Moving Beyond for Multilingual Learners: The Blog

 In our classrooms, we group and partner students in a variety of different ways for a variety of different purposes. Sometimes, we do randomized groupings and pairings - and this tool will help you do just that. The inspiration for this tool came from the ORIGINAL student sorting sticks set designed by a team at the IL Classrooms in Action group from ISBE. Unfortunately, their website is no longer "up" but I did save their sorting sticks and their guide in my Google Drive. Woohoo! I used these in my own classroom and my students loved being able to work with different kids across the classroom. I loved these even more than the "clock buddies" appointments because it eliminates the need for students to wander around the room to find a 1:00 appointment buddy - for some students, this can be such a confidence killer .  I've had it on my task list to design an "updated" version of the sorting sticks, and I finally got to it this week! The directions ar...

I've used the word Advocate for a long time, and I know many of us do, too. I also use the words Change Agent, Instructional Leader, Community Connector, Family Liaison, and more to describe today's multilingual educator (EL, Bilingual, Dual Language).  As I speak with multilingual educators, many feel that they are on an island. Perhaps they are the only EL teacher in the building - or they are one of just a few. There is this feeling of "If I don't speak up/ask this question/fight for this student/advocate for this family, then no one else will." I don't have to tell you how utterly exhausting and how potentially dangerous this feeling is for us.  I found myself saying "YES" to everything. Every committee. Every leadership team. Every tutoring program. Every family program. Everything. Because I felt I needed to be "the EL voice." No surprise- I burned myself out. I was drowning. I hit rock bottom several times - financially, spiritually,...

Create mini anchor charts and display them on small hanging rings. I first saw this idea from  TikTok user @teachwithheath_ . I love how these look and also how easy it is have multiple tools ready for students! I'm thinking this would be great for each content area, for example, so that all of the math tools for that unit are available to students in one spot.  Check out my first round of design . Please go to File and Make a Copy so that you can tweak these to fit your needs! I included specific sentence stems/frames for collaboration. These are laid out so that each page has two of the same, so that you could print two tools at a time. The size is set to match the Party City frames (these were only $2.50 each, but I'm sure local dollar stores have something similar). I also had a workshop participant share this set from Amazon !  I used a 2-inch binder ring, but I wish I would have purchased smaller rings.  I love how they turned out! By making these language too...

 By providing scaffolds to students through use of intentional tools (such as stems, frames, or Word-Phrase-Sentence Banks ), we are helping students gain more access to their content learning! Check out these 7 ways to provide such tools to students.  1. Publicly Display the tool. Use a Smart Board, projector, or create anchor charts or posters with the tools. Keep these in a prominent space so that they are accessible to all students. If all students across a grade level are working on common vocabulary, for example, you may wish to use a grade level hallway for this! Get creative and use colorful table cloths from your local dollar store to create these. 2. Put the scaffolds on a ring. This is especially helpful for "I Need" cards or stems/frames to promote student interaction utilizing content-specific vocabulary.  3. Put the scaffolds on small cards and place them onto student desks or tables with contact paper. If you laminate them beforehand, you can simply remove ...

RESOURCE UPDATE! 8/4/2023:  Click here, secondary teachers:  I have added a new resource that is aimed towards high school audiences that shares the same ideas.    HELPING CLASSMATES HELP NEWCOMERS: Before They Start School I'm often asked about how to have conversations with students who are getting a newcomer student in the classroom, especially if this doesn't happen a lot in your community. Oftentimes, kids are eager to support each other and want to help, but they don't always know how. If you know your elementary class is going to have a newcomer student, here is a quick Google Slides Deck to share with your class.   This can serve as a starting point to help you guide discussions with students. You might also share this blog post & resource with a classroom teacher who is receiving a new student before the student starts. Please note that you can go to File, Make a Copy, and Edit this presentation to meet your needs. You may wish to include language f...

I had a lot of questions on this from my post  Empower Students By Publishing their Words (in 20 Seconds or Less)! , so I figured I'd make a separate post here. When I was a third grade teacher, we created a classroom space that they were completely in charge of. We called it our Inspiration Wall. Anytime we were reading a book or an article, or listened to great music, or heard a quote from a video- the students were able to call out "WOW! Those words moved me. Let's put it on our Inspiration Wall!" It was so cool to have them become aware of words that carry power for them and make them feel a certain way.  The students were in charge of the space. They chose where it went in our classroom and even what colors we used. We included pictures, quotes, song lyrics, photos from home, and much more. We even included funny memes that we found online. We hung up pictures of ourselves doing science experiments, too. When we received college mail (more details on the College ...

 As we begin to prep for the school year, we are gathering resources and materials to support students during those first few days. Consider keeping a small collection of items as you are gathering/prepping these things for students who may arrive "new" in the middle of the school year!  Many of us have resources that we print in bright colors that say things like "Welcome to 7th Grade!" or packets of information about the school year. We include things like our classroom schedules, teacher information, or important phone numbers for the school.  Photo by Oleksandr Pidvalnyi: https://www.pexels.com/photo/green-and-gray-scissors-2831794/ We also prep for those first family events, "back to school" nights, or Curriculum Nights. As you gather those materials and resources, create a few extras to distribute to new families later on in the school year.  Now you have an instant kit to welcome students & families later on!