Highest Aspirations

Is the term “Long Term English Learners” limiting opportunities and academic achievement for this subgroup of students? How can we help these students by uncovering the “hidden curriculum” of language in lessons in order to scaffold support from input to output? What strategies can be used for a school-wide implementation of these practices that foster an environment where all multilingual learners can thrive? We’ll discuss these questions and much more with our guests Beth Skelton and Tan Huynh. You’re likely familiar with their work and they have come together to write a new book - Long Term Success for Experienced Multilinguals - a fitting title.  Check out their bios in our show notes and accompanying blog post. Subscribe to the show here: https://open.spotify.com/show/0W4CYdurgYRIwFGif3H6Qk For additional episodes, blog posts and free resources relating to multilingual education, visit our community page: https://ellevationeducation.com/ell-community. Visit our EL Community page for episode resources, related content and more. Download the episode transcript here.

How can we support or encourage reluctant colleagues to increase collaboration in order to support MLLs? How can we help educators unlearn the often negative perceptions of dreaded observations by administrators and fellow teachers so they can collaborate more effectively? Do schools that have effective collaborative practices in place retain more teachers? We discuss these questions and much more with Dr. Andrea Honigsfeld and Valentina Gonzalez. Dr. Andrea Honigsfeld is TESOL professor at Molloy University , Rockville Centre, NY.  Before entering the field of teacher education, she was an English as a Foreign Language teacher in Hungary (grades 5-8 and adult), an English as a Second Language teacher in New York City (grades K-3 and adult), and taught Hungarian at New York University. A Fulbright Scholar and sought after national presenter, Andrea is the coauthor or coeditor of 27 books on education and numerous chapters and research articles related to the needs of diverse learners. Valentina Gonzalez is an educational consultant and content creator for Seidlitz Education. She is also a longtime educator serving emergent bilingual students and their families from around the globe. Her personal experience as an immigrant from Yugoslavia and language learner fuel her desire to advocate for multilingual children and support teachers with the best research-based teaching methods. Valentina is the co-author of Reading & Writing with English Learners: A Framework for K-5. Her work has also been published in numerous journals and professional publications such as Edutopia, MiddleWeb, TEPSA, Ed Week, and School Library Journal. Subscribe to the show here: https://open.spotify.com/show/0W4CYdurgYRIwFGif3H6Qk For additional episodes, blog posts and free resources relating to multilingual education, visit our community page: https://ellevationeducation.com/ell-community. Visit our EL Community page for episode resources, related content and more. Download the episode transcript here.

How can we give colleagues feedback in a way that is timely and actionable, and what impact can we expect when this is done effectively? What foundational elements to a working relationship must be present before feedback can be given and received? What kinds of information do principals and school leaders need to have and to share prior to beginning an observation and feedback cycle? We discuss these questions and much more with Dr. Esteban F. Hernández is Director of Research and Accountability for the Alisal Union School District in Salinas, California. Originally from Puerto Rico, Dr. Hernández graduated from the UPR with a BA in Elementary Education with an emphasis on teaching English to Spanish speakers. He has been an educator for more than 30 years and has served as teacher, school principal and director. As an English learner himself, Dr. Hernández strives to advocate for equity for all students so they can develop English language fluency to penetrate content and succeed as individuals and in future college and career opportunities. Dr. H. holds an M.A with emphasis in curriculum and instruction, and a PH.D. in Educational Leadership with research dissertation titled: "The Influence of In-Situational Coaching on the Reading Achievement of English Learners in Fifth Grade." Subscribe to the show here: https://open.spotify.com/show/0W4CYdurgYRIwFGif3H6Qk For additional episodes, blog posts and free resources relating to multilingual education, visit our community page: https://ellevationeducation.com/ell-community. Visit our EL Community page for episode resources, related content and more. Download the episode transcript here.

What are some benefits we have seen from the rise of virtual professional development opportunities since the pandemic? How can educators drive self-directed professional learning that can lead to deeper knowledge and sustained results? How can school leaders best support high-quality PD opportunities? This week we bring back two familiar contributors to Highest Aspirations - Dr. Carol Salva and Tan Huynh along with one guest who somehow is making her first appearance, Katie Toppel. These three incredible people provide our community with a wealth of resources to ensure we are well-equipped to maximize the potential of multilingual learners. In this interview, we focus on how educators can engage in self-directed professional learning - specifically for multilingual learners. They’ve recently released a book on the topic, appropriately titled DIY PD: A Guide to Self-Directed Learning for Educators of Multilingual Learners. Dr. Carol Salva is an author and Seidlitz Education consultant. She works with schools, state leaders, and local education agencies to support multilingual learners at all language levels. She is the co-author of both Boosting Achievement, Reaching Students with Interrupted or Minimal Education, and also DIYPD: A Guide to Self-Directed Learning for Teachers of Multilingual Learners. Dr. Salva has taught Elementary, Middle, and High school. She is a Certified Gomez & Gomez Dual Language Trainer, and a Certified Abydos Writing Trainer. Tan Huynh (@TanKHuynh) is a career teacher, consultant, and author specializing in language acquisition and literacy development. Tan has taught students from 5th to 10th grade in public, private, charter, and international schools.  He has served as a language specialist and is currently a secondary social studies teacher.  Tan shares teaching strategies on his blog and podcast with the hopes of celebrating teachers who answer the call to serve multilingual learners. Dr. Katie Toppel is an English Language Development Specialist at the elementary level, serving multilingual learners through collaboration, co-teaching, and small-group instruction. Dr. Toppel is the newest member of the SIOP author team and co-author of the book DIY PD: A Guide to Self-Directed Learning for Educators of Multilingual Learners. She is also the co-founder of #MLLChat_BkClub on Twitter, which is a virtual book club aimed at improving instructional practices for multilingual learners. Subscribe to the show here: https://open.spotify.com/show/0W4CYdurgYRIwFGif3H6Qk For additional episodes, blog posts and free resources relating to multilingual education, visit our community page: https://ellevationeducation.com/ell-community. Visit our EL Community page for episode resources, related content and more. Download the episode transcript here.

What are some common misconceptions about EL/SLIFE students and ESL instruction? How can professional development be leveraged to help educators support multilingual learners? What are some particularly effective instructional strategies for multilingual learners in mainstream classrooms? We discuss these questions and more in an impassioned discussion with Nebraska’s 2022 Teacher of the Year Lee Perez. Perez is the first ESL teacher to win Teacher of the Year award in Nebraska, the recipient of the 2021 Award for Teaching Excellence through the Nebraska State Education Association, was named a Cox Communications Education Hero for the Omaha area, and is currently a 2023 Horseman Awards for Teaching Excellence finalist. He is a fifth- through eighth-grade English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher at Alice Buffett Magnet Middle School in Omaha, Nebraska. He has traveled around the state speaking to current and aspiring educators to share best practices in EL education and advocate for better teacher preparation to serve ESL students. We sat down with him to hear some of the most important messages he wants educators to know about working with this student population and to share what strategies and approaches he has found success with in his ESL education career. Subscribe to the show here: https://open.spotify.com/show/0W4CYdurgYRIwFGif3H6Qk For additional episodes, blog posts and free resources relating to multilingual education, visit our community page: https://ellevationeducation.com/ell-community. Visit our EL Community page for episode resources, related content and more. Download the episode transcript here.

How has family engagement evolved post-pandemic remote learning? Why has online professional learning had staying-power after schools reopened? What are some predictions for trends and changes in store for education in 2023? We’re concluding Season 9 of Highest Aspirations by reflecting on what has been a year full of learning how to best serve our students. We’ll also get into some predictions for 2023. Sandra Medrano Arroyo, my colleague at Ellevation, joins us today to discuss some of our learnings from 2022 as well as some predictions and hopes for 2023. Sandra is in a unique position to provide this information given her background and current work. She works with me here at Ellevation Education as our Dual Language Instructional Content Specialist, where she has spearheaded the creation of two new instructional practices specific to the needs of Dual Language programs. She has also brought her knowledge and expertise to various conferences over the course of the year, with impactful presentations at NABE and La Cosecha among others. In over 23 years in education, she has served the needs of emergent bilinguals and various sub-groups in a number of roles: teacher, academic coordinator, school director, recruiter, instructional specialist, and program planner. Prior to Ellevation, Sandra served as the Manager of Multicultural Education for the 11th largest school district in the US, overseeing the ESOL program for over 34,000 students, including a two-way dual language program that served over 9,000 students. Since 2016, she has also served as a PD Consultant for the National Association for Bilingual Education. Subscribe to the show here: https://open.spotify.com/show/0W4CYdurgYRIwFGif3H6Qk For additional episodes, blog posts and free resources relating to multilingual education, visit our community page: https://ellevationeducation.com/ell-community. Visit our EL Community page for episode resources, related content and more. Download the episode transcript here.

This interview is episode 9 from Season 9 of Highest Aspirations, a podcast from Ellevation where we engage in important conversations about the most rapidly growing student demographic in the United States - English Language Learners. What impacts have we seen on recent policy changes to reclassification or exiting of ELs with disabilities? How can schools prioritize collaboration and improve their current processes for determining reclassification for SPED ELs? What strategies can we use to ensure that these students are integrated into general education classrooms without compromising on learning in a supportive, language rich environment? We discuss these questions and much more with Dr. Sara Kangas, who returns to HA after joining us back in 2018 to discuss how schools are accommodating English Learners with disabilities and the impacts that EL and disability status have on reclassification or exiting. We sat down to catch up with Dr. Kangas and learn about the latest challenges facing students and how schools can employ a collaborative approach in addressing inequities. Dr. Sara Kangas is an associate professor in the College of Education at Lehigh University.  She is an applied linguist whose research focuses on the school-age population of multilingual learners (MLs) with disabilities.  Using ethnography and interpretive policy analysis, Dr. Kangas investigates opportunity to learn for MLs with disabilities, with particular attention to the ways in which education policies, school structures, and ideologies affect their everyday learning experiences.  Grounded in interpretivist and critical frameworks, her research seeks to promote social justice through advocating and expanding the learning opportunities and educational rights of MLs with disabilities. ​ Dr. Kangas has published in top-tier journals such as the American Educational Research Journal, Teaching and Teacher Education, and TESOL Quarterly, among others.  Her scholarship has received the James E. Alatis Prize (2018), TESOL Award for Distinguished Research (2015), and the Wilga Rivers Memorial Graduate Student Award (2015).  Dr. Kangas earned her Ph.D. in Education with a concentration in applied linguistics at Temple University. Subscribe to the show here: https://open.spotify.com/show/0W4CYdurgYRIwFGif3H6Qk For additional episodes, blog posts and free resources relating to multilingual education, visit our community page: https://ellevationeducation.com/ell-community. Visit our EL Community page for episode resources, related content and more.

What are the essential elements of success for learning communities to support immigrant students? How can incorporating storytelling into the classroom be used to build empathy and understanding for both students and educators? What are examples of innovative programs or collaborative approaches that are successfully improving outcomes for newcomers and immigrant students? We discuss these questions and much more with Jessica Lander. Jessica Lander is an award-winning teacher, writer and author. She teaches history and civics to recent immigrant students in a Massachusetts public high school and has won numerous awards for her teaching, including being named a Top 50 Finalist for the Global Teacher Prize in 2021, presented by the Varkey Foundation and being named a MA Teacher of the Year Finalist in 2022, presented by the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Jessica writes frequently about education policy and teaching. She is the author of Making Americans: Stories of Historic Struggles, New Ideas, and Inspiration in Immigrant Education, a coauthor of Powerful Partnerships: A Teacher’s Guide to Engaging Families for Student Success and the author of Driving Backwards. Download the episode transcript here. Subscribe to the show here: https://open.spotify.com/show/0W4CYdurgYRIwFGif3H6Qk For additional episodes, blog posts and free resources relating to multilingual education, visit our community page: https://ellevationeducation.com/ell-community.

What challenges are teachers facing with the curriculum often provided by their district regarding multilingual learner instruction? What role do stakeholders such as content creators, educational leaders, and community advocates play in improving curriculum? Where are we already seeing positive changes in inclusive curriculum and how can we replicate them in other states and districts? We discuss these questions and much more with Renae Skarin, Renae Skarin is senior director, content, at the English Learners Success Forum, a collaboration of researchers, teachers, district leaders, and funders working to improve the quality and accessibility of instructional materials for English learners. She works with leading educational experts to design and implement a process for reviewing and providing feedback to curriculum developers on the strength of supports for ELs. Prior to joining the ELSF, she worked at Understanding Language, Stanford University, where she was a researcher, professional developer, curriculum developer, and project manager for projects specializing in issues of equity and accessibility for diverse learners and has a strong background in second language teaching and teacher education both in the U.S. and abroad. Download the episode transcript here. Subscribe to the show here: https://open.spotify.com/show/0W4CYdurgYRIwFGif3H6Qk For additional episodes, blog posts and free resources relating to multilingual education, visit our community page: https://ellevationeducation.com/ell-community. Visit our EL Community page for episode resources, related content and more.

What are some flawed perceptions of immigrant and refugee students and how can these impact the education they receive? What policies or district practices have been barriers to newcomer or immigrant students receiving the full extent of education promised to them by law? How is “moving students through” the education system without adequate support or learning such a major missed opportunity for both them and their communities? We discuss these questions and more with the author of “The School I Deserve” Jo Napolitano, who spent nearly two decades reporting for The New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Newsday before winning a Spencer Education Fellowship to Columbia University in 2016 in support of her reporting on immigrant youth. Her first book, The School I Deserve: Six Young Refugees and Their Fight for Equality in America, will be published by Beacon Press in Spring 2021. Napolitano has reported on many topics throughout her award-winning career, including crime and science. But education remains her primary focus, and for good reason: It was the only means  through which she would escape poverty. Born in Bogota, Colombia, Napolitano was abandoned at a bus stop by her birthmother when she was just a day old. Placed in an orphanage, she nearly died of starvation before she was adopted by a blue-collar family from New York. She was raised by a single parent and is a first-generation college graduate having earned her bachelors from Medill at Northwestern University.  She  believes no child’s life should be left to chance. Download the episode transcript here. Subscribe to the show here: https://open.spotify.com/show/0W4CYdurgYRIwFGif3H6Qk For additional episodes, blog posts and free resources relating to multilingual education, visit our community page: https://ellevationeducation.com/ell-community. Visit our EL Community page for episode resources, related content and more.

What parameters do districts have for spending ARP ESSER funds, specifically relating to multilingual learners? How are some districts already using these funds to offer high impact supports for their language learners? What guidance can we offer educators who want to advocate for their district to include and even prioritize this population of students in their ESSER fund spending plans? We discuss these questions and more with Director of Policy and Advocacy Rosario Quiroz Villareal and Policy Analyst Cici Matheny of TNTP.  As you’ll here in our conversation, rosario and Cici have spent a lot of time learning about best practices for using ESSER funds and they have a lot of valuable information to share. Rosario Quiroz Villarreal is director of policy and advocacy focused on multilingual learners and immigrant students at TNTP,  an organization with the mission of ending the injustice of educational inequality by providing excellent teachers to the students who need them most and by advancing policies and practices that ensure effective teaching in every classroom. Rosario got her start in policy through Next100, a startup think tank created for—and by—the next generation of policy leaders. Her orientation to education started with multilingual learners, as a bilingual educator in Texas and New York, and as a multilingual learner herself. Cici Matheny is a policy analyst at TNTP and holds a master’s of public administration from the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs at Baruch College, City University of New York. She worked with middle, high school and college students for eight years at a sports-based afterschool program in New York City before pivoting to education policy. At TNTP, she researches policy issues across the country impacting the teacher workforce and student outcomes in the wake of the pandemic. Subscribe to the show here: https://open.spotify.com/show/0W4CYdurgYRIwFGif3H6Qk For additional episodes, blog posts and free resources relating to multilingual education, visit our community page: https://ellevationeducation.com/ell-community. Visit our EL Community page for episode resources, related content and more.

What does research show about the importance of literacy skills when solving math and specifically word problems? How can educators prioritize and build in academic conversations into their classroom routines? What can teachers do to marry math and language so that multilingual learners can engage with the content more deeply? We discuss these questions and much more with Diane Kue, an educational author, speaker, and consultant with eighteen years of teaching and instructional leadership experience. Her new book, Solved: A Teacher’s Guide to Making Word Problems Comprehensible applies practical, research-supported, strategic instructional approaches to equipping learners with life-long skills applicable beyond the classroom. She has presented locally to school campuses and districts, regionally for ESC and TexTESOL, and nationally for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. To download the full episode transcript, click here. Visit our EL Community page for episode resources, related content and more.

What are some positive outcomes from the uptick in Virtual PD that came out of the pandemic? How can administrators roll out professional development in a way that is both sustainable and sustained? In what ways can educators take an asset-based approach in how they speak about their students, specifically multilingual learners? We discuss these questions and much more with Leticia Trower. Leticia has been passionate about language her entire life. She began her career in education as an elementary ESL teacher, and the majority of her work over the last twenty years has focused on language learners, professional learning for educators, and/or equity. She is currently Director of Professional Learning at Margarita Calderón & Associates, and a doctoral candidate in the Diversity and Equity in Education program at the University of Illinois. Her research interests include the impact of professional development in K-12 schools and the relationship between teachers’ language, beliefs, and practices. Find the episode transcript here. For all of our community blog posts, podcasts, and additional resources visit our EL Community page.