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Breaking Bad and Making Good
“Breaking Bad: Box Cutter (#4.1)” (2011) Jesse Pinkman: At least we all understand each other now. Walter White: What do you mean? Jesse Pinkman: I mean, him and us, we get it. [Makes cutting motion on...
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A humbling curriculum
I feel I have always been a very reflective and responsive teacher; if I saw something I was doing wasn’t working properly or supporting the kids enough, the next day would be different. Sometimes...
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Cooperative & In Unison
“Why did you choose this text?”, I asked the ninth grader, noticing the I Have A Dream speech in his hands. “I had always heard about MLK and wanted to read the speech,” he smiled. He gave me a copy...
View ArticleMoving Forward from Frayer
Many teachers agree that learning vocabulary is central not just for ELLs but all students. Teaching students to associate new vocabulary with prior knowledge and visuals, and to learn the...
View ArticleProtected: Pivoting with Peer Collaboration & ELLs
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Student-Centered vs. Student-Owned Discussion
The distinction I am making in the title refers to, on the one hand, an approach where teachers plan text-based conversations where students are participants. The teacher selects the texts, sometimes...
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Re-Envisioning the Reading Workshop for Recent Immigrants
This is a welcome letter I have written for new teachers at my school who will be in our revamped ELA department, but it also aims to be an open letter of sorts to all teachers interested in developing...
View ArticleIntercomprehending: Dismantling the Deficit Approach in ESL
When I first proposed an ELA course where students could move at their own pace while reading texts they chose, and work in heterogeneous groups organized by interest, I was scared. No matter how...
View ArticleCan the Reader Response be Revamped?
I have been thinking a lot lately about how to allow a student to create a response journal that is authentic, as well as meaningful for the student and a formative assessment for me. Perhaps that’s...
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