How might school closures result in a shift toward quality rather than quantity when educating our English learners and how can we sustain that effort moving forward? Why should empathy-building and perspective-taking be first and foremost when designing learning experiences for vulnerable student populations? How might we elevate the role of the EL Specialist while also bringing content teachers on board to serve English learners and their families? We discuss these questions and more on this e...
May 12, 2020•32 min
On this episode of our Reimagining EL Education series, we reconnect with our friend Conor Willams of The Century Foundation to talk about finding a path toward a better future for English learners as a result of this crisis. While he acknowledges that no one has all the answers, Conor provides some powerful insight about the importance of taking a whole child approach to distance and brick and mortar education, the challenge of linguistic isolation as a result of social distancing, the value of...
May 06, 2020•33 min
On this edition of our Reimagining EL Education series, we talk with Lori Villanueva, Superintendent of Coalinga-Huron Unified School District in California's Central Valley. She and her staff created an inspirational music video to share with students and families during school closures. The video has had a resounding effect on boosting morale, making connections, and keeping the lines of communication open in the school community. We also discuss what the future of EL education might look like...
Apr 29, 2020•22 min
On this edition of our Look for the Helpers series, we bring in Daniela Anello, Head of School at DC Public Charter School. Daniela talks about how her school is maintaining communication with the community they serve during the pandemic. She also highlights why it is so important to embrace vulnerability and learn from mistakes during this time. Finally, she describes why the tenets of transparency, trust, and community are so important as we move through this crisis and beyond. You can find al...
Apr 17, 2020•27 min
On this edition of our Look for the Helpers series, we speak with Teri Fisch, an EL Specialist in Homer, Illinois. Teri talks with us about her plans to provide more visual interactions with her students via Zoom and other tools. We also discuss what the future may hold for EL educators, students, and families in her district and beyond as we move past this school closures. Finally, Teri highlights some of the positives she is observing - especially when it comes to independent student writing. ...
Apr 16, 2020•17 min
On this edition of our Look for the Helpers series, we speak with Ruben Diaz, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction at Parlier Unified School District , a rural community in the Central Valley of California. Parlier is an agricultural community with a high percentage of English learners. During our conversation, Ruben talks about why his district has taken a 2 tier approach to roll out distance learning, beginning with reading and writing before going to speaking and listening....
Apr 13, 2020•24 min
On this edition of our Look for the Helpers series, we bring in Sara Hamerla, Administrator of English Language Learners at Waltham Pubic Schools, just outside Boston, Massachusetts. During our conversation, we talk about how we might overcome challenges around keeping students engaged in conversations in a distance learning environment, how we might avoid the possibility of an extended summer slide for English learners, why this might be a good time for PD, and more. You can find all of the res...
Apr 10, 2020•28 min
On this edition of our Look for the Helpers series, we speak with Richele Dunavent, an ELL Specialist in Henderson County, North Carolina. Henderson County is a rural district with a high population of English learners speaking a wide variety of languages. We discuss how Richele’s school is providing WiFi access, devices, and instructional materials to their English learners with an eye toward equity. We also highlight some positive developments, like how this crisis has resulted in increased co...
Apr 09, 2020•21 min
On this edition of our "Look for the Helpers" series, we speak with Hugo Cancel, a paraprofessional at Spring Lake Elementary School in Florida. Recognizing that paper-based packets that were being sent home during school closures were a good start, but not quite adequate to help students improve listening comprehension skills, Hugo began recording lessons and uploading them to YouTube. He has begun sending the videos directly to families with a private link so they can access the instructional ...
Apr 07, 2020•15 min
On this edition of our "Look for the Helpers" series, we catch up with Juan Arroyo, a middle school bilingual math teacher in Union City, New Jersey. We talk about how Mr. Arroyo and others are working to provide equitable learning opportunities to all students, regardless of their language and socioeconomic status. We also highlight tools and strategies to engage students in blended and online learning activities that will continue to be useful, even when schools re-open. For more information a...
Apr 06, 2020•19 min
On this edition of our Look for the Helpers series, we bring in Valentina Gonzalez to discuss the best ways to share resources and information with fellow educators during school closures. We also talk about the value of constantly pivoting as things change so quickly and embracing our vulnerability as we are forced to try new ideas. If you'd like to join us on the Look for the Helpers series to share your story with fellow educators, go to bit.ly/ELLHelper . You can find all of the resources we...
Apr 02, 2020•18 min
On this episode of our Look for the Helpers series, we talk with Elizabeth Leone about what she is doing through her school and community to ensure her most vulnerable students and their families have access to critical educational services. We also discuss why access to technology at home is so important to maintain educational equity, particularly for the newcomers who Elizabeth serves. If you'd like to join us on our Look for the Helpers series to share your story with fellow educators, go to...
Apr 01, 2020•18 min
On this episode of our Look for the Helpers series, we talk with Carol Salva and Tan Huynh about how educators can access high quality professional development from wherever they are while schools remain closed. We highlight VirtuEL, a free annual online conference for teachers of language learners featuring live breakout sessions, panels and keynote speakers. Carol and Tan have facilitated VirtuEL for the last three years and make all content available to anyone interested in using it. During o...
Mar 31, 2020•34 min
We catch up with Ellevation's cofounders Jordan Meranus and Teddy Rice to talk about the challenges they are seeing, how Ellevation is adapting to best serve English learners, and what long-term school closures mean for educational equity. If you'd like to share your story on Highest Apirations, go to bit.ly/ELLHelper . You can find more resources on our Look for the Helpers short video series ....
Mar 30, 2020•15 min
How might we provide equitable instructional resources and services to English learners and their families? What can we do to support families who may not have internet access or adequate devices? What are some tools that teachers can use to keep English learners engaged? We discuss these questions and more with Katie Frances. Katie is a certified EL teacher in Fayette County, KY. She spent her first 8 years as a mainstream classroom teacher working with diverse groups of students. She currently...
Mar 27, 2020•27 min
How do we ensure that English learners and their families in rural communities have access to services that schools normally provide? What are educators doing to overcome the challenge of providing students with food when transportation is a challenge? How are schools addressing equity issues in areas where internet and device access is not widely available? We discuss these questions and more in our conversation with Kelly Aldinger. Kelly is a K-3 English as a New Language teacher in a small, r...
Mar 26, 2020•16 min
How can teachers and tech staff continue to collaborate to support English learners while schools are closed? Why might this be a good time for teacher professional development and how might schools implement systems to support it? What are some key resources that educators can use right now to help support their English learners? We discuss these questions and more with Dr. Yolanda Rios and Gretta Rogne of New Caney ISD in Texas. Dr. Rios has over 14 years experience in bilingual education and ...
Mar 25, 2020•26 min
What can we learn about online learning from EL educators who have been doing it for over 8 weeks now? Why is backwards planning so important when designing online lessons? How might we go about striking the appropriate balance between synchronous and asynchronous strategies to ensure equitable access to instruction? We discuss these questions and much more with Tan Huynh. Tan ( @TanELLclassroom ) is a career teacher specializing in language acquisition. Tan has taught students from fifth to twe...
Mar 24, 2020•23 min
This episode is part of our "Look for the Helpers" series . If you'd like to share your story, take 2 minutes to fill out this form . What are some strategies and resources teachers can use right now to help reach English learners while schools are closed? How might we sustain communication with teachers, families, and other stakeholders? Are there any silver linings to this very difficult situation? We discuss these questions and much more with Vanessa Colón, EL Coordinator at International Lea...
Mar 23, 2020•20 min
This is the first episode of our “Look for the Helpers” series on the impact of coronavirus related school closures on English learners. During this challenging time, we believe it is more important than ever to amplify educators’ voices. For that reason, we are inviting anyone who works with English learners to share their stories on Highest Aspirations . Whether you have tips on keeping students and their families engaged, minimizing the social or academic impacts of social distancing, providi...
Mar 18, 2020•20 min
Why is reading culturally relevant books such an important part of language acquisition? What can educators do to make sure students have access to relevant and engaging reading materials - both at home and at school? How can providing access to books for immigrant families help promote educational equity? We discuss these questions and much more with Hermenegildo Paulo, an inspirational educator and recent English Learner now working in Portland Public Schools in Maine. An educator and English ...
Mar 10, 2020•47 min•Season 4Ep. 9
How can Newcomer Academies help immigrant students get off to a good start in on their academic journeys? Why is community and family engagement so important and how can educators implement strategies that work? How do we go about streamlining EL programs while also mitigating concerns around change management? We discuss these questions and in the first in a series of episodes featuring Ellevation Educators of the Month, an award program we kicked off on October of 2019 to recognize and celebra...
Mar 03, 2020•40 min•Season 4Ep. 8
This is a very special episode of Highest Aspirations, not only because of our well known and highly respected guest, but also because almost all of the questions come directly from our listeners. We’d like to thank everyone who contributed to this episode by submitting questions for Sonia Nazario, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author of Enrique’s Journey and we’d love to keep the conversation going. You can use our voicemail feature to share your comments so we can share them in future ...
Feb 25, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Season 4Ep. 7
How does Exc-ELL help teachers better serve their English learners and Dual language learners? How do we go about coaching others when observing classrooms and how does using observation protocols help administrators understand what teaching vocabulary, reading comprehension, and other strategies look like? How might we create a culture of giving and receiving feedback? Plus, we come back to the Seal of Biliteracy to ask how all this work might help more students access it. For more information ...
Feb 18, 2020•27 min•Season 4Ep. 6
On this episode of Highest Aspirations, we feature part 1 of a 2 part series with Dr. Margarita Calderón, former Professor Emerita and Senior Research Scientist at Johns Hopkins University and author of several publications about multilingual education. During our conversation, we address the following questions: Why is it that many students are not receiving the Seal of Biliteracy after being on track for the recognition during their primary school years? How can we ensure that English learners...
Feb 11, 2020•35 min•Season 4Ep. 5
How do we move the needle from over-scaffolded, over-scripted dialogues to student-generated conversations that leverage academic language? What does a math-based conversation look like in a linguistically and culturally diverse classroom? Why is it so important for teachers to come together to talk about communication in the classroom and how it fosters learning? We discuss these questions and much more with Jeff Zwiers. Jeff is a senior researcher at the Stanford Graduate School of Education a...
Feb 04, 2020•42 min•Season 4Ep. 4
What does a language rich math classroom look and sound like? How do we get past simple repetition to reach a “harmony of concept and language” for English learners in math classes? How do we move from simply getting the right answer and move toward building metacognitive skills and why is this particularly important for English learners? We discuss these questions and more in part 2 of our 2 part series with Grace Kelemanik and Amy Lucenta, authors of the book “Routines for Reasoning: Fostering...
Jan 28, 2020•42 min
How can building routines for reasoning help reduce cognitive load and anxiety for English learners in math classes? How can strategies like Ask-Yourself Questions, Annotation, Sentence Frames and Starters, and The Four Rs help provide equitable access to mathematical thinking? What are some effective ways of teaching students the academic vocabulary necessary to have a seat at the math table? We discuss these questions and more in part 1 of our 2 part series with Grace Kelemanik and Amy Lucenta...
Jan 21, 2020•35 min•Season 4Ep. 2
In this episode, we bring you a conversation Ellevation co-founders Teddy Rice and Jordan Meranus. Jordan and Teddy talk about how Ellevation’s origin story is directly connected to an EL teacher working to maximize impact on her students, how diversity and inclusion contribute to innovation, what organizations like ours need to do to stay connected with schools, and what you can expect from Ellevation in the near future. Plus, they provide a sneak peek into what's coming next from Ellevation! S...
Jan 14, 2020•42 min•Season 4Ep. 1
How do we ensure English learners experience equitable access to rigorous content in math classes? What can we do to bridge the gap between research and practice in dual language programs? How do we ensure all students learn the academic language necessary to succeed in content classes? What supports do English learners and undocumented students need along the route to college admission? We cover these questions and much more in Season 4 of Highest Aspirations, an education podcast, where we eng...
Jan 09, 2020•4 min
