Do I Add More Supports, or Change My Teaching?
This is an essential question to ask when a student struggles. It’s an essential question to engage educators in asking when they analyze data together to improve teaching for equity and EL excellence.
Observe with an Asset Orientation
We have high expectations. We actively engage students. We observe to take notes on what they say and do. We are feeling on top of our formative data-gathering game!
Then, brain science enters the equation with humbling news: We don’t always see what’s right in front of us. This is especially true when we have implicit biases—which, as humans, we always do. We have all been conditioned by false narratives about racial difference, language hierarchies, and gender differences—whether we believe them or not.
Expectations Define What We See
For observation data to matter, we need to be clear on our learning intentions. For it to matter for equity, we need to be aware of our biases and intentional about disrupting defaults of low expectations for students from historically-marginalized groups. What do you see as students engage? How do you interpret the data? How do your lived experiences shape what you see?
How Do You Want to Feel?
How do you want to feel in school? How do your colleagues and students want to feel? Are their inequities in whose feelings take center stage?
Collaborate for EL Excellence – Part II
This is part II of a coffee chat with Andrea Honigsfeld, Maria G. Dove and Tonya Ward Singer on how to collaborate for EL achievement.
Ways to Differentiate Teaching for ELs
This is one of the most essential questions in EL education: “How can you best differentiate teaching for ELs who are in “mainstream classrooms?”
Listen to our radio interview. Read our written recommendations on Education Week.
Engage Every Teacher in Raising EL Achievement
The caliber of core teaching has the greatest influence on whether or not our English Learners (ELs) thrive. Consider the following: Three in four U.S. classrooms have at least one student who is an English learner. Even in schools with EL specialists, ELs spend the majority of their instructional day with core classroom teachers. We know this, yet too often forget it when designing EL programs and solutions. Instead, many…
Getting Personal About Race in America
Reading old family letters I discovered something I never expected to find. Join me on this humbling journey.
What Conversations Can Capture
When educators talk about formative assessment, student conversations are often left out of the conversation. This needs to change. You can lead the way.
Five Ways to Build Administrator Buy-In for Teacher Inquiry
Mention peer observation inquiry (OI) in education circles, and one of the first questions is always, “How do you build teacher buy-in?” It’s a critical question. Teacher leaders, however, ask another important question: “How do you build administrator buy-in and support for peer observation inquiry?” Here are five tips to help teacher leaders engage administrators in supporting effective, job-embedded professional learning.
Welcome to my blog: a space to ask deep questions and share insights to expand the edge of possibility for ALL learners in K-12 schools.
