Serving Multilingual Learners of All Ages
  • *Home*
  • Articles for Educators
    • Home
  • Resources
    • ReadingWritingELs
    • Books for Educators
    • Culturally Inclusive Books for Students
    • Videos
    • Infographics
  • ABOUT VALENTINA
    • Experience
    • Presentations
  • Advertising Disclosure
Picture
Tweet

Registration is open for the Seidlitz Literacy Conference

Picture
Click HERE for details and registration, 

Becoming the Best Me in 2023

1/2/2023

 

An EL Teacher’s Perspective on Self (& Professional) Improvement

Picture
When we pour into ourselves, those around us benefit. This is why becoming the BEST version of yourself is an investment for not only YOU but all of those around you. Our students, families and colleagues deserve the best from us and so do we. 

These ideas led me to think about how I will deliberately improve myself for the sake of the English learners, families, and colleagues I work with and here is my plan. I’m nudging you to think about your intentions also. What will you do in 2023?

Read More

22 Things Educators Can Do NOW to Support Multilingual Learners

2/19/2022

1 Comment

 
Picture
Multilingual learners count on us to provide high-quality, comprehensible, and culturally responsive instruction in each lesson in every classroom.

Here are 22 practical and efficient ways (in no particular order) we can support emergent bilinguals as they climb to become our future global leaders.
​
*The terms multilingual, emergent bilingual, and English learner are used interchangeably in this article and also include the acronyms MLs, EBs, and ELs.

Read More
1 Comment

What I'm Listening to, Reading, Writing, Viewing, & Speaking

5/9/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
Last year, I wrote about what I was currently listening to, reading, writing, and viewing. I thought it was a good time to share again. And I’d love to learn about yours!

Read More
0 Comments

EL Teachers & Library Media Specialists: The Power in Partnerships

5/1/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
EL teachers work alongside many stakeholders. They work with students of course. But they also work with general education teachers, instructional coaches, special education teachers, administrators, and more. However, one lesser known, yet powerful partnership is the one between the EL teacher and the library media specialist. 

What do EL teachers and library media specialists have in common?  These stories from the field bring a reality to the question.

Read More
0 Comments

5 Ways to Start off your Class Period with ELs

1/26/2020

 
Picture
The first thing we do with students can set the tone for our time together. Starting the period off on the right foot is critical to a successful lesson. Read on to discover five ways to start your  class period in engaging and welcoming ways whether you are a general education teacher or an ESL teacher that pulls students out. 

Read More

Being a Missionary for English Learners: Advocacy, Equity & Empowerment

9/2/2019

3 Comments

 
Picture
​I was a mainstream, third grade teacher in a public school in a suburb outside of Houston, Texas when I began teaching in 1997. Our school had one designated teacher that served English learners through a pull-out program. I understood my job was to teach students the general education curriculum while she taught my English learners the language. I never knew exactly what they did when they were with the ESL teacher. And I’m not sure if she knew what they were doing when they were with me.
 
Fast forward to 2019.
 
Looking back, I know that this was not a great structure for teaching content or language to our students. I can only imagine how much more and how much quicker our students would have learned language and content had we collaborated…had I recognized my own role as a language model for the students.
 
ALL educators, administrators, and stakeholders need to know how to serve ALL students including English learners. 

Read More
3 Comments

Extending the Sentence Patterning Chart|Trading Game!

1/19/2019

5 Comments

 
Picture
Teaching language structures is one of the most important things we do with our English learners. Embedding academic vocabulary into the language structures is key to their academic success. Making it interactive, engaging, and fun bumps it up ten notches! The Sentence Patterning Chart (a GLAD strategy) that I wrote about last January is an excellent way to build content knowledge and help students acquire language structures through authentic shared writing.

​So if you haven't tried it yet, I highly suggest it. And if you have tried it, here's your next move!

Read More
5 Comments

Is Face-to-Face PD Passe?

9/1/2017

 
Picture
Back in the day, not too long ago, the only way to receive professional development was to attend a training or workshop. No longer is that the case. Now, there are many options for us. So, with Twitter, online learning, and newer opportunities out there, is face-to-face professional development a thing of the past? As a professional development specialist, I find this an interesting question to ponder.

Read More

What is Breakout EDU & Does it Support ELLs??

6/5/2017

 
Picture
Have you heard of escape rooms? They are pretty popular lately. Kind of an innovative way to build relationships while engaging a group of people in a real life puzzle.
Breakout EDU brings a similar experience to the classroom. And if you haven't hear of it, you need to check it out! Students work in heterogeneous groups to solve a series of puzzles  related to a unit of study. Students must work together in order to reveal the codes which unlock several locks in a set amount of time (usually 30-45 minutes). Teachers can create Breakout EDU games that address the curriculum and state standards for the grade level they teach. 
Does Breakout EDU support ELLs? 

Read More

How To Make the BEST of Co-Teaching

5/28/2017

 
Picture
RELATIONSHIPS
Building a relationship takes time as well as tons of effort. Being intentional about building a relationship is important. Mindfully going into co-teaching will benefit both teachers and the students. Some people are not naturally comfortable with having another person in their classroom, so easing into co-teaching may be necessary.
To begin with, meet ahead of the year and get to know as much as possible about one another. In my experience, there have been teachers who are more open to sharing and others who are less. That's okay! As long as your co-teacher knows you care and you are interested, that's a start. 

Read More

    Subscribe to Newsletter

    ​Archives

    January 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    May 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    August 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    September 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    May 2016


    Categories

    All
    Academic Conversations
    Academic Vocabulary
    Accommodating
    Accommodations
    Administrator
    Advocacy
    Anchor Chart
    Art
    Assumptions
    Balanced Literacy
    Beginning Of The Year
    Bloom's Taxonomy
    Book Study
    Brain Research
    Building Background
    Building Relationships
    Collaboration
    Communication
    Comprehensible Input
    Conferences
    Conferring
    Connecting With ELL Families
    Content Objectives
    Cooperative Learning
    Cooperative Strip Paragraph
    Coteach
    CoTeacher
    Co Teaching
    Co-teaching
    Courses
    Creativity
    Critical Thinking
    CRT
    Culturally Responsive Teaching
    Curriculum
    Differentiate
    Differentiation
    Discourse
    Distance Learning
    Diverse Books
    DOL
    Ear To Ear Reading
    ELLs
    ELPS
    Empathy
    End Of The Year
    Engaging
    English Learners
    ESL
    Exit Criteria
    Expression
    Fluency
    Foundations
    Four Cs
    Games
    Getting To Know Your ELLs
    GLAD
    Goal Setting
    Gradual Release
    Guided Math
    Immigrant
    Instructional
    Interactive Lecture
    Interactive Read Aloud
    Interactive Word Walls
    Language Development
    Language Level
    Language Objectives
    Language Rich
    Language Structures
    Leaders
    Learning Walks
    Lesson Planning
    Levels
    Library Media Specialist
    Linguistic
    Listening
    Literacy
    Long Term ELs
    Maslow's Hierarchy
    Math
    Memory
    Misconceptions
    Model
    Modeling
    Multilingual
    Native Language
    New ESL Teacher
    Nonfiction
    Observation
    Observation Charts
    Online PD
    Oral Language
    Paraprofessional Educators
    Parent Teacher Conference
    Personalized Learning
    Phonics
    Picture Word Inductive Model
    Planning Instruction
    PLDs
    PLN
    Primary Language
    Principals
    Procedural
    Professional Development
    Professional Learning Network
    Programs
    Q Triple S A
    Readers' Workshop
    Reading
    Reading Workshop
    Revising & Editing
    Scaffolding
    Science Of Reading
    Secondary
    Sentence Patterning Chart
    Sentence Starters
    Sentence Stems
    Shared Writing
    Sheltering Instruction
    Sketchnotes
    Small Group
    Social Studies
    Somebody Wanted But So
    Structured Conversations
    Summarization
    Summer
    Supporting ELLs
    SWBS
    Systematic Change
    Talk
    Talking Heads
    Teacher
    The Power Of Talk
    Toolkit
    Total Physical Response
    TPR
    Twitter
    Verbal
    Virtual Learning
    Visuals
    Vocabulary
    Wait Time
    WIDA Can Do
    Workshop
    Writers' Workshop
    Writing
    Writing Workshop

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Tweets by ValentinaESL
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • *Home*
  • Articles for Educators
    • Home
  • Resources
    • ReadingWritingELs
    • Books for Educators
    • Culturally Inclusive Books for Students
    • Videos
    • Infographics
  • ABOUT VALENTINA
    • Experience
    • Presentations
  • Advertising Disclosure