This action guide was created to give educators the tools to transform their multilingual literacy practices. Here’s how.
Shifting Your Practice
The guide serves educational leaders looking to establish effective early literacy systems and practices, as well as K-2nd grade teachers working with multilingual students in the context of foundational literacy skills in English, with some cross-applicable strategies for language learning.
Therefore, the tool is divided into two sections:
Who is this guide designed for?
School leaders and district leaders who are responsible for developing early literacy visions, systems, and instructional practice expectations for their schools or districts. This section is intended to help these leaders understand their role in creating the conditions necessary for teachers, students, and families to succeed.
Primary (K-2nd grade) teachers who work with multilingual students. This guide primarily focuses on providing support and resources to help these teachers understand how to teach foundational literacy skills to multilingual students effectively. The guide is meant to be a living document that will continue to evolve.
Get an overview of how this guide applies to School Leaders, Educators and Learners:
Questions This Guide Will Answer >
How can this guide increase my expertise in teaching Multilingual Learners (MLs) to read?
This tool can help you:
Understand what you are already doing well and where your practice can improve
Carefully reflect on the “why” behind instructional practices that support MLs’ reading development and the larger contexts that impact instructional decision-making for MLs.
Improve your daily core literacy instruction for Multilingual Learners.
Incorporate small instructional practices that support MLs into larger comprehensive approaches that are not specifically for MLs.
To read more about each of these approaches, see: How can I use this guide to deepen my expertise.
What should I be aware of when using this guide?
The guide is a reflection of the current research and resources readily available. Therefore, concepts may be identified in the mindset shifts that are not as present in the resources.
Here are some examples where there is tension between the beliefs and the resources provided:
The guide uses the term literacy in order to emphasize the importance of both reading and writing and their interconnectivity. However, many resources emphasize the reading components of foundational skills development and therefore writing is less present. This is a tool in development, and there will be many iterations, including more resources that support the developmental writing continuum.
Assessment tools provided by outside companies and organizations as well as by districts generally still have language assessment information in a silo. There are assessment examples that do not provide the desired integration of language and literacy. However, they are provided for teachers as a starting point.
The professional learning required to effectively implement the mindset shifts is beyond the function of the tool. While Pillar 1 identifies the key tenets of professional learning, it does not provide a comprehensive professional learning approach. The overview webinars are meant to provide larger context to the resources and a starting point for professional development. The “bite size” powerpoints are meant to be used within a comprehensive approach.
The guide focuses on a narrow developmental range of kindergarten-2nd grade, when foundational literacy and language skills are blooming.
At this developmental stage, learning to read, write, auditorily comprehend and produce oral language are interdependent. Each of these areas of literacy and language development must be attended to or it will impact a child’s long term growth.
While some of the resources are curriculum-specific, it was decided by teachers that they are useful as examples and templates for teachers to use when applying their own context. The presence of a specific curriculum or product does not mean that it is being promoted by Teaching Lab or any of its associates. Likewise, the absence of a specific curriculum or product does not mean that it is necessarily intentionally left out.
In the initial iteration, the guide focuses on foundational literacy development for K-2nd grade classrooms and includes some resources from early childhood that support learning for those age groups as well. It is important to note that while there are applicable resources, this tool doesn't provide comprehensive information for preschool and younger settings.
What types of resources will I find?
The types of resources you will find within the tool are organized to provide teachers and leaders with the overarching context required for effective implementation of a whole-child, asset-based approach. They also offer concrete examples of practices within teachers' classrooms. This structure allows for a comprehensive exploration of the topic, from a high-level view down to practical, real-world examples within the classroom. These resources are categorized into three groups:
Big Ideas
The tool guides educators through a curated collection of best practices that underpin an inclusive and effective approach to multi-language instruction.
Best Practices
These resources include articles, webinars, and overviews of research readings or frameworks. They provide a broad perspective on the topic.
Practical Examples
These are specific, tangible examples of the best practice in action. They are meant to be applied within the larger context.
