Highest Aspirations

How might partnerships with families, community organizations, and city officials create more equitable learning opportunities for English learners? Why is it so important for schools to understand the varied experiences of remote learning for students and their families? How can we leverage this opportunity to offer more relevant and flexible professional learning opportunities for teachers?  We...

What can districts do to support educators with relevant professional learning to help mitigate learning loss associated with school closures?  Why might family engagement be more important than ever and what can schools do to establish and strengthen relationships? How do we use this experience to emphasize the importance of taking a true whole child approach?  We discuss these questions and much...

How might school closures result in a shift toward quality rather than quantity when educating our English learners and how can we sustain that effort moving forward? Why should empathy-building and perspective-taking be first and foremost when designing learning experiences for vulnerable student populations? How might we elevate the role of the EL Specialist while also bringing content teachers...

On this episode of our Reimagining EL Education series, we reconnect with our friend Conor Willams of The Century Foundation to talk about finding a path toward a better future for English learners as a result of this crisis. While he acknowledges that no one has all the answers, Conor provides some powerful insight about the importance of taking a whole child approach to distance and brick and mo...

On this edition of our Reimagining EL Education series, we talk with Lori Villanueva, Superintendent of Coalinga-Huron Unified School District in California's Central Valley.  She and her staff created an inspirational music video to share with students and families during school closures. The video has had a resounding effect on boosting morale, making connections, and keeping the lines of commun...

On this edition of our Look for the Helpers series, we bring in Daniela Anello, Head of School at DC Public Charter School. Daniela talks about how her school is maintaining communication with the community they serve during the pandemic.  She also highlights why it is so important to embrace vulnerability and learn from mistakes during this time. Finally, she describes why the tenets of transpare...

On this edition of our Look for the Helpers series, we speak with Teri Fisch, an EL Specialist in Homer, Illinois. Teri talks with us about her plans to provide more visual interactions with her students via Zoom and other tools. We also discuss what the future may hold for EL educators, students, and families in her district and beyond as we move past this school closures. Finally, Teri highlight...

On this edition of our Look for the Helpers series, we speak with Ruben Diaz, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction at Parlier Unified School District, a rural community in the Central Valley of California. Parlier is an agricultural community with a high percentage of English learners. During our conversation, Ruben talks about why his district has taken a 2 tier approach to rol...

On this edition of our Look for the Helpers series, we bring in Sara Hamerla, Administrator of English Language Learners at Waltham Pubic Schools, just outside Boston, Massachusetts. During our conversation, we talk about how we might overcome challenges around keeping students engaged in conversations in a distance learning environment, how we might avoid the possibility of an extended summer sli...

On this edition of our Look for the Helpers series, we speak with Richele Dunavent, an ELL Specialist in Henderson County, North Carolina. Henderson County is a rural district with a high population of English learners speaking a wide variety of languages. We discuss how Richele’s school is providing WiFi access, devices, and instructional materials to their English learners with an eye toward equ...

On this edition of our "Look for the Helpers" series, we speak with Hugo Cancel, a paraprofessional at Spring Lake Elementary School in Florida. Recognizing that paper-based packets that were being sent home during school closures were a good start, but not quite adequate to help students improve listening comprehension skills, Hugo began recording lessons and uploading them to YouTube. He has beg...

On this edition of our "Look for the Helpers" series, we catch up with Juan Arroyo, a middle school bilingual math teacher in Union City, New Jersey. We talk about how Mr. Arroyo and others are working to provide equitable learning opportunities to all students, regardless of their language and socioeconomic status. We also highlight tools and strategies to engage students in blended and online le...

On the edition of our Look for the Helpers series, we bring in Valentina Gonzalez to discuss the best ways to share resources and information with fellow educators during school closures. We also talk about the value of constantly pivoting as things change so quickly and embracing our vulnerability as we are forced to try new ideas. If you'd like to join us on the Look for the Helpers series to sh...

On this episode of our Look for the Helpers series, we talk with Elizabeth Leone about what she is doing through her school and community to ensure her most vulnerable students and their families have access to critical educational services. We also discuss why access to technology at home is so important to maintain educational equity, particularly for the newcomers who Elizabeth serves.  If you'...

On this episode of our Look for the Helpers series, we talk with Carol Salva and Tan Huynh about how educators can access high quality professional development from wherever they are while schools remain closed. We highlight VirtuEL, a free annual online conference for teachers of language learners featuring live breakout sessions, panels and keynote speakers. Carol and Tan have facilitated VirtuE...

We catch up with Ellevation's cofounders Jordan Meranus and Teddy Rice to talk about the challenges they are seeing, how Ellevation is adapting to best serve English learners, and what long-term school closures mean for educational equity. If you'd like to share your story on Highest Apirations, go to bit.ly/ELLHelper. You can find more resources on our Look for the Helpers short video series.  --...

How might we provide equitable instructional resources and services to English learners and their families? What can we do to support families who may not have internet access or adequate devices? What are some tools that teachers can use to keep English learners engaged? We discuss these questions and more with Katie Frances. Katie is a certified EL teacher in Fayette County, KY. She spent her fi...

How do we ensure that English learners and their families in rural communities have access to services that schools normally provide? What are educators doing to overcome the challenge of providing students with food when transportation is a challenge? How are schools addressing equity issues in areas where internet and device access is not widely available? We discuss these questions and more in...

How can teachers and tech staff continue to collaborate to support English learners while schools are closed? Why might this be a good time for teacher professional development and how might schools implement systems to support it? What are some key resources that educators can use right now to help support their English learners? We discuss these questions and more with Dr. Yolanda Rios and Grett...

What can we learn about online learning from EL educators who have been doing it for over 8 weeks now? Why is backwards planning so important when designing online lessons? How might we go about striking the appropriate balance between synchronous and asynchronous strategies to ensure equitable access to instruction?  We discuss these questions and much more with Tan Huynh. Tan (@TanELLclassroom)...

This episode is part of our "Look for the Helpers" series. If you'd like to share your story, take 2 minutes to fill out this form.  What are some strategies and resources teachers can use right now to help reach English learners while schools are closed? How might we sustain communication with teachers, families, and other stakeholders? Are there any silver linings to this very difficult situatio...

This is the first episode of our “Look for the Helpers” series on the impact of coronavirus related school closures on English learners. During this challenging time, we believe it is more important than ever to amplify educators’ voices. For that reason, we are inviting anyone who works with English learners to share their stories on Highest Aspirations. Whether you have tips on keeping students...

If you'd like to share what you are doing to support English learners during this challenging time, take 2 minutes to fill out this form. You can find the blog post version of this episode along with great resource and a special message on our ELL Community.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/highest-aspirations/message