Highest Aspirations

Welcome to our season wrap up episode - and what a season it was. We’ve released 49 episodes and covered so many topics since August of 2020 - definitely a record for the 3 and a half year history of Highest Aspirations. For our season finale, we thought we'd take some time to reflect on what we’ve learned through so many rich conversations with our incredible guests. We’ll also talk about some of...

What supports can a designated immigrant/refugee program provide for students and families that go beyond what a typical school or district may be providing? After the past year of interrupted learning, what can we learn from educators who have worked with SIFE students and newcomers - particularly when it comes to social-emotional needs? How are refugees actively benefiting or improving the commu...

How does trauma that migrant children experience manifest in the classroom, and what impact does it have on their ability to communicate and develop relationships at school? What can educators who do not share the lived experiences of their students do to best support them, and why is better representation so crucial? How can those entering higher education or other realms where they may be underr...

Welcome back to the second episode in our two-part series with Professor K. David Harrison. Make sure to check out part one on Anchor or wherever you listen to podcasts, and visit our community page to find our key takeaways from the whole conversation, resources and more. How are languages inextricably connected to other aspects of society and what does that mean about preserving and valuing them...

How are languages inextricably connected to other aspects of society and what does that mean about preserving and valuing them? What strategies can educators of multilingual students use to incentivize their students to help keep their home languages thriving - even while they are drawn to use English as the language of record? How have globalization, technology, and emotional connections all play...

How can we combat an “English-only” approach in education and what is the importance of calling out cross linguistic connections for English learners? What is “metabilingual awareness” and how does it inform how we understand and develop language? How should equity be considered, both for students enrolling in dual language programs and in the recruiting and retaining of multilingual educators? We...

What unique challenges and opportunities do parent-driven mentor programs pose for EL students and families? How can schools and districts create mission aligned programs that support ongoing goals while offering new opportunities? What existing district programs and community partnerships can schools tap into in order to create a more robust and sustainable parent outreach program? We discuss the...

How does “toxic stress” for students in the intersection of immigration and education manifest itself, and what are the long term effects it can have if not addressed? What are the most pressing concerns that educators have about their English learners as a result of the pandemic and what do they need to support them? How can educators, policy makers and community organizations contribute to an en...

What tools can we provide teachers to help make their instruction as efficient and effective as possible - particularly as we transition between remote, hybrid and in person settings? How can we give quality formative assessments in a virtual, hybrid and in person settings to gauge student progress, especially for ELs? What strategies for front-loading academic vocabulary and building opportunitie...

What effects do we see on educators from the second-hand trauma that they experience in the classroom? How can teachers best support their students to share their lived experiences and how can teachers respond when they do? Are there ways that the responses to trauma that immigrant children face can inform our response to the trauma students and teachers experienced during the pandemic? We discuss...

What data can be used to measure learning loss in English learners, and what long term impacts are most pressing? How is tech being used to accelerate learning for ELs and empower students to continue their learning outside of class? How can building out a robust STEM program motivate students to develop foundational skills? We discuss these questions and more with Dr. Adrian Johnson, Superintende...

What family engagement strategies are most effective in linguistically diverse communities? How might we empower families and siblings to help support EL student outcomes? How might recent policy changes impact schools with significant refugee or immigrant populations and inform the future of education? We discuss these questions and more with Julie Allen, current Principal/CEO of the Internationa...

How can the challenges that teachers continue to face in remote classrooms lead to positive changes - particularly when it comes to facilitating discussions and practicing language? How can teachers set their English learners up for success, both with accessing academic vocabulary and creating lower-stakes entry points of participation for students? What tools, lessons and takeaways from this year...

What steps can we take to strategically support English learners through learning loss while also prioritizing social and emotional well-being? What approach can districts take with professional development to support educators in identifying learning loss and teaching language development in this environment? How can schools use this experience with distance and remote learning to reimagine in-pe...

What strategies can educators use in remote environments to increase learning capacity and promote student agency? What similarities and differences can we draw between what a language rich classroom looks and sounds like in-person versus virtually? How can routines support teachers and students when we transition back to in-person settings and begin to address “unfinished learning”? We discuss th...

How can incorporating routines into remote learning reduce stress and uncertainty for students while also supporting language development and discourse? What are some strategies that provide English learners with opportunities to develop mathematical thinking in remote and hybrid learning environments? How has the unfinished learning caused by the pandemic shifted teachers’ mindsets, and what COVI...

How are educators reaching English Learners and bilingual students in a border district during a pandemic, both in addressing immediate needs for support and in looking ahead at the impact of learning loss on the future of instruction? What techniques can educators use to identify different types of bilingual learners and evaluate the effectiveness of their program and instruction? How might we tr...

How can districts, schools and educators identify and mitigate areas of Covid related learning loss among English learners? What is the role of professional learning in helping educators support English learners in content and language instruction as we trend toward more widespread in person learning? How can we be prepared to meet individual students where they are given the widespread disruption...

What strategies can we use to help students overcome the significant challenges associated with learning in a remote environment? How can we implement tried and true strategies like sentence stems, anchors of support, choral reading and others to help strengthen English learners academic language skills? How might teachers use newly acquired skills to help strengthen EL instruction as we transitio...

What can we learn from educators who have worked with English learners in hybrid learning models from the beginning of the pandemic? How can we use free built-in accessibility tools on devices to personalize learning for students? What are some simple strategies and tools we can implement to incorporate speaking, listening, reading and writing skills in both synchronous and asynchronous lessons? W...

How can we go about converting top down approaches to professional learning to more relevant and engaging teacher centered sessions? What is the EdCamp model and how can it help structure professional learning opportunities to support teachers working with diverse groups of learnings? How can establishing relationships with community organizations help  schools better serve their students and...

How many times have you heard the expression “take an asset based approach to EL education”? We’ve certainly used the term on many occasions here on Highest Aspirations.  But what does it really mean and what might we learn from school leaders working in Clarkston, GA - a community that has been called “the most diverse mile in America” and “the Ellis Island of the South”? How does a “radical...

How might we make math instruction more equitable for all students? Why is it so important for educators to recognize how their biases and beliefs affect their ability to deliver equitable instruction to English learners? How might we infuse language and culture into existing curriculum so they are a part of content instruction rather than a separate element? We discuss these questions and much mo...

As schools rapidly shift from in-person, hybrid and fully remote instructional settings, there has been a renewed interest in adopting project based learning (PBL) strategies to keep students engaged through all the changes. To address this topic, we have re-released our interview with Elizabeth Leone, a passionate advocate for English learners and expert practitioner of PBL in highly diverse clas...

This episode is the culmination of our “In This Together” docuseries , where we follow 5 EL program directors from around the country to explore the challenges they face and how they’re overcoming them. Listen as our 5 panelists discuss how they are supporting their English learners in remote, hybrid and face to settings, what they are planning for the second half of the school year, how they are...