The Effective Literacy Podcast

Season 1 concludes with one final ‘Making Meaning’ episode—and there is plenty to process.

Meta is the word of the day as we think about the utility of meta-linguistic awareness and transfer as tools that empower students to take stock of their own language journeys.

Later, Victoria and Anna assess the assessment systems and dive deep into how they can better serve the needs of multilingual students. 

As a language learner herself, Alexandra Güílamo has spent more than twenty years serving a

wide range of language learner programs. Alexandra is a former teacher, academic coach,

elementary school principal, and district-level director in highly diverse urban and suburban

school districts. She is one of the leading dual-language experts, an author, and keynote

speaker, and the Chief Equity & Achievement Officer at TaJu Educational Solutions - a company

dedicated to professional development, coaching, & technical support for the educators,

leaders, and communities of dual language & bilingual programs.

As a language learner herself, Alexandra Güílamo has spent more than twenty years serving a

wide range of language learner programs. Alexandra is a former teacher, academic coach,

elementary school principal, and district-level director in highly diverse urban and suburban

school districts. She is one of the leading dual-language experts, an author, and keynote

speaker, and the Chief Equity & Achievement Officer at TaJu Educational Solutions - a company

dedicated to professional development, coaching, & technical support for the educators,

leaders, and communities of dual language & bilingual programs.

Nicole Knight is the Executive Director of the English Language Learner and Multilingual Achievement Office at Oakland Unified School District.

She is honored to have served Oakland students for the last 24 years as a teacher, teacher leader and instructional leader at the site and district levels.

A National Board Certified Teacher in English as a New Language, Nicole has expertise in language and literacy development of multilingual learners, professional development for teachers and leaders, and equity-centered systems of continuous improvement.

She is also the mother of two bicultural and bilingual children, both students...

In this making meaning episode, we’re diving into how our time with Dr. Susana Johnson, David Rogers, and Cristina Sánchez-López. 

We discuss how to acknowledge and build on students’ home language experiences and create rich classroom experiences that focus on strong oral language skills. 

We also discuss what it means to teach students to be literate and what to do with that literacy.

Cristina Sánchez-López collaborates with educators in the US and Canada on many issues related to the education of Multilingual Learners (MLs) including developing culturally and linguistically sustaining Multi-tiered Systems of Support (MTSS); bilingual special education; middle school mathematics; curriculum development; literacy across the content areas; parent engagement, and supporting Early Childhood educators who serve young Dual Language learners (DLLs).

Cristina has taught at the elementary, middle school and university levels in the US and Mexico.

She currently teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in multilingual education.

Cristina is co-author a number of pu...

David Rogers supports the work of Dual Language Education of New Mexico-DLeNM whose mission is to promote the effective design and implementation of dual language education (www.dlenm.org) in New Mexico, and beyond.   

In his thirty-five years as an educator, David has served as an education volunteer and program coordinator in Peace Corps Paraguay, South America, a bilingual special education teacher in South Bronx, NY, and as a dual language classroom teacher, bilingual program coordinator, and school principal in the South Valley of Albuquerque.  In 1996 David and his colleagues helped to organize the first La Co...

Susana Ibarra Johnson, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Bilingual Education and TESOL at New Mexico State University.

Susana is a former bilingual education teacher. Her understanding and devotion go beyond her academic training to her own experience as a bilingual learner.

As a former biliteracy researcher and senior consultant for the WIDA Consortium, she conducted research and facilitated professional learning in language development both in English and Spanish.

Currently, as an assistant professor, she specializes in developing courses for bi/multilingual and biliteracy curriculum, instruction, and assessment with bilingual/TESOL educators.<...

In this making meaning episode, we’re diving into how our time with multilingual researcher and advocate, Dr. Jim Cummins.

There was quite a bit to unpack, including:

 - How the pendulum swings in Literacy pedagogy and instruction

 - The concept of “Literacy Saturation”

 - The thread between what we learned from Dr. Cummins and past episodes.

You can find out more about all of our episodes, by going to https://multilingualliteracy.org/podcast/

Jim Cummins is a Professor Emeritus at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. His research focuses on literacy development in educational contexts characterized by linguistic and socioeconomic diversity.

In numerous articles and books, he has explored the nature of language proficiency and its relationship to literacy development, with particular emphasis on the intersections of societal power relations, teacher-student identity negotiation, and literacy attainment.

His most recent book Rethinking the Education of Multilingual Learners: A Critical Analysis of Theoretical Concepts (Multilingual Matters) was published in fall 2021.

He is...

Jim Cummins is a Professor Emeritus at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. 

Dr. Cummins stresses the crucial role of literacy engagement in developing reading comprehension. Explicit phonics instruction plays an important role in developing students' decoding skills but, to be optimally effective, it needs to be embedded in a comprehensive approach that immerses students in a rich literacy environment. 

Ontario  Human  Rights  Commission Right  to  ReadReport: Sincere, Passionate, Flawed https://jtl.uwindsor.ca/index.php/jtl/article/view/7279/5402

Pedagogies for the Poor? Realignin...

In this second making meaning episode, Anna and Victoria are joined by fellow educator Lillie Ruvalcaba. 

Together they discus how the time with Dr.Socorro Herrera and Dr. Ester de Jong help educators better understand literacy: the noise of an oracy forward classroom; side stepping the curriculum to meet students needs; and harvesting home language to enhance our classrooms. 

The episode is a mix of analysis of episodes 7 and 8 of this series, and ideas for you to consider for your students.

Biography-Driven Culturally Responsive Teaching: Honoring Race, Ethnicity, and Personal History 3rd...

Ester de Jong is Professor and program leader in the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education program at the University of Colorado Denver.

Prior to UC Denver, she was the Director of the School of Teaching and Learning and Professor in ESOL/Bilingual Education at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.

Her research focuses on equity and integration in the context of dual language education and preparing teachers to work with bilingual learners in K-12 schools.

Dr. de Jong was President of TESOL International Association (2017-2018).

Links

B...

Dr. Socorro Herrera is a professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education at Kansas State University and directs the Center for Intercultural and Multilingual Advocacy (CIMA).

Her K-12 teaching experience includes an emphasis on literacy development and her research focuses on literacy opportunities with culturally and linguistically diverse students (CLD), reading strategies, and teacher preparation for diversity in the classroom.

Her work also has appeared in journals such as the Bilingual Research Journal, Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, Journal of Research in Education, Journal of Curriculum and Instruction, and the Journal...

In this first making meaning episode, we’re diving into how our time with Dr. Laurie Olsen, Dr. Kathy Escamilla, and Dr. Jody Slavick helps us better understand literacy:

 - the explicit attention to oracy in every classroom

 - the professional learning needs of educators

 - and the family engagement “invitation.” 

The episode is a mix of analysis of episodes 1-5 of this series, and ideas for you to consider for your students. 

Resources:

• Office of English Language Acquisition’s Webinar on Effective literacy instruction for multilingual...

Dr. Slavick is one of the contributors to the National Committee for Effective Literacy’s White paper on Comprehensive Effective Literacy Policy and Instruction for English Learner/Emergent Bilingual Students.

She currently serves as the director of professional development for the Literacy Squared program at the BUENO Center at the University of Colorado Boulder.

She received her Master’s Degree in Bilingual Special Education and her Ph.D. in Educational Equity and Cultural Diversity. Prior to obtaining her Ph.D., Jody worked as a classroom teacher, instructional coach, and district resource teacher in bilingual education and...

Dr. Kathy Escamilla today. Dr. Escamilla a Professor Emeritus in the Equity, Bilingualism, & Biliteracy Division BUENO Center for Multicultural Education at the University of Colorado Boulder.   Additionally, she’s the author of numerous articles and books including Biliteracy From the Start: Literacy Squared In Action. She is specifically interested in issues related to the development of bilingualism and biliteracy in early elementary grades for this Spanish-speaking population.   Her recent research has also examined assessment practices and the impact of high-stakes testing on these children. Dr. Escamilla is a member of numerous professional organizations in education and has served two terms as t...

Dr. Kathy Escamilla today. Dr. Escamilla a Professor Emeritus in the Equity, Bilingualism, & Biliteracy Division BUENO Center for Multicultural Education at the University of Colorado Boulder.   Additionally, she’s the author of numerous articles and books including Biliteracy From the Start: Literacy Squared In Action. She is specifically interested in issues related to the development of bilingualism and biliteracy in early elementary grades for this Spanish-speaking population.   Her recent research has also examined assessment practices and the impact of high-stakes testing on these children. Dr. Escamilla is a member of numerous professional organizations in education and has served two terms as t...

Continue the conversation with Dr. Olsen, a researcher, writer, advocate, and leader of educational equity with an emphasis on immigrant and English learner education, language access, and rights.   Links: Seal of Biliteracy https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/el/er/sealofbiliteracy.asp EL Roadmap https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/el/rm/ ELA/ELD Framework https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/rl/cf/elaeldfrmwrksbeadopted.asp CA Library Card Policy https://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr21/yr21rel90.asp

With a Ph.D. in social cultural studies in education, Dr. Olsen has been an educator, a writer, and an advocate for half a century.    Dr. Olsen has Designed and led demonstration projects, and evaluation projects in English learner and immigrant education – with a strong emphasis on educational equity.    She has written dozens of books, articles, and reports on effective schooling for language minority children and on equity-centered school reform.     She is the child of a writer and has been an avid reader since her early years.  For 20 years, Dr. Olsen has led California Tomorrow, a nonprofit organization focused on equity and d...

Meet Anna and Victoria, two educators passionate about reading and all things literacy. 

Join them as they interview experts from across the nation with expertise in literacy and multilingual education in an effort to better understand research and how to support our students, specifically our multi-lingual learners in becoming literate individuals by the time they graduate high school. 

Links:

The National Committee for Effective Literacy https://multilingualliteracy.org/

Making Sense of the reading's forever wars https://kappanonline.org/readings-forever-wars-duran-hikida/