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Educator Development

For teachers of secondary English Learners, effectively structuring and facilitating discourse in classrooms is a vitally important skill. Secondary English Learners’ expertise in academic content—and in language itself—develops through interaction with peers and teachers. Classrooms are key spaces for this development to occur through dialogue.

 

This pedagogical task is not easy. It requires teachers to be not only deeply knowledgeable but also responsive—to be asset-oriented in mindset as well as in action.

 

The good news is that professional learning communities and professional development resources like the ones we highlight here are available to support teachers in developing this expertise.

 

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Center resources supporting effective educator development.

  • What is essential when developing a new teacher to teach an equitable multilingual class? Magaly Lavadenz, Professor, Department of Educational Leadership, Loyola Marymount University

How language arises

How language arises

  • Module 1 – Introduction to Key Constructs

Image of Module 1

  • Breaking down the interrelated skills within “Oracy.” Alice Stott, Director of Schools, Voice 21, United Kingdom

How to create a Critical Dialogic Interaction classroom

How to create a Quality Interaction classroom

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  • Module 3 – Shifts in Our Understanding of Second Language Learning: From the Teaching of Oral Skills to the Development of Oracy: A Focus on the Conversation with Alice Stott

Module 3

  • Researcher perspective on what makes Critical Dialogic Education effective: Students have to believe they are legitimate participants in dialogue. Amanda Kibler, Professor, College of Education, Oregon State University 

  • Implications of Critical Dialogic Education: Implications for Teacher Education. AERA webinar

  • “Oracy” in action in a classroom debate structure in the UK and how it benefits all students, English learners and others. Alice Stott, Director of Schools, Voice 21, United Kingdom

  • “Oracy” in action in a classroom of English learners in the UK – and how “talk” develops deep content understanding and reasoning skills.
    Alice Stott, Director of Schools, Voice 21, United Kingdom

  • “Discussion guidelines” and “talk rules.” Alice Stott, Director of Schools, Voice 21, United Kingdom

  • How have teachers in the UK taken to the Oracy movement? Alice Stott, Director of Schools, Voice 21, United Kingdom

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Math: How to connect mathematical ideas to English Learner’s lives and experiences

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How labels like classifications drive behaviors

Math: How to connect mathematical ideas
How labels like classifications drive behaviors

  • There is no normative timeline for development—“classification” must be related to opportunities to learn.
    Amanda Kibler, Professor, College of Education, Oregon State University 

  • Module 2 – The Language We Use to Talk about English Learners and Our Work: A Focus on the Conversation with Guadalupe Valdés.

Module 2

  • Module 4 – Multilingualism in the United States and Around the World: Current Issues and Tensions – A Focus on the Conversation with Ofelia García

Module 4
How to provide asset-driven apprenticeship, scaffolding and affordances

How to provide asset-driven apprenticeship, scaffolding and affordances

  • Module 5 – Teaching and Learning Disciplinary Literacies at the Secondary Level: A Meaning-Making Perspective

Module 5

  • The importance of affordances—opportunities for students to “relate” to the environment presented to them. Diane Larsen-Freeman, Professor Emerita in Education and Linguistics, University of Michigan 

  • How should teachers handle it when students mispronounce things? Alice Stott, Director of Schools, Voice 21, United Kingdom

How to give learners agency

How to give learners agency

  • It’s about every student finding their voice—it’s not about there being one way to speak or a kind of certain way that is privileged over others—but rather creating the time and opportunities for students to find that voice whatever form it takes. Alice Stott, Director of Schools, Voice 21, United Kingdom

  • The importance of learner agency—the capacity for owning learning, a growth-mindset and uniqueness of the learner. Diane Larsen-Freeman, Professor Emerita in Education and Linguistics, University of Michigan 

How to ensure equity in practice

How to ensure equity in practice

  • How can American educators ensure equity in school practices for English language learners and their development? Guadalupe Valdés, Professor Emeritus, Stanford Graduate School of Education 

  • How can education systems begin to convince policy makers to change course? Guadalupe Valdés, Professor Emeritus, Stanford Graduate School of Education

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