TIII Back-to-School Series: Visual Orientation Handbook
I absolutely love this idea of a visual orientation handbook, shared with me by Silvia Tamminen, coordinator at the Aurora Public Schools (APS) Welcome Center in the Denver suburb of Aurora, Colorado.
The Aurora Public Schools (APS) Welcome Center supports one of the most diverse student populations in the country. This demographic includes a large number of folks resettled refugee status. The district is now home to students from all over the world, with especially robust cultural representation from Bhutan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Libya, Syria, Myanmar, Côte d’ Ivoire, and Eritrea.
Families with school-aged children who are new to the district and also new to the English language are directly referred to the APS Welcome Center. Staff guide Newcomer families through the processes of student registration and school orientation.
Sylvia Timmenem heads this effort. She’s a human rights professional with a concentration on refugee and migration issues. Her knowledge of policy and practice is evident. But she’s also approachable and down-to-earth, with a bold, welcoming smile. As I glance through her workspace, I notice elements of her Fin culture.
“Immigration is something I share with our clients,” she tells me. But she’s also quick to point out that while there are some parallels, her path to America was smoother than many of those she sees in her day-to-day work. Sylvia is deeply aware of the privilege that comes with choice, with a previous knowledge of the English language, and even her appearance. Nonetheless, she does have an understanding of just how complex and overwhelming the immgration process can be. This awareness adds an additional layer of humanity to her interactions.
Sylivia came on board with the APS Welcome Center program in its inaugural season. She and her team built the organization from the bones up. The visual orientation handbook is among the group’s creative, solution-seeking efforts.
The handbook is a non-consumable resource with a permanent home in Sylvia’s office. It is composed of full-page photos and illustrations, slid into sheet protectors and organized into a three-ring binder. Each image is captioned with a simple explanation, which is (or can be) easily translated into a preferred language. Sylvia or another APS staff member reads the book alongside incoming families (and a translator, if requested). Page by page, the tool lays out the expectations for a typical school day.
For example, one picture shows a group of students sitting on the ground listening to a read-aloud. The caption reads, “Sometimes, students sit on the carpet during the school day.”
This was an important inclusion, Sylvia assured me. “Many times our parents cannot believe that their child would sit on the floor to learn anything. In some of their own countries, that would be very strange and maybe make a parent very angry.” She points out that often these seemingly “everyday” aspects of the school day can be overlooked. But in the context of welcoming families from culturally diverse backgrounds, taking the time to explicitly detail various aspects of the school experience can go a long way.
Here are some other situations included in the APS visual orientation handbook:
Kids receiving lunch on a tray (many recently arrived learners would have gone home for lunch or packed their own meal)
Young adults putting their supplies in lockers (this may be a first-time experience for many)
Students arriving for school at or before the scheduled time (concepts of time and urgency around timeliness varies greatly from one culture and context to another)
Photos of co-ed teaching staff (learners and their families may have culturally influenced expectations about the appearance of those in teacher and leadership roles).
There are plenty more great ideas. Check them out in the Aurora Welcome Center’s comprehensive list below!
Could you duplicate this resource at your site? As long as you have a camera and a few hours to spare, of course! (Just be sure to send out a thank you to the APS Welcome Center for the idea. Find them here: http://welcomecenter.aurorak12.org)
This version was created by staff. But other great options might include:
Inviting former Newcomers to take this on as a project (a modernized “buddy” system)
Creating a digital and/or interactive version of the handbook
Engaging teacher teams in creating grade-level welcoming handbooks
And here are a few examples of what that might look like in actuality!
(Adapted with permission from Aurora Welcome Center: Refugee, Immigrant and Community Integration. Photos copyright @DiversifiED Consulting)
TIII Series: The Home Language Survey- Ensuring Compliance and Success
The Home Language Survey (HLS), also called a Heritage Language Survey or Home Language Questionnaire (HLQ), is used in the initial process of identifying a student’s potential eligibility for English language support services. A heritage language survey usually takes the form of a brief questionnaire, which may be administered in English print, preferred language print, orally, or through a translator. The purpose of the survey is to establish an understanding of a student’s language-learning background.
Student Example: Khaled’s family has just arrived to register him for school. The family meets with an enrollment specialist at the school. When completing the survey, Khaled’s mother indicates that they are from Somalia. She also notes that Somali is the language spoken in the home. However, Khaled’s first language (and only instructional language) is Swahili, as the family relocated to the refugee camp in Kenya just before Khaled’s birth. Khaled’s exposure to the English language, at least according to the Heritage Language Survey, is limited. These results suggest that Khaled may be eligible to receive English-supportive learning services.
Home/heritage Language Surveys can be extremely useful in identifying potential new-to-English learners. However, keep in mind that these, like other student assessments, are only an indicative tool. They cannot be used as an exclusive measure for language services enrollment. (And they certainly don’t capture the cultural and linguistic funds of knowledge diverse student groups bring to the table).
Next, Khaled will be screened for multilingual programming eligibility (ELL services).
If and when an HLS confirms that a student is new to English, he or she will be considered for language learning services. The enrollment specialist (often the multilingual department head, multilingual coach, Student Assessment Liaison, or other trained personnel) carefully analyzes the data.
Specific testing may vary from state to state or from district to district. Most schools employ WIDA ACCESS, ELPA, Woodcock-Munoz or a similar state/district approved measure. Regardless of the testing instrument, timeliness is key to compliance, but more importantly, as part of our commitment to meeting the learning needs of the child.
It is critical to note that the Heritage Language Surveys (or any other form of registration questioning) is limited in its capacity. That is, no information obtained through school enrollment can be used to evaluate, comment or report on legal immigration status. Federal law strictly protects the rights of all children who are present in the U.S. to attend public school; and it conversely restricts school personnel from any inquiry or interference in legal immigration issues.
I always suggest that schools walk through a HLS “Think Tank” , whether they are starting from scratch to build a questionnaire or have an existing process in place. Here are some of those Think Tank prompts:
What is the schools’ defined purpose for the Heritage Language Survey? (In other words, how and why is the survey meaningful to students and parents?)
Where on campus will the survey be completed?
How is a sense of welcoming and belonging achieved during this process?
Is the assessment culturally responsive? how do we know?
Who at your school will administer the Heritage Language Survey? What is their level of training/expertise to do so?
Who at your school will evaluate the HLS responses? What is their level of training/expertise to do so?
In which languages are print copies of the HLS made available?
In which languages can the HLS be verbally translated/communicated?
Is the language concise and clear?
Are families informed that information is confidential and cannot be used for any outside purpose (including immigration status)?
If a student is highlighted as potentially eligible for English Support Services services, what is the next-step process?
How is Emergent Multilingual (EM) testing and placement information recorded and stored?
How often are student HLS documents revisited/ re-requested?
Finally, let’s explore an HLS example. You’ll find that the first page can be used as a ready-to-roll version, or as a baseline for creating a site-specific version. The template is exactly as we have described, with essential questions for determining potential language services eligibility. That’s it. That’s all you need.
However, you may find it useful to collect additional data. In that case, the additional pages of the survey will provide ideas with regard to collecting additional data and insights about the student and his or her family. Additional data collection is optional for the school, depending on your school’s needs and program goals. It is ideal to have as much information about a student’s specific background and needs at the time of enrollment. The HLS addendum serves this purpose.
Note that if you do choose to ask for additional data, caretakers are not obligated to provide it. If families choose to exercise their right to withhold data, this decision cannot affect child enrollment in any way. In any case, consistency is key. Make it a goal to have 100% incoming family participation in completing the questionnaire.
Title III Back-to School with Multilinguals: Intro to Series
“If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you are doing.”
These are the words of American engineer and statistician W. Edwards Deming. I often carry them with me into my work as an educational practitioner.
When it comes to enrolling potential multilingual learners (and determining who might qualify for English-specific support services), a clear process is critical. After all, clarity and consistency create calm. Not to mention, they help ensure that we’re achieving legal compliance.
Intake protocol will vary by district, and sometimes by school, too. Your procedures should make sense for your organization. It is also imperative that they take into careful account national, state and district expectations for student enrollment, registration and ELL placement. But the nuts-and-bolts of these procedures are non-negotiable. They’re clearly outlined by the federal government and further detailed by the Office of Civil Rights.
Each time I work with schools in creating these documents, we begin by examining current intake procedures. I generally start with the one big open-ended curiosity: What does the enrollment process for potential multilinguals look like?
Responses are solicited from various stakeholders: front office staff, ELD leads, classroom teachers, and principals. More often than not, most folks have a whole lot of trouble describing this process.
Think for a moment on your organization (we’re not calling ya’ll out here, just pointing out opportunities for better serving kids!). Who can clearly map out this process? Can team members answer, for example:
Who are the first school personnel that potential students and their family members see when they walk in the door?
Exactly how is registration handled?
What about secondary processes for probable ELLs?
How consistent are these procedures?
Who is aware that they exist?
Where is registration information stored?
What types of translation services are available to families?
Who checks (and re-checks) files for accuracy?
Asking questions and evaluating responses alongside school administrators always reveals a few surprises- and a lot of loopholes. In this space, we have room and perspective to analyze what works and what doesn’t, what to keep and what to toss (outside of compliance-regulated components, of course). We are also able to determine critical missing links (communication and clarity usually take the top spots), and get to work filling those holes in purposeful, directed ways. The focus is on simplicity- creating a process that can be easily explained by any key stakeholder at the school.
We’ll begin with a look at the Home Language Survey (HLS). Continue on to our next article to learn more!
Teaching through Ramadan: Supporting our Muslim Students
Ramadan Mubarak! رمضان كريم
We’re in the season of Ramadan, which this year lasts from April 12 to May 12. (Updated 2024 dates: Sun, Mar 10 – Tue, Apr 9). This is the time of the year when many Muslims fast (or abstain from food and drink) from sunrise to sunset. It’s a time of both daily sacrifice and celebration. The holiday culminates in Eid, a several-day festival of food, gifts, and togetherness.
What is the Purpose of Ramadan?
Ramadan is a Muslim holiday. Islam, directly translated, means “peace”. Ramadan, which occurs during the ninth month of the lunar calendar, is a reflection of this. It is a period of introspection, prayer, self-improvement, and community.
Muslims believe that activities like fasting and zakat (charity and generosity) encourage self-discipline, gratitude, and empathy. Practicing these are qualities during Ramadan (and throughout the year) is said to strengthen one’s spiritual connection to God, or Allah (SWT). It is believed that the Qur’an was first revealed to the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) during the last ten days of Ramadan.
Who takes part in Ramadan?
Most Muslims celebrate the month of Ramadan, but not all participate in fasting. Those who are very young, elderly, pregnant, breastfeeding, menstruating, or have health conditions, might not fast. Some who do not fast during Ramadan may choose to recover missed days later in the year.
What does a day of Ramadan look like?
Suhoor begins a typical day during the month of Ramadan. This meal takes place before dawn, usually between 2-4 am, and is followed by morning prayers, or Fajr. If a person is fasting, they will probably return to sleep. Fasting has now begun, so the person will try to refrain from food or water until the Maghrib prayer at sunset.
Then, family and friends gather for Iftar. This is a celebratory meal that usually begins with the eating of dates to break the fast, followed by traditional dishes (and often in abundance!). Some families stay up late into the evenings celebrating, socializing, praying, or reading from the Qur’an.
Eid-al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan. Morning prayer is followed by two or three days of communal celebration. During the time of Eid, families may decorate their homes with lanterns or lights, host elaborate meals, give and receive gifts, or attend street festivals dedicated to the occasion. It is an occasion of joy, gratitude, togetherness, eating, and giving.
How can I acknowledge and support my Ramadan-observing students?
Self-educate. Muslim students should not be expected to teach others about their faith, practices, or traditions. Do not assume that a Muslim student wishes to share about these experiences or explain a decision to (or not to) fast. By taking the time to learn more about the month of Ramadan and the folks who take part in it, we can identify points of connection and better anticipate students’ needs.
Avoid assumptions. Keep in mind that Islam, like any religion, is widely interpreted and experienced. Muslim families and individuals may enjoy varied traditions- including the degree to which they practice aspects of their deen, or faith. Talking to students or families privately about how to best support them can increase feelings of comfort and belonging.
Consider scheduling. Fasting from food and water can be tough on students. It can impact energy levels, concentration, and mood. Many students will wake in the hour before sunrise to eat and pray, so sleeping may be interrupted, too.
When planning for participation-heavy content, cooperative engagement, and deep-level thinking, try aiming for the morning, when energy and concentration are likely to be higher. Nagla Badir, writing for Teaching While Muslim, recommends having online assignments due late at night, so that students can complete them after they’ve had a chance to have dinner. This is also an opportunity to think carefully about the timing of calendar events like a band performance or prom, which can share time spaces with Iftar or Eid.
Badir also shares this calendar, where you can look up prayer times for students in your area!
Create safe spaces. For many observers, the period of Ramadan is a time of increased prayer, which occurs during specific windows of the day. Students who may have originated from countries or communities with high Muslim populations would have this time built into their school day. Of course, this is not often the case in U.S. schools, where many of the staff may not even be aware of this need. Having a space set aside (or two spaces, one for males and one for females) can help ensure that these students are seen and valued at school.
Muslim students who, for health or personal reasons, are not fasting during Ramadan may also benefit from a separate space during eating times. These individuals may face uncomfortable pressure or questioning as to why they are not fasting; having a safe location to go to can ease this stress.
Boost Socio-Emotional Learning. Ramadan is a time of family, friends, and community. Often, our observing students are physically distant from family members and/or feel that their holiday isn’t shared with others in the school or locality. This may be especially true for our Recent Arriver newcomers.
At school (whether in person or remote) we can be intentional about incorporating opportunities to learn and practice SEL skills- especially those that include elements of self-awareness, grounding, and collaboration. This important step can help diminish feelings of isolation and support students’ mental and emotional well-being during the period of Ramadan and beyond.
Engage through children’s books. Muslim and Muslim-American literature can be incredibly powerful in facilitating “door and window” experiences for Muslim students in the classroom. There’s an added benefit, too- books can engage non-Muslim students in ways that invite connection, empathy, and tolerance. We’ll visit some of these titles in an upcoming post. In the meantime, start here, at I’m Your Neighbor Books (I’d recommend sticking around to check out this super valuable sight!).
Where can I learn more?
Great question! Here are some of my favorite sites. Have more to add? Please do share them below!
Teaching While Muslim https://www.teachingwhilemuslim.org/
Hijabi Librarians https://hijabilibrarians.com/
ING- Ramadan Information Sheet https://ing.org/ramadan-information-sheet/
Learning For Justice: https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/teaching-about-ramadan-and-eid
Muslim Students Association National https://www.msanational.org/resources
With increased awareness- and with some tools in our toolboxes, we can be better prepared to support our Muslim students throughout this beautiful month and beyond, Inshallah!
Ramadan Mubarak, friends. Wishing you all you, peace, and abundance! لويز اليعفوري
Crossing Cultural Thresholds- Engaging EL Caretakers in the Trauma-Aware Conversation
Let’s look to tools and strategies that facilitate re-directive capacities and champion long-term moves toward resiliency. We’ll spend a bit of extra time focused on our Recent Arriver Emergent Lingual (RAEL) students. In this space, we’ll highlight EL parents and families as critical stakeholders in students’ trauma restoration processes.
Trauma-informed pedagogy relies upon, in part, the explicit teaching and modeling of regulatory and prosocial behaviors. Eventually, these strategies can be holistically embedded into children’s everyday school (and life) experiences. In the context of RAEL populations, this also means bridging cultural norms and expectations around mental wellbeing. As learning places, this requires a concentrated shift toward integrating diverse cultural value systems into our trauma-sensitive practice.
The National Council for Behavioral Health names two dimensions of sustainability in trauma-informed programming:
1. Making changes, gains, and accomplishments stick
2. Keeping the momentum moving forward for continuous quality improvement.
So, how can we best support these two dimensions? A sustainable path toward resilience requires us, as practitioners, to monitor students’ success and adapt our instructional cues as needed. Fortunately, we already recognize this as a best practices approach across all grade levels, content areas and language domains. We are experts at checking in on our students and personalizing the learning experience based upon individual strengths and needs. The same tenets apply to the processes of transition shock, including trauma.
Shifts are required in the broader educational landscape, too. Sustainability requires honest conversations about our organization’s infrastructure, including leadership, policies, and procedures as they ignite or diffuse underlying transition shock. It demands moving away from punitive practices and toward restorative solution seeking. Sustainability relies upon the collection and analysis of data in order to determine if our trauma-informed programming is effective and equitable. It means that all team members are equipped with tools for understanding and addressing student trauma, and that educators are widely supported in recognizing and managing the secondary stress that may arise through our work with trauma-impacted youth.
Essentially, we are charged with ensuring that the strategies we introduce are good fits for individual students. A good fit means that they are not re-triggering and are both culturally responsive and language adaptive. A good fit means that learners are empowered to experiment with mitigation strategies in their toolboxes, to fail forward in a safe space, to reevaluate without self-admonishment, and to try again.
Involving Caretakers as Critical Stakeholders
If we are to truly address transition shock (including trauma) in our learning spaces, then we must also become active in engineering webs of support around our students- in this case, we’re speaking specifically about our RAELs. Here, we’ll concentrate on arguably the most critical stakeholder group of all- the parents and caretakers of our Emergent Linguals.
In communicating with culturally and linguistically dynamic caretaker groups about transition shock, it’s important to first identify our guiding principles. How do we cross cultural thresholds to build authentic partnerships?
As with our students, safety and trust are paramount. Cultivate these properties as we would in the classroom- practice welcoming, routine, predictability, and transparency.
Be cognizant of biases around mental health and trauma. Name observed behaviors and avoid labeling.
Reduce isolation by connecting families to appropriate resources, as well as to families with socio-cultural commonalities.
Strive to meet with parents in person and, if needed, arrange for a trained translator wherever possible. Avoid using children as conversational brokers.
Talk to parents about the link between students’ school performance and socio-mental health. Use direct and clear language.
Remember that mental health terms may be unfamiliar, unmeaningful, or untranslatable for Recent Arriver parents. Translate these terms ahead of time if possible, and provide visual cues where appropriate.
Honor socio-cultural perspectives when advocating for student care.
Champion wrap-around supports and refer students for advanced care in a timely manner.
Sustainability is enhanced when students’ home and cultural values show up in the school space. Highlighting the voices of our RAELs’ caretakers can simultaneously bolster our culturally responsive efforts and temper student anxiety. Meanwhile, opening doors to culturally responsive communication around trauma-sensitive topics builds trust and enables a collaborative approach to long-term restoration.
Mitigating Student Trauma in the Virtual Classroom
The most common question on deck these days: How do I go about minimizing student trauma in the virtual setting?
Of course, this is a loaded question. So let’s start by laying a foundation. Here are the most practical ways to get started (or to boost your existing trauma-informed practice).
Reframe the conversation: Mitigating trauma isn't about fixing broken things. It's about restoring power. The distinction is critical. This power belongs to our students, and they’ve owned it all along. Sometimes it gets interrupted. We can see ourselves as technicians, trained to employ tools that can help to get the power-up and running again. The next step: turn those Power Restoration tools over to our students.
Get Brainy: Don't underestimate the power that comes from understanding the human brain. Set aside the time. Open the conversation. Invite students to become observers of their own thinking (metacognition). Practice non-judgmental recognition of fight-flight-freeze-submit responses. Experiment with trauma minimizing strategies in a safe space to discover 'just right' fits.
Resources:
Elementary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_dxnYhdyuY
Upper Grades Parts of the Brain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CpRY9-M
Upper Grades Fight-Flight-Freeze: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpolpKTWrp4
Elementary Journal: What Survival Looks Like for Me (Inner World Work): http://www.innerworldwork.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/What-survival-looks-like...-for-me-3.pdf
Upper Grades Journal: What Survival Looks Like In Secondary School (Inner World Work): http://www.innerworldwork.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Survival-In-Secondary-School.pdf
Practice Predictability: YOU show up day after day. Remember that this seemingly simple act goes a long way in minimizing the impacts of trauma for our students. The consistency of your presence and the routine you strive for in daily learning is critical. Preemptively signal upcoming changes, where possible. Predictability fosters trust. Trust lends itself to safety. And when students feel safe, they are able to learn.
Host a Restore Your Power Space: Create a space or folder in whatever virtual platform you're using. House Power Restoration tools here and encourage students to visit, even when school's not in session. Digital black-out or magnetic poetry, drawing/sketchnoting tools, guided bilateral movements, and SEL-based calming strategies are all good fits here. Looking for more resources and strategies? Explore our blog and stay tuned for our upcoming book on this topic with ASCD (due early 2021).
Resources:
Mitigating Transition Shock in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Settings. Louise El Yaafouri (DiversifiED Consulting) and Saddleback Education: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9KxIFECSF8
Edutopia: Strategies for Easing Transition Shock by Louise El Yaafouri (DiversifiED Consulting) https://www.edutopia.org/article/strategies-easing-transition-shock
Art Therapy ideas: https://diversifi-ed.com/explore/2018/10/1/art-therapy-for-trauma-in-the-classroom
Recommended at-home resource: http://www.innerworldwork.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/What-Survival-Looks-Like-At-Home-Quick-Printout.pdf
What Is Sheltered Instruction?
Effective Recent Arriver programming is structured with the principles of sheltered instruction in mind. These techniques are not tethered to an exclusive program or curriculum. Rather, they are tools for teaching and learning that can be applied to and incorporated into any existing program to explicitly promote language development. All sheltering strategies are centered around the primary goal of increasing Emergent Multiinguals’ access to (and demonstrated mastery of) essential knowledge- without compromising the integrity of the content lesson.
Strategies that are associated with this pedagogy foster academically focused student talk, intra and interdependent problem-solving skills, effective collaboration, and healthy cross-cultural communication skill development. These practices benefit Recent Arriver and traditional students alike and can be modified to support learners across a range of language, grade, and skill levels.
Where Did the Term Sheltered Instruction Come From?
Sheltered instruction is a manifestation of the Comprehension Hypothesis for language learning. The Comprehension Hypothesis is rooted in the idea that “we acquire language when we understand messages containing aspects of language that we have not acquired, but are developmentally ready to acquire.” (Krashen, 2013). That is, language learning best occurs in natural settings, drawing holistically from what we hear and read. It develops via exposure to comprehensible input, or bite-sized digestible pieces of language understanding.
This is in direct contrast to the skill-building theory, which presses for direct, rote learning of grammar, vocabulary and spelling knowledge. Briefly, skill-building strategies are conscious measures, while comprehension-based learning is subconscious and indirect. Research overwhelmingly indicates that language learning is enhanced and accelerated when Comprehension Hypothesis methods are applied. In fact, evidence shows that,
“Students in beginning-level second language classes based on the Comprehension Hypothesis consistently outperform students in classes based on skill-building tests of communication, and do at least as well as, and often slightly better than, students in skills-based classes on tests of grammar.” (Krashen, 2003)
Sheltered instruction is directly representative of Comprehension Hypothesis ideals. Its primary goal is to provide language learners with a comprehensible input through the implementation of specific instructional tools and practices. Sheltered instruction is critical in the context of Newcomer instruction in that it focuses on content over language.
When students are exposed to content knowledge in comprehensible ways, appropriate language output is a holistic byproduct. Additionally, anxiety and pressure to learn the new language may be significantly diffused in sheltered subject matter settings. In fact, “Students in sheltered subject matter classes acquire as much language or more language than students in traditional [ESL-direct] classes and also learn impressive amounts of subject matter”. (Krashen, 2013, 1991; Dupuy, 2000)
So, what does sheltered instruction look like in the classroom?
Sheltered, or scaffolded, instructional practices engage emergent bilinguals and multilinguals in the rigorous content investigation. It can encompass a wide range of instructional techniques, each aimed at guiding and directing language learners toward proficiency, within an environment that endorses safety and facilitated risk-taking.
At the crux of impactful scaffolded instruction are effective content language learning objectives, which can be incorporated into every subject, each day. These cornerstones provide a powerful sense of directionality for both the educator and the learner and fuel a focused sense of productivity.
Basic elements of sheltered instruction include:
appropriate pacing;
modified speech;
routine and predictability;
use of visuals, realia, and manipulatives;
explicitly introduced body language, gestures, and facial cues;
sentence stems;
relevant language supportive technology;
modeling;
traditional or interactive word walls;
interactive notebooking;
multiple modes of assessment/means of demonstrating understanding;
graphic organizers (such as Frayer models, Venn Diagrams or word-mapping);
co-operative talk structures, such as inside-outside circles, fishbowls, numbered heads (download your cheat sheet here);
SIOP lesson planning, or “Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol” (Echevarria & Short), is frequently implemented as part of sheltered-instruction instruction.
When we integrate sheltering techniques into existing curricula and classroom protocol, we invite emergent bilingual and multilingual students to engage with intention and purpose, in ways that highlight existing funds of knowledge. We also support team building and interpersonal skills, which lend themselves to healthy integration. Perhaps most importantly, sheltering strategies can be overlapped with other pedagogies, such as culturally responsive teaching and learning, leading to especially dynamic socio-academic student outcomes.
For detailed information on Sheltered Instruction techniques, see The Newcomer Student: An Educator’s Guide to Aid Transition, Chapters 6-8
Download your Co-Operative Learning Cheat Sheet HERE.
5 Tenets of Teacher Self-Care (and the mistakes that helped me discover them)
Image Credit: Shutterstock
Here it is: we are not superhuman.
Educators, as an occupational whole, tend to submerge this truth. We ignore it, push it away, and look the other direction even as it sinks down into the recesses of our thinking.
And so, we educators require frequent reminders of our vulnerability- and more than that, encouragement that our humanness is a spectacular mark of endurance, bravery, and triumph. After all, we’re living the process: trekking the course, failing forward, making small (and giant) moves toward success. Heck, we’re shaping spectacular generations of tiny humans and young adults.
Isn’t that enough?
One might think. We might think. So, how are we such experts at forgetting our own freaking fabulousness?
Ladies and gents, it’s time to turn a page, to support one another, and to make it a movement. We owe ourselves some delicious self-appreciation. We need to be reminded that perfectionism is not our ally in teaching. In fact, sometimes a bit of disaster or delay or detour is its own kind of perfect. Sometimes, these are healthy indicators that authentic learning is taking place.
We didn’t sign up for a competition of Pintrest-y brilliance or TPT worthiness. We signed up to grow young people into decent, well-rounded adult human beings. How can we possibly expect that process to be neat and tidy? Anyone have completely a drama-free kiddo out there? ‘Cause I’ve never known one. In any event, why would we want a totally systematic, predictable standard for education? Sounds pretty dull (and not particularly effective).
On this rant about perfection: what is it exactly that we’re aiming for? Who are the chosen few who get to decide what that is or what that looks like? Show me a perfect textbook, a perfect curriculum, a perfect approach- and I’ll show you fifteen people ready to argue against it. So again, where are we going with this whole ‘be the best’ race?
The best is us, teachers. Right now, as we are and as we are growing to be. And damn it, we’re not the kind of perfect that rubrics were made for.
So we’ve got to give ourselves some grace. We’ve got to let the sweat run down our cheeks without being embarrassed about it. This business that we’re in requires effort. A ridiculous amount of it. Sometimes it overwhelms us. And that’s ok. (I know I’m not the only one to fight back- or fail to fight back- some super sneaky tears in the classroom.)
When we follow the good advice of putting our own oxygen masks on first, our students are the beneficiaries.
Let’s start simply, by embedding these simple practices into our daily craft:
1. Do unto yourself as you do unto others.
How are we inclined to talk to our students- with sarcasm and criticism or with kindness and encouragement? How do we view our students- from a deficit lens or an asset lens? How do we define our students’ success- by a narrowly prescribed definition or according to gains along a personalized growth trajectory?
Yeah, we know the response. We’re educators, right? So, let’s turn it around on ourselves. Imagine: What if we talked to, reacted to, and supported ourselves in the same manner that we do our students?
This is harder than it sounds. We’ve trained ourselves into becoming hypercritical of our teacher-self-worth.
Stop.
What did you survive today? What went incredibly right? How has your craft improved over the last year, month, or week? Whose morning did you turn around with a hug, smile, or kind word? Who did you potentially spare from a not-so-great decision?
Take a few moments to celebrate you. Check yourself in your self-talk. Would you say this to your student? Reframe, rephrase, and fill up your cup. You’ve earned every last bit of it.
2. Embrace collectivism.
Like it or not, folks, we’re in this together. My favorite Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. quote: “We may have all come on different ships, but we’re all in the same boat now.”
Sisters and brothers of our craft, we’re going to be spending a lot of time together. So, seek out people that you want to be on this ride with. Who makes you excited about your role and the work that you’re doing? Who’s your venting ear? Who’s the cheerleader? The joker? The advice-giver? The walking ELD standards encyclopedia? The mentee under your wing?
Find and foster these relationships. You don’t have to be besties outside of school. Shoot, you don’t even have to have each other’s phone numbers (although that’s fun, too).
Then, put yourselves on the same team. You’re all going for one goal- student success. Everybody on the team has a role, which is to meet students where they are from his or her unique vantage point and with his or her unique set of tools. Each person is necessary to the others in the aim of achieving the goal.
In this context, competition is irrelevant. Not only this, but it can also compromise the team’s ability to reach the goal. Leaning exclusively on neatly-packaged curricula also loses its meaning. We are the tools we need to reach and teach our learners. The textbooks and Google slides and lesson plans and Zoom sessions aren’t the master plan- they are supplementary materials.
Learn about your teammates’ strengths. Instead of aiming to outdo their efforts (guilty as charged), learn to leverage these assets in building consistency and getting through to kids. Ask for a shared sub day and spend an hour in one another’s classrooms if you’re able. Allow a few minutes within team planning time to just be present in cultivating relationships. You might look outside of the building, too. Twitter is a great place to expand your professional learning network and maybe even discover a few new members of your clan.
Also, don’t be an ass. Your tribe doesn’t need it, and neither do you.
3. Set down the assessments (just for a minute).
Here are a few bright spots in my teaching career: I consistently had the lowest standardized testing scores of all same-grade classrooms at our school over a nine-year period, and I was barely rated an “Approaching” level teacher six years into my practice.
Ok. Let’s talk about this. Those low scores- 100% of my students each year were refugee and immigrant newcomers. Heck no, they weren’t able to keep up on those tests (*at first…but watch them soar now). “Welcome to America, kids... here’s your test.” Then, the digital assessments came around. Jiminy, half of my kids had never used a desktop in their lives. The first thirty minutes of an online test is an exercise in how not to sword fight with a computer mouse.
You know what those tests didn’t show (or at least, didn’t make room to celebrate)? Growth. Like, crazy out of control multi-year gains in nine months kind of growth.
How about those teacher evaluations? Three weeks before that mediocre evaluation I was rated “Effective” by a different district evaluator. And two weeks after the “Approaching” mark (which I cried and whined to my tribe over), another administrator found me to be “Distinguished” (the highest-rated evaluation score in our district).
So, which one am I? Best guess... probably somewhere in the middle, leaning toward pretty freaking good. I mean, I sure didn’t jump the scales of expertise in 2 weeks- and I probably wasn’t as ineffective as I’d led myself to believe after that ‘off’ evaluation, either.
Here’s the deal: assessments and evaluations are what we make of them. Do we learn something? Do we make a plan to improve and grow? Great.
Should we give away our power to them and let them stress us out? Nope.
We encourage our students to see their self worth as something that is independent of an isolated data point (or any other statistic, for that matter). Dear educators: if we’re going to pull that equity card, then we’d better start making room for ourselves in that grand philosophy, too. Um, are you listening in on this, too, admin? That also goes for what we put on our Ts.
4. Maintain high expectations, but lower the risk.
Here’s another one we practice with our students, right? We know that in order to enable our learners as positive risk-takers, we need to:
Create an environment of safety and trust;
Offer choice and support; and
Not make it a super freaking scary thing to do.
So where’s the self-love?
Again, let’s go back to how we treat others. How do we make leap-taking a little less intimidating for our students?. We provide high yield opportunities in low-drama settings. We encourage multiple means of demonstrating proficiency. (What works in one class setting may not be what my newcomer students- or what your kiddos- need right now.) We model cooperative learning and constructive conversation... including those talks with the ol’ self.
We, teachers- we’re great at a lot of things. Self-care isn’t usually on that list. It’s like it’s part of the standard educator’s playbook: students first = self last.
No and no. Take that page out. Burn it. Start a new story.
Yes- hold yourself accountable. Do aim for greatness. But damn it, give yourself some freaking wiggle room. Wrap your own anticipated growth up in the same fabric of fun and curiosity that you would for your students. Anxiety should not be a badge of teaching honor.
5. Recognize discomfort, but don’t let it define the situation.
Quick story: Long ago, in my first year of teaching refugee newcomers, I had the brilliant first-day-of-school idea to sit eight students from Myanmar (Burma) together at the same table so that they could “help each other out”. How’d that work out for us, you ask?
Well, it didn’t. The eight students spoke five different languages and came from six distinct cultures. They were also at literal war with each other in the real world.
Talk about a hitch in the classroom-management flow. But here’s the thing: we got through it. We eventually adjusted, learned some new ways of coping, adopted a few healthy communication tools, and had a really awesome year. Some of those nine-year-olds even became viable bridges between the tribes that existed in their own apartment communities.
That discomfort was like a fertilizer for our growth. And, of course, the best fertilizer is a pile of... super smelly business.
Let’s not sugar coat the situation. Our work is hard. Like, really freaking hard. Some moments are rougher than others. Some days we come up short. And sometimes, there’s not a dang thing we can do about it.
But did we go back into the ring?
If the answer is yes, stop there. That’s the game-changer.
Thanks, educators, for doing what you do: for showing up for our kids, for creating safe spaces, for co-constructing our collective futures. Now, go take care of yourself for a minute, will you?
You deserve it.
Inquiry-Based Learning with ELLs
Teachers who aim to engage English learners in inquiry-based learning often feel overwhelmed at the idea of merging two seemingly separate bands of learning. However, upon closer examination, there is a significant overlap in best-practices facilitation of English Language Development (ELD) and student-led discovery. In fact, language acquisition and inquisition do not need to be exclusive- they can (and should!) work in tandem to support one other. Moreover, this can be achieved without dramatic increases in time, resources or teacher planning.
Let’s begin by identifying the six stages of inquiry: planning, retrieving, processing, creating, sharing, and evaluating. Within each stage, we’ll explore possible implications for ELLs and outline ideas for inclusive implementation.
Planning
Planning creates the foundation for the entire process of inquiry. It begins with the students, as they learn to recognize their own interests and question their own curiosities. For English learners, effective participation in the planning process also means navigating conversational, academic, and content-specific vocabulary. It also requires an ability to navigate strategic or organizational skill sets, and these may be working concepts for students with limited or interrupted education.
Engage ELLs: Utilize graphic organizers and tech tools to assist brainstorming and planning. Provide meaningful conversation prompts. Employ vision boards, interactive word walls, or similar visual cues. Provide opportunities to talk through ideas using cooperative structures.
Retrieving
To move forward in discovery, students must actively pursue information that is relevant to their inquisition. For new-to-English learners, this process can be hyper-stimulating and may overwhelm the student’s capacity to self-direct. Often, the teacher's response is to jump in, influencing the inquiry process with his or her own thoughts and diminishing the student’s opportunities for agency. Shifting this responsibility back to the student requires that we explicitly prepare ELLs to successfully retrieve information. We facilitate this process by lowering affective filters and establishing reliable processing routines.
Engage ELLs: Clearly explain and demonstrate the process of information retrieval. Explicitly teach and model self-directing strategies. Limit the amount of information a student has access to in the early stages (for example, encourage students to select ONE print, ONE online and ONE video source). Create opportunities for small group discovery and exchange.
Processing
The processing component of the inquiry phase calls upon learners to focus ideas and information into a central topic for investigation. Alberta Education writes, “Coming to a focus can be very difficult for students, as it involves more than just narrowing the topic; it involves coming to an authentic question, a personal perspective or a compelling thesis statement.” This aim can be especially challenging for ELLs, who are already juggling conversational English and content vocabulary- and who must now navigate and employ the language of inquiry. Additionally, students may encounter cultural implications tied to sorting, organizing and condensing the information into a central theme.
Engage ELLs: Employ graphic organizers to narrow down a topic. Allow for multi-modal processing, including kinesthetic and/or experiential learning, community interviews, and small group work. Recognize culturally variant patterns in sorting/organizing and support culturally responsive means to an end.
Creating
The creating phase begins the active second half of the inquiry process. In this stage, learners begin to build momentum and confidence in their quest for discovery. The creating phase is threefold:
● Identifying and arranging relevant pieces of information
● Determining a presentation format that highlights the targeted inquiry
● Crafting written and oral expressions of ideas, questions, and concepts
English learners are likely to benefit from precise supports and scaffolds in this process, specifically in the domains of reading and writing. Laying the essential groundwork at the beginning of this process enables students to self-guide with efficacy- and also significantly reduces teacher workload.
Engage ELLs: Establish clear systems, protocols, expectations and performance rubrics. Employ kinesthetic and/or tech-based storyboard. Offer a wide range of presentation options, including culturally responsive means of expression. Explicitly support students in the areas of speaking and writing.
Sharing
School-based inquiry culminates in the sharing of findings, conclusions, and thoughts on the process of discovery. Multi-modal sharing of outcomes is encouraged; presentations may take any number of sensory-engaging forms. Regardless of the format, presenters and audience members must turn to language as the conduit for information transfer. In this context, speaking and listening domains are emphasized.
Engage ELLs: Support learners with rubrics for speaking and listening. Provide opportunities to restate/summarize/paraphrase the presented material. Refer to anchor charts, interactive word walls, and other content language resources. Clarify information as needed. Allow for a variety of ways to demonstrate comprehension, both as a presenter and audience member.
The six stages of the inquiry process are tied together by reflection.
Reflection is a metacognitive property that can be employed as a useful learning tool. In most cases, reflective thinking must be explicitly taught and modeled- at least in the initial stages of application. It is helpful to enact a standard process and predictable language bank for reflection. In this way, we can invite students to reflect at the culmination of each stage. Eventually, learners can apply these skills in sustained ways as they consider strategy and outcomes throughout the entire inquiry process.
If we look closely enough, the relationship between inquisition and language acquisition becomes evident. With a few thoughtful considerations, we can successfully plan for engaging, language supported discovery. We can champion inquiry-based efficacy and 21st-century success for all new-to-English learners.
Newcomer / Recent Arriver Classroom Reminders
We’re into the thick of the year. It’s a great place to pause and reflect on our practice so far this school year and how we will grow our students in the remainder of our time together. It’s a great time for Newcomer/Recent Arriver classroom reminders! Here, we’ll look at the non-negotiables.
What would you add? Be sure to share your thoughts below.
FOUNDATION
Classroom culture drives learning. Newcomer students thrive in classrooms that are safe, structured and predictable. In fact, predictability is a cornerstone of positive school engagement. Predictability breeds trust, trust lends itself to safety, and safety opens students up to entertain curiosity, absorb content and practice positive risk-taking in the classroom.
DIRECTION
It is important to lead with a plan and to ensure that the plan supports equitable participation for all students, including students who are new to the English language. Content–Language Objectives (CLOs) are an effective tool for creating a specific language focus (with the purpose of enhancing content accessibility for ELLs). They are widely flexible and can be implemented across all grades/subjects and for any number of ELs in a class. Content–Language Objectives guide lesson planning and ground student understanding throughout the lesson.
PLANNING
In preparing for English Language instruction, there is a tendency to over plan. When it comes to lesson planning, aim for relevance and quality, not quantity. Return to the Content-Language Objectives. Ask: 1. What one strategy will be most useful to my learners in making the key content more digestible? 2. What one strategy will my students use to demonstrate the language objective within the target language domain (reading, writing, speaking, listening)?
Can more than one strategy be implemented? Of course! Just be sure to aim for clarity. If things start feeling jumbled or unclear, return to your one original focus for each question. Our students will always perform better when they know exactly what is expected of them.
COMMUNICATION
It’s important to keep in mind the amount of fo language that students encounter in a given school day. Beyond the conversational language that must be learned to navigate the bus, playground or lunchroom, learners encounter languages within the language throughout the entire school day.
Let me explain. If conversational English (with its slang, reduced speech and media influences) is a tongue, so is the Language of Mathematics. Isosceles, divisor, and equation are not words students are likely to pick up in their informal conversations. This type of (academic) vocabulary must be explicitly taught. And if Math is a tongue, then so is the Language of Social Studies, the Language of Music, the Language of English Literature, and so on.
Our students encounter thousands of words in a day. For ELLs, this can be especially overwhelming. To reduce the language load, we can be intentional about listening to ourselves. How might we describe the rate and complexity of our speech? How can it be modified for clarity?
In short, here’s what we’re aiming for: Speech should be clear, deliberate and unrushed. (Side note: Louder or painfully elongated speech is not helpful.)
EXPRESSION
Language encompasses so much more than just vocabulary. Tone, register, slang, cultural cues, humor, sarcasm, reduced speech, body language, facial expressions, and gestures must all be negotiated in the context of learning a new spoken language. Gestures, or the motions and movements Gestures can be used to enforce an idea but should become less exaggerated with time, as understanding grows. Where possible, normalized conversational gestures are optimal.
PACING
ELLs often require a longer “wait-time” to produce a response. After questioning, allow up to two minutes of unprompted thinking time. If a student is not yet ready, offer cooperative opportunities for production. Partner-Pair-Share, Numbered Heads, or Rally Table are great approaches; and sentence starters can be embedded into any of these strategies. Just be sure that the student who was originally asked does, ultimately, have the opportunity to share his or her response with the class.
APPROACH
Labeling, visuals, realia, manipulatives, graphic organizers, sentence frames and hands-on exploration are essential to the ELL classroom experience. Each is a language-building path toward content accessibility. Additionally, we can be especially mindful that our curriculum and class reading materials reflect the diverse nature of our classrooms. Where do our students recognize themselves in the school day? How are students invited to express themselves using the four language domains?
PROCESS
Students, including English learners, should have guided agency over their own learning. Work with students to set goals, create viable paths toward these aims, and to monitor their success along the way. Cooperative structures are an important part of this process, as they encourage language development, enhance positive classroom culture and put students in the drivers’ seats of their own learning. Yes, our ELLs CAN meaningfully participate in student-led instruction and Project-Based Learning (PBL). Learn to establish supports… and then get out of the way!
CONSIDERATIONS
Newcomer students may be working through trauma, shock or other stressors. Monitor external stimuli to help mitigate significant stress. Learn to recognize symptoms and know when to ask for help. Work to recognize, celebrate and practice Socio-Emotional Learning (SEL) skills throughout the school day and school year. To build background on newcomer Trauma start HERE. For more tips on trauma-informed care for ELLs (and all students) take a peek at an RC article for Edutopia, found HERE.
INVITATION
You may be a child’s first teacher of their school career, their first teacher in America, or the first teacher to breakthrough. Smile. Show welcoming. Be an example of the possibility that exists for them.
Digital Game Play for Instruction: The Why of the Practice
I recently wrote an article for Edutopia outlining 5 Free Video Games That Support English Language Learners. In this article, we’ll lay some groundwork in terms of understanding the whys and hows of using serious games to drive meaningful student learning. Our guiding question: What makes gamification so appealing, and how can we apply this to our classrooms to increase student engagement and accelerate content understanding?
The Edutopia article explains: “The concept of gamifying learning has been part of practical instruction, in various forms, for years, and for good reason: Research shows that game-based learning has the capacity to motivate students, activate knowledge and enhance critical thinking capacities.” Additionally, we know that gameplay is a key facet of culturally responsive teaching and is an integral feature of modern ESL curricula. Serious games and simulation games, which invite players to actively solve for real and relevant problems, also expand the ways that learners see and interact with the world.
Trends in games-based learning continue to lean into technological integration- and data backs up its place in the 21st-century classroom. In fact, research indicates that education-focused video and virtual gaming can benefit all students, particularly low-performing students who demonstrate the greatest need.
Video games- including educationally driven programs- follow a predictable structure, resulting in relatively uniform user experience. If we look closely, we see that video game design takes many of its leads from brick-and-mortar classrooms. In fact, a user’s interaction with a gaming interface mirrors the school learning experience, where instructional best practices are in place.
Video games are largely successful at capturing users’ attention and driving players toward mastering the content of the game. In a similar way, it is possible to recognize key features of gaming architecture in our classrooms and to leverage these features to increase student interest and motivation and to drive authentic content learning.
Let’s take a closer look at those components:
· Play: Play is the cornerstone of video game design and appeal. Play itself has several requisites: choice, positive peer interchange, and the opportunity to explore, coach and learn in a safe, non-threatening arena. Schools also recognize the power of play, including the elements of healthy social interaction and cultivated trust, and we cater to it in a variety of ways.
· Central goal: A game is separated from simple play by one defining feature: the presence of a central goal. Well-designed video games direct users toward a clear and attractive end goal. Well-organized classrooms lead students toward specific, achievable end goals, usually through a series of identified mini-goals. We name these standards, student learning outcomes, or Content-Language Objectives (CLOs).
· Rules: Rules are the skeleton of a game. In a video game, rules-design follows the principle that rule followers will advance to the next stage of the game; and for those who misunderstand or abuse the game’s rules, the process will be delayed or ended. This pattern applies to most areas of life and is evidenced in the classroom setting. When expectations are clear, students understand what is expected of them and can respond appropriately.
· Feedback: The feedback loop is central to digital gameplay. The user voluntarily completes an action, which stimulates a system response (feedback). The user interprets the feedback and reacts accordingly. This process continues until the game ends or the user terminates the loop.
As educational practitioners, we are experts in feedback loops. The difference is that technological feedback is direct, instantaneous and wholly interactive. We know that prompt and meaningful feedback has positive implications for intrinsic motivation and accelerated learning. How can we grow in this capacity to benefit our students?
· Voluntary Participation: Virtual gaming is rooted in choice. When personal choice is introduced, productivity, accuracy and motivation increase. Where can we make room for more student choice in our classrooms? Interactive station rotations, student-led inquiry and project-based learning, for example, all promote voice and choice.
· Personalization: Video games are designed to read the user. They must determine the player’s initial level of expertise and projected wants and needs- and then adapt to fit the player. Well-designed games scaffold learning and progressively increase in complexity. This mimics optimal instructional protocol for all learners, including linguistically diverse students.
· Removed Fear of Failure: In game play, users are afforded an infinite number of opportunities to try again. Mistakes become synonymous with new prospects- and ultimately, failure becomes obsolete. The idea of “failing forward” is inherent to the gaming world. Where and how can we work toward removing fear of failure in our schools?
· Community Building: Virtual games lend themselves to collaboration and community. This is enhanced within the backdrop of joy, entertainment, belonging, teamwork… and fun. Positive relationship building is also central to the school organism. It forms the backbone of SEL, culturally responsive teaching, and trauma-informed practice.
· Assessment: Video games are also assessments: they recognize, evaluate and rank participation- and then adjust the experience accordingly. In this context, assessments are also malleable. They adapt to the player’s understanding and expertise and automatically push forward (or fall back to re-teach). Our best site-based assessments look this way, too!
· Debriefing: Debriefing is the process of thoughtful, purposeful reflection on one’s experience. Educational gameplay should include debriefing as a way to complete the circuit of understanding. In the classroom, this process can be guided and modeled and my included speech, writing or other expressive means.
Gaming is not intended as a replacement for quality instruction delivered by an experienced teacher. However, educationally purposeful video games can support students’ learning in a host of ways. And if we take the time to see it, we’ll find that tech-based gaming has more in common with traditional educational structures than we might realize- that the overlap, in fact, is significant.
Newcomer/RAEL Orientation Checklist
INDUCTION PROGRAMMING FOR NEWCOMERS & RECENT ARRIVERS
Induction programming is a best practices approach to Newcomer ESL/Recent Arriver English Learner (RAEL) education, as it acts as an essential framework for positive, integrated socio-academic participation. These processes are a means of orientating the student to his or her new school surroundings. As an added component, Newcomer/Recent Arriver learners are introduced to essential concepts and understandings that are critical to success in a school-specific environment. Guiding questions:
Who welcomes students and parents as they enter the school?
Who is the first school contact for Newcomer families? The second?
How are new students and parents introduced to the school and its staff? Are these processes amended when working with Newcomer families?
How are all students, including Newcomers, made to feel welcomed and safe at school?
What type of record-keeping systems ensures that no students are overlooked in the orientation process?
Orientation systems can be complex or straightforward. They can stem from the office staff; may include teachers, parents, and other students; or may originate at a Welcome Center site. We’ll focus our energies for this chapter on a few simple strategies that have a demonstrated effectiveness and are easy to implement. Then, if you’re interested in going further in developing your own orientation plan, I encourage you to visit the The Newcomer Student: An Educator’s Guide to Aid Transition.
PERSPECTIVE IS EVERYTHING
Did you ever have to move schools when you were younger? Or, what about that (huge) jump from the elementary grounds to the middle/high school campus? Overwhelming, right? I remember the first time I visited my high school as a soon-to-be-ninth-grader. I was so convinced that I would never be able to find my classes. Or my locker. Or my friends. I actually had nightmares about it.
And here’s the thing: I spoke English. I’d been in American schools my entire life and enjoyed a network of peers, all scheduled to endure the transition with me. Still, I was shaking in my boots.
For a moment, consider the experience of school transition from a Recent Arriver EL perspective. We’re not talking about moving across town, or even from another state. Imagine that nothing is the same. Nothing is predictable. Everything is lost in a cloud of newness: language, mannerisms, climate, clothing, school. How would you react in this situation? What would you most wish for? What actions could a school take to help to ease your anxiety?
Let’s first examine the most critical aspects of school orientation. As you read through the following checklist, some of items might seem erroneous. That’s common sense. Right- it’s common sense from our perspective, based on our own previous exposure to localized normative values. But “normal” isn’t normal everywhere.
Normal is a completely subjective concept.
And so, it is important to practice viewing our school and classrooms with raw eyes. We must remind ourselves that cultural misunderstandings are not a reflection of intelligence. They are a reflection of vast world experience- and that’s a really cool thing! When I find myself in a cultural cross-tangle with one of my students, I like to ask my class: “Can you imagine if I visited your country? Would I know how to do everything right away? Could I speak your language with your grandmother or cook sambusa as well as your father? Would I even be able to find my way to the market or to the school by myself?”
This usually garners some laughter and a hearty conversation about how I wouldn’t even know that I was supposed to bow or kiss three times instead of shaking hands. “Nooooo waayyy!” But, when I ask if they would help me to feel safe by teaching me the things I would need to know, my students all eagerly agree! Just taking a moment to recognize our students’ perspectives exposes our willingness to understand and relate to our students. This kind of effort can really break ground and lead to trust building.
Where can we anticipate questions, concerns or confusion? Here are some starters!