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Welcome to Cultural Connections Lab. I'm your host Dr. Kelly Forbes. We are here to talk with educational professionals around the world to impact and influence the education system as we focus on cultural connections and the education of multilingual, diverse students.

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We're excited to have you join us today. We sincerely hope that you enjoy the show.

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Welcome listeners to another podcast episode with Cultural Connections Lab. I am your host, Dr. Kelly Forbes, and I am excited to be with a new friend that I am meeting today.

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Her name is Andrea Bittner. She is a proud wife and mother of two beautiful daughters. She lives on the East Coast, just outside of Philadelphia.

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She has worked with students in grades K through 12 through her 23 years in public education from all around the world. Her work as an English language teacher, reading specialist, literacy coach, presenter, and high school English teacher inspired her to continue to share the great news.

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Learning a second language is an asset, not a handicap.

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Her first book, Take Me Home, was published by Austin McCauley in July of 2021. She is also the co-author of Chip Baker's The Impact of Influence, Volume 3, and 100 No Nonsense Things All School Leaders Should Stop Doing.

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She teaches EL's daily and travels the country inspiring and supporting teachers on how to confidently reach, teach, and communicate with multilingual students and families.

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She also provides workshops to motivate immigrant and EL students. You can find Andrea at www.andriabittnerbooks.com.

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That is www.andreabitnerbooks.com or on social media at andriabittnerbooks.com.

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Welcome, Andrea, and thank you so much for being here. I am really, really excited to get to meet you today and to learn more about you and to learn from you.

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How are you doing? Oh, thank you so much. I'm doing great. How are you?

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I am doing fantastic. As I was just saying before we begin this episode recording, thank you for taking time on a Friday evening, which may be right before a holiday break or perhaps you may have a few days next week.

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I don't know, but I just really appreciate you taking the time to be with us today and to share your passion, knowledge, and understanding with us.

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Absolutely. We are almost to that holiday break. We have five more days to go, but who's counting?

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I think every educator across the nation is always counting down to the next time. And the kids even more.

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Next winter holiday break. Yeah, my kids have got their little, you know, their little calendar they're checking off and they know every day how many days are left.

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Absolutely. And listeners, you know him well. This is our co-host today, Dr. Taylor Tribble, CEO and President of Edgeskills, the sponsor for this podcast.

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So thank you so much for being here to co-host with us. And I'm really thankful to Dr. Tribble because he always is this bridge allowing me to network and connect with other amazing educators across the nation.

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And he is again this bridge that I get to meet you. And I know that you and Dr. Tribble have only I think met just one time, had a conversation, but he was really inspired by your story.

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And he reached out to me immediately. And so we wanted to make sure to invite you to be on the podcast. And again, thank you because we want to hear more about this.

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So we really like to just talk about, you know, the role that culture plays in education, the role that culture plays in our families and ourselves and our leadership and what all of that looks like in the pre-K-12 system most specifically, but also in beyond, right?

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And so I, whenever I got the phone call from Dr. Tribble, he was telling me a lot about your book, Take Me Home. And it really struck a lot of chords with me whenever I first got into education, it was as a newcomer teacher in middle school, sixth to eighth grade with seven countries and eight languages represented.

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And it was an incredible experience. So I was able to imagine and envision a little bit about what this was like and was watching some videos of other students that you read the book to and they want you to write about them as well.

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It was, it just seems really, really special. So is there anything that you want to share with how you and Dr. Tribble met and this story and all of these connections that we're making right now?

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Sure. I mean, I've been, you know, a follower and admirer of the work that Dr. Tribble does and we met on social media and set up some time to connect and learn more about each other, which was fantastic.

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And that was the first time that I had shared with him about our work and our mission and our goals, you know, moving forward with what we're doing with Take Me Home.

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Take Me Home is a true story of 11 of my former students who give a firsthand account of what it was really like to become bilingual in America.

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And it was, like you said, released in 2021 and we're really proud of the impact that it's making. It's been read by educators. It's been read by middle and high school students.

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It's been part of PLCs and professional developments that I've done. And what it's really starting to do is shift perspective in a positive way on the diversity that our ELs bring to the table as they're coming into our schools.

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Well, it's going to be read by me as well because I'm going to get a copy. I want to read this and I'm really excited to be able to read it but also remember back and make some of the connections that, of the experiences I had, and just those moments where you're able to learn so much from your students and how it really does change our trajectories as educators in the field.

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And I imagine that you'll get to this, Andrea, if I didn't interject, you'd get to it anyway, but I remember distinctly your kind of description of what inspired you to write the book.

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Sure.

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Story about the family, do you mean sharing that?

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Not at all. You know, so about 10 years ago, I worked with about 40 different high school students with about 25 different languages.

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And they came from all walks of life. I had students who were adopted, I had exchange students, I had kids across the border, I had kids who had waited 10 years for a visa and came after their parents.

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I had kids who had waited 10 years for a visa and came before their parents. And I had kids that had lived here. And so we had this diverse group of students walking in with all different proficiency levels and all different life experiences.

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And no matter where they came from or what their previous history was, at the time we had, you know, four years or less, depending on when they arrived in our program at the high school level, to work with them.

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And they were greeted with this huge classroom banner. And in my classroom, we had a banner and it said, education is opportunity. Education is freedom.

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What's your plan? Because we knew that their only plan couldn't be, I'm going to return to my country or I'm going to return to the district I came from next door or the state that I just arrived from.

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And their second plan couldn't be, I'm not going to be successful here because their parents and teachers, as we reminded them often, had worked so hard to give them this gift of becoming bilingual that we were not going to allow them to not go out into the world and use it.

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And so at the time, as you know, we went through this program and we worked with all these awesome kids. I had one particular family I worked with, the Lopez family.

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And I had taught all seven of their children. And there were all boys and one girl. And they happen to be from the country El Salvador. And I've been to Salvador myself three times to do some work with schools down there.

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And so I knew this family, I knew the aunts, the uncles, the cousins, the kids, you know, over an extensive period of time. So we started with Sergio and then we had Jeffrey and Jeffrey from Las Vegas all the way down to Nancy.

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And Nancy, like I said, was the only female in the family. So they all went through this program and graduated successfully with this mentality.

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And about a year after I was finished teaching and working with that family, I was outside one day outside of my building and I looked outside and I saw a bunch of helicopters and I thought like, wow, I hope everything's okay.

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There's a lot of helicopters outside today. And about an hour after I have that thought, my principal came down to get me to let me know that one of my students had been hit by the train.

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And unfortunately that student was Nancy. And unfortunately she passed away that day. She had made a choice to wear a pair of headphones and walk along the inside of the train track.

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And as she was walking along the inside of the train track, she was clipped from behind by the Acela. And so at that time, that threw our community and our students and our teachers and her parents, you know, into a massive sense of trauma.

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And one of the...

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I can only imagine.

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Yeah, you know, and one of the most challenging parts of that day, in addition to what had happened, was that mom and dad were still learning English themselves.

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And so when they received the call that something had happened, no one on the local force spoke Spanish. So they could kind of put together that something was wrong.

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And they could kind of put together that something had happened to the one of the kids, but they didn't know which one it was.

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So they went up to the tracks and they stood there for hours, waiting and calling until many of us could get there to assist them.

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So in the coming weeks, we navigated immigration and trying to get her brother to be able to come back and bury his sister, which we were denied.

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We navigated the Latino community and supporting her parents. Dad's a pastor in the city and mom worked alongside of him.

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We navigated the school community, the funeral process, the language barriers, all those moving pieces.

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And one of my additional jobs at that time was to speak at Nancy's funeral.

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And so at the time I wrote this short poem and we called it Take Me Home.

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And it was an homage to Nancy's crossing and experience in the U.S.

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And so I kept that piece of paper with that poem on it out on my desk.

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And I continued to work with these amazing kids.

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And a few months later, I saw sitting there and I thought, you know, maybe somebody could be helped by part of this story.

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Maybe something about it could really change their perspective.

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And so I sent that piece of paper out on a whim.

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And a few months later, this publisher gets back to me and they say, hey, Andrea, we really like your poem, but we don't want you to write a poem.

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We want you to write a book and we're going to give you about six months to do it.

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And if you come back with something that we like, we're going to take you on and publish it.

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And I started to think to myself, well, I don't just want to tell her story.

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I want to tell all their stories because they're so different.

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And a lot of people make the assumption that our English language learners have the same experiences.

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If you came from this country, it means you're X. If you came from this country, it means you're Y.

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If you walk in and you don't say anything, it means you're a newcomer.

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And I was hearing all of these experiences from my students themselves.

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They would say things like, Ms. B, why is everybody asking me if I lived with lions?

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I mean, I lived in Africa, but I went to a private boarding school where kids would say to me, why does everybody think I'm Mexican?

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I'm not from Mexico. I'm from Colombia.

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And so all of these conversations were happening and I saw an opportunity to go back and tell all of their stories.

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And so I went back and interviewed 11 of my former English learners who are now in their late 20s, early 30s.

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And I said to them, now that you're a young, successful, bilingual person out and living in the world and you can reflect back upon your school experience, what was that really like for you?

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And so we had months of conversations and notes and all kinds of recordings.

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And what we did was create Take Me Home.

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And so we've written each chapter through the eyes of each of those students.

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It is Nancy's included as well. I went back and interviewed her parents.

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And we are also proud of the fact that it's written in English and it repeats in Spanish all within the same book.

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And it's making a huge impact on the world and giving people perspective on what it's really like to become bilingual here.

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So that's my long-winded answer.

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Libraries too.

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That is so beautiful.

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Yeah, the long-winded answer is what we're here for today.

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Thank you for sharing and thank you for committing time and effort to that work.

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I should have asked you before you came today if you happen to have that poem accessible.

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Is it something that you'd feel comfortable?

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I do.

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Is it something you can read to us here on the show?

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We actually reprinted it right in the back of the book. So it is there.

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Yeah, I'd love it if you would share that with us.

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Sure.

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Yeah, me too. That's really, really kind.

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It's the first time someone asked me to do that. I can do that. Okay.

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All right.

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I'm going to read you the next one.

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Yeah.

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That's the first question I always admired.

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57 hours of riding in the car,

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two days of walking.

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It didn't seem very far.

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It's time to go through.

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Mommy whispered.

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I love you.

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I took a moment to think about everything we survived.

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Without showers,

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zero toys and no car to drive.

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sun, with the comfort of soft raindrops, new friends, and thoughts of our loved ones.

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As that flag appeared closer and my new life was to be born, Mommy bent over and announced,

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we'll see Papa in the morn.

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I smiled and thought of my Papa that I loved.

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I had never met him, the man I was most proud of.

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Twenty-one thousand dollars was saved to bring us here.

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He mailed us every penny over the last ten years.

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Waiting for us.

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Yes, he was.

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Waiting for us.

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With eyes full of hugs.

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Apparence, the guide, messaged.

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Our phones were on silent.

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It was time to go through our final moment.

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My ten-year-old heart pounded as fast as it could, held onto Mommy's hand like I promised

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I would.

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We strolled onto the welcoming land and walked a bit more, picked up by a van, a bit unsure.

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Buenos noches, Papi explained as we pulled up to his place.

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Mommy sobbed tears of joy they could finally embrace.

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I looked around at this new life of mine.

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No language, no traditions, not sure of what I would find.

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This ten-year waiting period that we had endured made some people think my adventure is to

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be ignored.

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My hope is that one day I will speak the English language I love and gain an education I seek.

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I miss my country, my family, and my school.

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This new place you call America has very different rules.

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Please respect, accept, and admire the young person that I am, for my journey began with

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the same ideas, similar to those of President Abraham.

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A chance to meet friends, spread love and grow, a chance to join your world and share

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what I know, that America is the home of the brave, the land of the free, and my Mommy,

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Papa and I can finally be a family.

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That's it.

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Oh my gosh, that is so beautiful.

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Thank you.

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Wow, thank you so much.

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What a beautiful tribute to Nancy and her family and so many students that do have stories.

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Thank you.

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To share.

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Thank you.

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I'm really touched by that.

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It's heavy.

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Yeah, it's really, really heavy.

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But I'm sure you stay in touch with that family today.

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All the time.

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What are they doing now?

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I'm teaching their children.

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That's so incredible.

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I've come full circle.

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I'm in year 24 heading into and I've got some of the young people's in the books, children

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now.

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Wow.

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What has been your biggest takeaway from all of this as an educator and what were the themes

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that you found learning from your students who I always believe and I've said this before

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and I love this, but they are our best professors.

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Absolutely.

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Our students.

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Yes.

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One theme that came through the conversations I had with our young people was their first

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experience was to let people know that lack of language never equals lack of intelligence.

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In my district in particular, right outside of Philadelphia, our young students that are

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ELs or we could say ELs, English learners, they become the leaders of their families

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pretty quickly because they have the opportunity to become more proficient at English than

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their parents do necessarily because they're being educated for free.

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With that in mind, they had a lot of experiences where people made a lot of assumption about

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their ability based on the fact that they were newcomers.

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Something I always talk to teachers about when I talk to them is lack of language never

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equals lack of intelligence.

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It's just that they don't have the word for it quite yet.

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They know the concept.

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Having that mantra, I think is important to remember.

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The other piece that we put together from our conversations is that being an English

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learner is not a condition and it's not even a transition.

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It's an expansion.

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It's an expansion of skills.

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I really hope that people start to realize that our learners are coming to us with a

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handful of skills and we have a great opportunity and their parents are counting on us to lead

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them through one of the most difficult chapters of their lives to expand those skills and

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get them ready to be what I call global leaders.

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Yes, that's so wonderful.

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It's so true that our students are not empty vessels whenever they come.

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They have so many funds of knowledge.

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They have so many experiences.

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We may not have the word necessarily in one language but that doesn't mean that we are

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less than by any means.

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I saw on your LinkedIn though and I'm sure that many teachers, many educators out there

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listening right now have maybe at one time or another felt the same sentiment.

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Have you ever heard your teaching team say that they were struggling on how they reach

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and teach their ELL students and families or what to do with the new ELL student as

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they are already overwhelmed?

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Have you ever worried that your ELL student needs someone to share with them and to help

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them realize just how amazing they are?

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All the time.

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All the time, right?

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The English language world, right?

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People always say, the first assumption is, oh Andrea, you must speak 31 different languages

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and we laugh because we have 31 different languages represented in our history.

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Isn't that funny?

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Sure.

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People do assume that, don't they?

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Yes.

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Yes, you're right.

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I always smile and I say no, but just like you've been trained to teach math or you've

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been trained, I'm also a reading specialist.

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I was trained to be a reading specialist as well.

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In your training, you learn what lens you need to shift your teaching in.

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So as an ELL teacher, it's really important that we team up with our content area teachers

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to start to help them with all of those struggles.

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They are very natural struggles.

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If you've never worked with ELLs before and there are more and more coming, as we can

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see across the country, most of them now are born here, then chances are you're going to

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start to have more of that need in your classroom.

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So how do you team up?

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Well, you start off by asking a whole lot of questions, right?

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I always say I want the movie and not the snapshot.

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So when you're working with an English learner, the first thing teachers need to do is meet

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with their ELL teacher because the ELL teacher is the root of information about that student's

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background.

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Are they literate in their first language?

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Did they go to school?

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Are they coming from a state over, a block over, or a different country?

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Are they with their families?

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What communication languages do their parents prefer?

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I always say to teachers, let's sit down together.

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Let's call whoever it is they're here with, mom, dad, aunts, uncles, grandparents, et

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cetera.

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Have a conversation in their parents' preferred language, which by the way, not all parents

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prefer their first language.

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Some of them prefer English.

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Some of them might prefer French.

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Some of them might prefer both, right?

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So let's get to the root.

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The parents are the root of their children.

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Let's get to the parents first and talk to them and find out what information we can

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about that child.

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And then we want to make a decision on whether or not we need to screen them for ELL support.

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And so starting to put together all the pieces of the puzzle to make decisions for their

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instructional planning, I think is step one.

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Once teachers feel like they have that information, then it's like, okay, we can use can do descriptors.

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We can start to talk about what accommodations will be successful in the classroom so that

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the student can be successful throughout the day.

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Because the truth of the matter is 75% of the day ELL students aren't with their ELL

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teacher.

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They're interacting with everybody else in the building.

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And so that's why it's so important that we team up to make sure everybody in the building

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knows that that student is there.

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Andrea, a lot of our guests like ourselves are from metropolitan areas, but we oftentimes

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work with school districts in rural areas.

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Can you have any insights into that step one, getting to know the student?

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How might you recommend districts go about it?

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Or have you seen any new unique methods in rural districts that actually they care about

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the student and want to want to help them out, but maybe within the district, they don't

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have the resources for translation or anything like that?

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How might you recommend modifying what you were talking about with step one for a district

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that doesn't have a ELL specialist or maybe not have the resources to translate within

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the district?

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So there are some great resources out there that you can use and some are free and some

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are not to gain information from your students parents.

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Some of them include, for example, if you're a district and you want to meet with that

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student's family or gain more information, for example, in our district, once we received

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that home language survey that indicates that a student is speaking another language at

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home, our follow up immediately is a Google translatable email because we wanted to learn

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more about what language looks like in their home.

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So we ask questions like, does your child speak with you another language at home?

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Are you gifting them with that opportunity or do they just hear you and dad speak a different

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language and they haven't learned it?

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Or do they just use that language when they travel in the summers or did you fill out

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the form wrong?

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So what does that look like in your house?

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And using that Google doc and allowing that translation feature to be on it allows the

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parents to put it in the language they prefer and email more information back to you.

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So that's one way immediately that you can start to gather more information with that

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email.

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If people feel like they may be uncomfortable and asking a family what language they prefer,

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I always offer to schools this template.

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I say to my parents and I do this all the time, hi, I've been notified in our school

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system that your child speaks a different language.

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I think that's fantastic.

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Thank you for giving them that gift.

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I would love to know what language you prefer school communication to come home in.

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That's it.

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And usually they'll come back to you with what they prefer.

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A second option that's free is called talking points.

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If people are not familiar with this, it's an awesome access.

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It's wonderful.

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We use it all the time.

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It's free.

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It is documentation.

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You put in mom's number, you put in the language they prefer, you send a message in their first

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language, they respond to you.

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It comes back to you in English.

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You receive a notification in your email.

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There's a message for you in talking points.

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I have students from, like I said, all over the world.

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So it's really great.

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And people can use it with English as well.

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You can put English as their preferred language.

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But it's nice because it goes directly to their phone.

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And so it's a text messaging service.

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If you're looking for something the district can purchase, or maybe a few districts could

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get together and maybe purchase one license, right?

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If you're in a rural community and you have limited funding, using your Title III funding

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can sometimes be challenging.

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Maybe you can kind of pull together.

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But we use language-based services and ProPIO 1.

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Language-based services is amazing.

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It is 163 languages available 24 hours a day, seven days a week with live interpreters.

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So when Mrs. Vo comes into the office in the morning, because your office is your front

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line who works with the parents very often, and they say, Mrs. B, please come down to

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the office.

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Ms. Vo needs to meet with you.

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By the time I get to the office, I've already dialed the 800 number, have the live Vietnamese

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interpreter on the line, and I'm ready to have a proactive conversation.

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So I would suggest checking into that, as well as ProPIO 1.

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I like ProPIO 1.

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We use it as well in our district because, A, it has a Zoom option, so you can have a

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live interpreter join you for Zoom and conference calls, or B, they have written translation.

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And so those are four resources.

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Two others you could use for students are the Pocket Talkers, which people can purchase

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on Amazon for like 100 or maybe less dollars, and those are really great for students to

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use to have conversations.

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And a free app is called SayHi, S-A-Y-H-I, again, for verbal conversation.

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It also allows you to take a picture of a document and it will immediately translate

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it into the student's first language, which is a win-win if they're literate in that first

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language.

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Or C, students can type their first language into it and it will speak to you in English.

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So there's a lot of things out there.

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I just think schools have to start to be committed to investigating what's available.

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Communication is of the utmost importance, correct?

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So if we're not able to communicate with them in a language in which they can understand,

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then it's worth the communication.

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Thank you for sharing those.

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Yeah, specific examples I think are definitely helpful.

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And also I think sometimes there's a stigma around using Google Translate or things like

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that because it's not always accurate, which is absolutely true.

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It's not always accurate, but there are times when you have no other option.

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And so get those examples of free or even options that cost are, I'm sure, very helpful

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and appreciated to people from school districts that listen in.

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I believe that the parents, though, and the guardians that we work with are always so

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appreciative though of any effort that is made.

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So of course we need to communicate with the utmost integrity and making sure that everything

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is correct as possible.

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But I do encourage everyone, you just go to the links end to make sure that you can communicate

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in a way.

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And if you start that, the parents can really help us understand, just like you were explaining,

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the best way of communication.

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And because we're both bringing assets to the table, we'll be able to communicate.

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We can work through anything together.

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I couldn't agree more.

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And something else I think is important to add to that conversation is I highly discourage

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utilizing the student to translate for their parents.

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And I highly discourage.

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Oh, thank you for saying that.

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I highly discourage it.

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And I'll tell you why, you don't want to use the student.

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You don't want to go grab that friend down the hallway.

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You don't want to require them to bring in a neighbor.

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And you don't want to grab that teacher and pull them out of class to help out for a few

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minutes because as a parent myself of two teenage girls, there is nothing more disempowering

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as a parent than walking into a place where your child spends almost all of their time

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every day and not being able to be given the platform to share the most information comfortably.

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Because there could be things that you don't want your child to know.

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And here they are translating for you.

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Or there could be things that you don't want their sibling to know about their brother

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or sister or even themselves.

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There could be things that you don't feel comfortable sharing because of a neighbor

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that's in your neighborhood.

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So you have to invest in these platforms that are out there to give parents the opportunity

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to share the most information with you.

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And I think that's the best way to establish a relationship of confidence.

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And we will be right back.

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404
00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:02,760
And now back to the show.

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00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:08,920
In all of this, in your experience, what is the role that culture has played in your classroom

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and your teaching, but also in the communication that we're talking about right now?

407
00:32:12,380 --> 00:32:18,680
Since you have the experience with so many different cultures and backgrounds and languages.

408
00:32:18,680 --> 00:32:19,680
Yes.

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I mean, I think that recognizing the cultural piece for students is extremely important.

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And it gives validation to what they've known their whole life.

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00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:36,080
It gives validation and encouragement to the fact that they're becoming bilingual learners.

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And it shows the family that you value where they are, where they're coming from, and where

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they're headed.

414
00:32:42,520 --> 00:32:47,040
So, you know, we do a lot of things to establish that rapport within our building.

415
00:32:47,040 --> 00:32:51,760
Some quick examples for one thing I'm really excited about is what my principal did, which

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was he actually investigated all of the different places.

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Not only our EL students are from, but all of our students are from in the building.

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And we have beautiful flags that adorn the hallways from all of the countries around

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the world that our students represent.

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And above each country's flag, he has the name of the country.

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And so as you walk the halls, you see that.

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I can't tell you how excited our kids were to see that expression of acceptance.

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I can only imagine.

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00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:22,280
They were like, Miss B, oh my God, did you see Dr. You know, someone stole a flag, you

425
00:33:22,280 --> 00:33:24,320
know, and I'm like, yeah, they're like, that's my flag.

426
00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:25,320
Yeah, I know.

427
00:33:25,320 --> 00:33:27,760
You know, and so that's really great.

428
00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:32,480
You know, some other things that we do, you know, to promote, you know, that connection

429
00:33:32,480 --> 00:33:39,280
and culture across our district is through family engagement, of course, but we do four

430
00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:43,800
times a year, district wide EL community experiences.

431
00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:49,320
So I was just on a trip last week, we took a hundred students from grades four to 12

432
00:33:49,320 --> 00:33:51,320
to a local establishment.

433
00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:56,800
And it is awesome to see our high school kids leading our middle and elementary kids and

434
00:33:56,800 --> 00:33:58,760
all speaking Arabic together.

435
00:33:58,760 --> 00:34:02,600
And our elementary kids realizing that there are older students than them who also speak

436
00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:09,000
French and our kids that are speaking Cambodian Khmer getting together and just this wonderful

437
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:11,760
connection of cultures for our students.

438
00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:17,360
So they don't feel that isolated and they do feel pride, you know, and excitement and

439
00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:21,480
see a future with that binocular thinking of, oh, when I get older, I could be just

440
00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:22,480
like him.

441
00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:26,880
I can be just like her, you know, so those cultural pieces are important.

442
00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:30,160
We also have our guidance counselor sends out every month.

443
00:34:30,160 --> 00:34:35,360
Here are the upcoming holidays that students may be participating in throughout the building.

444
00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:40,680
So you can be aware of when they talk to you about, you know, different things coming up

445
00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:42,920
that this is what they value and are participating in.

446
00:34:42,920 --> 00:34:47,680
So I could go on and on about the cultural piece, but I just think that it's great to

447
00:34:47,680 --> 00:34:52,400
offer concrete examples to people of what they could do to show it.

448
00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:54,000
No a thousand percent.

449
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:56,440
And thank you for sharing all of that.

450
00:34:56,440 --> 00:35:00,720
And I want to celebrate, I do not know you're the leader of your building, but I want to

451
00:35:00,720 --> 00:35:07,840
celebrate the principal for taking the time and really wanting to celebrate the cultures,

452
00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:11,880
the backgrounds, the flags, the representation, the identity, and to celebrate these students

453
00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:14,000
that are represented in the school.

454
00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:18,520
And that's great exposure for, you know, for other students that otherwise wouldn't have

455
00:35:18,520 --> 00:35:19,520
it.

456
00:35:19,520 --> 00:35:24,300
So what a great opportunity for everyone and to create a truly interconnected and inclusive

457
00:35:24,300 --> 00:35:26,000
environment for all the students.

458
00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:27,000
Yes.

459
00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:29,680
That's really so exciting.

460
00:35:29,680 --> 00:35:34,920
So speaking of principals though, what are your recommendations for leaders?

461
00:35:34,920 --> 00:35:40,080
Because I mean, I feel like you and I probably have a lot in common in the aspect of like

462
00:35:40,080 --> 00:35:45,920
as a teacher, as the educator, just very passionate, wanted to have advocacy and allyship and try

463
00:35:45,920 --> 00:35:50,520
to break down any barriers and really just be there to help uplift the voices of the

464
00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:55,120
students and these families so that way they can be represented well in the education system.

465
00:35:55,120 --> 00:35:58,800
And I feel like you have that same drive and that same passion and that excitement as well.

466
00:35:58,800 --> 00:36:00,480
So I'm glad to share that with you.

467
00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:05,840
But what would you recommend for leaders, whether they be site leaders or district leaders?

468
00:36:05,840 --> 00:36:10,280
Because from my experiences, I see that they obviously have a lot of influence and how

469
00:36:10,280 --> 00:36:17,720
we implement curriculum, curricula, how we implement policies, how we implement our Title

470
00:36:17,720 --> 00:36:20,040
One, I total three nights, et cetera, and things like that.

471
00:36:20,040 --> 00:36:23,960
What recommendations do you have for our awesome leaders out there that want to do even better

472
00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:27,760
whenever they are serving a very multicultural, multilingualistic population?

473
00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:29,400
You know, I have a couple of ideas.

474
00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:34,760
I think that first of all, it's really important to start to establish a system, not only within

475
00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:39,800
your school, but within your district that is more proactive and less reactive to English

476
00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:41,640
learners coming into it.

477
00:36:41,640 --> 00:36:45,360
Because right now what we're seeing is a lot of schools that are really unsure about what

478
00:36:45,360 --> 00:36:46,360
to do.

479
00:36:46,360 --> 00:36:51,360
And I mean everybody from your office team to your social workers to your guidance counselors

480
00:36:51,360 --> 00:36:55,560
to your educators to your maintenance team to your crossing guards.

481
00:36:55,560 --> 00:37:01,960
Everyone has to become aware of how to proactively interact with our English language learners

482
00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:02,960
and their families.

483
00:37:02,960 --> 00:37:08,040
And that starts off by making sure that everybody in the building knows who those students are.

484
00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:13,480
And so I encourage school leaders to give your EL teachers the platform to meet with

485
00:37:13,480 --> 00:37:15,000
your educators.

486
00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:19,160
What I did this year was 20 minute meetings just in the beginning of the year, not as

487
00:37:19,160 --> 00:37:23,760
a one and done, but just as a starting point to say, here are your students in your grade

488
00:37:23,760 --> 00:37:27,880
level and first by asking your teachers, do you want to meet individually?

489
00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:29,160
Do you want to meet as a team?

490
00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:30,440
Do you want to meet on Zoom?

491
00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:31,920
Do you want to meet in person?

492
00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:33,360
What does that look like?

493
00:37:33,360 --> 00:37:38,120
Because you have to establish that collaborative piece between your EL teachers and classroom

494
00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:39,120
teachers.

495
00:37:39,120 --> 00:37:44,120
So leaders have to give them the opportunity to have that time and to meet and have those

496
00:37:44,120 --> 00:37:45,120
conversations.

497
00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:48,000
That way you start off with letting everybody know who your students are.

498
00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:49,920
And from there you can build throughout the year.

499
00:37:49,920 --> 00:37:52,400
And what I call what I call it, I just came up with this.

500
00:37:52,400 --> 00:37:54,560
I call it my triple ace method.

501
00:37:54,560 --> 00:38:00,600
And what it includes is assess, accommodate, communicate, and evaluate.

502
00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:02,880
And so how are you assessing your EL students?

503
00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:07,680
What does your system look like when they're notified that an EL family has come into the

504
00:38:07,680 --> 00:38:08,840
district?

505
00:38:08,840 --> 00:38:12,480
Have your frontline people been trained in those communication tools to get the most

506
00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:14,560
information from them?

507
00:38:14,560 --> 00:38:19,240
Are your EL teachers, whatever, we're a WIDA state, so we're using the WIDA screener, but

508
00:38:19,240 --> 00:38:21,660
whatever screeners you're using to assess them.

509
00:38:21,660 --> 00:38:23,380
From there it's accommodation, right?

510
00:38:23,380 --> 00:38:25,040
After assess is accommodate.

511
00:38:25,040 --> 00:38:30,160
Are you providing professional development for your teachers and how to best accommodate

512
00:38:30,160 --> 00:38:31,720
for your English learners?

513
00:38:31,720 --> 00:38:37,880
Because what I've seen lately, especially federally and statewide, is that the shift

514
00:38:37,880 --> 00:38:41,680
on the limelight on our English learners is increasing.

515
00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:47,760
And the regulations are starting to really come down on are you providing family information

516
00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:49,440
in the languages they prefer?

517
00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:53,880
Are your teachers providing the accommodations that are required, not recommended?

518
00:38:53,880 --> 00:38:59,000
Because a student cannot fail these classes without documentation that those accommodations

519
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:02,120
were made by both the EL teacher and the language teacher.

520
00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:06,440
And with that in mind, getting the idea across to school leaders that all teachers are teachers

521
00:39:06,440 --> 00:39:08,160
of language.

522
00:39:08,160 --> 00:39:12,080
Because those teachers, those students are learning language in all of your classes,

523
00:39:12,080 --> 00:39:13,880
not just with me every day.

524
00:39:13,880 --> 00:39:19,000
And so really just starting as a leader to establish those relationships and creating

525
00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:22,040
that time and platform is important.

526
00:39:22,040 --> 00:39:23,520
The third piece is communicate.

527
00:39:23,520 --> 00:39:27,680
We've talked a lot about that today, but not only communicating with translation tools,

528
00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:33,520
but are you providing family engagement opportunities for your students throughout the year?

529
00:39:33,520 --> 00:39:34,920
And I always call it the four Fs.

530
00:39:34,920 --> 00:39:38,280
As a school leader, family, food, fun, and free.

531
00:39:38,280 --> 00:39:42,920
They are the four things that they are what I think, and I've worked with every kind of

532
00:39:42,920 --> 00:39:43,920
student.

533
00:39:43,920 --> 00:39:44,920
I worked with EL's Title I's.

534
00:39:44,920 --> 00:39:49,480
I've worked with average students, gifted students, whatever the labels say.

535
00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:55,600
But the point is that if you can invite the whole family, don't require childcare.

536
00:39:55,600 --> 00:40:01,360
If you make the event free, if you make it fun, and if you make it based on food, and

537
00:40:01,360 --> 00:40:05,320
only tell people they need to get to their home school, because people can usually get

538
00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:08,040
to their school, even if the event is somewhere else.

539
00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:12,240
So providing that transportation from their home school, those four Fs will help you reach

540
00:40:12,240 --> 00:40:14,680
a lot of success with engagement.

541
00:40:14,680 --> 00:40:16,560
And the last piece is evaluate.

542
00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:21,980
How are you evaluating your EL students and their progress throughout the year?

543
00:40:21,980 --> 00:40:24,080
How are you evaluating their state scores?

544
00:40:24,080 --> 00:40:30,040
How are you looking at them as a singular group within your assessments to gauge their

545
00:40:30,040 --> 00:40:31,240
successes?

546
00:40:31,240 --> 00:40:36,640
So those are the things I think as a leader, the assess, the accommodate, the communicate,

547
00:40:36,640 --> 00:40:41,880
and evaluate that I think is important to consider along with those PD opportunities.

548
00:40:41,880 --> 00:40:47,160
What a great template for leaders to use.

549
00:40:47,160 --> 00:40:48,160
So thank you.

550
00:40:48,160 --> 00:40:49,160
That's really, really amazing.

551
00:40:49,160 --> 00:40:50,160
Yes.

552
00:40:50,160 --> 00:40:51,160
Sorry.

553
00:40:51,160 --> 00:40:59,760
I was just going to say, in regard to assessments, keeping track of progress throughout the school

554
00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:04,280
year, we all know that every state requires a language proficiency assessment.

555
00:41:04,280 --> 00:41:07,280
So that's a given that that's going to be done.

556
00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:16,440
But what do you do and what do you recommend in between those 12 months annual assessments?

557
00:41:16,440 --> 00:41:18,080
How do you track progress?

558
00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:19,600
What recommendations do you have there?

559
00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:24,360
As a district, we have a variety of progress monitoring assessments that we use throughout

560
00:41:24,360 --> 00:41:25,360
the year.

561
00:41:25,360 --> 00:41:30,640
As a department, we use a company for our curriculum because that's really important

562
00:41:30,640 --> 00:41:34,400
that your EL teachers have a curriculum.

563
00:41:34,400 --> 00:41:40,040
And so the curriculum that we use is called VISTA or VISTA, VISTA Higher Learning, V-I-S-T-A.

564
00:41:40,040 --> 00:41:45,640
And what we like about it is there are assessments built into it that allow us to progress monitor

565
00:41:45,640 --> 00:41:48,840
them based on each unit that we're teaching.

566
00:41:48,840 --> 00:41:52,880
And so it's got reading skills, writing skills, listening skills, speaking skills.

567
00:41:52,880 --> 00:41:57,680
And it's something that we are using this year, but we're finding a lot of success with

568
00:41:57,680 --> 00:41:58,680
it.

569
00:41:58,680 --> 00:42:03,360
So I guess, you know, I don't think there's one assessment that is going to be, you know,

570
00:42:03,360 --> 00:42:05,040
some size fits all.

571
00:42:05,040 --> 00:42:09,360
But I do think it's important to make sure that in whatever curriculum you have purchased

572
00:42:09,360 --> 00:42:11,040
for your EL teachers.

573
00:42:11,040 --> 00:42:14,680
And I can tell you that that's a really massive challenge as I'm traveling the country and

574
00:42:14,680 --> 00:42:18,200
meeting with not only content teachers, but EL teachers as well.

575
00:42:18,200 --> 00:42:23,060
Some districts have not committed to purchasing EL curriculums for their staff.

576
00:42:23,060 --> 00:42:26,880
And so as a leader, that's something you need to have because those things should be built

577
00:42:26,880 --> 00:42:27,880
into it.

578
00:42:27,880 --> 00:42:32,080
In addition to that, you know, we use different things in our district.

579
00:42:32,080 --> 00:42:33,480
We're in Orton-Gillingham.

580
00:42:33,480 --> 00:42:34,880
So we have reading assessments.

581
00:42:34,880 --> 00:42:36,760
We use Benchmark Advanced.

582
00:42:36,760 --> 00:42:38,000
We've got assessments there.

583
00:42:38,000 --> 00:42:39,000
We've got math assessments.

584
00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:42,440
IXL has a diagnostic assessment that can be used.

585
00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:47,800
So just really looking into your curriculum, I think, or whatever your district is using

586
00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:54,200
is important because nowadays, almost every curriculum has some type of EL supports built

587
00:42:54,200 --> 00:42:58,160
into it that you should be purchasing for your teachers to use.

588
00:42:58,160 --> 00:43:05,560
It's an advantage today, I mean, Kelly, when you started, when I started in the early 2000s

589
00:43:05,560 --> 00:43:11,720
teaching that we had to do it all ourselves, hodgepodge, cutting up paper, clipping things

590
00:43:11,720 --> 00:43:12,720
out.

591
00:43:12,720 --> 00:43:18,200
Yeah, I was going to say, it really is so important, though, to remember, like even

592
00:43:18,200 --> 00:43:22,000
because I love how you were just talking about how everyone really needs to be playing an

593
00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:25,040
active role in understanding the students that we're serving, right?

594
00:43:25,040 --> 00:43:30,380
And so, you know, speaking to the assessments, you know, even for our general education teachers

595
00:43:30,380 --> 00:43:34,280
to be implementing a listening, speaking, reading, writing portion of an assessment,

596
00:43:34,280 --> 00:43:38,560
even whether it be an algebra class or biology class, really does help whenever we are connecting,

597
00:43:38,560 --> 00:43:42,240
whether it be a WIDA standard or another language assessment standard, by implementing that

598
00:43:42,240 --> 00:43:44,720
cognitive academic language proficiency, right?

599
00:43:44,720 --> 00:43:50,560
And trying to build upon the asset that the child brings, as well as ensuring that we

600
00:43:50,560 --> 00:43:56,880
are finding other ways to be able to monitor academic language proficiency and that progress

601
00:43:56,880 --> 00:43:57,880
in correlation with that.

602
00:43:57,880 --> 00:44:02,680
So I think it's, it is really important to sit back and look during your PLC process

603
00:44:02,680 --> 00:44:06,740
or whatever that, whatever that is in your, in your building, but to have those conversations

604
00:44:06,740 --> 00:44:10,480
and have them very holistic conversations.

605
00:44:10,480 --> 00:44:16,640
You know, we often label a school site if it is a dual language, one way, two way immersion

606
00:44:16,640 --> 00:44:19,160
school because we have a certain program in there.

607
00:44:19,160 --> 00:44:22,320
But really all of our schools, whenever we have students like this are automatically

608
00:44:22,320 --> 00:44:23,320
bilingual schools.

609
00:44:23,320 --> 00:44:29,880
So, so, so we should already be able to be considering about their, their bilingualism,

610
00:44:29,880 --> 00:44:35,600
multilingualism and literacy, as well as their high academic achievement that's on grade

611
00:44:35,600 --> 00:44:40,240
level and beyond, but also that sociocultural competencies and having all of that be a through

612
00:44:40,240 --> 00:44:42,600
line in what we do.

613
00:44:42,600 --> 00:44:43,600
Yeah.

614
00:44:43,600 --> 00:44:47,720
And so I just think, you know, whenever, whenever regarding assessments to keeping, keeping

615
00:44:47,720 --> 00:44:52,880
those language domains, as well as that meta linguistic awareness, but again, that sociocultural

616
00:44:52,880 --> 00:44:57,360
competence piece, I think is so good for all of our districts serving diverse populations.

617
00:44:57,360 --> 00:44:58,680
I couldn't agree more.

618
00:44:58,680 --> 00:45:02,320
That's perfectly said.

619
00:45:02,320 --> 00:45:03,320
That's why he's the host.

620
00:45:03,320 --> 00:45:05,320
Cause he says things perfectly.

621
00:45:05,320 --> 00:45:11,400
Andrea, do you mind circling back to your book and Les Kelly, you've got something to

622
00:45:11,400 --> 00:45:12,720
continue along that line.

623
00:45:12,720 --> 00:45:19,640
I'm just thinking, I'm curious to know how educators effectively utilize your book kind

624
00:45:19,640 --> 00:45:26,560
of as talking points as a way to really delve into their own background and get to know

625
00:45:26,560 --> 00:45:27,560
them.

626
00:45:27,560 --> 00:45:32,880
How have you like, what, what have districts done in utilizing your book as a springboard

627
00:45:32,880 --> 00:45:41,160
for conversation and maybe even to help them produce writing or other academic pieces.

628
00:45:41,160 --> 00:45:42,960
Even of the students as well that have read it.

629
00:45:42,960 --> 00:45:43,960
They have.

630
00:45:43,960 --> 00:45:44,960
Yes.

631
00:45:44,960 --> 00:45:45,960
And I, and I receive emails all the time.

632
00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:50,600
Um, it's pretty cool across the country from PLC of educators that are reading the book

633
00:45:50,600 --> 00:45:56,200
and, and really delving into what their assumptions were before, um, and how their assumptions

634
00:45:56,200 --> 00:46:00,800
are changing and their perspective is shifting based on the experiences because in take me

635
00:46:00,800 --> 00:46:07,520
home, we really made an effort to hit almost every continent and hit almost every experience.

636
00:46:07,520 --> 00:46:11,800
And we also included the experience of someone who was born here because we thought that

637
00:46:11,800 --> 00:46:13,800
was a really important perspective as well.

638
00:46:13,800 --> 00:46:20,320
So I think what is really causing educators to be challenged by is what were your assumptions

639
00:46:20,320 --> 00:46:22,920
about English learners before you read this book?

640
00:46:22,920 --> 00:46:28,800
How have they changed by reading these experiences and what will you do moving forward to be

641
00:46:28,800 --> 00:46:33,880
more proactive when you have new ELS coming into your classrooms?

642
00:46:33,880 --> 00:46:36,840
So I think that that's been really successful.

643
00:46:36,840 --> 00:46:42,400
The book seems to have a reaction that's moving a lot of people and inspiring a lot of people.

644
00:46:42,400 --> 00:46:44,800
Um, and so we're really proud of that as well.

645
00:46:44,800 --> 00:46:48,960
And it's really showing people about the two things we talked about earlier, which is that

646
00:46:48,960 --> 00:46:52,040
lack of language never equals lack of intelligence.

647
00:46:52,040 --> 00:46:56,400
And when you meet an English language learner and their family for the first time to please

648
00:46:56,400 --> 00:47:00,760
treat that time in their life like an asset and not a handicap, because that's really

649
00:47:00,760 --> 00:47:06,080
what our kids are looking for.

650
00:47:06,080 --> 00:47:07,080
I love it.

651
00:47:07,080 --> 00:47:08,080
I love it.

652
00:47:08,080 --> 00:47:13,360
I want to ask a question again, just because I'm really curious.

653
00:47:13,360 --> 00:47:16,120
How was it's bring a friend day?

654
00:47:16,120 --> 00:47:17,120
Oh, so fun.

655
00:47:17,120 --> 00:47:18,120
So fun.

656
00:47:18,120 --> 00:47:24,440
I saw that when I watched the video and I thought, okay, I really can't wait to talk

657
00:47:24,440 --> 00:47:27,320
to her later because I want to ask that sounds like such a fun thing.

658
00:47:27,320 --> 00:47:28,800
So it's bring a friend day.

659
00:47:28,800 --> 00:47:32,560
And that kind of goes back to what we were talking about before with the idea of cultural

660
00:47:32,560 --> 00:47:33,560
connection, right?

661
00:47:33,560 --> 00:47:38,880
So a lot of our students have friends throughout the building that start to get really curious

662
00:47:38,880 --> 00:47:40,960
about what happens in Ms. B's room.

663
00:47:40,960 --> 00:47:45,240
And so they'll say, so kids will come in all the time and they'll say, I can speak like

664
00:47:45,240 --> 00:47:46,480
three words in Spanish.

665
00:47:46,480 --> 00:47:48,200
Can I join your program?

666
00:47:48,200 --> 00:47:52,560
And we always laugh and I'm like, you can't come every day, but you can come on bring

667
00:47:52,560 --> 00:47:53,560
a friend day.

668
00:47:53,560 --> 00:47:59,200
And they laugh, but it is a great opportunity for a lot of reasons.

669
00:47:59,200 --> 00:48:03,160
It gives our EL students the opportunity to showcase the work that they're doing in the

670
00:48:03,160 --> 00:48:05,120
safety of our classroom.

671
00:48:05,120 --> 00:48:11,080
It gives our newcomers a platform to have conversations and invite friends to the classroom

672
00:48:11,080 --> 00:48:16,880
where they may not have been as forthcoming to have them out in the general areas of the

673
00:48:16,880 --> 00:48:17,880
building.

674
00:48:17,880 --> 00:48:25,200
It buffers their confidence and it lets kids see that the world is a lot bigger than just

675
00:48:25,200 --> 00:48:28,600
the small town that they live in that are not EL students.

676
00:48:28,600 --> 00:48:33,120
And it lets me as a teacher get to know other kids, because I know all the kids on my caseload

677
00:48:33,120 --> 00:48:37,280
are inside now, but the opportunity to meet other kids is cool too.

678
00:48:37,280 --> 00:48:41,120
So they really, really enjoy the opportunity.

679
00:48:41,120 --> 00:48:44,720
They come to the class, each EL student gets to invite one friend.

680
00:48:44,720 --> 00:48:50,200
We do reading, writing, speaking, and listening activities as we would in any other day.

681
00:48:50,200 --> 00:48:52,440
We take photos at the end.

682
00:48:52,440 --> 00:48:58,160
We did some fun stuff with props and then I post those pictures in the classroom so they

683
00:48:58,160 --> 00:49:00,360
feel like it's their home now too.

684
00:49:00,360 --> 00:49:02,760
And so it's a very special day.

685
00:49:02,760 --> 00:49:08,160
It's a special invitation that the other students in the building get, but they really are doing

686
00:49:08,160 --> 00:49:09,160
well with it.

687
00:49:09,160 --> 00:49:11,800
And it builds a positive rapport in the building about our program.

688
00:49:11,800 --> 00:49:12,800
It's really cool.

689
00:49:12,800 --> 00:49:13,800
Yeah, it's pretty cool.

690
00:49:13,800 --> 00:49:18,440
Logistically, how does that work from, like they want to invite a friend.

691
00:49:18,440 --> 00:49:21,240
That means I assume they're going to be missing a class.

692
00:49:21,240 --> 00:49:26,520
How do you, if somebody is interested in doing this, how do you go about that logistically?

693
00:49:26,520 --> 00:49:30,240
I can say that I feel like I have a pretty strong relationship with the educators in

694
00:49:30,240 --> 00:49:33,360
my building and a positive rapport.

695
00:49:33,360 --> 00:49:38,160
And they value that opportunity for our kids just as much as I do.

696
00:49:38,160 --> 00:49:43,440
And so when it's time for that bring a friend day, it's once a marking period, it's for

697
00:49:43,440 --> 00:49:47,640
30 minutes and our teachers say, yeah, go ahead.

698
00:49:47,640 --> 00:49:49,300
Because it's a great opportunity.

699
00:49:49,300 --> 00:49:54,440
They value as well as I do to let our kids connect and bolster the confidence of our

700
00:49:54,440 --> 00:49:55,440
EL students.

701
00:49:55,440 --> 00:50:01,240
I'm just wondering from a communication standpoint, how does that like, how do they know?

702
00:50:01,240 --> 00:50:04,240
I mean, how do they know that the day is coming?

703
00:50:04,240 --> 00:50:07,160
Like when does the communication happen?

704
00:50:07,160 --> 00:50:10,720
And then how do you know, how do we know, how do you know, well, this, this kid's bringing

705
00:50:10,720 --> 00:50:11,720
this kid?

706
00:50:11,720 --> 00:50:14,420
I mean, like, I'm just wondering behind the scenes, how does it, how does that happen

707
00:50:14,420 --> 00:50:16,000
before the actual day?

708
00:50:16,000 --> 00:50:19,080
So basically I'll send people are going to want to copy and paste this.

709
00:50:19,080 --> 00:50:24,080
I'm sure I send an email, I send an email out for our team and I say, I'm going to host

710
00:50:24,080 --> 00:50:28,200
bring a friend day, it's going to be, you know, on December, what was it?

711
00:50:28,200 --> 00:50:31,120
December 12th or something, December 13th.

712
00:50:31,120 --> 00:50:35,920
And during this day, each of our students is allowed to bring one friend from your classroom.

713
00:50:35,920 --> 00:50:39,400
I don't make the kids sign up with me ahead of time as to who's coming.

714
00:50:39,400 --> 00:50:42,320
I just know that every one of my kids is going to be walking in with someone.

715
00:50:42,320 --> 00:50:45,120
And so they just come in, you know, with that student.

716
00:50:45,120 --> 00:50:48,360
And usually they'll just tell the teacher because they'll talk about it well ahead of

717
00:50:48,360 --> 00:50:49,360
time.

718
00:50:49,360 --> 00:50:50,360
It's very prize day.

719
00:50:50,360 --> 00:50:51,720
So they'll say, you know, who am I going to bring?

720
00:50:51,720 --> 00:50:54,040
And the kids are begging them, you know, I want to come this time.

721
00:50:54,040 --> 00:50:57,640
And so usually they just tell their teachers, like, you know, I'm bringing so and so today

722
00:50:57,640 --> 00:50:59,160
and they say, okay, great.

723
00:50:59,160 --> 00:51:03,480
And so we have a set EL schedule for the week and it's always the same.

724
00:51:03,480 --> 00:51:09,480
So that's not an issue because they know when the kids come down or when I push in, et cetera.

725
00:51:09,480 --> 00:51:11,120
So that's the day.

726
00:51:11,120 --> 00:51:14,040
Like it's going to be on this day and they're going to be allowed to bring a friend and

727
00:51:14,040 --> 00:51:16,800
we're going to have a great time.

728
00:51:16,800 --> 00:51:17,800
We keep it simple.

729
00:51:17,800 --> 00:51:18,800
You are such a dynamic educator.

730
00:51:18,800 --> 00:51:21,800
You've got to keep it simple.

731
00:51:21,800 --> 00:51:23,160
Just keep it simple.

732
00:51:23,160 --> 00:51:30,040
I am absolutely positive that you not only have a great rapport with the staff and with

733
00:51:30,040 --> 00:51:34,080
the teachers, the other great educational professionals in your building, but also with

734
00:51:34,080 --> 00:51:36,560
your students.

735
00:51:36,560 --> 00:51:40,920
You just are an amazing person and I've been so happy to get to spend this time with you

736
00:51:40,920 --> 00:51:42,160
and get to know you more.

737
00:51:42,160 --> 00:51:46,280
And I'm really, really energized and just even encouraged to do even more.

738
00:51:46,280 --> 00:51:50,600
And I just really want to salute you and say thank you for your service as an amazing educator

739
00:51:50,600 --> 00:51:55,480
and a great, great leader in this field of bilingual, multilingual education.

740
00:51:55,480 --> 00:51:56,840
Thank you so much.

741
00:51:56,840 --> 00:51:57,840
You are so great.

742
00:51:57,840 --> 00:51:58,840
I'll write back at you.

743
00:51:58,840 --> 00:51:59,840
Is there...

744
00:51:59,840 --> 00:52:01,440
Oh, I appreciate it.

745
00:52:01,440 --> 00:52:04,080
Is there anything that you would like to share with us in closing?

746
00:52:04,080 --> 00:52:09,160
Anything special or important with all of our listeners or any great celebration or

747
00:52:09,160 --> 00:52:10,160
anything at all?

748
00:52:10,160 --> 00:52:11,160
Yes.

749
00:52:11,160 --> 00:52:16,000
I feel like I'm really lucky because I get to teach English language learners daily.

750
00:52:16,000 --> 00:52:23,040
And at the same time, I also get to travel the country and help teachers around the country

751
00:52:23,040 --> 00:52:26,840
who are really struggling with how to best reach, teach and connect with our kids.

752
00:52:26,840 --> 00:52:33,040
And I just did a presentation a short time ago that was really well received.

753
00:52:33,040 --> 00:52:37,320
And it's great when teachers come up to you and say, thank you so much, like you inspired

754
00:52:37,320 --> 00:52:38,760
me or thank you so much.

755
00:52:38,760 --> 00:52:40,800
I feel like I know what to do now.

756
00:52:40,800 --> 00:52:44,820
I do a presentation called What to Ask when an EL joins your class.

757
00:52:44,820 --> 00:52:48,360
And teachers walk away feeling like, oh, I know the 10 essential things I should be asking

758
00:52:48,360 --> 00:52:50,120
now so I can feel successful.

759
00:52:50,120 --> 00:52:55,920
And so if I can just help one more teacher or one more administrator or one more district

760
00:52:55,920 --> 00:53:01,640
follow some of the things that I've learned in my career so far, then I feel like I'm

761
00:53:01,640 --> 00:53:06,000
helping the world and doing justice and being a voice for all of these great families and

762
00:53:06,000 --> 00:53:09,000
kids.

763
00:53:09,000 --> 00:53:12,380
You're making such a positive impact in the lives of so many people.

764
00:53:12,380 --> 00:53:13,680
And I just applaud you.

765
00:53:13,680 --> 00:53:16,120
Thank you so much for all that you do genuinely.

766
00:53:16,120 --> 00:53:17,840
And thank you for being here today.

767
00:53:17,840 --> 00:53:20,720
Dr. Tribble, any last words from?

768
00:53:20,720 --> 00:53:24,680
I would ask if Andrea, I know you do travel the country.

769
00:53:24,680 --> 00:53:29,960
If any of our listeners are wanting to get in touch with you, either to ask more about

770
00:53:29,960 --> 00:53:34,600
the book or just to be in touch to see what you might be able to do to help support them

771
00:53:34,600 --> 00:53:37,960
in their school district, how would you recommend they get in touch with you?

772
00:53:37,960 --> 00:53:40,600
There are probably two great ways to get in touch with me.

773
00:53:40,600 --> 00:53:44,800
The first one is to go to my website, andreabittnerbooks.com.

774
00:53:44,800 --> 00:53:46,440
And there's a gut in touch form there.

775
00:53:46,440 --> 00:53:49,960
And you can also take a look at all the professional development opportunities and more about our

776
00:53:49,960 --> 00:53:50,960
mission and work.

777
00:53:50,960 --> 00:53:53,600
So checking out that website is the first way.

778
00:53:53,600 --> 00:53:55,360
I'm also on LinkedIn.

779
00:53:55,360 --> 00:53:59,720
If you would like to reach out via LinkedIn, you can find me at Andrea Bittner as well.

780
00:53:59,720 --> 00:54:00,720
Perfect.

781
00:54:00,720 --> 00:54:03,840
And we will make sure to have all those links posted.

782
00:54:03,840 --> 00:54:04,840
Yes, thank you.

783
00:54:04,840 --> 00:54:07,320
Because we will have those links posted as well in the description.

784
00:54:07,320 --> 00:54:10,800
So for all the listeners, if you need it, they are right there for you and you heard

785
00:54:10,800 --> 00:54:11,800
it here.

786
00:54:11,800 --> 00:54:15,400
Well, hey, thank you again so much.

787
00:54:15,400 --> 00:54:17,920
I'm really glad that we were able to spend this time together.

788
00:54:17,920 --> 00:54:23,320
It's going to be a great Friday evening here just because I was able to benefit from this

789
00:54:23,320 --> 00:54:24,320
time together.

790
00:54:24,320 --> 00:54:25,320
I really appreciate it.

791
00:54:25,320 --> 00:54:27,920
Thank you so much to our amazing guest, Andrea Bittner.

792
00:54:27,920 --> 00:54:31,880
We will have her links and information in the bottom for you all, like I had said.

793
00:54:31,880 --> 00:54:34,880
And just again, a big shout out to you and all the things that you are doing.

794
00:54:34,880 --> 00:54:36,920
Thank you so much to Dr. Tribble.

795
00:54:36,920 --> 00:54:39,640
The best co-host all in the world.

796
00:54:39,640 --> 00:54:40,920
I appreciate you so much.

797
00:54:40,920 --> 00:54:43,320
And to our great producer, Michael Verholt.

798
00:54:43,320 --> 00:54:44,320
Thank you for everything.

799
00:54:44,320 --> 00:54:47,640
Thank you, Edge of Skills for sponsoring this and to all of our educators and listeners

800
00:54:47,640 --> 00:54:48,640
out there.

801
00:54:48,640 --> 00:54:49,640
We love you.

802
00:54:49,640 --> 00:54:50,640
We keep encouraging you and we support you.

803
00:54:50,640 --> 00:54:54,440
Thank you so much and hope you have a great rest of your day.

804
00:54:54,440 --> 00:54:56,240
Adios.

805
00:54:56,240 --> 00:55:00,920
Thank you for joining us today.

806
00:55:00,920 --> 00:55:03,360
Don't forget to like, follow and subscribe.

807
00:55:03,360 --> 00:55:07,320
Adios.