Fearful No More: Teachers Amplifying Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Familial Voices in Technological Spaces

Based on field research and observations, this work challenges existing assumptions about using technology to support learner engagement and recommends tech-rich instructional strategies made possible when teachers engage critical consciousness and reflection to create equitable learning spaces

Effect of Transnational Standards on U.S. Teacher Education

The Standards for Effective Pedagogy and Learning (CREDE, 2014) specify five transnational universals of teaching that are especially effective for the rapidly growing population of English language learners in North America. CLASSIC is an evidence-based, CREDE-aligned model of teacher education for classroom educators of English language learners. CLASSIC has utilized with more than 10,000 teachers in 100 school districts, located in eight states, in collaboration with eight different universities. This study examined the impact of the transnational standards of CLASSIC curricula on teachers’ observed practices with English language learners as measured by the recently developed Inventory of Situationally and Culturally Responsive Teaching (ISCRT). Despite some variability, over 110 participating teachers in 37 U.S. schools demonstrated statistically significant improvements in their delivery of effective pedagogy, across a wide range (18 of 22) ISCRT indicators; teachers exhibited highest levels of growth in instructional conversations, joint productive activity, and challenging activities

Drawing Their Way into Writing: Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students Finding Voice Through Mini-Novelas

Writing can be a difficult task for many students in today’s classrooms; however, for students who are culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD), writing can be especially difficult. These students often are in the process of developing their facility with the English language, and they possess cultural backgrounds that differ from those of many of their peers and teachers. In addition to these challenges, they face the typical difficulties of selecting ideas to write about for their stories. One way to tap into the cultural backgrounds of Spanish-speaking CLD students is through the use of a strategy called the mini-novela. A mini-novela allows students to initially draw their stories and then write an accompanying narrative. It also allows students to use their cultural knowledge and the process of visualization as bridges to images and words that transform writing into a personally relevant, meaningful experience

Transforming Ecuadorian EFL Teacher Practices through Biography-Driven Instruction

The intensive English development/TESL program (TESL-GT) was created through a partnership between Ecuador and one Midwestern university. Through this program, Ecuador's Ministry of Education sought to enhance the instructional effectiveness of secondary English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers. The 67 Ecuadorian teacher participants in this study engaged in a 10-week pilot program. This program was aligned to the CREDE "Standards for Effective Pedagogy and Learning," which serve as universals (transnationally researched) standards of effective teaching practices. The 67 Ecuadorian program completers were subsequently observed in their Ecuadorian classrooms using the "Inventory of Situationally and Culturally Responsive Teaching" (ISCRT) rubric. Composite ISCRT scores were calculated as well as group means on each of the five standards reflected in the 22 indicators of the tool. Findings indicated unexpectedly robust levels of enactment of effective instructional practices for English learners. The significance of these findings and implications for teacher education are elucidated

From Remediation to Acceleration: Recruiting, Retaining, and Graduating Future Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) Educators

This ethnographic case study explores one mid-western state university's response to the challenge of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD), especially Latino/a, student recruitment and retention. BESITOS (Bilingual/Bicultural Education Students Interacting To Obtain Success) is an integrated teacher preparation program implemented at a predominantly White university that seeks to both increase Latino/a students' initial access to higher education and provide institutional support to facilitate a high rate of graduation. The researchers consider key elements of the BESITOS program model as they relate to and support the sociocultural, linguistic, academic, and cognitive dimensions of the CLD student biography. For each dimension, the program model is first placed in the context of existing literature on CLD student education. The key elements and strategies of the program model used to successfully meet recruitment and retention goals are then discussed

Reaching Rigor for English Learners Through Responsive Interactions of Care

Citation: Holmes, M., Kavimandan, S., & Herrera, S. (2018). Reaching rigor for English learners through responsive interactions of care. In N. Guler (Ed.), Optimizing elementary education for English language learners (pp. 91-115). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.This chapter explores what happens when teacher-student and student-student interactions reflect a higher level of responsiveness to the human beings involved. It describes biography-driven instruction (BDI), a research-based method of instruction that supports all learners to reach high academic standards, while at the same time ensuring that English learners have the scaffolds and tools needed to engage fully in the curriculum. Teachers who implement BDI develop a holistic understanding of students' sociocultural, linguistic, cognitive, and academic dimensions. They use students' background knowledge as a springboard to new learning. To determine the impact of BDI on the education of English learners in elementary classrooms, this chapter explores the perspectives of 16 teachers (Grades 1-6) who received professional development on BDI and then implemented the method with their own communities of learners. Interview data was collected in Spring 2016, transcribed, and qualitatively analyzed. Findings in the form of themes in participant voice are discussed throughout the chapter

Bringing Theory to Life: Strategies that Make Culturally Responsive Pedagogy a Reality in Diverse Secondary Classrooms

<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Arial; panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> Preparing U.S. teachers for effectiveness with culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) secondary students remains a challenge, given the relative homogeneity of educators and their enculturation to an educational system based on European American norms and values. Although culturally responsive pedagogy has emerged as a promising avenue for promoting student achievement, instructional tools are needed to support application of theory in multicultural classrooms. In this paper the authors provide a framework for linguistic and academic development, contextualized within a larger model of biography-driven instruction. Instructional strategies implemented throughout the lesson are described, and their usefulness for improving teacher performance is explored