Moving Beyond for Multilingual Learners: The Blog

Many of y'all know I'm a huge fan of dollar stores and finding little tools to invite into our instruction. Students love the novelty, and honestly- we need it, too! I love being able to walk through the dollar store and finding one random item- a pool noodle for example - and trying to figure out a fun way to bring it into the classroom to create an engaging learning experience! On a recent trip to Party City, I found this pack of " mini 3-in-a-row games " as party favors. I threw that in my basket SO FAST. It comes in a pack of 12 for only $4- which I thought was a great price! Kids of all ages love "mini" things - have you seen those "Mini Brand" toys at Target, Walmart, and Amazon? They're all over the place! It reminds me of my Polly Pocket days, and I know I would have LOVED those mini brand toys as a kid!  My brain started swirling with ways to bring this into classrooms, so here are a few that I thought of immediately!  Conversation Cat...

I know, I know. Skills are important. We worry a lot about the "summer slide" that researchers always want to warn us about. I get it. I used to spend a lot of time developing "summer packets" full of reading, writing, and math practice. Over the years, I started to shift a little bit in my mindset. So... If you MUST send home a packet this summer... please be sure to check out these touch points!  *Keep it optional, not mandatory: While skills practice is great, not all students will have the resources to be able to complete the whole thing. Plus, summer is long and packets get lost. We also don't want any students to panic during their final days of summer and sunshine and have to spend hours upon hours completing a packet to turn in, only to get a sticker or a paper certificate. Oof. We also don't want to punish students who are starting a brand new school year for a packet they didn't complete over their summer months. *Include blank paper to write, ...

 It's MAYYYY! This means a lot of different things to students and teachers. As many of us are starting to receive preliminary scores back from annual language assessments, I wanted to share a few templates that you may wish to use with students you serve! For any of these templates, they're all viewable. If you would like to EDIT any, please go to FILE & MAKE A COPY so you can tweak these to meet your needs!  Stems & Frames Goal Settin g: This doc has stems that are tied to Conditions Needed to learn, Goal Setting, and Action Steps. Celebrations & Reflections     This doc has stems for Celebrations, Maintenance, and Reflections Interpretive & Expressive Goals     This doc has stems and frames to set goals for interpretive & expressive language skills. Simple Template by Domain     This doc is a very simple template for a goal by domain. Last Year/This Year Simple Template by Domain     This doc looks like the one abo...

If you watch the below clip of   Ellen Degeneres Heads Up Game , you'll see these two celebrities playing a game, but their oral language is just exploding! I know Ellen has an app that you can download on your device- but to incorporate this into your instruction, you do NOT need the app! Simply use index cards with vocabulary that you want to reinforce. You can play the first part of this video to explain how it works, or simply FISH BOWL the strategy (pick one student to try this out with, and have the rest of the class observe all around!). Please note in the above video, Ellen has a part that goes on to Accents & Impersonations. I have to say that the Accent part really rubs me the wrong way - and I know it probably does for you, too. It looks like the celebrity she was with was also incredibly uncomfortable "acting out" different accents. Just want to share this as a disclaimer.  I have my own version that I do in workshops with educators. Here's a sample sl...

From January-March, I am a different person. I am more moody, I feel sluggish, and I tend to "accomplish less" and "complain more." It's a hard truth, but it's something I know about myself after suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder for more than a decade. Living in the Chicagoland area doesn't afford us much sunshine, and the gray skies day after day tend to drain me emotionally, physically, and spiritually. When my SAD aligns with the ACCESS test, it can be a really difficult time for me, but it's not something I've opened up to many people about over the years. So, here we are - I wanted to open up a bit about it because I just have this hunch that many other folks may be struggling too.  In my first post, I talked about things to do with my students to help me.  For part one,  please click here . This post will walk through things I've done for myself (away from students) that have helped me. Please tune in to YOU and find what drai...

 I almost didn't want to "go there," but I tend to overshare, so here we are. I have dealt with Seasonal Affective Disorder for over a decade. Sometimes folks will call it the "winter blues" and many folks who live in areas that don't get a ton of sunlight during winter months also struggle like me.  Serving in multilingual education, every year of my career, the ACCESS test has coincided with my SAD and has really made winters even more difficult for me. I have tried to navigate this time the best I can, so I wanted to share a few things that have helped me to cope.  For testing tips & tricks, you can follow me over on TikTok .  I have had to really tune into what I have found to be draining and what I need to boost energy & good feelings for myself. I get a lot of joy from my students, so I wanted to be intentional with what we did while we were in the midst of testing season.  With Kids:  *Modeling rest. We did something I called a "Spina Spa...

 With ACCESS testing coming right around the corner (and the Winter Blues taking hold), it's important to nurture a sense of support for EL, Bilingual, and Dual Language Teams. Here are some ways that administrators and coordinators can provide support to their teammates. Of course, everyone receives and accepts support in different ways - knowing your colleagues and their preferences is important! 1. "Do you need help in creating your testing schedule?" Asking your colleagues if they need support in creating their schedule may be helpful. Offer to sit alongside the educators you serve as they are tasked with creating the Rubics-Cube-Level-of-Difficulty ACCESS Testing Schedule. This is incredibly difficult to do, so sometimes having a thought partner is helpful, especially if your EL teacher works alone. Please be sure your teachers still have access to their DUTY-FREE LUNCH and their plan periods! Teachers must eat and have time to breathe. Keep Day One of testing "...