational setting plays a part in this. Over and over again, students are interrupted, corrected, and told to speak proper English by their teachers. This seemingly benevolent practice has long-lasting negative effects on many of them long beyond their school years.

Black English and the Culture of Power

Often when we think of multilingual learners (MLLs) we think of immigrants or children of immigrants who speak languages other than English, but many code-switchers actually speak a dialect of English as their heritage or home language. Despite there being no official national language in the U.S., one particular version of English has become so synonymous with academic language that not only is it the preferred dialect for reading, writing, and speaking, but other dialects are viewed as inferior. This has mostly to do with how dynamics of race and culture affect our perception of language.

In her 2020 book, Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy, Dr. April Baker-Bell explains how racism and linguistic injustice are linked. She says the white mainstream dialect known as Standardized English is held up as a model language while Black English or AAVE (African-American Vernacular English)-though widely spoken-remains underutilized and underappreciated in academic settings. Even though Black English and other racialized dialects do not exist in opposition to academic language, the students who speak them are discouraged from speaking their heritage languages in school, and their bilingualism is rarely viewed as an asset.

Why are certain languages treated differently? For one, it's still widely believed that Black English is simply slang or informal speech, when the fact is it has its own grammar, syntax, and vocabulary like all other languages ( Kamm, 2015). Another common line of thinking is that Black students need to code-switch to better navigate the academic or corporate world later on ( Baker-Bell, 2017). This is a response to what Lisa Delpit describes as "a culture of power," in which marginalized people learn to code-switch for survival instead of as a means of self-expression, feeling they have to speak a certain way if they want to get ahead ( Delpit, 1988).

Though code-switching can be an effective way to gain access to traditionally white-dominated spaces, the downside of this type of survival code-switching is Black children are being taught to leave parts of themselves behind when entering academic or professional spaces, and by continuing to uncritically affirm the dominance of Standardized English ( Lippi-Green, 1994), we reinforce it as the norm.

Here's where examining our own implicit biases is crucial. Do we think of language in terms of "right" and "wrong?" Constantly fight the urge to correct people's grammar or dismiss someone outright because they sound "uneducated"? Equate English speaking (especially non-accented English) with being American? A bulk of this harmful thinking is the result of our own schooling which we now as adults have to work to unlearn.

We should want better for our students. The fact is, code-switching is not a sign of linguistic incompetence, but a normal occurrence for a multilingual brain. ( Yuhas, 2021). Rather than attempt to micromanage how they use their language, we can guide students to the realization that they can decide for themselves when and how they code-switch.

Setting the Record Straight: Common Questions About Language in Schools

Let's be honest. Sometimes it feels like as soon as we've begun to master this teaching thing, another element gets thrown into the mix that has us feeling like a rookie all over again. Adding strategies that specifically address equity of language into our repertoire may seem like a daunting task, but if we know it can help our students, it's worth a try. Hopefully in time it will become clear that even small changes can have a big impact.

My students need to learn English, and fast. Won't code-switching slow down their progress?

Short answer: it won't.

If you want to create a language-inclusive classroom for your multilingual learners, don't expect or enforce "Standardized English only" policies in your classroom ( Ethical Englishes, 2019). It's fine to encourage them to take risks, but actively limiting or making rules about how they're allowed to talk will shut down communication and damage your relationship with them.

It's a myth that allowing students to speak their home language in school slows down their acquisition of English ( Kamenetz, 2019). Regular practice of both languages will help maintain their bilingualism. In the beginning stages, use scaffolds to make the material more accessible. They'll eventually transfer their conceptual understanding to their new language once they have the vocabulary.

If I don't correct my students when they make an error, how will they learn?

Short answer: It's fine. Just let them talk.

Some believe we should take every opportunity to address errors. We even have a term- teachable moment -for stopping to correct a student in the moment. But cutting someone off in the middle of a thought is not only an ineffective instructional tactic, it's disruptive to the flow of conversation. It's unnecessary to interrupt their train of thought just because they said "goed" instead of "went." They probably won't remember the correction anyway, and their classmates who were listening attentively also have to refocus. If it truly is an error (and not a language difference) you can always make a mental note to do a lesson on it at another time.

What about the standards?

Short answer: Yes, you still have to teach the standards.

While it's true we have English language standards in our curriculum, we don't need to prioritize Standardized English at the expense of all other forms of language. Making space for linguistic diversity doesn't mean eliminating what already exists; it's about creating a balance. Teachers can teach the standards without asking students to compromise their identities, and ultimately, language-inclusive instruction will only advance rather than jeopardize their academic growth.

I only speak English-won't that limit my ability to do all of this?

Short answer: Start with a curious mind.

You don't need to be able to speak every language in order to support students who code-switch in our classrooms. Showing genuine interest in your students' language skills can go a long way. Also, demonstrate an appreciation for languages in general. Whether you teach history, music, or algebra, there are plenty of interesting and fun connections you can make to your subject area.

Instructional Practices that Support Multilingual Learners

Multilingual learners (MLLs) are often assumed to be at a disadvantage in a school setting, but this cannot be further from the truth ( Bialystok, 2011). Nor are they a monolith: Every one of them comes to us with unique strengths, needs, and gifts. That's why there's no single strategy that works for everyone: Some of the following suggestions will feel more appropriate for learners of English as a new language while others make sense for more fluent speakers. As always, do what makes sense for your particular class.

Get Them Talking

MLLs need lots of opportunities to engage in meaningful conversations in class. This can be challenging if they tend to sit quietly during discussions and let others do the talking. Sometimes they're just listening, but other times fear of critique or correction truly stops them from participating. If we want everyone talking, we need to build inclusive talk structures into our lessons.

To do this, vary the different types of discussion. Students who never raise their hand in whole class discussions will open up once they're in a small group, while others prefer to share their thoughts with a trusted partner. Offering variety in talk structures increases student-to-student interactions and generates opportunities for us to informally assess understanding, but most of all, it lets students talk in ways that are comfortable for them.

Processing ideas can take longer for students used to speaking two or more languages, so we need to make effective use of "think time." That's when you ask a question and pause. Don't rephrase the question. Don't call on anyone. Let students absorb the question and formulate an answer. This is especially helpful for MLLs because they often have to mentally rehearse their response before saying it out loud. If they appear hesitant, see if they need more time and then circle back after the next speaker. Once they do start speaking, resist the urge to interrupt or speak on their behalf. If there is any confusion, you can always ask them to repeat or rephrase, but more often than not, those few extra seconds can be a game-changer.

Make Text Accessible

The literacy block is typically one of the most demanding times of the day for multilingual learners. Many encounters with texts end in frustration and confusion because students weren't properly supported throughout the lesson. Not only do they need multiple chances to absorb new information, three additional points to consider when making a text accessible are background knowledge, representation, and means of delivery.

Background Knowledge: If students are having trouble accessing informational texts, consider pre-reading activities that activate and build background knowledge. It may be useful to show a short video or have students click through a slideshow of images related to the topic. Have them preview key vocabulary words they'll find in the reading (ideas for building vocabulary are linked here). Take time during lessons to identify cognates or root words related to the topic. A multilingual word wall is also a great way to help MLLs share their word knowledge with their peers. New words can be collected in a personal dictionary as a side project.

Representation: Part of making texts accessible is choosing stories our students can relate to both in terms of language and message. We should be regularly selecting culturally diverse texts, especially those that use languages or dialects other than Standardized English. In addition to learning about other cultures, students should see themselves reflected in the literature they read. We also need to vet our instructional materials for potential issues with the representation or portrayal of cultural and racial groups. There are a lot of questionable resources out there-be vigilant!

Means of Delivery: Multi-modal instruction makes content engaging and accessible to all our learners. Station teaching is a perfect way to differentiate for MLLs using varying levels of text complexity. One way this could work is while one group reads a grade-level text, another group can have a simplified version of the same text. (Newsela offers texts in multiple languages and on differing Lexile levels for this exact purpose). Combine that with a video station and a vocabulary station and you have a robust multi-modal work session that can be repeated at any time with a new text or topic.

Additional Scaffolds: If students are not yet proficient enough in English to follow along, they can still participate in other ways: Providing translations of text or subtitles in a video can help students keep up with the material, and offering credit for work in languages other than English is always an option, too. They may benefit from a paired text or video or some other way to reconnect with the material. Later, have students review what they've learned using retrieval techniques (listed here) to solidify concepts and help make new words stick.

Be Flexible with Assessments

When so many assessments require a level of English proficiency that may not even be relevant to the assignment, how do we ensure we're getting an accurate snapshot? By using a variety of assessment formats such as open-ended prompts, performance tasks, or projects and adjusting our own assessments to ensure they're culturally relevant.

You can also employ flexibility in reviewing and grading students' written work. Focus the majority of assignments on content, not conventions, and remember variations in language shouldn't result in a lower grade. Obviously, every language has grammar, syntax, and spelling conventions that can be taught, practiced, and mastered, so this is not to say conventions don't matter. It's just that not all assignments need to be graded against the conventions of Standardized English. If a student shows consistent need for explicit instruction with grammar or spelling, you can always offer targeted instruction during small group lessons.

Finally, progress-based assessment criteria such as checklists and rubrics clarify your expectations for each task and make feedback actionable. It's especially helpful to co-create those with your class. Not only will they have a better idea of what you're looking for but they'll be encouraged by seeing what they already can do.

Translanguaging

If you're looking for a bolder way to incorporate students' existing language abilities into your lessons, translanguaging is a great way to develop literacy skills in multiple languages (España & Yadira Herrera, 2020). That's the practice of designing activities to allow students agency over their languaging practices. For example, students might read a text in Spanish and respond to a discussion prompt in English. This gives them access to the material while supporting their conversation skills. Or, they might watch a video in subtitles, discuss what they learned, and write a response, all using both languages. The idea is that alternating between forms of input, processing, and output supports fluency in multiple languages at once. The advantage of translanguaging (Otheguy, García & Reid, 2015) over code-switching is that it eliminates any artificial or teacher-controlled separation of languages.

Other Inclusive Practices

In addition to the instructional strategies outlined above, there are a handful of other practices that might happen more casually alongside the pedagogy. Creating language-inclusive classrooms is more than a technique; it's a mindset.

That mindset means we never mock or criticize anyone's accent or grammar. It means we support our students' languaging practices. It means moving away from the idea that there's a right and wrong way of speaking, that Black English and other dialects are "slang" or "informal" versions of the true and proper English. It means affirming, not just tolerating, language diversity.

An inclusivity mindset also means expanding the walls of the classroom. Field trips, service projects, and community events are a great way to tie learning to the real world. It means inviting families to publishing parties and heritage celebrations. It means conversations without judgment and relationships that matter.

Inclusivity means we make space for diversity: diversity of thought, experience, culture, language, and more. It means we make sure our students know they belong.

"Respect is Just the Minimum"

As we commit to becoming more culturally responsive educators, we need to not only respect, but nurture and protect our students' cultural, racial, and linguistic identities. How we talk about language and what we allow (and don't allow) to go unchallenged in our classrooms is hugely influential and the choices we make as teachers carry weight. We may not always know the right thing to do in every situation, but as long as we make ongoing, conscious efforts to include all voices in the conversation, well, we're on the right path.

References

Baker-Bell, A. (2017). I can switch my language, but I can't switch my skin": What teachers must understand about linguistic racism. The guide for White women who teach Black boys, 97-107.

Baker-Bell, A. (2020) Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy. (1st edition). Routledge.

Bialystok, E. (2011). Reshaping the mind: the benefits of bilingualism. Canadian journal of experimental psychology = Revue canadienne de psychologie experimentale, 65(4), 229-235. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025406

Casesa, R. (2013). "I Spoke It When I Was a Kid": Practicing Critical Bicultural Pedagogy in a Fourth-Grade Classroom. Schools: Studies in Education, 10(2), 171-191. https://doi.org/10.1086/673329

Delpit, L. (1988). The silenced dialogue: Power and pedagogy in educating other people's children. Harvard Educational Review, 58(3), 280-298.

España, C. & Yadira Herrera, L. (2020). Heinemann Blog. What is Translanguaging? https://blog.heinemann.com/what-is-translanguaging

Ethical Englishes (2019, August). The Dangers of "English-Only" Policies (for ESL students) in School. https://www.ethicalesol.org/blog/hhryxasqrobl9b8gzcza24aj6x5w5q

Kamenetz, A. (2019). 6 Potential Brain Benefits Of Bilingual Education. Npr.org. https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/11/29/497943749/6-potential-brain-benefits-of-bilingual-education

Kamm, O. (2015, March). There Is No 'Proper English' Wall Street Journal.

Ladson-Billings, G.J. (2014). Culturally Relevant Pedagogy 2.0: a.k.a. the Remix. Harvard Educational Review, 84, 74-84.

Lippi-Green, R. (1994, January). Accent, Standard Language Ideology, and Discriminatory Pretext in the Courts. Language in Society, 23(2), 163-198. https://rosinalippi.com/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Lippi-Green1994Accent-standard-language-ideology-and-discriminatory-pretext-in-the-courts.pdf

Otheguy, R., García, O., & Reid, W. (2015, October). Clarifying Translanguaging and Deconstructing Named Languages: A Perspective from Linguistics. Applied Linguistics Review, 6(3): 281-307 https://ofeliagarciadotorg.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/otheguyreidgarcia.pdf

Yuhas, Daisy. (2021, November). How Brains Seamlessly Switch between Languages. Scientific American.

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Words Matter: Language-Affirming Classrooms for Code-Switching Students

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Rather than micromanaging how they use their language, we can guide students to decide for themselves when and how they code-switch.

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Listen to the interview with Jamie Chaves:
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"If it hasn't been in the hands, it can't be in the brain." This is a quote I see every morning when I drop my daughter off at preschool. Even though she hasn't studied sensory integration theory or neuroscience, my daughter's teacher knows this from experience.

My biology teacher in high school embraced this idea as well. I remember more from his class than any other I've taken because he fully embraced multisensory learning - learning that integrates multiple senses at one time. We created diagrams of a cell body, acted out the different genetic combinations of Mendel's pea plants, drew out and recited aloud the steps in the Krebs cycle, and used PTC paper to determine if we were a taster or non-taster.

The brain is an integration machine. Research shows that there's a synergistic effect to multisensory learning: when more than one sense is accessed during a learning experience, learning is boosted, even from a very young age (Benstead, 2020). For example, when an infant sees and touches an object, the brain lights up significantly more than when the infant only sees the object. This is also true when the infant sees, touches, and hears an object compared to just seeing and touching the object. This highlights the importance of multisensory learning in order for the brain to make connections and integrate information. And if you've ever been around a toddler for more than 10 minutes you'll experience this first hand - they want to move and touch and talk while they perform a task.

Sensory integration, in so many ways, sets the foundation for learning. The sensory systems must work in concert to facilitate things such as regulation, attention, sitting upright, writing, reading, organizing materials, and engaging socially, to name a few. When we engage students in multisensory learning we're not only enhancing their learning experiences and brain integration; we're also facilitating the development of these foundational skills. This is why things "being in the hand" is so important, particularly during the early stages of learning. Yes, when we hold a flower in our hands and smell it, we are learning about the softness of the petals, the sweetness of its smell, the delicateness of how it must be held. But we are also sustaining our attention, organizing our body movements, and sharing the experience with others much more than if we were simply looking at a picture of that flower in a book.

When we break down the sensory systems it is truly remarkable how they serve as the building blocks to regulation, engagement, exploration, safety, movement, social interaction, and brain integration. By applying some basic principles of sensory processing to your teaching, you'll remove unnecessary barriers and boost learning in some pretty significant ways.

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Getting Acquainted With Our 8 Sensory Systems

Many people have heard of the five external sensory systems: touch (tactile), sound (auditory), sight (visual), taste (gustatory), and smell (olfactory), but there are actually three more internal sensory systems that drive much of our behavior: vestibular, proprioceptive, and interoceptive. Once you know more about the breadth and depth of the sensory systems and how they impact students' ability to learn and engage, you will have another lens through which to view behavior and ask questions to support all of your learners. Plus, you can start to use sensory information to your advantage at different points during the day, both for you and for your students.

Auditory input is what we hear. This input helps us determine spatial awareness, engage socially, maintain attention, feel a sense of environmental safety, and sustain balance.

Visual input is what we see. We use this information for environmental awareness, eye-hand coordination, balance, sense of safety, orientation in space, depth perception, and social engagement (like reading non-verbal cues).

Tactile input is what we touch and feel. This sense allows us to build self-regulation; gain emotional security; manipulate objects; learn about texture, pain, and temperature; and establish body awareness.

Gustatory input is what we taste. We use this information to know what is safe and desirable to eat and drink.

Olfactory input is what we smell. We use it when we eat and drink, for environmental safety, and for emotion related to our memories.

Proprioceptive input is how we perceive our body in space; it is, essentially, our body awareness. It helps us facilitate grading of force, hold and manipulate objects, build self-regulation, and navigate the environment (without bumping into things).

Vestibular input is how we perceive our relationship to gravity and orientation in space. We use this information for balance, muscle tone, maintaining alertness and attention, motor coordination, sustaining an upright posture, and visual orientation.

Interoceptive input is how we perceive our internal needs. We use this sense for emotional awareness, bodily needs, and sense of safety.

How the Subtypes of Sensory Processing Impact Learning

Along with the different sensory systems, there are a few different subtypes of sensory processing that can be considered in multisensory learning. Each of the eight sensory systems has two subtypes: sensory modulation and sensory discrimination. Then there is another subtype of sensory integration called sensory-based motor skills.

Sensory Modulation

Modulation is essentially the brain's ability to dial up or down how much sensory input is received to prevent too little or too much stimulation. In the classroom students must filter out visual input on the walls to focus on what is being written on the board. They must also receive enough vestibular input in order to sit upright in the chair.

Sensory modulation is linked with our feeling of safety. When we perceive a particular sensory input as unsafe, this can trigger a flight-fight-or-freeze response via activation of the amygdala. Sirens are loud for a reason: they signal to our auditory system that something is wrong and we need to act.

What this means for teachers: Sensory modulation varies from student to student and from situation to situation. This will impact how they behave in school on a particular day or in a particular class. Factors such as sleep, diet, and life changes can impact sensory modulation because our nervous systems feel more stressed (consider how things seem louder, faster, brighter when we don't get enough sleep!). When a student has a strong reaction to sensory input - for example, touching a slimy, wiggly worm in science class for the first time - co-regulation in a positive, safe relationship is often critical in calming that student's nervous system. In our books, we define co-regulation as "attuned and responsive interactions between a child and adult that allow them to reach a state of regulation together" (Chaves & Taylor, 2020). A teacher's calm presence, non-verbal cues, and verbal communication helps to facilitate co-regulation. This co-regulation is also protective in subsequent experiences that are similar so the nervous system learns not to be triggered by sensory inputs that are not necessarily unsafe. Think about how a teacher's co-regulation while the student is touching the worm can make her feel calm and safe with each successive exposure: the teacher might relax his body, get down on the student's level, smile at the student, and reflect how the worm might feel in order to co-regulate with the student.

It is important to note that students who are understimulated - that is, do not respond as readily to sensory input - are often overlooked because they don't necessarily "act out" like overstimulated students. Students who take a long time to respond to their name, or need physical touch along with the verbal cue, may have difficulty "dialing up" the amount of auditory input needed. Or a student who wants to lie down on the carpet during circle time may have an understimulated vestibular system, causing him to not receive enough input to maintain an upright position. He may need to stimulate his vestibular system by jumping up and down several times before sitting on the rug to "wake up" his body. Not having enough sensory input to the brain can impact learning just as much as having too much!

Sensory Discrimination

Discrimination is how we differentiate the temporal (time) and spatial (space) properties of sensory input so we can make meaning out of it and use it to engage in meaningful activities. This is what we do with the input rather than how we react to the input.

For example, we might feel a spider crawling on our arm (sensory modulation) and we can tell where and how fast the spider is moving (sensory discrimination). Students use discrimination to hold a pencil and push down on the paper with the right amount of force. They discriminate where a sound is coming from when a peer calls their name out at recess. We also use discrimination to discern the difference between similar textures, sounds, sights, movements, internal needs (including emotions!), tastes, and smells. When a student reaches into the depths of her backpack to pull out a pencil, not a marker or crayon, she is discerning a difference in the textures. This can also help us anticipate the properties of sensory inputs such as knowing what a gymnasium is likely going to smell like versus what a cafeteria will smell like.

What this means for teachers: Students rely heavily on sensory discrimination to perform tasks with precision, and repeated exposure to a wide variety of sensations helps to enhance discrimination. Sensory discrimination requires our attention, and is more of a conscious process compared to modulation - differentiating the letter "b" from "d" is a higher-level cognitive demand compared with simply seeing there are letters on the paper. A student with sensory discrimination differences will require things to be presented in a variety of ways over the course of several instructional periods. Drawing on multiple senses, and doing activities with varying intensity, duration, and speed, will help bolster the discriminatory abilities of the targeted sensory input. If we keep with the letter "b" and "d" discrimination example, a student may need to not only see the letters but also form them with her body, write them in shaving cream, identify them in different fonts, use a mnemonic, trace them fast and slow, etc.

Sensory-based Motor Skills

Sensory-based motor skills are required for praxis (ideation, motor planning, sequencing, motor execution) and postural stability; this is the last identified subtype of sensory processing. Sensory-based motor skills combine tactile, vestibular, and proprioceptive information for motor output. These skills help us organize plans for an activity, coordinate movements, learn new movements, maintain an upright position, shift position accordingly, and effectively use oculo-motor skills. When a student must take out a book from his desk and turn to a certain page, he is using sensory-based motor skills.

These are the foundation for building strong executive function skills - organizing our bodies must come before organizing other aspects of life! As students learn to better manage the movements of their bodies, and do so in a smooth, coordinated manner, they will also better learn to manage their environment such as self-monitoring their learning and sequencing their ideas. Sensory-based motor skills allow for automaticity of movements that promote efficiency in navigating the world and free up more brain space for higher level cognitive tasks.

What this means for teachers: Students will have different degrees of sensory-based motor skills, so keep this in mind when observing their actions. Just think: as toddlers improve in their ability to walk, they can soon focus more on what they see or hear when they walk instead of simply staying upright. The same is true for students: those with strong sensory-based motor skills can listen to instructions while completing their work instead of stopping what they're doing in order to solely focus on what the teacher is saying. Dyspraxia - a form of difficulty with sensory-based motor skills - can be quite frustrating for a student, often resulting in avoidance of a challenging activity, low self-esteem, and compensatory behaviors (such as doing things quickly to mask the inability to do something well, or acting silly as a means of self-deprecation). It is important to provide these students with considerable time and patience, especially when introducing a new activity; use backward chaining and scaffolding; and practice co-regulation to decrease the amount of performance anxiety they may feel.

Applying Multisensory Learning in the Classroom

Research consistently supports the use of multisensory learning in the classroom in order to enhance engagement, memory, and information retrieval ( Shams & Seitz, 2008). Providing multisensory learning experiences not only facilitates increased brain integration, it also allows for increased participation from students who learn differently, particularly in the areas of reading and writing ( Waterford, 2019 ). The National Reading Report indicates that only 35% of 4th graders and 34% of 8th graders across the nation scored at or above the proficient level in reading ( National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2019). This suggests that the way traditional schools are teaching reading is not working. All students deserve instruction that meets their needs, and multisensory learning is a great place to start.

Now for the big question: how can I use multisensory input to my advantage in the classroom?

1. Weave In Sensory Inputs AND Sensory Subtypes

First, think about how you can combine 2-3 of the eight sensory systems during classroom instruction and classroom activities in order to enhance brain integration and cater to the learning needs of all students. This might look like:

Playing hopscotch with letters to form spelling words

Standing up when answering a question in class

Rolling a ball back and forth with a partner to name prime numbers

Dressing up as historic figures when learning about them

Bringing in different leaves for students to pass around when teaching about trees

Moving both arms in the air to indicate specific times on a clock

Secondarily, consider how the instruction or activity facilitates sensory modulation, sensory discrimination, or sensory-based motor skills. Some examples include:

Allowing students to sit on a yoga ball chair, t-stool, or wiggle stool provides vestibular modulation that can enhance upright seated posture and attention.

Writing on sandpaper, tissue paper, construction paper, and cardboard provides different surfaces for tactile and proprioceptive discrimination that can enhance writing efficiency.

Setting up stations around the room for students to navigate to and sequence, such as making a map of different climate zones, helps students integrate sensory-based motor skills.

2. Honor Sensory Preferences When Possible

Have you ever noticed that too much light or clutter in a room makes it hard for you to focus? Or maybe you find yourself more engaged and alert when eating a crunchy snack? Sensory preferences are the inputs we lean into or minimize to help keep us regulated throughout the day; too much of non-preferred sensory input or not enough of a preferred sensory input can cause dysregulation, like poor concentration, irritability, frustration, or drowsiness. We all have sensory preferences, and the more we can adjust our learning environment to better fit student preferences, the better they will learn.

There are many ways you can track these preferences, including this one by How Does Your Engine Run? Alert Program. Along with learning your students' preferences, knowing your own sensory preferences can help you identify why there are times of the day or particular students or certain activities that cause you to feel more regulated or dysregulated than others. This will allow you to better co-regulate with students, as well as not feel so drained by the end of the school day.

In our book, Creating Sensory Smart Classrooms, we provide a worksheet that you can use to help identify the sensory preferences of your students. Many of the questions are tailored from the adult checklist mentioned above. Once you know the sensory preferences of your students you can better assess which sensory inputs you should take out of your classroom because they're too distracting or dysregulating, and which ones you should integrate more into your classroom because they're attention-provoking and regulating. And when you notice yourself or one of your students behaving in a way that's indicative of dysregulation, you can go back to this checklist to see if there may be some sensory input that's contributing to that (because the input is too much or because it's lacking).

3. Use Novelty with Intention

The brain responds readily to novel sensory stimuli, which can impact attention and regulation. By using multisensory inputs in the classroom the brain better learns what to pay attention to and what to filter out so that students can be more engaged in learning. When the brain first perceives sensory input, it must attend to that input, essentially to discern its importance: Should I focus more on this or not? Once a sensory input happens enough, the brain learns to habituate to that input so resources can go elsewhere (for example, we don't think about the lights in a classroom each time we enter, we think about the conversations happening). However, when a new sensory input happens- when something changes in the otherwise familiar environment- the brain will now attend to that input to assess its safety and importance (when the lights turn off in the classroom we shift our attention away from the conversation to attend to the change in stimuli). This shift causes an increase in focus and attention to that new stimuli.

When students hear you talking in your typical tone and volume, then you shift to a whisper or a different accent, the brain says, "Hey, that's different; I should pay attention!" Or, if your students typically write on regular paper, they might be more engaged by writing on textured paper or with textured pencils because the brain enjoys the novelty of the sensory experience. Alternatively, if your students seem to be distracted when you change what's hanging on the walls each month, you might only change one or two things so they're not so focused on the novelty.

4. Engineer the Environment with Sensory Inputs

Finally, there are certain sensory inputs across the board that tend to be more calming rather than stimulating. Most everyone can agree that sleeping with the lights off, lying down, and with soothing music is more conducive than sleeping with the lights on, standing up, and with heavy metal music. This is slightly different than sensory preferences, which are more tailored to each individual. In this way, you can manipulate the sensory environment of the classroom to engage more (or fewer) sensory systems when learning. Students may need different inputs at different times of day, depending on arousal level.

For example, turning off the lights and turning on calm music when returning back from lunch/recess can help reset the tone for engaging again in focused learning. Or they might need more movement-based learning experiences and alerting essential oils at the end of the day when their bodies and brains are becoming unfocused from fatigue. Be a scientist: play around with the sensory environment in your classroom and see what happens- then adjust accordingly after observing the responses of your students (and of yourself!).

We know both through experience and through science that the brain learns best with multisensory learning opportunities. When we touch, manipulate, smell, taste, move around, and focus in on, this allows for more integration to occur which ultimately strengthens the cognitive connections in our brains. Start with one or two multisensory activities per day and then work your way up to using one or two multisensory activities in each class period. You might notice that some students will struggle with multisensory activities because it's challenging their brain. If that's the case, remember to co-regulate with that student before figuring out a "just right" multisensory challenge. Maybe a student is too overwhelmed with walking around the classroom to find examples of symmetrical objects; instead have her sit at her desk to draw symmetrical objects. By using multisensory learning you will set and build on a strong foundation for brain integration.

References

Benstead, S. (Director). (2020). Babies [Series]. Netflix.

Chaves, J., & Taylor, A. (2020). The "why" behind classroom behaviors: Integrative strategies for learning, regulation, and relationships. Corwin.

National Assessment of Educational Progress (2019). The Nation's Report Card. https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/reading

Shams, L., & Seitz, A. R. (2008). Benefits of multisensory learning. Trends in cognitive sciences, 12(11), 411-417. https://faculty.ucr.edu/~aseitz/pubs/Shams_Seitz08.pdf

Waterford. (2019, March 5). Why multisensory learning is an effective strategy for teaching students how to read. Waterford.org. https://www.waterford.org/education/why-multisensory-learning-is-an-effective-strategy-for-teaching-students-how-to-read/

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How to Leverage Multisensory Learning in Your Classroom

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Applying these basic principles of sensory processing to our teaching will help us remove unnecessary barriers and boost students' learning.

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Listen to my interview with Tan Huynh and Beth Skelton (transcript):

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The population of English learners in our schools continues to grow every year; if you're a teacher reading this, you have probably taught at least a few students whose first language is not English. In many school systems, students who are newcomers are given lots of support through separate programs or classes with teachers who specialize in building language proficiency, but eventually they move out of these programs and attend regular classes with everyone else. At that point, they are assumed to have enough of a grasp on the English language to perform as well as peers who have spoken English since birth.

But in many cases, that assumption is incorrect. While these students - a group we're calling experienced multilinguals - are probably quite comfortable and fluent with speaking English socially, they may still be unfamiliar with the academic language used in science, social studies, math, and other content areas. There are specific strategies that can make a huge difference in how well these students perform.

Tan Huynh and Beth Skelton, two educators who have had decades of experience working with English learners, have written a new book called Long-Term Success for Experienced Multilinguals ( Amazon | Bookshop.org). The book focuses squarely on this particular population, English learners who are well beyond newcomer status, but who still need some scaffolding to reach their true academic potential. On the podcast, they shared some of the strategies from the book - things you can start to do right away to help these learners thrive. You can listen to our full conversation or read the transcript linked above. Here's a summary of the strategies they shared.

These kids speak English now, so what's the problem?

An experienced multilingual student may present a conundrum to their teachers. In many ways, they appear to have developed all the necessary skills, including fluency in English, to do well in school.

"These students have been in this system for at least five years, so they have experience," Skelton explains. "We don't have to teach them how to open their locker or how to get to the cafeteria. They have friends. They are in the community. They have experience being a student."

Despite this ease in navigating school and their social lives, these students can hit a wall when it comes to certain academic tasks.

Huynh has personal experience with this. Having moved to the U.S. as a refugee at the age of 5, his only school experiences were in the U.S. "I went to the ESL program, and I exited in fifth grade," he says. And that's when his language support ended. "When you listen to me talk, you're like, okay, he's really fluent. We don't need to help him. And this is what happened all the way through middle school and high school."

When it came time to take the SAT, he was confident. "I was like, oh, this is going to be fine. My teachers are great. They really took care of me. I've had mostly A's and B's on most of my exams. I had almost a 4.0 by that time. I had every single award, distinguished, honor, this and that, dean's list, whatever, I got it. I'm going to be fine. And then I got my score back: 910. I was like, wait, you get a 600 just for putting your name on. How did I get a 910 and I have an almost 4.0 GPA?"

For other multilingual students, things like test scores aren't quite as surprising, because their school performance isn't as strong as Huynh's was. "They often aren't the award winners and the honor students," Skelton explains, "and so teachers start to see them as, well, they've been in our system since kindergarten or first grade. They've been learning English that long, and now you're in seventh grade, eighth grade, ninth grade, and you're still classified as an English learner. There must be something wrong with you. They're still classified as English learners for all kinds of reasons. States require them to have a certain level on an English language proficiency test in order to exit as an English learner. And so when teachers see that, then often that deficit label comes with them."

With this deficit label, many students are subjected to more and more pull-out coursework to improve their English, which means missing out on electives, extracurriculars, and advanced courses.

"Imagine if a kid comes to school and all they love is just design," Huynh says. "All they love is just art. They come to school to be in drama. And they say, No no, because of your English scores, you're out. You're pulled out. " For a student who may have been born in the U.S. and isn't even fluent in their heritage language, this can be heartbreaking.

So what is the problem? If extra English classes aren't helping, what will?

Skelton and Huynh believe the answer lies in academic language. To succeed in all subjects, students need additional scaffolding to understand the unique vocabulary, phrasing, and conventions of those disciplines. When teachers intentionally design instruction and assessments with academic language supports in place, they unlock those worlds for students and give them the tools they need to thrive.

Planning Lessons for Multilingual Learners

If you teach science, math, history, health, technology, even literature - anything other than a class designed to teach a language - your course is built on content-specific standards. You already base your instructional objectives on these standards; Skelton and Huynh recommend adding academic language objectives to those content objectives. This ensures that all students not only get the content, but also the language used to describe and synthesize it.

Here is the process they describe in the book for integrating academic language into what you already teach.

Step 1: Create the Assessment, then Add Scaffolds

Following the backward design approach, start by creating summative assessment that will measure what students should know and be able to do by the end of a unit. Once the assessment is made, add scaffolding in places where the academic language might prevent students from understanding what's being asked of them.

Here's an example: If a test question asks students to hypothesize what would happen if the concentration of oxygen that was consumed inside the glass cylinder increased, they might have a good understanding of the science involved, but some of the terms in the question might throw them off.

"When students encounter a sentence like that," Huynh says, "it becomes not a science test, it becomes a reading test. If a kid doesn't understand the word hypothesize, that's a problem. If they don't know the word concentration and they Google that, that's going to be like, oh, focus? What does that mean? And the word consumed and glass cylinder and increase, all these words now add up to a reading test."

To give students the support they need to do their best on assessments, teachers can "engineer" them by adding these scaffolds:

synonyms: Near the terms that may be unfamiliar, add synonyms that will help define them. If the teacher has already explicitly taught the term, this may not be necessary. So for the example question, it might look like: "Hypothesize (make an educated guess) what would happen if the concentration (amount) of oxygen that was consumed (used) inside the glass cylinder (container) increased (got higher)."

sentence starters: Provide students with the academic language needed to construct quality responses in that discipline.

chunking: Rather than squeeze multiple steps into an essay-type question, break multi-part questions into separate, individual chunks with their own spaces to respond.

images: Add relevant images to questions to aid comprehension.

word banks: Provide banks of key vocabulary terms for the unit that students can access when writing responses.

sequencing: For assessments that require longer responses, provide visual frameworks to show students the sequence in which their response should be written.

While some teachers may feel this is too much hand-holding - for example, they may feel strongly about wanting students to practice reading all parts of a complex question - Huynh and Skelton emphasize that in content-area classes, the focus is on whether students are learning that content; giving multilingual students help with the reading and writing part doesn't take away from that.

"We haven't changed the rigor," Skelton says. "I haven't changed the expectation. I've simply chunked the question. When (teachers) see the difference in response patterns and that kids are able to show more about what they know, most teachers say, You know what? I'm going to do that for everybody. That's not just for my experienced multilinguals. This is a strategy that's probably going to be better for everyone in the class. "

Step 2: Write Daily Integrated Objectives

With a good, scaffolded end-of-unit assessment in place, teachers can then work backward to design the lessons that will lead to success at the end. As in any class, this requires daily learning objectives that can be assessed with a simple exit ticket. For multilingual learners, we can add a specific language piece to that objective.

Skelton describes a physics class she observed where students from many language backgrounds were doing a hands-on activity with focal points and convex lenses. At the end of class, the teacher prompted students with this: "Explain what you learned about finding the focal length."

When one student replied with "It gets bigger when it gets closer," the teacher was thrilled. He knew what the student meant and felt it adequately showed that he understood.

But when Skelton asked the teacher, "Does that sound like what you would want for a scientific response?" he realized that a real scientist would have used the terms focal point and convex lens. She then had the teacher write out his own response, something that would represent a good response to that question, and this gave him a much better idea of what he was looking for.

The revised prompt, integrating language objectives, looked like this: Explain what you learned about finding the focal length using precise vocabulary from the word bank. By adding this to the objectives, the teacher could then plan instruction that would give students practice in using that language throughout the lesson.

Here are a few more examples:

Before: Compare the social inequality in nineteenth-century France to the reality of the twenty-first century Western society.
After: Compare the social inequality in nineteenth-century France to the reality of the twenty-first century Western society using comparative language (both, just like, another similarity, etc.)

Before: Describe how the graph has been transformed.
After: Describe how the graph has been transformed using precise terms and the phrase by a factor of or by ___ units.

Before: Predict what will happen to the main character in the next chapter.
After: Predict what will happen to the main character in the next chapter using conditional language such as might or could.

Step 3: Teach for Comprehensible Input and Academic Output

When it comes time to teach the lessons themselves, use the daily objective as a guide to ensure that students understand the language that is being used to teach them - in other words, that the input is comprehensible to them - and that the students' output is framed in the language of the field being taught.

Huynh gives an example from a 9th grade science lesson on solubility. "Imagine a graph, XY graph, and then there's a line all the way through up. (The teacher) said, 'Above the line, we call that super saturated. It cannot melt anymore. Below this line, we can keep melting things. We call that unsaturated. That line is saturated. Anything on that line means everything can melt, but it can't melt anymore.' So the teacher just drew that, labeled it for kids. She color coded it and made it so comprehensible."

Next, she posed a few questions to make sure students understood how the graph worked. "She said, 'Okay. Let's look at 60 degrees. At what point would we go up, will 60 degrees hit that line of saturation? Let's look over to the left, oh. It's 120. That is the solubility.'"

Up to this point, her focus was on comprehensible input, making sure students understood the terms she was using to describe the graph. Next she shifted to the output, giving students practice using the terms themselves. "She said, 'Now I'm going to give you a question. I'm going to model for you the kind of language I want you to write. Don't just write the answer. Saturated, unsaturated, that's not enough. So this is what I want you to do. Always start your sentence with the word at, then give me the amount of grams. So At 110 grams of potassium nitrate... then give me the degrees, at 40 degrees, the solution is... then add is it saturated or unsaturated? And then say, because it is ... is it above the line of saturation, below the line of saturation, or on the line of saturation? That's it.'"

This kind of explicit modeling gives students guided practice in using this unfamiliar language correctly, integrating the content they are learning and the language needed to demonstrate that learning.

No More Doors Closed

By making these small shifts to help students build proficiency in discipline-specific language, we're helping them reach higher levels of learning. "Instead of lowering the expectations for these students," Huynh says, "we're saying, we're going to keep expectations high, but we're going to give you different paths to get to that mountaintop."

And when we do this, we eliminate the need for extra English classes. We put to rest the question of why students who seem to know English perfectly well still struggle in some classes. And we free up space for these students to pursue extracurriculars, electives, advanced coursework, and beyond.

For Huynh, seeing that shift would have personal significance, helping today's multilingual students reach that mountaintop without the setbacks he had to experience.

"No more doors closed," he says with resolve. "No more paths blocked."

Tan Huynh can be found online on his website at tankhuynh.com or on Twitter at @TanKHuynh. Beth Skelton can be found on her website at bethskelton.com or on Twitter at @easkelton.

To purchase Long-Term Success for Experienced Multilinguals directly from Corwin's website, click here and use the code SAVE20 at checkout for 20 percent off.

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Supporting Intermediate English Learners in Every Subject

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Students who have learned enough English to thrive socially may still need scaffolding to thrive academically. These strategies can help.

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Your ESOL Expert | Strategies for Gen Ed Teachers on Instagram: "SHARE this with the social studies teachers you know! 🌎 🗺️ ⚖️📜

Here are 5️⃣ ways social studies teachers can support multilingual learners who are struggling:

1️⃣Use Primary Sources in Multiple Formats. Provide primary sources in various formats—such as text, images, videos, or audio recordings—to make content more accessible. Don’t rely on text alone.

2️⃣Explicitly teach vocabulary. Instead of assuming that a student will “pick up” a word, explicitly teach it. Especially if it’s a multiple meaning word, like “party.” For more abstract terms, like “freedom,” give plenty of examples for students to connect to. 

3️⃣Scaffold Complex Texts with Graphic Organizers. Introduce graphic organizers like timelines, cause-and-effect charts, and Venn diagrams to help break down complex historical texts and concepts. Pair these with key vocabulary lists and brief summaries in simpler language.

Graphic organizers provide a visual framework that helps multilingual learners organize information, understand relationships between events, and better grasp the content. Again, making the abstract more concrete.

4️⃣Leverage Students’ Cultural Backgrounds. Even if students have no background knowledge of American history, they are not blank slates! They come with their own unique backgrounds. Connect the curriculum to students’ cultural backgrounds by incorporating relevant historical events or perspectives from their home countries. Invite students to share their own experiences (ask them first, don’t put them on the spot).

This not only makes the content more relatable but also values and validates students’ cultural knowledge, fostering a more inclusive and engaging learning environment.

5️⃣Build background! Like I said, some students from different countries may not know the “basics” (like George Washington or the American Revolution). Giving a quick summary or background information with pictures before starting new material helps multilingual learners follow along better. 

Social studies can be tricky for your multilingual learners, but these strategies will help as you support them in class! This is going to be a great year 💪"

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145 likes, 2 comments - risawoods_ on August 12, 2024: "SHARE this with the social studies teachers you know! 🌎 🗺️ ⚖️📜

Here are 5️⃣ ways social studies teachers can support multilingual learners who are struggling:

1️⃣Use Primary Sources in Multiple Formats. Provide primary sources in various formats—such as text, images, videos, or audio recordings—to make content more accessible. Don’t rely on text alone.

2️⃣Explicitly teach vocabulary. Instead of assuming that a student will “pick up” a word, explicitly teach it. Especially if it’s a multiple meaning word, like “party.” For more abstract terms, like “freedom,” give plenty of examples for students to connect to. 

3️⃣Scaffold Complex Texts with Graphic Organizers. Introduce graphic organizers like timelines, cause-and-effect charts, and Venn diagrams to help break down complex historical texts and concepts. Pair these with key vocabulary lists and brief summaries in simpler language.

Graphic organizers provide a visual framework that helps multilingual learners organize information, understand relationships between events, and better grasp the content. Again, making the abstract more concrete.

4️⃣Leverage Students’ Cultural Backgrounds. Even if students have no background knowledge of American history, they are not blank slates! They come with their own unique backgrounds. Connect the curriculum to students’ cultural backgrounds by incorporating relevant historical events or perspectives from their home countries. Invite students to share their own experiences (ask them first, don’t put them on the spot).

This not only makes the content more relatable but also values and validates students’ cultural knowledge, fostering a more inclusive and engaging learning environment.

5️⃣Build background! Like I said, some students from different countries may not know the “basics” (like George Washington or the American Revolution). Giving a quick summary or background information with pictures before starting new material helps multilingual learners follow along better. 

Social studies can be tricky for your multilingual learners, but these strategies will help as you support them in class! This is going to be a great year 💪". 

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Using Hexagons to Build Critical Thinking Skills

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Using Hexagons to Build Critical Thinking Skills

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Strategies for Teaching Academic Vocabulary

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Strategies for Teaching Academic Vocabulary

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ELL Teacher Anne Formato: Strategies for teaching academic vocabulary

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Teaching Academic and Scientific Vocabulary

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Teaching Academic and Scientific Vocabulary

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Teaching Academic and Scientific Vocabulary

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Teaching Key Academic Vocabulary to High School ELLs

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Teaching Key Academic Vocabulary to High School ELLs

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Teaching Key Academic Vocabulary to High School ELLs

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Enriching Academic Vocabulary: Strategies for Teaching Tier Two Words to E.L.L. Students (Published 2017)

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Ideas for working with challenging words — in New York Times articles and beyond.

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Strategy Overview

How This Strategy Supports Language Development

Emerging level students benefit from explicit use of visuals to support their comprehension and language acquisition around a specific topic. The PWIM explicitly and systematically teaches essential nouns, verbs, details, grammatical structures, and vocabulary words associated with a topic using a single visual. The strategy can be used in any content area to support emerging level students as they develop academic language and content.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Choose a highly detailed image that teaches a concept.

2. Share the picture with the class on a large screen.

3. Write the name of the noun on the image in one color and draw a line from annotation to that particular noun.

4. Then write the verb for this noun in another color.

5. Complete the sentence with the details of that noun in a different color.

6. Repeat this process for the rest of the nouns in the image.

7. Ask students to tell their partner about the picture using the annotated image.

8. Ask students to write about the picture using the annotated visual.

Lessons Learned

Limit the number of sentences per image to only the most essential as this process can take a long time.

Provide students with their own image so they can also write the sentences as the teacher models.

Ask students to contribute ideas for vocabulary and sentences during the annotation process.

Have students orally practice the sentences with a partner throughout the process.

Use pictures for review regularly.

As students gain more vocabulary and sentence structures, have them contribute more ideas for each sentence and eventually create their own PWIM.

Pair this process with a Sentence Pattern Chart.

Differentiation

This process is designed for entering and emerging level students. Additional differentiation ideas include the following:

Write words and sentences in the students' heritage language in addition to English.

Encourage students who are literate in their heritage language to write words and sentences in their heritage languages.

You can also add a Sentence Pattern Chart at the bottom of the picture to make the patterns written in the colored-coded sentences more explicit.

Co-Teaching Considerations

Content or Grade-Level Teacher

1. Choose the detailed image that captures key concepts for the grade-level lesson.

2. Share key vocabulary with the ELD teacher.

3. If the concept is a process, number the annotations so students see the sequence in the process.

English Language Development Teacher

1. Use PWIM with small groups of beginning level students before the content lesson to build background knowledge and vocabulary.

2. Encourage beginning level students to use their PWIM pictures during the grade-level class as a support.

3. Add heritage language words to the PWIM.

4. For students at the Developing phase of proficiency, provide the image and have students work together to add the sentences.

5. For the students on the Expanding phase of proficiency, have them write the annotations for the image. Then write a one-paragraph summary that includes transitions (provided in a word bank).

Examples

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Strategy OverviewHow This Strategy Supports Language DevelopmentEmerging level students benefit from explicit use of visuals to support their comprehension and language acquisition around a specific topic. The PWIM explicitly and systematically teaches essential nouns, verbs, details, grammatical structures, and vocabulary words associated with a topic using a single visual.

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Your ESOL Expert | Strategies for Gen Ed Teachers on Instagram: "Teachers SAVE this post for later! ⏰ 

STOP sending students away to go look up definitions of words. It’s boring, useless, and students don’t truly learn the word. They need multiple, meaningful opportunities to engage with the new term!

The Frayer Model. Such an easy (and still overlooked!) way to introduce new vocabulary terms. 

Some categories you might have:
-the definition in my own words
- picture/ visual representation
- examples, non-examples
- characteristics, non-characteristics
- definition in my home language

This is one of those strategies that English Learners AND non-English Learners can use!! It’s perfect.

Have you heard of the Frayer Model before? Have you ever used it?"

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18 likes, 2 comments - risawoods_ on March 30, 2023: "Teachers SAVE this post for later! ⏰ 

STOP sending students away to go look up definitions of words. It’s boring, useless, and students don’t truly learn the word. They need multiple, meaningful opportunities to engage with the new term!

The Frayer Model. Such an easy (and still overlooked!) way to introduce new vocabulary terms. 

Some categories you might have:
-the definition in my own words
- picture/ visual representation
- examples, non-examples
- characteristics, non-characteristics
- definition in my home language

This is one of those strategies that English Learners AND non-English Learners can use!! It’s perfect.

Have you heard of the Frayer Model before? Have you ever used it?". 

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View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Your ESOL Expert | Strategies for Gen Ed Teachers (@risawoods_)

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List-Group-Label A vocabulary learning strategy Reading Strategies Meika Hamblin Georgetown College: EDU 662 February 2020 What is...? List-Group-Label What is...? pre-reading strategy vocabulary & comprehension strategy can be used with Tier 2 & Tier 3 words can be used in

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This article offers guidance for selecting vocabulary words when teaching ELLs and explains the difference between Tier 1, 2, and 3 words.

A student's maximum level of reading comprehension is determined by his or her knowledge of words. This word knowledge allows students to comprehend text. As the teacher, you can explicitly teach word meanings to improve comprehension. However, to know a word means knowing it in all of the following dimensions:

The ability to define a word

The ability to recognize when to use that word

Knowledge of its multiple meanings

The ability to decode and spell that word

Therefore, it is vitally important to teach key words that children will need to comprehend texts, learn the content in those texts, and pass tests. Words are taught through direct instruction of word meanings as well as through discussions about words (including prefixes, suffixes, and roots) - all combined with a lot of reading.

For English language learners (ELLs), vocabulary development is especially critical for their ability to read and comprehend texts. The selection of vocabulary words to teach ELLs can be grouped into three tiers.

Tier 1 words

Tier 1 words are words that ELLs typically know the concept of in their primary language, but not the label in English. For example, a Tier 1 word might be butterfly. This is a word that English language learners may not know, but it can be easily taught by pointing to a picture of a butterfly during text discussion.

Another Tier 1 word might be march (move like a soldier). A word like march can be easily instructed during text discussion by marching in place. But because this word has multiple meanings, it also merits further instruction. This can be accomplished through oral language activities that follow the text discussion.

Teaching Tier 1 words

We take it for granted that native English-speakers know most Tier 1 words, but this is not the case for ELLs. Many Tier 1 words may be unknown to ELLs and key to the comprehension of a passage. Different types of Tier 1 words require different teaching strategies:

Some Tier 1 words cannot be demonstrated and do not have multiple meanings, but students will need to know them. An example of this is the word uncle. A simple explanation of the word's meaning during the story reading will suffice. Or, if the teacher and students are bilingual, a quick translation is sufficient.

Idioms and everyday expressions (like "make up your mind," "let's hit the books," and "once upon a time") are also in the Tier 1 category. Teachers will need to explain the meanings of these phrases to students.

Some Tier 1 words are simple cognates (like family/familia or preparation/preparación). The cognates in this category consist of words that are high-frequency words in Spanish and English. They may not require substantial instruction because students may know the word meanings in Spanish. The teacher can merely state the English cognate and have students provide the Spanish cognate. Or, the teacher can provide the English cognate and students can say both the English word and Spanish cognate.

It is also important to point out false cognates and give the correct translation. Examples of false cognates are: rope/ropa (clothing) and embarrassed/embarazada (pregnant). There are also some false cognates that have multiple meanings in one language, and one or some of those meanings do not coincide with the meaning of the other language.

Here is a list of helpful Spanish-English cognates.

Tier 2 words

Tier 2 words are more complex than Tier 1 words. They may also be more abstract. These include:

1. Words that are important and useful to understanding the text, such as: character, setting, plot, even numbers, and country.

2. Words that have connections to other words and concepts, such as: between, among, by, combine, and estimate.

3. Words for which students understand the general concept, but need greater precision and specificity in describing a concept or a person, such as: sets, tables (for math or science, or for a table of contents), shy, ashamed, and stubborn.

Teaching Tier 2 words

Tier 2 words appear in grade-level texts. They can be worked with in a variety of ways so that ELLs build rich representations of them and connect them to other words and concepts. Different types of Tier 2 words require different teaching strategies:

Some Tier 2 words will not require elaborate discussion, because they can be demonstrated. These include words with multiple meanings, such as trunk, which can be taught by using gestures to show that it is part of an elephant, part of a tree, part of our body, and the back of a car.

In addition, many Tier 2 words are cognates. In this tier, they are high frequency words in Spanish and low frequency words in English. This means that Spanish-speaking ELLs will have a head start with these words (such as coincidence/coincidencia, industrious/industrioso, and fortunate/afortunado) because they will know both the concept and an approximation of the label in English.

The Tier 2 words that should be targeted for pre-teaching include words that cannot be demonstrated and are not cognates.

ELLs should be expected to master Tier 2 words in order to do well on comprehension and on tests.

Tier 3 words

These are low-frequency words that are found mostly in content books in the upper grades. Examples include witticism, isotope, procrastinate, amoeba, or words that are not demonstrable or cognates. These words are rarely encountered in the early grades, but if they do appear, you can translate them or briefly explain them in either English or in the ELLs' first language.

Note: It is advisable at all grade levels to have bilingual dictionaries available in the classroom. If you do not know the translation for a vocabulary word into students' native language, it is an easy reference and clarification tool. Also, when reading texts on their own, students can look up unknown words and ensure their own comprehension.

References

Beck, I., McKeown, M. & Kucan, L (2002). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction. New York: The Gilford Press.

Calderón, M., August, D., Durán, D., Madden, N., R. Slavin & M. Gil (2003 and in press). Spanish to English Transitional Reading: Teacher's Manual. Baltimore, MD: The Success for All Foundation.

Calderón, M. & L. Minaya-Rowe (2004). Expediting Comprehension to English Language Learners (ExC-ELL) Teachers Manual. Center for Data-Driven Reform in Education, Johns Hopkins University.

Calderón, M. & L. Minaya-Rowe (in press). Teaching Reading, Oral Language and Content to English Language Learners - How ELLs Keep Pace With Mainstream Students. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Reprints

For any reprint requests, please contact the author or publisher listed.

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Selecting Vocabulary Words to Teach English Language Learners

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This article offers guidance for selecting vocabulary words when teaching ELLs and explains the difference between Tier 1, 2, and 3 words. A student's maximum level of reading comprehension is determined by his or her knowledge of words. This word knowledge allows students to comprehend text.

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Teaching Newcomer English Learners: Four Powerful Vocabulary Practices (REL Northwest)

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Five Research-Based Ways to Teach Vocabulary

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Five Research-Based Ways to Teach Vocabulary

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Did you know that typically, only 5% to 10% of instructional time is devoted to vocabulary instruction, yet students, especially struggling students and English learners (ELs), need between 12 and 14 exposures to words and their meanings to fully learn them (Durkin, 1978/79; Roser & Juel, 1982; Scott, Jamieson, Noel, & Asslin, 2003)? Teaching the meanings of important words before learning new content activates students' background knowledge and prepares them for learning and comprehending. In other words, teaching vocabulary provides the "Velcro" for new information to "stick to."

What Research Says About Effective Vocabulary Instruction

Vocabulary instruction must be explicit. Explicit vocabulary instruction includes an easy-to-understand definition presented directly to students along with multiple examples and nonexamples of the target word, brief discussion opportunities, and checks for understanding.

Vocabulary instruction must include multiple practice opportunities for using words within and across subjects. That is, instruction must be extended over time with opportunities for students to hear, speak, read, and write words in various contexts. This builds students' breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge.

Vocabulary should be taught schoolwide and across all subject areas. Each subject has a unique set of vocabulary terms, and students need to know their meanings and how to use them in various contexts.

Word Selection

Instructional time is precious, and teachers are not able to address every unknown word students might encounter, so careful word selection is key. When deciding which words to target for explicit instruction, consider words that are

essential to understanding the main idea of the text or unit,

used repeatedly or frequently encountered across domains, and

not part of students' prior knowledge.

ELs may require even more careful word selection and extensive vocabulary instruction because they may be learning conversational language and academic language at the same time. Colorín Colorado provides additional information about selecting vocabulary words to teach ELs.

Some of Our Favorite Vocabulary Instructional Activities for ALL Content Areas

The five activities described below are effective ways to teach vocabulary for all students, but especially for struggling students, students with learning disabilities, and ELs.

1. Essential Words Routine

Teachers use a simple graphic organizer to preteach the meanings of important words in about 5 minutes per word. During this routine, teachers introduce target words with definitions, visual cues, and examples. Students engage in immediate practice using the words through collaborative student turn-and-talk activities.

Resources

2. Frayer Model

One way to have students extend their knowledge of important words is through a Frayer model. This graphic organizer builds vocabulary and conceptual knowledge across content areas. The strategy requires students (not the teacher) to define a vocabulary word and then list its characteristics, examples, and nonexamples. Frayer models can be completed in collaborative groups using textbooks and other subject-matter materials while the teacher circulates around the classroom and assists students.

Resource

Online module, examples, and templates from the IRIS Center

3. Semantic Mapping

Semantic maps visually display and connect a word or phrase and a set of related words or concepts. Implementing semantic map activities in your classroom will help students, especially struggling students and students with learning disabilities, recall the meanings of words and understand how multiple words or concepts "fit together." Teachers will find that using a semantic map, combined with explicit instruction and practice opportunities, is an effective way of expanding students' vocabulary and supporting their content knowledge.

Resources

4. Vocabulary Review Activities

Multiple opportunities to practice using new words is an important part of vocabulary instruction. In previous TCLD research studies, brief review activities were built into novel unit lesson plans to help students practice (and remember) the meanings of important words. Each of these activities takes 5 to 10 minutes and is easy to prepare.

Partner Review Routine: Partners work together to quickly review words learned the previous day.

Sentence Review Routine: Partners create sentences using words assigned by the teacher.

Examples and Nonexamples: The teacher tells students scenarios or shows pictures and students respond chorally to each scenario, indicating whether it is an example or nonexample.

What Word Fits? The teacher asks a question and student partners hold up an index card with the word that fits or answers the question.

Resource

Each activity is described in more detail beginning on page 33 of the TCLD booklet Reading Instruction for Middle School Students: Developing Lessons for Improving Comprehension

5. Morphemic Analysis Routine

Explicit instruction of words is important, but it is impossible to teach all the unfamiliar words students will encounter. One way to help students develop strategies for approaching unfamiliar vocabulary is to teach morphemes (prefixes, roots, and suffixes). Students can be taught the following morphemic analysis routine to help them engage in independent word study.

Resource

Learn more about the morphemic analysis routine by reviewing this online learning module from the Texas Adolescent Literacy Academies.
Have questions? Feel free to drop us a line!

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Five Research-Based Ways to Teach Vocabulary

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Did you know that typically, only 5% to 10% of instructional time is devoted to vocabulary instruction, yet students, especially struggling students and English learners (ELs), need between 12 and 14 exposures to words and their meanings to fully learn them (Durkin, 1978/79; Roser & Juel, 1982; Scott, Jamieson, Noel, & Asslin, 2003)?

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Effective Practices for Teaching Academic Vocabulary

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Effective Practices for Teaching Academic Vocabulary

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8 Strategies for Teaching Academic Language

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8 Strategies for Teaching Academic Language

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Your ESOL Expert | Strategies for Gen Ed Teachers on Instagram: "SAVE and SHARE this with your teacher friends!

The idea of accommodations can be soooo daunting when you’re a teacher!

I hope my story reminded you that it doesn’t have to be that hard. The class instructor was able to make accommodations for me, even on the spot! 

In the end, I felt empowered and confident to do the work. If I didn’t have the accommodation, I would have given up. 

How do you meet the needs of a multilingual student with a curriculum that doesn’t take into account multilingual learners? 

Here are some strategies that take no prep time:
⭐️ Slowing down how you speak
⭐️ Gesturing
⭐️ Repeating yourself
⭐️ Providing ample wait time
⭐️ Following a gradual release process: I do, We do, You Do

Here are some strategies that take a little prep time:
⭐️ Providing simple, short texts (Use AI to help you!)
⭐️ Providing visual aids every lesson
⭐️ Reducing the student’s workload by 50%
⭐️ Giving sentence frames/starters
⭐️ Jigsawing the activity

You’ve got this teacher friend!

Questions? I’ve got you! Drop them below ⬇️"

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115 likes, 4 comments - risawoods_ on January 10, 2024: "SAVE and SHARE this with your teacher friends!

The idea of accommodations can be soooo daunting when you’re a teacher!

I hope my story reminded you that it doesn’t have to be that hard. The class instructor was able to make accommodations for me, even on the spot! 

In the end, I felt empowered and confident to do the work. If I didn’t have the accommodation, I would have given up. 

How do you meet the needs of a multilingual student with a curriculum that doesn’t take into account multilingual learners? 

Here are some strategies that take no prep time:
⭐️ Slowing down how you speak
⭐️ Gesturing
⭐️ Repeating yourself
⭐️ Providing ample wait time
⭐️ Following a gradual release process: I do, We do, You Do

Here are some strategies that take a little prep time:
⭐️ Providing simple, short texts (Use AI to help you!)
⭐️ Providing visual aids every lesson
⭐️ Reducing the student’s workload by 50%
⭐️ Giving sentence frames/starters
⭐️ Jigsawing the activity

You’ve got this teacher friend!

Questions? I’ve got you! Drop them below ⬇️". 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Your ESOL Expert | Strategies for Gen Ed Teachers (@risawoods_)

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Your ESOL Expert | Strategies for Gen Ed Teachers on Instagram: "FOLLOW my page if you want more strategies like this!

I hear it from classroom teachers all the time: the only strategy they know to use is Google translate. 

Well. It’s time we build up your toolbox! ⚒️ 

What strategies did you see that you could use in your instruction?

✅ Slower speech
✅ Enunciate your words/ avoiding jargon or slang
✅ Gesture
✅ Give wait time
✅ Explicitly teach key vocabulary 
✅ Repeat key vocabulary
✅ Provide opportunities to clarify words in their home language
✅ Provide sentence frames
✅ Model 
✅ Use manipulatives or real life objects

What’s crazy is we never used Google Translate once this lesson!

Students were able to learn both the content AND the language.

Do you see any strategies you could use in your classroom? Tell me below!!! ⬇️"

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1,285 likes, 17 comments - risawoods_ on November 13, 2023: "FOLLOW my page if you want more strategies like this!

I hear it from classroom teachers all the time: the only strategy they know to use is Google translate. 

Well. It’s time we build up your toolbox! ⚒️ 

What strategies did you see that you could use in your instruction?

✅ Slower speech
✅ Enunciate your words/ avoiding jargon or slang
✅ Gesture
✅ Give wait time
✅ Explicitly teach key vocabulary 
✅ Repeat key vocabulary
✅ Provide opportunities to clarify words in their home language
✅ Provide sentence frames
✅ Model 
✅ Use manipulatives or real life objects

What’s crazy is we never used Google Translate once this lesson!

Students were able to learn both the content AND the language.

Do you see any strategies you could use in your classroom? Tell me below!!! ⬇️". 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Your ESOL Expert | Strategies for Gen Ed Teachers (@risawoods_)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Your ESOL Expert | Strategies for Gen Ed Teachers on Instagram: "Save or share this reel to your teacher friends!

As a classroom teacher, it can be easy to feel like there are things that ELL/ESL teachers have that make them good at working with English Learners.

But do you know what we have?

Tools. ⚒️ 

We know how to scaffold. We know how to make a lesson ELL-friendly. We know how to make lessons language-rich but still accessible to English learners if all different abilities.

And you can have those same tools!

You don’t even have to pay a Master’s degree like I did 👩🏻‍🎓 

Comment GUIDE if you want my free guide to get you started with 5 top strategies for working with Multilingual Learners.

P.S: Sending all my love to ELL teachers! You ARE amazing! 🫶 😘"

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28 likes, 0 comments - risawoods_ on April 14, 2023: "Save or share this reel to your teacher friends!

As a classroom teacher, it can be easy to feel like there are things that ELL/ESL teachers have that make them good at working with English Learners.

But do you know what we have?

Tools. ⚒️ 

We know how to scaffold. We know how to make a lesson ELL-friendly. We know how to make lessons language-rich but still accessible to English learners if all different abilities.

And you can have those same tools!

You don’t even have to pay a Master’s degree like I did 👩🏻‍🎓 

Comment GUIDE if you want my free guide to get you started with 5 top strategies for working with Multilingual Learners.

P.S: Sending all my love to ELL teachers! You ARE amazing! 🫶 😘". 

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View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Your ESOL Expert | Strategies for Gen Ed Teachers (@risawoods_)

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Language Objectives Icons - VISUAL Cards

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I used to plan my day-to-day lessons like this: Jot notes on what I wanted to teach each day of the week. Amend as needed.
That's it.

Let's be honest. Who's got time to write full lesson plans? For every class? Five days a week? There's no way to know what'll happen Friday when so much changes on Monday. So I kept my plans flexible. As a veteran teacher, I know the topics to hit. And for the past several years, I've been doing the same at the college level.

The problem is that my notes were all over the place-replete with reminders, a question or two to ask, or a video link to show.

Enter the one-sentence lesson plan. With it, you only need to answer three things: The WHAT, the HOW, and the WHY.

The WHAT

First, WHAT do you want your students to know (or do) by the end of class? Here you identify the content or skill to be learned. For example, I want students to be able to evaluate the credibility of online sources. That's a skill.

The HOW

Next, HOW will students reach this goal?

In other words, what method, strategy, tool, or activity will you employ to make sure they get it? Here's where students wrestle with the content/skill. The HOW is typically hands-on.

Using the previous example, I might use one of the following:

Students will be able to evaluate the credibility of online sources by "triangulating" information.
Students will be able to evaluate the credibility of online sources by asking critical questions such as, "Does the author cite or provide links to research?" Students will be able to evaluate the credibility of online sources by discussing in groups the pros and cons of each source.
The first two versions focus on a strategy, whereas the third uses an activity or method.

The WHY

Finally, WHY are students learning this content/skill?

This is the "so what?" part. Why do students need to know or do this? What's in it for them? How do they benefit? Knowing your students is key to answering these questions.

The WHY may start with the prompt, "so that..." Continuing with the example of evaluating sources, I could state:
Students will be able to evaluate the credibility of online sources by "triangulating" information, so that they make better decisions.
The WHY is the most important part of the one-sentence lesson plan. It drives behavior, according to marketing and leadership consultant Simon Sinek. In his bestselling book, Start with Why (as well as in his immensely popular TedTalk), Sinek argues that top organizations understand that people won't "buy into" whatever is being sold unless they understand why they're doing it.

For instance, Apple clearly defines and communicates their purpose: to challenge the status quo in everything they do and to think differently. It explains why their products are simple, intuitive, and user friendly-and why they have wildly succeeded in a competitive industry. Other companies may push out bigger screens, longer battery life, or higher resolution, which, while nice to have, do not necessarily set them apart. The WHY is the emotional pull.

In teaching, we also need to define our WHY-for ourselves and for our students. Yet we forget the larger purpose in our dash to cover the curriculum. No wonder students keep asking, "Why do we need to know this?"

Another advantage of defining a WHY is that it can sometimes help you figure out your lesson opening. For my lesson on evaluating sources, I could start by activating students' prior knowledge: "With so much out there, how do you decide what information to trust online?" Imagine the rich discussion that follows. And research is clear that students learn better when new content is "anchored" to existing knowledge and experiences. I start all my lessons with the WHY.

Putting the Plan into Action

Based on my one-sentence lesson plan, here's a simple outline for a high school class period:

Opening: Ask students about their experiences searching for information online.

Mini-Lesson: Teach them how to triangulate information (or better yet, start by asking them better ways to find information).

Guided Practice: Model your "think-aloud" process for triangulating information by searching online for "Is climate change real?"

Activity: Students apply the same triangulating strategy on another topic (e.g., "Do vaccines cause autism?").

Closing/Assessment: Discuss why good judgement is important in the information age.

All that from a one-sentence lesson plan.

Another Example

Let's look at a different example: the causes of the American Civil War.

WHAT: Students will be able to identify the main causes of the American Civil War

HOW: By researching historynet.com and pbs.org in pairs using iPads

WHY: So that they can learn to settle differences and avoid war

Put together: Students will be able to identify the main causes of the Civil War by researching historynet.com and pbs.org in pairs using iPads, so that they can learn to learn to settle differences and avoid war.

Notice I left the WHY bolded-to remind us of the point of all this. Why else are we asking students to learn the causes of the war? It's not just to know history; it's so we don't repeat them. So we can appreciate our ancestors' experiences and become a better society. Learning about the things that divided people-i.e., states' rights, slavery, and the election of a new president-will resonate with the current generation growing up in a polarized political climate.

An expanded outline for one lesson might look like this:

Opening: Ask students, "What causes fights?" Ask them to share experiences where they couldn't resolve a conflict with a sibling or parent. Introduce the American Civil War, where brothers often fought brothers.

Activity: Students will conduct research online to find out what led to the War.

Closing/Assessment: Students will share their findings and discuss how these causes might mirror their own experiences or observations.

Concerns and Questions

1. What if I'm required to write and submit FULL lesson plans?
There is no better way to develop your lesson plan than to draft a one-sentence summary defining your WHAT, your HOW, and your WHY. It simply becomes your lesson objective. Once established, it's fairly straightforward to flesh out, as I did with the evaluating sources example above. Remember to bookend your lesson with the WHY.

2. Isn't the one-sentence lesson plan really just a lesson objective?
Yes and no. The one-sentence lesson plan is much more robust, because it pushes you to consider the HOW and the WHY. This makes it easier to plan your lesson opening, your class activity, and your closing. Also, having the HOW and the WHY pushes you to think from the student perspective. The traditional lesson objective doesn't necessarily force that kind of reflection. However, an ideal lesson objective would incorporate all three elements.

3. What if I have to write lesson plans based on certain standards?
Then your WHAT is already done. I can take an 8 th grade Common Core standard such as, "Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision," and turn it into a one-sentence lesson plan:

Using Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth, students will analyze how lines of dialogue propel the action, which will help them understand archetypal story structures that engage readers.

Here I used a tool-the book-as my HOW. It is not always a strategy or activity. I also switched the order (i.e., from WHAT-HOW-WHY to HOW-WHAT-WHY) and used more natural language (e.g., by substituting "so that" for "which will").

4. What if I'm having trouble figuring out the WHY?
One way is to root out the underlying idea (or theme) of the topic. For example, what is at the heart of just-in-time (JIT) operations management? Efficiency. How about the 1989 protest at Tiananmen Square? Injustice. The key is to open your lessons with that underlying theme, rather than with the strict definition. With the JIT example, you can relate the idea of efficiency to how students prioritize reading assignments-that they often read on an "as-needed" basis when the workload increases.

Another way to figure out your WHY is to search for the common human experience behind a concept. WHY, for instance, do students need to identify chemical reactions that involve oxidation? You have to get creative. What do we all experience related to oxidation? How about seeing a half-eaten apple that's turned brown? That's oxidation at work. Learning about it might help students understand why certain foods go bad and to avoid it (the WHY). That's something we can all relate to.

A major reason we learn what we learn is to help us understand the world and improve our ability to judge or make decisions. Isn't that why we learn JIT, Tiananmen Square, and oxidation?

Finally, a third way to figure out your WHY is to...Google it. Yup. Honestly, there are just too many valuable ideas online to not take advantage. I actually typed in, "Why do we study slope?" just to understand its real-world application outside of math. (I'm surprised by how often people don't pose questions whenever they're unsure about something. Forum sites like Quora and Reddit are perfect for this.)

Even if you can't figure out the WHY, you haven't wasted your time. It's the student-oriented mentality that matters-something a traditional lesson objective does not necessarily foster.

That's the beauty of the one-sentence lesson plan. Not only does it organize your lesson, it also puts the focus of teaching where it should be-on the students. Try it! ♦
If you found this post valuable, click here to access Dr. Norman Eng's FREE 5-Minute Teaching Makeover-two videos designed to help you re-engage and motivate your students. Also, check out my podcast interview with Dr. Eng, where we talked about strategies for teaching college students.

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Introducing the One-Sentence Lesson Plan

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Focus your planning by getting clear on just three things: the WHAT, the HOW, and the WHY.