Highest Aspirations

How might we help our English Language Learners engage in quality academic conversations? What supports do teachers of ELLs need to promote these kinds of conversations? How do academic conversations tie into college and career readiness? We kick off Season 2 of Highest Aspirations with these questions and much more in a conversation with Jeff Zwiers. Jeff is a senior researcher at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and the Director of Professional Development for Understanding Language, a research and professional learning effort focused on improving instruction and assessment of English learners and other diverse students. He consults for national and international teacher development projects that promote language, literacy, lesson design, and formative assessment practices. Jeff’s research focuses on developing classroom instruction that fosters high-quality oral language and constructive conversations across disciplines. Many listeners will be familiar with his book Academic Conversations, which

In this short episode, we recap Season 1 and preview what we have planned for Season 2 - coming in January, 2019. Thanks to all our listeners and guests for your contributions to our first season. On behalf of everyone at Ellevation, we wish you a happy holiday season! Check out all 30 Season 1 episodes wherever you listen to podcasts and discover more great content at https://ellevationeducation.com/ell-community.

How has Lincoln High School designed and implemented systems to foster a welcoming environment for students that collectively speak over 30 different languages? What might schools do to ensure that all students, including ELLs and newcomers, have access to a wide variety of courses? How can home grown “cultural liaisons" help promote family and community engagement while also enhancing the teacher candidate pipeline? We discuss these questions and much more with Maira Méndez Rodríguez of Lincoln High School in Lincoln, Nebraska. As an instructional coordinator, Maira is an appraiser for teachers, test coordinator, and also coordinates parent engagement events. Another important part of her role includes student discipline for ELL students. To meet the needs of this diverse population of students, she works closely with the ELL team made up of a counselor, advocate, bilingual liaisons, teachers and other district staff. As part of her parent engagement role, she and her colleagues have collaborated with liais

What are some best practices to overcome challenges and ensure successful home visits for families of EL students? How might we set up activities outside of school (in neutral locations) so that families can come together? How can districts use creative funding approaches to pay for these programs? How can educators get started with this important work? We discuss these questions and much more with Jamie Combs. Jamie Combs is a National Board Certified ELL Teacher in her 14th year teaching ELL students at Northern Elementary in Lexington, KY. She also teaches future ELL teachers in ESL Methods courses online for Asbury University in Wilmore, KY. This is the second in a two part series featuring Katie Frances and Jamie Combs, who work collaboratively to maximize impact on ELLs and their families in Fayette County, Kentucky. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/highest-aspirations/message

Where are our Take the Pledge Scholarship winners now? How did their high school experiences prepare them for college life? What have they learned that they can now share with others? In this bonus episode, we speak with Maria Perez, a recent high school graduate from Tulsa, Oklahoma. We discuss her experience as an English Language Learner, the importance of family and teacher support, future plans, and even the profound influence of Don Quijote. Maria was the recipient of one of five $2,000 scholarships that Ellevation awarded to deserving English Language Learners to help them pursue their dream of a higher education. The scholarship is a result of our Take the Pledge initiative. The idea is simple: for each person who takes the pledge to advocate for ELLs, Ellevation adds $1 to the scholarship fund. If you haven’t taken the pledge yet, please visit takethepledge.net and help support students like Maria, who is currently finishing her first semester at the University of Oklahoma. --- Send in a voi

How can EL teachers best learn about the sometimes complicated cultural backgrounds of their students? How might they confront the challenge of ensuring that other teachers and staff also have efficient access to this information? What cultural information is most important for content teachers (particularly those who do not have EL training) and how might EL teachers go about sharing it? We discuss these questions and much 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 teaches at Northern Elementary School, where she and her teammate Jamie Combs service over 150 English Language Learners. We’ll hear from Jamie in our next episode, which focuses on home visits for families of English Language Learners. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/highest-aspirations/message

How might we design professional learning opportunities that provide both a quality, personalized learning pathway and a path to licensure to work with English Language Learners? What are some of the advantages of utilizing blended and personalized learning strategies to bring diverse cohorts of educators together around ELL instruction? How can partnerships forged between school districts and local universities help move the needle on professional learning that will ultimately benefit the students we serve? We discuss these questions and more with Kristina Soprano. Kristina is the Director of the ESL Teacher Certification Program at Roger Williams University, University College. Prior joining University College at RWU, Kristina served as an ELL Coordinator for a charter school in MA, and also taught English learners at the elementary, middle, and high school levels in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Kristina has also enjoyed supporting other educators with developing their knowledge and skills surrounding E

In this bonus episode, we bring you conversations from the annual WIDA Conference that took place in Detroit. We brought some guests over to our booth talk about ELL instruction, the ELL Community, and the conference itself. Thanks to the following people for joining us: Anna Matis and Carol Salva from Seidlitz Education Amanda Rodriguez and Brandi Smith from Alabaster City Schools, AL Jess Bell from Warren Township, IN Carlota Holder from Enlace Academy, IN Katherine Galvagni from Henderson County Schools, VA

In this episode, we speak with Abu Bakr a-Rabia about how how his journey to Canada as a Syrian refugee became a book written by his teacher Winnie Yeung. Abu Bakr talks with us about learning English, adapting to a very different life in Canada, and why it was so important for him to tell his story. Despite the struggles he and his family endured, his message is one of positivity and praise for the human spirit. When asked what advice he would give to teachers, ELL students, and school leaders Abu Bakr began by saying, “I would say it doesn’t matter where they are from or what they went through - they will come through it. All they need is a little bit of time to learn the language. Don’t let news or social media make a fear connection between you or make a bridge between each other. I would say communicate as humans. It is very hard at the beginning for both people - the one who speaks English and the other - because they don’t understand each other. But after they get to know each other more, they will k

What happens when an ESL teacher helps a refugee student tell his story? How can relating simple, day to day activities in a war-torn country help us understand that people around the world have more similarities than differences? Why is it so important to understand what our students want to do with their learning? We discuss these questions and much more in Part 1 of a two part series about the book Homes: A Refugee Story. Winnie Yeung, an ESL teacher in Edmonton, met Abu Bakr in the fall of 2015. What started as an attempt to help tell this refugee student’s story in a speech turned into a much bigger project, resulting in the publication of the book. "Homes: A Refugee Story tells the true story of Edmonton high school student Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, whose family left Iraq in 2010 in search of a safer life. They moved to Homs, Syria — just before the Syrian civil war broke out. As told to Winnie Yeung, Homes tells Bakr’s story of growing up during the Syrian civil war, and ultimately moving with his family

How can making and sharing music bring together diverse groups of students? What skills does an educator need to incorporate tech tools to help students create culturally relevant and academically appropriate products? How can teachers of any subject leverage the power of music and technology nurture strong classroom and school communities? We discuss these questions and more with Sarah Minette. Sarah has taught for 14 years in public schools. She currently teaches a variety of music classes at Minneapolis South High School-a very large and diverse school in the heart of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Sarah is in the process of developing as many classes as possible to create multiple access points for students at South to experience music education. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/highest-aspirations/message

What gaps exist between resettled refugees and their communities and how might we go about bridging them? How can the simple act of spending time with one another in a common space help break down barriers? Why is it so important to move toward an asset based approach with newcomers and what they bring to our communities? In this episode, we are joined by Kitti Murray and Walt Anderson of Refuge Coffee. They talk with us about how Refuge is empowering refugees to use their many gifts to help create a vibrant community in Clarkston, Georgia - a town that has been called the most diverse square mile in the United States. By pursuing their goal to provide employment and job training opportunities to resettled refugees, creating a unique, welcoming gathering place in Clarkston, and telling a more beautiful refugee story to Atlanta, Refuge Coffee is on a mission to bridge the opportunity gap, the hospitality gap, and the awareness gap. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/highest-aspirations/messa

How are schools accommodating English Language Learners with disabilities? What are some of the common challenges when working with these students and how might we overcome them? What impacts do EL and disability status have on reclassification or exiting? We discuss these questions and much more with Dr. Sara Kangas of Lehigh University. As an applied linguist, Dr. Kangas researches the educational experiences of English learners (ELs) with disabilities. Focusing on K-12 contexts, she is particularly interested in understanding how schools can create learning environments that support both the linguistic and academic needs of these learners. Dr. Kangas’ research also examines how educational equity for ELs with disabilities intersects with language policies and institutional structures. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/highest-aspirations/message

In this episode, award winning journalist Helen Thorpe joins us to discuss her most recent book, The Newcomers: Finding Refuge, Friendship, and Hope in an American Classroom. The book follows the lives of twenty-two teenagers from around the world over the course of one school year as they land at South High School in Denver, Colorado, in a beginner-level English Language Acquisition class. Many arrive directly from refugee camps, some after having lost one or both parents; together, their class represents a microcosm of the global refugee crisis as a whole. The Newcomers tells the story of what happens during the students’ first year in America, and it follows the journeys of three families in particular—from Iraq, Burma, and the Democratic Republic of Congo—illuminating what life is like in refugee-producing parts of the world. The book was published by Scribner in 2017. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/highest-aspirations/message

What opportunities exist for ELL Specialists to work as coaches to help content teachers better serve their English Language Learners? What strategies have proven successful and sustainable for supporting students in the long term? What are some of the obstacles that make this work challenging and how can anticipating them help maximize impact? We discuss these questions and more with Michelle Benegas and Amy Stolpestad, founders of the English Learners in the Mainstream or ELM project at Hamline University in St. Paul, MN. Learn more about Michelle and Amy and the resources they recommend during out conversation at https://ellevationeducation.com/podcast/highest-aspirations-s01-e16.

How might a teacher use podcasts as a way to increase language skills of EL students? How can creating podcast episodes help newcomers become engaged contributors to their school communities? How can telling stories about family experiences in this format enhance cultural responsive practices? We discuss these questions and more with James Housworth, creator of the Hidden Voices Podcast. James is a a high school EL teacher in Roseville, Minnesota. He works with both ends of the EL spectrum, teaching newcomer SLIFE students (Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education) as well as advanced LTELs (Long-Term English Learners). James is currently researching the differences between L1 and L2 literacy acquisition to finish his Masters in Education at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/highest-aspirations/message

What are the implications of ESSA on ELL programs and instruction?What specifically are Title 1 and Title 3 administrators going to observe in the coming months? And how about principals and teachers? How is the K-12 world we know going to change in 2018-2019? We discuss these questions and more as Ellevation President and Co-Founder founder Teddy Rice sits down with Dr. David Holbrook of TransACT Parent Notices. We handed over the mic the Teddy - our in house policy wonk - for this episode because he is well-versed in ESSA, which led to a rich conversation with David. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/highest-aspirations/message

What are some of the barriers to family engagement in underserved communities? How can using basic technology help educators better engage with families of English Language Learners? How do we go about changing mindsets and perceptions of families who may not have had positive experiences with formal education or those who have limited education in US schools? We discuss these questions and more in our conversation with Heejae Lim. Heejae is the founder and Executive Director of Talking Points, an educational technology company whose mission is to drive student success in low-income, diverse areas through building strong partnerships across parents, schools, and communities. As she mentions in the episode, Heejae was influenced to start the company by her personal experience as a Korean immigrant living in London. We get into that and much more in our conversation. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/highest-aspirations/message

Many team members here at Ellevation Education recently participated in the company's 5th annual Hackathon. In this bonus episode, Steve sits down with Ellevation's VP of Engineering Eric Wong to learn more about what it is and why we do it. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/highest-aspirations/message

How do ELL programs and instruction differ in Canada? What supports are in place to help newcomers and their families succeed in their new country? How do educational systems in Canada support diverse populations of students? We discuss these topics and more with Paula Markus, former ESL Coordinator for the Toronto School Board and Sessional Lecturer at the University of Toronto. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/highest-aspirations/message