Ivannia Soto

Margarita Espino Calderon

Debbie Zacarian

Maria G. Dove

Diane Staehr Fenner

Margo Gottlieb

Andrea Honigsfeld

Tonya Ward Singer

Shawn Slakk

It was a dark and stormy night in Santa Barbara. January 19, 2017. The next day’s inauguration drumroll played on the evening news. Huddled around a table were nine Corwin authors and their publisher, who together have devoted their careers to equity in education. They couldn’t change the weather, they couldn’t heal a fractured country, but they did have the power to put their collective wisdom about EL education upon the page to ensure our multilingual learners reach their highest potential. Proudly, we introduce you now to the fruit of that effort: Breaking Down the Wall: Essential Shifts for English Learners’ Success. In this first-of-a-kind collaboration, teachers and leaders, whether in small towns or large urban centers, finally have both the research and the practical strategies to take those first steps toward excellence in educating our culturally and linguistically diverse children. It’s a book to be celebrated because it means we can throw away the dark glasses of deficit-based approaches and see children who come to school speaking a different home language for what they really are: learners with tremendous assets. The authors’ contributions are arranged in nine chapters that become nine tenets for teachers and administrators to use as calls to actions in their own efforts to realize our English learners’ potential: 1. From Deficit-Based to Asset-Based 2. From Compliance to Excellence 3. From Watering Down to Challenging 4. From Isolation to Collaboration 5. From Silence to Conversation 6. From Language to Language, Literacy, and Content 7. From Assessment of Learning to Assessment for and as Learning 8. From Monolingualism to Multilingualism 9. From Nobody Cares to Everyone/Every Community Cares Read this book; the chapters speak to one another, a melodic echo of expertise, classroom vignettes, and steps to take. To shift the status quo is neither fast nor easy, but there is a clear process, and it’s laid out here in Breaking Down the Wall. To distill it into a single line would go something like this: if we can assume mutual ownership, if we can connect instruction to all children’s personal, social, cultural, and linguistic identities, then all students will achieve.

Essential Shifts for English Learners’ Success

Breaking Down the Wall

Margarita Espino Calderón

This book is a road map for teachers and school leaders who need to meet the needs of increasing numbers of Newcomers and other English Learners (ELs). The authors draw from years of experience in working with, listening to, and coaching administrators, teachers, and coaches nationwide to help you develop and implement an effective plan for your school. Beginning with the core belief that "getting to know the student is pivotal," the authors show how to address both the academic and the social needs of Newcomers to help them integrate and excel—from their first day of school. The main components of the plan are the following: - Identifying your students and assessing educational and socioemotional needs. - Identifying qualified teachers and staff. - Developing highly effective programs for Newcomers and other ELs. - Accelerating English learners' acquisition of language, literacy, and knowledge through proven classroom teaching techniques. - Supporting Newcomers' socioemotional well-being through classroom and administrative structures. - Designing, implementing, and sustaining professional development for all staff. If you already have a plan for integrating Newcomers and ELs, you can use the information in this book to assess and strengthen it and to learn more about resources for continued coaching and growth. Whether your school has a formal plan or not, the information in this practical guide can help your staff better collaborate to attend to the needs and build on the strengths of Newcomers and ELs in your school.

Proven Practices for School Leadership Teams

Success with Multicultural Newcomers & English Learners

Shawn Slakk

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