Prevailing U.S. pedagogy tends to focus on preparing students to score well on multiple choice tests. Yet there are a host of major problems with this “accumulation-based” pedagogy (a.k.a. factory model, banking model [Freire, 1970]), particularly for multilingual students: The tests are in English, and
Understand the Importance of Critical Media Literacy for Students By Katie Kelly, Lester Laminack, and Vivian Vasquez Global social media users increased from 970 million people in 2010 to 2.96 billion in 2020, according to Statista. Children are born into today’s world of increasing media use, where
Picture walking into a classroom and observing a teacher is leading a whole class discussion where they ask a series of questions and several of the same students raise their hands to respond. Then, imagine walking into another classroom where the teacher is posing a
Ground Lesson Plans in Equity and Acceleration to Address Unfinished Learning By Sonya Murray and Gwendolyn Y. Turner As educators gather the shattered pieces from a broken, unprecedented time in education, research suggests more students are experiencing unfinished learning. According to NAEP reading and mathematics data, scores
It is vital that teachers of multilingual learners (MLLs) help develop these learners’ primary language and academic language skills along with providing equitable access to high-quality mathematics and science content. I recently collaborated on a book with Michael Beiersdorf and Theodore Ruiz Sagun titled Equity
As science teachers of multilingual learners (MLLs), it is critical that we not only provide equitable access to rigorous science content but also develop their primary, English, and academic language. To do this, we have found the use of what we term “Equity Moves,” or
Use Self-Reflection to Empower Learners By Paul Emerich France Differentiation and personalization can be a shared responsibility between learners and teachers. In fact, when we engage students in the process of personalizing their own learning, it becomes more sustainable for teachers. In order to make learners partners
Listen to authors Debbie Zacarian, Margarita Calderon, and Margo Gottlieb talking about re-engaging multilingual learners on the Leaders Coaching Leaders podcast with Peter DeWitt: We Have to Change Anyway! What a great opportunity to invent and innovate! Since we can no longer operate the same way we did in previous years,
Crises often amplify inequities that are hidden from view-especially for historically marginalized students from linguistically and culturally diverse populations. Rather than focus on what we perceive is wrong or broken, we can achieve much greater success by tapping into the tremendous strengths and capacities of
Beginning in March 2020 and continuing to the present, educators across the nation have shown remarkable resilience, creativity, and compassion as they work to educate their students. The COVID-19 pandemic and the dramatic shift to virtual and hybrid learning have revealed and exacerbated educational inequities