 "Since the dawn of language, conversations have been powerful teachers." This quote by Jeff Zwiers, highlights the idea that whomever is doing the talking is doing the learning. Yet, multilingual learners are often denied access to curiosity and playful, discussion-rich classrooms because of misconceptions about language learning and bias
How do we design for equitable discourse so that mlls can thrive in the #inquiry classroom? Designing for discourse in the classroom is a keystone to fostering critical thinking, acquiring a new language, sparking creativity, understanding different perspectives, and developing an empathetic learning community. Designing for discourse is also a radical resistance to what Paulo Freire describes as the "banking method" of education. We will unpack design elements that nurture equitable discourse for our multilingual learners in the inquiry classroom. Grab your tix here on my Event Brite page.
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 Quality, research based, and FUN professional learning should be accessible and affordable. Here are my upcoming professional learning online workshops for Fall 2024. Some old favorites, some new offerings I'll share more info about the agenda closer to each date, but wanted to share the big picture for the semester.
Head on over to my Event Brite page for more info and to grab your tickets. Newsletter subscribers, check your September newsletter for a discount code! Just a quick note: these times really cater to the time zones in Asia, where I work with a lot of educators. However, if you are in another time zone and there is demand, I'm happy to offer these workshops again in that range of time zones. Just reach out!  This month I'm really enjoying the young adult novel called In the Beautiful Country by Jane Kuo. It's an engaging story about Anna who immigrates from Taiwan to the United States. It is written with a prose structure in brief, but riveting chapters.
A great read for your learners, as part of a mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors ethos. This book would make an excellent pairing or concept driven book clubs with other immigrant narratives like Gene Luen Yang's American Born Chinese and one of my favorites Thanhhà Lai's Inside Out and Back Again.  Start the year off strong. Establishing a strong coteaching relationship and structures that serve multilingual learners is much easier than trying to figure it out mid year-when frustrations and feelings are high.
Join me August 23rd for this online workshop. We will explore some bigger ideas that shift from vague "support" to strategic collaborative content and language integrated learning. We will also explore some of the nuts and bolts. Join me August 23rd for this online workshop. Head on over to the EventBrite website for tickets.  Photo courtesy of Leo Rivas on Unsplash . In my July newsletter I shared how I got to fulfill a parenting dream this summer. My daughter has had an ongoing inquiry about Ancient Egypt, so when we had an open afternoon in NYC, I jumped at the chance to take her to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. And let me tell you- her curiosity ran wild: the wonder, the awe, and the questions-so many questions. For two hours we roamed only the Ancient Egypt wing, much of which was spent closely examining every sarcophagus. For those that have been subscribers to my newsletter for a while, you may remember that one of my words for 2024 was curiosity. Getting to spend this magical afternoon as witness to my daughter's curiosity felt... right. As educators, may we forever hold the curiosity of children with love and care. As educators, may we work to ensure that school protects this phenomenon and not diminishes it. My daughter starts kindergarten this week. As a family we are a whirl of emotions. Our daughter is a confident, creative, silly, empathetic, imaginative, high-energy young person. And she is so curious about the world around her and the people in it. And like so many parents before me, we are entrusting our daughter into the care of her teachers. To her future teachers. Please see her. Please know her. Please love her. Please protect her spark. To the education system she is stepping into please continue the work of cultivating student centered classrooms. To the political discourse that fuels educational policy it is your job to protect my daughter's academic, social, emotional, and linguistic development during the school day. But not just my daughter; she carries with her many privileges. It is an education system's job to protect all students entrusted in your care; protect their curiosity, protect their identities, and protect their bodies from harm. As educators, I understand it is easy to forget. But please remember the child that walks through your school's hallways and classroom's door, they are somebody's everything. They are somebody's past, present, and futures. As educators, may we forever hold the curiosity of children with love and care. As educators, may we work to ensure that school protects this phenomenon and not diminishes it. |