Program PD and Support
Coaching Teachers in Bilingual and Dual Language Classrooms: A Responsive Observation & Feedback Cycle (Leadership PD)
Engaging dual language teachers in constructive observations and feedback is essential to teacher excellence and student achievement. This course empowers administrators, coaches, and teacher leaders with a proven framework for coaching dual-language and bilingual teachers with fair and effective feedback.
Coaches and administrators gain the skills and tools needed to answer the question, “How can I consistently and accurately create a coaching cycle for dual-language and bilingual teachers, especially if the language utilized during instruction is one that I don’t speak?” Participants will receive essential tools for providing effective coaching and high-quality feedback cycles.
This course works in conjunction with the text and workbook Coaching Teachers in Bilingual and Dual Language Classrooms by Alexandra Guilamo (2020).
The Science of the Bilingual Reading Brain (Leadership PD)®
In this workshop, participants will build a deep knowledge of how emergent bilinguals students, even those in monolingual classrooms, learn how to read differently than monolingual, English-speaking students, and the decades of research that support it. So, what has research revealed about the science of reading for emergent bilinguals students that’s been excluded from the reading wars? Participants will learn to apply an approach to literacy instruction for students navigating two languages that requires both meaning making and reading words, efficiency of practice, and focus on purpose, all while systematically leveraging the most useful aspects of each of their languages, English and their home language. This powerful combination of decoding ability with the ability to build linguistic comprehension within increasingly strategic ways is necessary in order to provide any benefit in reading.
This session also outlines the pedagogical implications across literacy components, methods, strategies, and practices that are essential to building phonics skills while developing readers/writers who are able to make meaning in order to help teachers articulate a continuum of literacy skills that build to authentic literacy development. Participants will assess their current materials, practices, sequence of learning and skills, assessments designed for emergent bilinguals, and more.
Job-embedded Coaching (Leadership)
Administrators and coaches/specialists are able to receive one-on-one and/or small group coaching in person or online from bilingual coaches and experts. Strategic cycles of coaching that focus on the needs of dual-language, bilingual, ELL, SLIFE, and newcomer, are tailored to each educator and their educational community.
The second cycle of coaching focuses on modeling the instructional delivery and facilitating fishbowls in the target language (Spanish). The third cycle of coaching focuses on providing differentiated one-on-one coaching directly to teachers (with their coaches) observation and constructive feedback that allows for self-reflection and ownership of action steps. This gradual release model supports all educators as they apply new learning, build effectiveness, and ensure every classroom that serves language learners is successful.
The Science of the Bilingual Reading Brain (Teacher PD)®
In this foundational professional development, participants will build a deep knowledge of how emergent bilinguals and dual language students learn how to read in ways that are fundamentally different than monolingual, English-speaking students – and the decades of research that have confirmed this model.
There are decades of research that have confirmed why and how to provide explicit and effective biliteracy instruction. So, what has research revealed about the science of reading for dual language and emergent bilingual students that’s been excluded from the reading wars?
Job-embedded Coaching (Teachers)
Teachers are able to receive one-on-one and/or small group coaching in person or online from bilingual coaches and experts. Strategic cycles of coaching that focus on the needs of dual-language, bilingual, ELL, SLIFE, and newcomer, are tailored to each educator and their educational community. The second cycle of coaching focuses on modeling the instructional delivery and facilitating fishbowls in the target language (Spanish).
The ability to model lessons fosters teachers’ ability to connect new practices and principles to practice and implementation while problem solving areas of challenge. The third cycle of coaching focuses on providing differentiated one-on-one coaching directly to teachers (with their coaches) observation and constructive feedback that allows for self-reflection and ownership of action steps. This gradual release model supports all educators as they apply new learning, build effectiveness, and ensure every classroom that serves language learners is successful.
The Teaching & Learning of Authentic Spanish Literacy
In this workshop, participants will build an awareness of Spanish in order to teach academic language and literacy in Spanish using Spanish language arts standards and authentic Spanish methods. This session also outlines the differences between English & Spanish phonics instruction and helps teachers to articulate a continuum of literacy skills that build to authentic Spanish literacy development. Participants will assess their current yearlong Spanish literacy maps and scope and sequence in order to plan for improvements.
As a result of this PD, all participants will be able to:
- Develop a lesson plan with feedback that aligns to best practice and the language allocation plan.
- Develop a classroom daily schedule that is aligned to essential practices and components of an authentic Spanish literacy approach.
- Understand the progression of foundational literacy skills in Spanish as compared to English in order to accelerate student growth.
- Develop the centers and/or small group activities that will be implemented in order to support differentiated and authentic literacy and language development.
The Equity and Literacy Connection in Dual Language Education: What is the Truth About Translanguaging?
In this session we will help dual language teachers get back to the why of dual language, its equity origins, and what it means for how we plan instruction today. Myths about translanguaging and its role in ensuring access to all three goals of dual language are confronted.
Samples of how concrete and student-centered translanguaging pedagogical shifts in how we plan, support, and assess students to ensure student ownership of biliteracy and bilingualism goals will be shared, as well as examples of the look for’s in student learning and transfer of learning across both languages. *RECOMMENDED: bring sample student work to use during this session.
Leveraging Equity, Oracy, and Engagement to Accelerate Biliteracy:
Did you know that oracy is essential for dual language students to develop the phonics and phonemic awareness skills in both program languages? This session will help dual language teachers understand why oracy provides the necessary practice needed to decode words in two languages and how it accelerates biliteracy development.
We will share sample strategies, watch them in action, and collaboratively apply new learning.
Reigniting Cross-Linguistic Connection - How to Plan the Steps that Make Cross-Linguistic Connections So Powerful
In this session we will help dual language teachers get back to the why of cross-linguistic connections and what it means for the steps that must be planned for today. We will use sample strategies to explain the key steps that must be included in all cross-linguistic connections for them to stick.
We will also model the steps for how to plan for cross-linguistic connections that accelerate students’ transfer of knowledge and abilities in their two languages. We will show lots of visuals and models to help participants create their own anchor charts and samples that focus on these power moves. This is appropriate for all program models.
Dual Language, Biliteracy, and Small Group Instructional Strategies
This institute is designed to apply an integrated approach to instructional planning that leverages strategies for oracy, student engagement, language development, content mastery, translanguaging pedagogy, vocabulary development, strategic scaffolding, and funds of knowledge specifically designed for dual language settings. Participants use this understanding to build a bank of strategically matched strategies to support how teachers ensure mastery of the content and language standards in ways that lead to biliteracy & bilingualism as well as critical consciousness & socio-cultural competency.
These strategies help participants to plan highly rigorous and differentiated standards-aligned lessons that integrate the necessary social & academic language embedded in state standards, and creates powerful connections to students’ everyday lives. Teams will have opportunities to develop materials and are encouraged to bring curriculum materials and a range of student data.