Stay ConnectedOn the Highest Aspirations Podcast, we engage in important conversations about the most rapidly growing student demographic in the United States – English Language Learners. We speak with educators and students, researchers and policy makers, and parents and community members about how we can help all students reach their highest aspirations.
Join us on this important journey as we bring the vibrant ELL Community together around the topics that matter most to the students we serve.
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 ourEL 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 ourEL 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.
This interview is a bonus episode 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.
We got a chance to speak with Bryan Fernandez and Yerahm Hong, two recipients of the 2022 Ellevation Scholarship. Both of these students were enrolled in an EL program at some point during their K-12 education, and are currently freshmen at USC and UPenn, respectively. On this episode, we will highlight some experiences they had throughout their educational journeys to get to this point, and what advice they would give educators of 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 ourEL Community page for episode resources, related content and more.
How can educators shift their practice from tearing down students for translanguaging or using “Spanglish” to building this up? How can tactics like co-teaching and professional learning opportunities be leveraged to support multilingual students and create more equitable classrooms? What can educators do to incorporate their students’ entire linguistic repertoire and validate their experiences in the classroom to build confidence?
Spanglish has historically been discouraged in both English and Spanish classrooms across the US. However, by discrediting this blended language we are not allowing students to use their entire linguistic repertoire. Not only is Spanglish, which is the blending of word parts from both Spanish and English, a significant part of many heritage Spanish speaking students’ identities, it is a valuable form of translanguaging.
To explore this topic in depth, we spoke with Alexandra Medrano, a teacher in Colorado who shares her journey from discouraging to celebrating Spanglish in her classroom. She also highlights other strategies she uses to create a more supportive and welcoming learning environment.
Alexandra (Alex) Medrano was a founding team member of DSST: Conservatory Green High School, a public charter school in North East Denver. The school is now in its fifth year, and her role has changed from founding Spanish teacher to Senior Academy Dean of Culture and instructional coach. For the last three years, she was the campus Multilinigual Education program coordinator, ensuring that emerging bilinguals receive effective instruction in their content courses by monitoring English proficiency data, analyzing gaps between emerging bilingual and monolingual students, and leading professional development to staff about the best practices to support emerging bilinguals.
Additionally, she co-taught English language development integrated history courses, with explicit language instruction. Alexandra is a 2013 Colorado Springs Teach for America alumni and has earned a master's in Educational Equity and Cultural Diversity from CU Boulder. This is her tenth year in education.
For additional episodes, blog posts and free resources relating to multilingual education, visit our community page: https://ellevationeducation.com/ell-community
Find the full episode transcript here. Visit ourEL Community page for episode resources, related content and more.
What are culture learning targets and why are they critical for creating non-oppressive learning environments? How can individual teachers lesson plan in a way that can disrupt the status quo of a monolingual centric approach to learning? How can educators support their multilingual learners in making cross-linguistic connections and fostering a practice of metalinguistic awareness?
Welcome back to Season 9 of the Highest Aspirations podcast, a show where we explore how we can help make an impact on our nation’s highest growing student demographic multilingual learners. Our first guest of the season is Dr. José Medina.
Dr. Medina is the founder and Chief Educational Advocate for Dr. José Medina: Educational Solutions. Prior to establishing the boutique consulting firm, Dr. Medina served as Research Scientist and Director of Dual Language and Bilingual Education at the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) in Washington, DC. José provides dual language technical assistance, professional development, and job-embedded support to dual language programs across the United States and globally.
He is a former dual language school principal and district leader who has also served as an administrator, educator, and advocate at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Dr. Medina is a co-author of the third edition and widely-used Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education and creator of the C6 Biliteracy Instructional framework, which we discuss during this interview. Dr. Medina is also a member of Ellevation's Instructional Advisory Board.
To download the full episode transcript click here.
For episode recap and resources, additional multimedia content and exclusive community webinars and toolkits, visit www.ellevationeducation.com/el-community
Why is it necessary to explicitly teach and foster listening skills, specifically for language learners? What tools and activities can be used to practice listening in a culturally responsive and engaging way for all students? What do authentic conversations and listening comprehension activities sound like, and how can educators more effectively encourage these in their students?
Those topics and much more with Theresa Blanchard and Paul Hernandez from Sanger Unified School District in California - two educators who have designed and implemented successful strategies to help their students succeed in a variety of ways.
Find the full episode transcript here. Visit our EL Community page for show notes, additional resources, multimedia content and much more.
As always, thanks for listening to Highest Aspirations. The conversation continues when Season 9 begins in August, but every episode from Season 1-8 is available for you anywhere you get your podcasts. Enjoy the summer!
What are some of the biggest obstacles for multilingual learners in many widely used intelligence tests? How can assessments be altered to more accurately test thinking rather than language skills or content knowledge? As more students are identified as gifted and talented with more accurate testing, how can teachers begin to better support these students?
We discuss these questions and much more with Dr. Jack Naglieri. Dr. Naglieri is widely known for his efforts to increase participation of traditionally under-represented students in gifted education. He is currently a Senior Research Scientist at the Devereux Center for Resilient Children and Emeritus Professor of Psychology at George Mason University.
You’ll find multimedia resources - including a transcript of this episode, accompanying blog posts, videos, collaboration opportunities, and more - on our learning community. For episode resources and additional content visit our EL Community page.
Find the full episode transcript here.
What vital roles do social and cultural capital play in determining the opportunities available to new arrivals? How can peers be leveraged to help newcomers cross the we/them divide while growing academically? What does it mean for new arrivals to “cross the finish line” and what are a few key steps educators can take to help them get there?
We discuss these questions and much more with Pamela Broussard. Pamela Broussard is a passionate keynote speaker, presenter, and high school New Arrival Center teacher from Houston, Texas. She has more than 30 years of teaching experience ranging from elementary to master's degree prep courses. She has taught Regular Ed., Special Ed., ESL/EL/ML, SLIFE, and New Arrivals. She has taught in the USA and abroad. In addition to teaching, she is Rotary International Peace Fellow. She has traveled to more than 35 countries including working in Afghanistan for seven years. She has spent time in: refugee camps, war zones, orphanages, trash heaps, and human trafficking zones. These experiences and trainings have given her a wealth of experience with Social Emotional Learning, Cultural Responsive Teaching, and Trauma-Informed Teaching. When she's not teaching, you can find her with hands covered in paint, glue stuck to her fingers, and collage supplies across her desk doing art.
You’ll find multimedia resources - including a transcript of this episode, accompanying blog posts, videos, collaboration opportunities, and more - on our learning community. For episode resources and additional content visit our EL Community page.
Find the full episode transcript here.
How can concepts like “teacher identity” and “learning leader” transform how educators show up in the classroom? What is the difference between directive and generative scaffolding, and how can one be significantly more constructive for ELs? What roles can deep culture, identity, and instructional power play in crafting more equitable teaching styles?
We discuss these questions and much more with Tanji Reed Marshall, who was highly recommended by our friend Jeff Zwiers form Stanford Graduate School of Education. Tanji Reed Marshall, Ph.D., is the director of p-12 practice, leading Ed Trust’s Equity in Motion assignment analysis work. Prior to joining Ed Trust, Tanji worked in the Office of Academic Programs at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University to prepare the school of education’s accreditation with the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation. Before that, she supported prospective secondary English teachers who were working to obtain licensure through the school of education.
You’ll find multimedia resources - including a transcript of this episode, accompanying blog posts, videos, collaboration opportunities, and more - on our learning community. For episode resources and additional content visit our EL Community page.
Download the full episode transcript here.
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