Highest Aspirations

Here are some questions we discuss in this episode with our guest Marcy Voss. Why are multilingual learners so often overlooked and underrepresented in gifted and talented programs in schools? How can educators better identify the many gifted English learners, and adopt an asset-based approach moving forward? What are some strategies teachers can use to support language needs without compromising...

Given the fact that passive listening is happening all the time at school, why is creating deliberate, high-quality listening exercises for multilingual learners so important? What are some authentic ways to assess listening comprehension that will better gauge ELs’ understanding while also preparing them for important state assessments? How can in-class listening activities help ELs to build back...

What benefits does guided reading offer when compared to more traditional whole group instruction? How can guided reading be used to better support multilingual learners and foster cultural responsive teaching strategies? How can schools and districts design and implement professional learning opportunities to support teachers as they roll out guided learning strategies? What different factors and...

What is the difference between active and passive vocabulary and how does the transfer from one to the other happen? What are some simple yet effective ways that educators can build in opportunities for multilingual learners to internalize and be able to use academic vocabulary in speaking or writing? How can we build students’ confidence in speaking as they develop new language skills in and out...

How might we design and ensure access to equitable professional learning opportunities, specifically to address the unique needs of multilingual learners? What are some tools that can be used to monitor the progress of educators through professional learning and how do we measure its impact on student progress and learning? What are some strategies to design and implement equitable professional le...

In this episode, we talk about some exciting changes and improvements we have planned for Highest Aspirations. We also preview some of the topics we will be covering beginning with our first episode on January 18th. Learn more and stay up to date by joining our community at bit.ly/getmlresources. You’ll receive our weekly community brief with news and multimedia resources you can use with your col...

The lack of teachers who have the training necessary to effectively support multilingual learners has been plaguing school districts across the country for years. The pandemic has only exacerbated the problem putting multilingual learners at greater risk. Panel members from school districts and organizations around the country came together during our annual Impact Conference to discuss how they a...

How can we help colleagues, families and community members become advocates for dual language programs? What does it mean to truly embrace biliteracy? Why is embracing bilingualism good for all students? We discuss these questions and more in part 2 of a 2 part series with Sandra Medrano-Arroyo. Sandra Medrano-Arroyo presently works at Ellevation Education as the Dual Language Instructional Conten...

On this special episode of Highest Aspirations, we're sitting down to speak with 2021 Ellevation Scholarship Winner Sirenia Garcia from Deer Park ISD in Texas. Sirenia was born and raised in Texas and plans on attending the University of St. Thomas in Houston in the fall, where she will be studying Music Education and minoring in psychology. She hopes to become a school counselor or school princip...

On this special episode of Highest Aspirations, we're sitting down to speak with 2021 Ellevation Scholarship Winner Jesse Ding. Jesse Ding graduated as the class valedictorian from Wilmington High School in Wilmington, Massachusetts. She is planning to study computer science at Carnegie Mellon University. In the future, she hopes to become a robotics software engineer and utilize her knowledge and...

How might growing up as a multilingual learner shape the message that educators communicate to their EL students and families about home language and learning English? What are some of the most important sources of research on dual language programs and how can they help school leaders and educators shape valuable learning experiences for all students? What are the three pillars of dual language a...

On this special encore episode, we revisit the topic of collaborating, co-planning, and co-teaching with content teachers with Tan Huyn. Tan is a career teacher specializing in language acquisition.  Tan has taught students from fifth to twelfth grade in public schools, private boarding schools, and charter schools.  Internationally, Tan has taught in schools in China, Laos, and Vietnam. He shares...

In this special episode of Highest Aspirations, we feature one of our 5 Ellevation scholarship winners, Paola Gutierrez. Paola recently graduated from Tahquitz High School in Hemet, CA. She is currently attending UCLA where she is studying Human Biology on a pre-med track. As an aspiring physician, she looks forward to caring for people in low-income communities in the future. As you’ll hear in ou...

On this special encore episode, we revisit the topic of ensuring multilingual learners have highly qualified teachers to help them achieve their Highest Aspirations - with guests Amaya Garcia and Alexandra Manuel.  The lack of teachers who have the training necessary to effectively support multilingual learners has been plaguing school districts across the country for years. The pandemic has only...

How can teachers help students assert positive identities so they have the confidence necessary to achieve academic success and advocate for social justice in their schools and communities? What are some strategies teachers can use to infuse language concepts into content lessons while simultaneously providing students with the skills they will need to be successful in school and beyond? Why is it...

What current limitations do we face in our educational system when it comes to data collection about students with limited or interrupted formal education (or SLIFE students)? How can project-based learning and group work help support SLIFE students and their classmates so they can better learn from one another? What are a few steps educators can take to be more equitable and mindful of SLIFE stud...

How can teachers structure one-to-one student conferences to help ELs own their academic growth while also building relationships? What are some innovative ways we can leverage everything from testing data, student work artifacts, and portfolios to help students and teachers set and measure progress towards goals? How can schools make these conferences and learning celebrations more widely practic...

What’s in a name, or in this case, a label? Why do many prefer the term “Emergent Bilingual” over other terminology like English learner, LEP, or even multilingual learner? On the 40th anniversary year of the Castañeda v. Pickard Case, what progress have we made and what do we still need to do to ensure the civil rights for our multilingual learners? How might a name/title change lead to significa...

What are some ways mindfulness activities can help multilingual students succeed and how can teachers get started using them successfully? How can educators proactively elevate the voices of their students while decreasing teacher talk time? How can we apply concepts from exercise and other training programs to academic language instruction? We discuss these questions and more in Part 2 of a two-p...

What are some easy ways that content teachers and ELL specialists can collaborate to better support their multilingual learners? How can schools and teaching teams build out systems for housing key instructional resources to support practices like scaffolding? What can educators do to ensure multilingual learners have equitable access to high-quality instructional materials and content - particula...

What are some steps that educators can take now to build positive relationships with students and their families this school year What experiences can educators pull from to build empathy and appreciation for multilingual students and their families? How might we go beyond language so we can also build an understanding of diverse cultures, and how might that investment play out in interactions wit...

Why are content-specific and intentional language supports so critical for effective instruction of multilingual learners? How can we advocate for multilingual learner perspectives to be included in key processes regarding curriculum and instruction at school, district and state level? What role do professional development and formative assessment play in the effectiveness of high-quality instruct...

How might we seize the opportunity of a new school year as a chance to gather information on their multilingual learners, specifically the learning they may have done in languages other than English? How can teachers who aren’t comfortable speaking languages other than English facilitate and support their students’ learning in their home languages? What techniques can educators use to provide feed...

How might new approaches to assessment create more equitable opportunities for multilingual learners? In what ways could local and professional accountability help motivate teachers to encourage students’ home language use? Why is it so important that relationships and a deeper understanding of our students be at the center of how we design and analyze assessments?  We discuss these questions and...

Welcome back to Highest Aspirations, an education podcast that focuses on how we can help maximize impact on multilingual learners.  If you’d like to join us on the podcast or if you have an idea for a topic or guest, we want to hear from you. Take less than a minute to fill out our form at bit.ly/haptopics.  As always, if you’re looking for great resources and ideas to help support multilingual l...