Empowering Black Youth Through Competitive Business Learning

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Throughout human history, competition has served as an essential catalyst for growth and development. It is widely recognized for enhancing cognitive functions, promoting reasoning and analytical skills, by engaging individuals in situations that challenge their adaptability and problem-solving abilities. Within the African-American community, traditional competitive experiences have often been rooted in athletic pursuits. While sports indeed offer significant cognitive benefits, such as fostering strategic and creative thinking, it is worthwhile considering additional avenues that may be equally or more effective in advancing cognitive development. One such approach, which I have utilized extensively to shape high school students, is the business case competition.

To provide context, business case competitions are collaborative, team-based events where students devise and present solutions to genuine business challenges before experienced professionals. Participants conduct thorough research and develop practical recommendations within a dynamic group environment. In relation to cognitive development, these competitions address three key areas:

Abstract Thinking: The capacity to generate ideas beyond conventional data and perspectives.
Metacognition: An awareness of one’s own thought processes achieved through reflection.
Problem Solving: The ability to navigate challenges by designing actionable solutions.

Abstract Thinking

Business case competitions confront students with multifaceted problems that demand abstract thought. Participants must interpret extensive information concerning a company, its industry, and external factors. This complexity encourages creative, out-of-the-box thinking and requires a broad perspective to craft innovative solutions. The business sector frequently relies on original concepts that transcend established modes of thought, motivating students to deliver such insight.

Metacognition

Cultivating the ability to reflect on one’s thinking processes is vital for navigating life’s intricacies. Recognizing and adapting personal cognitive strengths and weaknesses promotes resilience in the face of evolving circumstances. Case competitions require methodical analysis to formulate effective solutions. Students not only justify their approaches but also communicate them to seasoned professionals, receiving constructive critiques that refine their thinking and support ongoing intellectual growth.

Problem Solving

Participation in business case competitions markedly strengthens students’ problem-solving skills. Confronted with intricate, real-world business dilemmas, students are required to systematically analyze a wealth of information, discerning critical issues and underlying causes. This process involves evaluating multiple variables and perspectives to construct well-reasoned, actionable solutions. By engaging in this rigorous exercise, students develop a disciplined approach to addressing multifaceted problems, preparing them to navigate challenges both in academic settings and future professional environments.

Beyond cognitive development, this project allows students to demonstrate disciplinary understanding in ways that mirror the authentic practices of the business field. In tackling real organizational challenges, students must interpret data, assess market dynamics, evaluate operational constraints, and craft strategic recommendations — the same analytical processes used by professionals. Their learning becomes visible through the creation of deliverables that reflect industry standards, such as executive summaries, financial models, strategic frameworks, and persuasive presentations. By engaging directly with the tools, language, and decision-making structures of the discipline, students move beyond theoretical knowledge and instead enact business thinking in context. This authentic performance reveals a deep, applied understanding that traditional classroom tasks rarely capture.

Business case competitions serve as powerful platforms for fostering essential cognitive skills among students. By engaging in these challenging events, students enhance their abilities in abstract thinking, metacognition, and problem-solving skills that are crucial for academic achievement and future career success. The dynamic and collaborative nature of these competitions not only sharpens students’ intellectual capacities but also prepares them to face complex, real-world challenges with confidence and creativity. Empowerment that remains with students for life. Is that not the point of education…

Practical Approach for a Classroom (Small Scale):

This project allows students to show what they know by doing the actual work of the discipline. Instead of completing worksheets or answering isolated questions, students take on real business challenges that require them to analyze information, evaluate options, and develop solutions. They must think like business professionals—considering audience, feasibility, and impact—while using academic language and evidence to support their decisions.

Their understanding becomes visible through what they produce and present. Students create proposals, explain their reasoning, and defend their ideas in front of others, often receiving feedback like what professionals’ experience. This process pushes them to refine both their thinking and communication. As a result, students are not just learning about business concepts, they are actively applying them in authentic, meaningful ways.

For teachers looking to begin embedding a business logic mindset in their students, the following quick lesson provides an accessible starting point.

Objective

Students will analyze a real-world business scenario and develop a recommendation supported by evidence.

Learning Targets (Post for students)

I can identify a problem in a business scenario.
I can use evidence to support a practical solution.
I can explain my thinking using academic language.

Materials

Business scenario (teacher-created, local business, or article excerpt from sources such as Harvard Business Review)
Chart paper or Google Slides
Sentence frames (provided below)

1. Warm-Up (5–7 minutes) — Hook

Prompt:
A local business is losing customers. What could be the problem? What should they do?

Students:

Think → Pair → Share

2. Mini-Lesson (10 minutes) — Model Thinking

Teacher introduces a short business case (ex: café losing customers).

Model aloud:

Identify the problem
Use evidence
Propose a solution

Model Sentence:

“The business is struggling because ___. One piece of evidence is ___. Therefore, they should ___.”

3. Guided Practice (15–20 minutes) — Team Challenge

Students work in small groups:

Task:

Identify the problem
Analyze 2–3 pieces of information
Create a solution

Provide Sentence Frames:

“The main problem is ___ because ___.”
“One piece of evidence is ___.”
“This suggests ___.”
“Our recommendation is ___ because ___.”

✔ Encourage:

Partner talk before writing
Shared responsibility in groups

4. Presentations (10–15 minutes) — Authentic Performance

Each group presents:

Problem
Evidence
Solution

Audience listens and responds:

“I agree with ___ because ___.”
“I would add ___.”

5. Quick Assessment / Exit Ticket (5 minutes)

Students respond individually:

“What was your group’s solution, and what evidence supports it?”

Elliot Neal serves as Director of the Leaders of Tomorrow Program for the National Black MBA Association Charlotte Chapter, bringing over four years of experience in leadership development and youth engagement. In this capacity, he directs a high school leadership development initiative designed to prepare students for academic, professional, and personal advancement. He also has multiple years of experience designing, developing, and leading teams of high school students for participation in national business case competitions. His work reflects a sustained commitment to mentorship and community impact, with a focus on cultivating students’ analytical skills, professional confidence, and long-term leadership capacity.

Social Justice as Discipline Reconstruction

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Unit co-designed by Katelyn Zarr and Jessica McCullough

On a color-coded anchor chart are the ways historians read, write, and think: they interpret primary and secondary sources, identify bias, compare and contrast accounts, and ultimately synthesize information from multiple sources to create accurate narratives and timelines (Lent, 2017). While a concise (and visually appealing) resource, these practices cannot be taken exactly as they are, especially in K-12 schools. Underpinning these practices is the fact that the sources, accounts, and information to be interpreted are often one-sided, missing or entirely misrepresenting perspectives. What is required of educators [and students], then, is that the disciplines themselves are approached as pathways to social change, by which their texts, practices, and ways of knowing are continually questioned and reconstructed.

In our fifth-grade Causes of the American Revolution History Unit, this took the form of seeking out the perspectives of Black Americans, which were limited within district-provided textbooks and readily accessible primary and secondary sources in online databases. The very process of hunting for inclusive texts opened up a conversation between me and my fifth-graders: Why are only some perspectives prioritized, and, in turn, how can we amplify the voices of Black Americans when studying United States’ history? The snapshots below not only capture our search for multiple perspectives but also our reflections on the importance of doing so.

Questioning disciplinary texts can lead to the construction of inclusive and accurate pictures of history. When examining the Boston Massacre as one ‘cause’ of the American Revolution, for example, I noticed that our district textbook centers Paul Revere’s engraving, “The Bloody Massacre,” where British soldiers are depicted armed, against a row of white colonists, some wounded, some reaching to help one another, and some fleeing the square. While a biased depiction of the event itself, as many colonists, too, threw rock-filled snowballs at the soldiers, a key participant, Black American Crispus Attucks, is missing from the scene. I searched for alternate depictions of the event, pairing Paul Revere’s engraving with John H. Bufford’s, “Boston Massacre, March 5th, 1770,” which places Crispus Attucks front and center (Museum of the American Revolution, 2021). After joining the illustrations in a text set, my role in questioning texts, fifth-graders then compared and contrasted the accounts through a socratic seminar – drawing upon both to establish colonist and soldier involvement, infer deeper meanings, such as Attucks’ actions as a symbol of protection and independence, and contextualize the 13 Colonies as rooted in racism, a system perpetuated even in the media. By questioning which texts were included, and later, their contents, students were able to compare and contrast accounts to make sense of an event in its entirety and its connections to society at large.

Questioning disciplinary texts can amplify the joy and brilliance of Black Americans throughout history. Students’ inclusion and discussion of Attucks as a champion of independence and positive, social change left us eager to extend this work into writing. Using teacher, student, and librarian collected texts on Black Americans from the Revolutionary Era, including Crispus Attucks, Salem Poor, and Phillis Wheatley, students crafted biographies of their chosen ‘Revolutionary Hero.’ Only, when constructing the narratives or timelines of their hero’s role in the Revolution, students asserted the importance of learning from them today: Wheatley’s poems a means of social justice that can be continued today, Attucks an example of what it means to be a patriot, and Poor a symbol of unwavering bravery. By seeking out multiple accounts of history, students reconstructed the discipline by creating texts that amplified the perspectives and contributions of Black Americans that should have been included all along.

This Causes of the American Revolution Unit simply puts into action the pursuits of Dr. Gholdy Muhammad’s Historically Responsive Literacy Framework, where she asserts criticality, or examining and disrupting power structures, as a non-negotiable of teaching and learning (2023). Not only does criticality build empathy, connection, and perspective, but it allows us to understand the world [and the disciplines] entirely – to seek and sustain social justice. Beautifully, this often looks like pushing the disciplines themselves. As my fifth-graders engaged in reflective discussion on their reading and writing in consideration of multiple perspectives, they shared things like, “Why isn’t it [history] always done this way? Otherwise, we wouldn’t know the full story!” Their comments demonstrate the power of criticality as well as the brilliance and readiness of students to change the disciplines in the pursuit of racial justice.

References

Muhammad, G. (2023). Unearthing joy: a guide to culturally and historically responsive teaching and learning. Scholastic Inc.

Lent, R. (2017). Disciplinary literacy: a shift that makes sense. ASCD Express, 12(12).

Museum of the American Revolution. (2021, March 5). Boston massacre and propaganda: changing depictions of Crispus Attucks. https://www.amrevmuseum.org/boston-massacre-and-propaganda-changing-depictions-of-crispus-attucks.

Jessica McCullough is a fifth-grade teacher in Southeastern PA. She is certified in grades 4-8, all subjects 4-6 and English Language Arts and Reading 7-8. She is currently a literacy M.Ed. student at West Chester University of PA with research interests in critical and disciplinary literacy.

Joy and Pain: Incorporating Black Joy in K-12 Classrooms

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by Dr. Kristen Duncan

Happy Black History Month! This year marks the 100^th anniversary of what began as Negro History Week, which evolved in to Black History Month. Founded by Carter G. Woodson, these Black celebrations are intended to help us celebrate the achievements of Black Americans as well as help us understand the ways Black Americans have contributed to the progress of the nation.

Black History Month has an amazing purpose—a purpose that is often not fulfilled in K-12 classrooms in any month. Michael Dumas has argued that schools are a site of suffering for Black students, and I contend that social studies classrooms often serve as sites of suffering for Black students. In traditional social studies curriculum, the only times Black people are present are slavery, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow/Civil Rights Movement. What do these historical eras have in common? Dehumanization. Black people were seen as less than human during slavery, had their rights stripped as Reconstruction ended, and suffered through the oppression and dehumanization of the Jim Crow Era. Even in the Civil Rights Movement, as Black people fought for their rights, they were subsequently dehumanized by various arms of the government, including being assaulted with firehoses and dogs and losing their jobs for joining the NAACP amongst other things.

When students only see Black people appear in curriculum while being dehumanized, they come to associate Blackness with dehumanization. For Black students, there is the possibility that they internalize this association, but it is important to note that non-Black students may also begin to associate Blackness with dehumanization after seeing this reflected in social studies curricula year after year.

This is why Black joy is a necessity. Black joy is a form of resistance, as finding joy in the midst of oppression and dehumanization is, as Bettina Love has noted, the ultimate form of resistance. Black people have been able to find and create joy amidst some of the worst circumstances the U.S. has ever created, and it is that joy that has sustained Black people through oppression and dehumanization. Although Black joy has been present as long as Black people have been on North America soil, it remains largely absent from K-12 classrooms.

Teaching about and with Black joy requires an understanding of context and nuance. If we are to teach students about Black joy, we must position it as an act of resistance. We don’t want students to think that historical Black actors did not understand the pain of the oppression they endured. They absolutely understood their circumstances and sought joy despite their despair—that is what we need our students to see.

How do we go about this? We begin this work by incorporating Black joy in the curriculum in any place where there is Black pain. Enslaved people found ways to steal away and create joy away from the oppressive gaze of their enslavers. Black people in the Jim Crow South found numerous ways to experience joy in their segregated communities. And even when fighting for freedom, Black people found ways to create some joy for themselves, away from the arms of the state that sought to harm them for believing themselves equal to white people. Including Black joy in the curricular locations where Black pain is centered is a critical starting point.

We need students to understand that Black people are more than vessels of pain. Incorporating Black joy in classrooms helps students, both Black and non-Black understand the full range of Black humanity.

Kristen E. Duncan, Ph.D. is as an Associate Professor of Social Studies Education at Clemson University. Her research focuses on the ways teachers discuss matters of race and racism with their students, as well as the ways race is presented in texts, in media, and at historic sites. A former middle school social studies teacher and instructional coach, Dr. Duncan’s research has been published in various journals and edited volumes. Her edited volume, Civic Engagement in Communities of Color: Pedagogy for Learning and Life in a More Expansive Democracy was released by Teachers College Press in 2023.

‘Risky Texts’: Addressing the issue of race and historical marginalisation in the classroom

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By Sarah Ryan-Purcell

“I teach in an all-white classroom and so I don’t have any of your books in my classroom”

(Brooklyn Academy of Music Organisation, 2017).

As I listened to author Jacqueline Woodson share this quote from an unnamed educator during an interview on “difficult” subjects in young people’s literature, I felt exposed. I taught in an all-white classroom in Ireland last year. I don’t recall placing or using a single book by a Black author in my classroom. At the time, I might have reasoned – subconsciously – that such texts are more relevant in the American context. Suffice to say, I’ve come a long way.

My reading list is not the only thing that has changed since I commenced my Masters in Literacy Education at West Chester University, Pennsylvania. I have developed a whole new perspective on how knowledge is constructed, whose voices are represented, and what it means to prepare our students to participate in a diverse, yet unequal, world.

I discovered Woodson’s picture books in the first semester of my Master’s program as Dr. Daris McInnis challenged us to select a ‘risky text’ which we could use as a read-aloud opportunity to engage in critical literacy with our students. I chose Mason’s (2010) These Hands, an intergenerational book in which a young boy named Joseph learns how his grandfather united with fellow Black labourers to protest racism in the workplace. Thanks to their actions, Joseph’s hands – and other hands the same colour as his – can do “anything in this whole wide world”! The choice felt risky, particularly for me. Since arriving to America, I have felt discomfort when discussing race with BIPOC students. I imagine that the students might be thinking, “Who does she think she is, teaching us about something she knows nothing about?”. However, over the past few months, I have learned to embrace this vulnerability. By allowing the students to see me learning alongside them, I shift the classroom dynamic. Authority becomes shared and knowledge becomes co-constructed. Enter: critical literacy.

I started the read-aloud with a guided discussion of the front cover, using visual thinking strategies (VTS, 2021). One child excitedly exclaimed, “my skin!” as she pointed to the boy on the front cover of the book. Another student remarked that the boy’s skin colour would probably be a significant aspect of the storyline because “it always is”.

That comment lingered with me.

Why is race “always” central when Black characters appear? Why are there so few books where Black children are simply present—neither celebrated nor victimized, but existing as fully realized protagonists? The answer, no doubt, lies in power. Perhaps an increase in publications of such books would mitigate the sense of ‘otherness’ that is still apparent in today’s society. I was particularly uncomfortable discussing the contents of the fifth page, as I wondered aloud why the grandfather had not been allowed to mix the dough in the Wonder Bread factory. The students, though young, were keenly aware that this was a restriction placed on Black people by their white employers. At this point, we began to discuss instances of power in the story. Most of the students participating in this read-aloud were Black, and I felt a sense of guilt on the part of white people for the injustice represented in the story. The students readily noted that white people wouldn’t eat bread baked by a Black person, even if the Black workers were allowed to bake it. I felt almost as though I was further oppressing them as I prompted them to consider why white people wouldn’t eat bread baked by a Black person. They concluded that white people believed Black people ‘had germs’ and would ‘make them sick’. The students were not only offering their opinions. They were engaging in interdisciplinary meaning-making, drawing connections between history, social studies, and personal knowledge. Upon reflection, I realize the impact of that discussion in helping these students to own their history and learn about the oppression of their relatives in the not-so-distant past. However, in the moment, I felt as though I was unearthing generational trauma.

Our read-aloud session was an embodiment of critical literacy as the students interrogated historical social practices and analyzed dynamics of power in society (Lewison et al., 2008). However, one important aspect was absent from our discussion: taking initial actions to promote social justice. Consequently, my next step is to consider how I might develop this standalone read-aloud lesson into a critical literacy unit plan on racism and workplace discrimination. Racism is not simply a topic to be covered, but rather anti-racism and inclusion are values to be instilled across the curriculum, values which the students can uphold beyond their formal education. In reflecting upon this read-aloud, I am prompted to identify ways through which I could support my students to “disrupt the commonplace” and promote social justice in small but meaningful ways (Lewison et al., 2008, p.9). This is a question I do not yet have an answer to, but I shall pursue the answer across my career.

In conclusion, engagement with this risky text read-aloud challenged me to step out of my comfort zone as a teacher. By leaning into discomfort and allowing students’ voices to guide our discussion, I witnessed the power of risky texts to illuminate social injustices, leading students to connect historical oppression with contemporary realities. This experience has demonstrated that teaching about race and inequality is not simply a “nice to have” in the curriculum but is rather a moral necessity. As a result, I am committed to creating spaces where all students, particularly those from marginalized communities, feel valued and empowered to challenge the status quo.

I have come to understand that what is not in the classroom library can often tell you more about the classroom environment than what is available for reading. Furthermore, when educators embed dimensions of critical literacy into their classroom practice, they not only nurture critical thinkers but rather empower both themselves and their students to be agents of change.

References

Brooklyn Academy of Music Organisation (2017, June 21). Jacqueline Woodson on “difficult” subjects in young people’s literature. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcRwYLHcyzc

Lewison, M., Leland, C., & Harste, J. C. (2008). Creating critical classrooms: K-8 reading and writing with an edge. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Mason, M. (2010) These hands. Haughton Mifflin Harcourt.

Visual Thinking Strategies (2021) VTS, available: https://vtshome.org [accessed 03 May 2021].

Sarah Ryan-Purcell is a passionate primary school teacher from Cork, Ireland. Having obtained a B. Ed. in Education and Psychology at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, Sarah is now pursuing a M. Ed. in Literacy Education at West Chester University, Pennsylvania where she is also working as a graduate assistant in the College of Education and Social Work. A proponent of discovery-based learning, Sarah loves to explore new countries, languages, and cultures, increasingly allowing these experiences to guide her classroom practice.

Doing History, Not Memorizing It: Using Historical Thinking to Reclaim Black Narratives

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by Dr. Shari Revels-Davis

Growing up, history class always felt like a timeline of dates, names, and events to memorize. Textbooks presented historical accounts as settled truth—rarely revealing that history is constructed through sources, perspectives, and power.

When Black history is taught this way, students often receive a simplified version of complex struggles and resistance movements, stripped of grassroots voices and community leadership. History books also record only the story of the oppressor, not that of the oppressed. For example, Ron DeSantis, the current governor of Florida, stated in his defense of the presentation of slavery in the history books, as well as annexing the AP Black History high school courses and eliminating other courses that are considered “DEI” by the white population.

DeSantis defended Florida’s 2023 Black history standards, which included a requirement to teach that “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit”. He argued that this clause, which suggests some enslaved people used their skills to their advantage, was intended to highlight the “resiliency” of Black Americans and was written by scholars.

Instead of taking the oppressor’s word on how historical events occurred, disciplinary literacy shifts history instruction from memorization to investigation.

By engaging in the authentic practices of historians, students learn to question narratives, analyze evidence, and uncover stories that have long been marginalized or erased.

The Discipline Lens: How Historians Build Knowledge

Historians do not simply read for information. They:

Source documents to understand who created them and why
Corroborate multiple perspectives
Contextualize events within social and political systems
Examine bias and purpose

These skills are essential for understanding Black history purposefully and honestly.

The Problem with Textbook Narratives

Traditional historical texts often:

Emphasize major political leaders over community organizers
Minimize systemic racism in favor of “progress narratives.”
Frame resistance as isolated moments rather than sustained movements

For example, the Civil Rights Movement is often portrayed as a few peaceful protests led by famous figures, while ignoring decades of organizing, youth activism, and local leadership.

So what does this look like in practice? Instead of replacing the textbook, we can place it in conversation with other voices. A primary source counterstory investigation allows students to analyze whose perspectives are centered—and whose are absent.

Classroom Strategy: Primary Source Counterstory Investigation

Step 1: Provide a textbook account of a historical event (e.g., voting rights, desegregation, Reconstruction)

Step 2: Pair it with primary sources such as:

Black newspapers
speeches
letters
oral histories
photographs

Step 3: Students analyze using inquiry prompts:

Who created this source?
What perspective is represented?
What details are emphasized or omitted?
How does power shape this narrative?

Step 4: Students construct a revised historical account that includes multiple voices.

Student Impact

Teachers I work with report that inquiry-based history instruction leads to:

Deeper comprehension of historical causation
Increased engagement
Stronger argument writing
Greater awareness of systemic injustice

Students move from passive consumers of information to critical interpreters of the past.

Concluding Thoughts

History is not neutral. It is shaped by the voices we amplify and the ones we overlook. When we present historical struggles like the Civil Rights Movement as a handful of peaceful protests led by a few famous figures, we unintentionally flatten decades of organizing, youth activism, and local leadership into a simplified storyline. Our students deserve more than a highlight reel.

As educators, we have the opportunity—and responsibility—to complicate the narrative. By inviting students to examine primary sources, question dominant accounts, and seek out counterstories, we teach them that history is not something to read and forget but something to investigate and explore. We help them see that change is collective, contested, and ongoing.

Doing history in this way builds more than content knowledge. It builds critical thinkers who understand that whose story is told matters—and that they, too, are part of the historical record in the making.

Shari Revels-Davis is a dedicated and experienced educator passionate about multilingual learning and educational equity. As a veteran teacher, she has made significant contributions to the field of education, particularly in supporting multilingual learners (MLL). In addition to her work as an MLL teacher for the Chester County School District, she is the founder of the Hiram Revels East Educational Foundation, which focuses on advancing educational opportunities for diverse student populations.

Shari is currently waiting to be conferred her doctoral dissertation from Jackson State University after earning two master’s degrees. In addition, she is working to fulfill her goal of opening her own boarding school for underprivileged students in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Navigating (and Teaching) Among Streams of Meaning

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by Jason D. DeHart

“You spend too much time on the Internet,” a student said to me one day. She was in midst of a conversation with some of her peers using a recently coined bit of young adult jargon. When I joined the chat with knowledge of the term, she shared this admonition.

Teaching adolescents is both challenging and enriching. As in my time navigating my own period of adolescence, students are engaged in connected experiences that follow multiple streams of conversation – fandom, affinity, digital gaze, and more – all with the notion of community and belonging in mind. There is an always-changing multimedia flow of trends and treasured knowledge, often disseminated by digital platforms and what appears to be word of mouth.

Considering the literacy lives of the youth I work with daily, there is a clear sense of multiple channel navigation. Elements of identity weave together cultural practices and notes from popular culture. Youth are, indeed, like buoys among the stream of social media and technological message, including wider avenues of jargon and trend. They are purveyors of this wide range of culture, as well as curators of the space – whether they are fully aware of this aspect of their agency or not.

Spaces of Joy and Fandom

As Riesco and Goering (2025) recently explored, the anchor of popular culture continues to be part of adolescent practices. These changes in popular focus and language are fascinating from a researcher’s perspective, as well as a source of joy as an educator. This attention toward youth as the center of popular culture is hardly new – indeed, the mall culture of the 1980s and 1990s, as well as changing forms of music consumption have tracked with young people from the origin of the commercial. As a youth myself in the 1980s and 1990s, I was first the focal point of animation and branding that included popular characters; as an adult now reliving those days, I am a target of nostalgia branding. This is the sense of agency that companies do not necessarily consider when they are engaged in transmedia branding – they are handing their power over to youth, whose role is then to take up a particular trend and exercise this focal point of pop culture for so long as their engagement affords.

Indeed, language is always changing and the markers of what it means to be current are in constant flux. The popularity of comics is one site of further joy, as these texts were part of my literacy practices as a young reader and composer. While stakeholders in the film industry grapple with superhero fatigue, digital comics and manga continue to be mainstays of popularity (Benatti, 2024; Lowe, 2024). Students in my classroom autonomously engage with web comics during independent reading times, as well as graphic novels about popular characters like Blue Beetle and Plastic Man.

Critical Approaches and Boundaries

This collective sense of branding and messaging across multiple streams of meaning carries with it a series of significant questions for educators, especially those concerned with literacy. Rather than ask the question of how to stay relevant, I am curious about what is already continuously relevant about our pedagogy and about the series of actions and practices which result in or add to literacy development.

These practices are not limited to reading. Last year, I partnered with the media specialist at my school to engage in a grant-funded project that allowed students to read historically-based comics, select comics for their own reading choice, and then create one-page comics in response. Students were exposed to the range of stories, from superhero narratives to memoir, and their comics reflected this variance. Some composed responses included fantasy elements, while others documented friendships and other grounded experiences. In terms of composing, some students planned and developed their responses with traditional tools (paper, pencils, markers), while others used AI to brainstorm and plan their work and digital tools (Canva, Pixton) to create their responses.

My students are poised with a teacher whose positionalities exist alongside a variety of borders – completely up for popular character study alongside or even instead of the canon, yet (appropriately) critical of the ways that technology can be used to subvert multistep processes. I am an educator who is always interested in the step of thinking that occurs between teaching/assignment and turn-in.

Sometimes this means that I critique the material with which I am asking students to engage. Literacy is part of a wider ecosystem for adolescents, not an end. Older readers link engaged reading with topics that are relevant and interesting to them. VanderVelden and Apedoe (2025) recently explored the relationship of reading motivation and learning environment for adolescents, noting one particular area of importance. This area was inquiry – that is, readers needed to be engaged in an inquisitive set of discovery and problem-solving practices in order to be motivated. The purpose of the reading activity had to be clearly and clearly situated.

The Present and the Future

I continue to ponder and explore the best ways to teach my students. At times, I anachronistically reference prior trends to be ironic. At other times, I link my practices (like attending comics conventions) with student interests.

Literacy is also an expansive set of practices and interlinking set of ideas (Roberts et al., 2025). Effective reading and writing practices are linked within the wider space of conversations and culture, and they are reflective of the ways that people actually compose in daily life. This includes the digital and visual. I find that my identity as an educator in a cusp generation helps me bridge these links; that is, I remember what it was like to have one computer in the classroom, and to be expected to read the segmented literature presented in textbooks and answer the perennial questions at the end of the passages. I also remember what it was like to suddenly have computers at home, and I recall how these shifts only grew through the advancement of smaller, personalized technology.

I am not the teacher I was in 2007 when I embarked on my career, and I have no doubt that my instruction will change, refresh, and update along with the practices of my students as they continue to root and flow with questions of engaged citizenship, popular culture trends, and I contemplate what it means to be the educator that my students need me to be.

References

Benatti, F. (2024). Innovations in Digital Comics: A Popular Revolution. Cambridge University Press.

Lowe, S. (2024). Book review: Manga in libraries: A guide for teen librarians. The Journal of Anime and Manga Studies, 5, 254-258.

Riesco, H. S., & Goering, C. Z. (2025). Italian brain rot and skibidi toilets: Students’ joyful literacies in an ELA space. English Journal, 114(6), 23-31.

Roberts, C. A., Wilhelm, A., Allred, B., & Hudson, R. F. (2025). Expanding literacy: Caregiver experiences with literacy engagement for their children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Exceptional Children, 91(3), 281-302.

VanderVelden, T., & Apedoe, X. (2025). The Relationship Between Situated Reading Motivation and Perception of the Learning Environment for Adolescent Students. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 69(3), e70023.

Jason D. DeHart is a passionate educator, actively engaged in finding what works for connecting readers with literacy practices. He served as a middle grades English teacher for eight years, has worked at the university level at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee, as well as at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville and Appalachian State University, and currently works with high school students in Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

NC House Bill 805 Analysis: Navigating Barriers to Equitable Literacy Achievement

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Welcome to Sarabi Kearney, an educator from eastern North Carolina.

Introduction

Recent news headlines include the ratification of House Bill 805 by North Carolina lawmakers in July 2025. The law has been amended to clarify specific gender roles and include parental access to school and classroom library catalogs, along with the decision to opt out of classroom discussions. This policy excludes the use of textbooks. Library books are defined as “… electronic, print, and nonprint resources for independent use by students and school personnel outside of the standard course of study for any grade or course” (House Bill 805 / SL 2025-84 (2025-2026 Session) – North Carolina General Assembly, n.d.). Local boards of education have been directed to adopt this policy under a minimum of two requirements. Public access to school library catalogs must be provided through a web-based search engine and displayed on each school’s home webpage, giving parental guardians access to approve or deny any books to be borrowed by students (House Bill 805 / SL 2025-84 (2025-2026 Session) – North Carolina General Assembly, n.d.). Book censorship has been a controversial topic in literacy policy for many years. Enactment of this policy could produce barriers to access an enriched literacy education.

Policy Stakeholders

The bill was originally proposed to protect women and children from sexual exploitation, prohibiting the unlawful publishing of pornographic material. Since this proposal, the bill was amended by Senate Republicans to include transgender policies, public school literacy materials, and classroom discussions. Governor Josh Stein originally vetoed this bill, following up with the statement, “These mean-spirited bills would marginalize vulnerable people and also undermine the quality of public services and public education” (Governor Stein Takes Action on 12 Bills, 2025). However, this veto was overridden by a majority vote in the Republican legislature and is now a North Carolina law. Stakeholders impacted by this policy include students, parents, educators, and school librarians. A proper inventory will need to be conducted in libraries and classrooms, making these books accessible to public opinion.

Implications on Literacy Instruction

Stakeholders in literacy instruction have expressed concerns surrounding the bill. Public scrutiny creates limitations on access to a variety of classroom books. Many educators are worried that this is an attack on diverse titles and young adult contemporary texts that compose classroom and school libraries. The role of public school librarians and teachers who build catalogs of stories that represent diverse cultural backgrounds has been called into question by government officials in favor of this bill. Senator Buck Newton, a Wilson County Republican divulged his commitment to spreading this policy by stating, “… we think it’s constitutionally based that parents are the determiners, the ultimate determiners, of their children’s education, and we choose to empower them” (Keung Hui & Guinassi, 2025). Others who have voted against the bill have pushed back by labeling it as a false narrative. Senator Lisa Grafstein, a Wake County Democrat shared “There’s a narrative out there that librarians suddenly who we all grew up, you know, learning from and being guided by that somehow they’ve turned evil and they’re trying to harm children” (Keung Hui & Guinassi, 2025). Will parents/guardians place restraints on access to materials needed for high quality literacy instruction or will they create partnerships with educators who stand in solidarity with culturally responsive teaching practices?

Concern has also been raised surrounding student participation in classroom discussions and activities that could place a substantial burden on the student’s religious beliefs. While the separation of church and state has been prioritized in public education for many years, this policy places a thorough angle on the perspective of stakeholders in literary discussions. Shared literacy experiences create a space for students to deeply reflect on their learning and engage with peers who may have similar and different takeaways from assigned readings. Discussing similarities and differences in views and beliefs is where conversations tend to become sensitive topics, and these topics must now be evaluated before they are introduced in a classroom setting. Depending on how sensitive a subject is to a parental guardian, they may choose to remove their child from the discussion, and the teacher will be tasked to provide the student with an alternative assignment that aligns with the standard course of study.

Implications on Student Learning

Student learning outcomes are largely impacted by this policy in two ways. The instructional time/administrative load dedicated to curating catalogs and alignment or tension with current Science of Reading reforms. Some teachers have already expressed that the catalog process will divert major time and attention from core literacy planning (Keith, 2025). Sharing this information with the public is a favorable act, however, the groundwork of sorting through libraries that contain hundreds of books before students can access them will take more than a little time. An additional concern at large is a disconnect between the current push in Science of Reading principles and book censorship. While success with early foundational literacy skills may continue to improve, there is fear that text-rich outcomes such as vocabulary, background knowledge, and oral language skills may considerably plummet (Rash & Rash, 2024). Breadth of knowledge and vocabulary volume are deeply enriched with access to a wide variety of texts.

Conclusion

As districts are aiming to be proactive in enacting House Bill 805 policies, we must consider possible ramifications or success stories that could be a result of this new policy. Contrary to the risk of narrow exposure to a variety of texts, positive home-to-school relationships could also arise under this legislation. This action ultimately gives parents the power to approve or deny their child’s access to a substantial literacy education. What parents choose to do with this initiative will determine the likely outcomes of a lifelong literacy education.

References

Governor Stein takes action on 12 bills. (2025, July 3). NC Governor. https://governor.nc.gov/news/press-releases/2025/07/03/governor-stein-takes-action-12-bills

House Bill 805 / SL 2025-84 (2025-2026 session) – North Carolina General Assembly. (n.d.). https://ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2025/h805

Keith, R. (2025, August 29). NHCS teachers scramble to comply with new classroom library law. WHQR. https://www.whqr.org/local/2025-08-28/nhcs-teachers-scramble-to-comply-with-new-classroom-library-law

Keung Hui, T., & Guinassi, L. (2025, June 20). NC lawmakers could create religious exemptions policy for school assignments. The News & Observer. https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article308920355.html

Rash, M., & Rash, M. (2024, August 2). ‘Dedication of our teachers’ praised in an update on the state’s science of reading journey. EdNC. https://www.ednc.org/dedication-of-our-teachers-praised-in-an-update-on-the-states-science-of-reading-journey/

Sarabi Kearney is a 25-year-old first-grade teacher currently residing in Greensboro, NC. She was born and raised in Vanceboro, NC and is a homegrown East Carolinian. Her passion lies in fostering a safe, culturally responsive learning environment for youth to thrive. She believes in implementing equitable teaching practices that support the development of each learner in meaningful and specific ways. She also believes that every child deserves access to high-quality literacy instruction, as it is the foundation for academic success and lifelong opportunity.

Literacy as a Bridge: Practical Strategies for Supporting Immigrant and Refugee Students

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Welcome back to Dr. Jennifer C. Mann!

Immigrant and refugee students bring incredible linguistic, cultural, and life experiences to our classrooms—strengths that are too often overlooked. In my recent presentation, Literacy as a Bridge: Supporting Immigrant and Refugee Students in Today’s Classrooms, we talked about how literacy can act as a bridge, connecting students’ home languages and personal experiences to the academic content they’re learning. But what does that really look like day to day?

First, it helps to remember that literacy is about more than reading words on a page or writing essays. It’s about voice, identity, and belonging. When teachers intentionally draw on students’ experiences, they’re sending a simple but powerful message: your perspective matters. And the benefits go beyond engagement—they build confidence, critical thinking, and a sense of community.

Here are some practical strategies teachers can use right now:

1. Bring in Culturally Relevant Texts. Look for books, articles, or media that reflect your students’ lives. If you’re teaching a unit on community or family, include stories from different countries or immigrant communities. Ask students to share connections or differences with their own experiences—it makes the material come alive and shows that their perspectives are valued.

2. Invite Students to Share Their Stories. Journals, oral storytelling, and digital projects give students a chance to share who they are. A student might create a photo essay about a family tradition or write about their journey to a new country. These activities strengthen literacy while affirming identity.

3. Lean into Multilingual Strengths. Encourage students to use their home language as a tool, whether it’s for brainstorming, storytelling, or peer support. Multilingualism is an asset that can support English development while boosting confidence.

4. Connect Learning to Real Life. Design lessons that tie directly to students’ experiences. Math word problems could reflect real situations they encounter in their communities, or science projects could explore local environmental issues. This makes learning feel relevant and empowers students to see themselves as capable problem-solvers.

5. Use Collaborative Activities. Peer discussions, writing projects, and group tasks give students a chance to learn from each other. For example, students could co-write a story about a cultural festival or community event—building literacy, teamwork, and cross-cultural understanding at the same time.

6. Focus on Strengths. Teachers’ mindsets matter. When we focus on what students can do rather than what they lack, our lessons—and our expectations—shift. Reflecting on our own practice and learning from colleagues helps us recognize and leverage student strengths effectively.

When literacy connects academic content to students’ personal worlds, it becomes a true bridge. Classrooms become places where students feel seen, capable, and valued. Beyond building reading and writing skills, these inclusive practices nurture resilience, pride, and a sense of belonging that extends far beyond the school day.

By weaving these strategies into everyday practice, teachers can create classrooms where all students thrive. Literacy, when approached this way, is more than a skill—it’s a bridge to opportunity, understanding, and equity.

Dr. Mann is a Research Scientist at Duke University’s Center for Child and Family Policy, where she supports equity-centered education research focused on multilingual learners and their language and literacy growth. She presented a LiD6-12 webinar found here: Literacy as a Bridge

Supporting MLs Through Disciplinary Literacy: A Practical Guide for Teachers

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by Carrie Rieder

You’ve learned about disciplinary literacy and are convinced that this is the best path of success for your students. You’ve been to professional development, read books, found this blog…you are all in!

Or perhaps you are an administrator, embarking upon a school-wide plan to focus on disciplinary literacy. The first day of school arrives, and you greet students as they come through the door. As you smile and say hello, inwardly you realize that you might have forgotten about one not-so-small thing: several of your students are new to the country and have only just begun learning English.

Your anxiety increases when you have a conversation with your ESOL teacher and she explains that one of the students only attended school sporadically, and had no formal education for the past two years during the family’s transition to the United States.

What now? You’ve planned so many exciting, challenging lessons centered around the specific characteristics of your content language. Can the students even learn that? Should you just give them something else? Do nothing at all?

I’m here to tell you that not only is it possible, but it is beneficial and necessary to teach disciplinary literacy to your newcomer multilingual learners (MLs)

I’ve been working with and living beside multilingual learners of all ages and language levels for 20 years. For the past four years at Carolina High School, I have focused on newcomer MLs and SLIFE (Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education). As a co-teacher, and now a sheltered class teacher, I’ve used many strategies that teach and expose my students to the disciplinary literacy required in English Language Arts.

Accommodating for these students doesn’t have to be time-consuming or daunting. I can give you insight into the best mindset and strategies to use in general education classes to ensure that every student in the room can access what is taught.

Accommodation is not “dumbing-down”

As educators, we know that we are expected to teach with rigor and high expectations. Accommodating lower-level MLs in your classroom does not remove rigor or high expectations. MLs are still expected to do challenging work, achieve success, and grow academically. The only thing you are lowering is the language load.

You might be familiar with cognitive load theory. The application of cognitive load theory to teaching means that teachers need to design lessons that reduce confusion and overwhelm so that students can focus on actually understanding and learning content.

For MLs, this means reducing the amount and complexity of the language so that students can focus their energy on learning new concepts or practicing skills. We are not changing the destination—-we are simply paving the road.

Accommodations—-often outlined in ML language acquisition plans—-are guidelines for engaging MLs in disciplinary literacy at their level of English language proficiency. They are not a rigid set of rules. These supports allow the MLs to reach the same standards as English-proficient students. Many states even include “best practice” strategies that work for all students—-because good teaching is good teaching.

Accommodating for your MLs can feel overwhelming. Language acquisition plans can seem lengthy or vague. I encourage you to start your mindset shift by reading an ML language acquisition plan, start to finish—-not just the list of accommodations. Doing this will open your mind to what it really means to support MLs in your classroom.

Accommodation is not an afterthought

Planning a unit takes time and attention to detail. I often see teachers get to the end of a unit plan and realize that they must accommodate for their MLs. After investing so much energy into the core content, there’s little left to adapt it. The result? A translated test or reliance on digital translation tools.

But if your goal is to teach the language of your discipline, translation won’t be enough. It won’t help students develop the academic language needed to access the content. Not to mention—-this assumes a high level of native language literacy, that students may not have. There is a better way.

The best way to accommodate is to start from the beginning—-by pairing each standards-based learning target with a language target.

Learning targets focus on the knowledge or skills that students must master.

Language targets focus on the language students need to access and express that knowledge.

Together, they tell students what they are learning and how they’ll use language to show it. This is a key step in making disciplinary literacy accessible at any level of English proficiency.

Step 1: Accommodate Input

Students receive new information through instruction and texts. As you plan your unit, ask:

Where will ML students struggle with language?

How complex are the texts?

Which lessons or texts are essential for content mastery?

Feeling overwhelmed? Take a breath. Like riding a bike, the best way to learn to accommodate is to start—and keep trying.

Step 2: Accommodate Output

Once you have thought about how to scaffold input, turn to output —-how students will demonstrate understanding. This includes assessments, writing, and projects. Begin by:

Accommodating instructions.

Modeling expectations.

Using an adjusted grading rubric based on language level.

Accommodation does not have to be difficult

Creating Language Targets

My favorite way to create language targets is by using AI tools such as MagicSchool or Chat GPT. The key is crafting a simple prompt. Here’s an example:

“Create a language target from this learning target [insert target] for a WIDA Level 2 English language learner. Include sentence frames.”

You may need to revise the AI output to best suit your needs—-but it’s a great place to start..

Accommodate Input: Lessons

Pre-teach vocabulary:

Use your language and learning targets to create a list of 8-12 vocabulary words per unit. Avoid trying to teach too many at once. Use a pretest to narrow your list.

Create a word wall (physical or digital)

Create a glossary with native-language translations and student-friendly definitions

Refer to the word wall throughout lessons

Encourage students to use the word wall or glossary during class and assessments.

Add visuals:

Use pictures, charts, icons, or illustrations to emphasize meaning. AI tools can generate custom images.

Reduce cognitive load:

Give students a copy of your notes/slides (paper, digital, or both)

Encourage two language note-taking using resources like Read&Write or bilingual dictionaries

For higher level students, create fill-in the blank guided notes

Accommodate Input: Texts

Using grade-level texts is essential to ensure equitable access to rigorous content. When scaffolded appropriately, these texts allow MLs to develop the skills necessary to long-term success. Do not limit students with simplified or below-level texts.

Translanguaging:

Translanguaging harnesses the power of all of the student’s languages to make learning more meaningful.

Allow students to annotate and summarize text in their own language.

Pair students with their native-language peers to discuss key points before sharing in English.

Encourage native-language drafting or brainstorming.

Provide a native-language copy of side-by-side with English text (use a two-column table for display)

Offer native-language summaries (AI tools can generate these)

Accommodate Output: Assessments, projects, and writing

Instructions:

For lower level students, translate instructions yourself—-don’t rely on students to do it

Paste translations onto worksheets, post them in Google Classroom, or project them on your board

Review instructions—in English—before modeling

Modeling:

Always model tasks or show examples

Think-aloud while modeling

Show completed examples of writing or projects

Rubrics:

Use student-friendly rubrics aligned to their proficiency level

Include native-language translations of the criteria along with English

Use single-point rubrics for clarity

Sentence Frames and Stems:

Provide word or phrase banks for sentence frames

Use AI to generate frames and stems based on your learning and language targets

Multiple-Choice Tests:

For written response items, provide sentence frames with a wordbank.

Remove one incorrect answer choice

Repeat familiar vocabulary, language patterns, and visuals

Open-note tests

Accommodation is not a smooth road

This list will jump-start your dive into supporting disciplinary literacy for MLs. The first time you try something, it might not work perfectly. You may still see students struggle, even after accommodation. That’s okay.

Struggle is expected. You are lightening their cognitive load—-you cannot remove it entirely. The goal is to bring the content closer, so they can reach out and touch it, not jump and miss it altogether.

Sometimes a scaffold works like a charm—fantastic! But often, you will need to adjust.

Keep trying, keep tweaking, keep going.

You, and your students, will get there.

Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive load during problem solving: Effects on learning. Cognitive Science, 12(2), 257–285. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog1202_4
Hakuta, K., Butler, Y. G., & Witt, D. (2000). How long does it take English learners to attain proficiency? University of California Linguistic Minority Research Institute.

Carrie Rieder holds a Master’s in TESOL from Furman University and has over a decade of experience supporting multilingual learners. A certified Literacy Teacher and member of the Greenville County Impact Leadership cohort, she brings both academic and personal insight into language acquisition, shaped by raising bilingual children and living abroad. At Carolina High School, she teaches ESOL and sheltered English classes, working closely with colleagues to support the school’s high population of multilingual students.

Supporting Multilingual Language Learners in interdisciplinary literacy learning contexts

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by Dr. Elke Schneider, Winthrop University

Who are multilingual language learners?

Multilingual language learners (MLLs) in middle and high school settings are as uniquely different as any plant and animal life, as the human race itself. Their personal life stories, their own or their families’ immigration stories from the past make them fascinatingly diverse members of a classroom when it comes to learning disciplinary content such as social studies, science, math and even English Language Arts. For instance, many are born here in the United States and have only known schooling in America (called second generation immigrants) while others have distinct socio-emotional imprints from their migration story (first or 1.5 generation immigrants) with either no or partial schooling experiences in the country they left. Students who have spent much time in refugee camps or an otherwise long migration experience with no or hardly any schooling (Students with Interrupted Formal Education or SIFE students) require significantly different attention than those born in the US without such experiences.

One might think only of the ‘deficits’ MLLs may have regarding the disciplinary curriculum content and/or language and cultural competencies. However, this narrow view fails to consider that MLLs can be great assets in an interdisciplinary learning community because of their varied life and home culture experiences. As educators, we can provide support mechanisms for language and content issues and integrate MLLs as valuable contributors to interdisciplinary learning in which everyone’s life story and experiences provide meaningful pillars for learning.

What constitutes interdisciplinary literacy?

Interdisciplinary literacy is based on the understanding that literacy, the ability to read, write, hold critical, academic dialog about disciplinary content with active listening and speaking skills, is a vital component of learning in every content area, may that be science, social studies, English language arts or mathematics. Digital literacy skills can also be added to interdisciplinary literacy since much of today’s learning in middle and secondary schools involves using digital devices and learning how to use digital resources in effective and ethically appropriate ways. These components are all embedded in South Carolina’s recent Career Ready Standards (2024) as well as in new 2024 Read to Succeed Standards. Each content area discipline has discipline-specific questions that are asked and pursued along with unique vocabulary and sentence structures that are used in discipline specific readings and writing. These discipline-specific features are new for all students, not just MLLs, but MLLs in various language acquisition stages will require specific support to become comfortable in using these unique disciplinary literacy skills.

What is the challenge for multilingual language learners with interdisciplinary literacy?

Based on their life story and background knowledge on content, MLLs require different kinds of support. Most commonly, it is the content language support that is in focus. However, language acquisition and acculturation to the school system and way of life go hand in hand. The more safe and accepted MLLs feel in the learning community of the school and the classroom, the faster their language skills improve (Ariza & Coady, 2018). Their background knowledge on academic content is also a key factor in determining what kind of language and social-emotional support MLLs need to succeed in interdisciplinary learning.

How can we support MLLs in succeeding in interdisciplinary literacy?

While collaboration with the multilingual teacher is paramount when paying individual attention to MLLs’ socio-emotional and academic needs, the general education teacher plays a crucial role in helping MLLs succeed in the interdisciplinary learning settings common in middle and high schools. The ways MLLs can be supported include a) helping MLLs comprehend and use the codes of disciplinary literacy, including both language features and disciplinary procedures, b) utilizing and honoring MLLs’ home language and cultural /content knowledge, c) providing an interactive, collaborative, and trusting learning environment in which peers and teachers interact closely and teachers foster questions and dialog. Here are some selected ideas how to ensure MLLs feel actively integrated in interdisciplinary learning.

Suggestions for content literacy instruction

Utilizing and honoring MLLs’ home language and cultural /content knowledge

Take time to develop a personal bond with your MLLs by spending lunch time in small groups with them or individually to build the trust based necessary for MLLs’ healthy risk taking in the challenging tasks of disciplinary literacy. In this process, find out about MLL’s home situations and cultural and academic background and interests so you can utilize that when helping students make personal connection to disciplinary literacy tasks.
Prior to any disciplinary literacy task and content introduction, activate MLLs’ prior knowledge by eliciting experiences from their home culturewhere appropriate (i.e., wild life, weather, socio-cultural routines, historic sites, life/historic events, or how basic math skills were taught in the home culture). Focus on making real life connections of the disciplinary literacy content/skill explicit. This provides MLLs with motivation to explore disciplinary language and content because they feel valued and see a real life connection.

Providing an interactive, collaborative, and trusting learning environment

When possible, build in station work in which students work collaboratively in teams, native speakers and MLLs mixed together so they naturally engage in problem-solving team work and language use prior to individual work or assessment tasks. For a different collaborative learning set up, pair MLLs up with a trusting peer (native speaker or MLL) to talk through the steps of a tasks before requiring written notes. (i.e. math task, comprehension questions, science report content)
Include project-based learningin which MLLs can engage hands-on without being at a linguistic disadvantage. Using foldables in which student can paste drawings to images with supporting phrases or given sentence frames allows MLLs to demonstrate gained knowledge. This can meaningfully replace a standard written exam. (for resources see Dinah Zike’s website: https://dinah.com)
Schedule regular personal or small group meetings to check on and provide individualized learning support and feedback on learning progress. This is much more easily done when the classroom is set up for station and group work so that individual or small group conferencing can naturally be integrated. This allows for personal teacher-student connections in which MLLs can ask questions that they otherwise might not dare ask in front of the whole group.

Helping MLLs comprehend and use the codes of disciplinary literacy

Explicitly teach content specific vocabulary in connection with common phrases and sentence frames typical for the discipline so that MLLs can get used to using these structures with the vocabulary. In this practice, provide at least 10-20 opportunities for MLLs (and other students who struggle with academic language tasks) to orally use the content vocabulary and break multisyllabic words down first demonstrating how to say these words syllable by syllable and then blending them together into the whole word at natural pace after having gone slowly on each syllable. For instance, for the word ‘photosynthesis’, the teacher has students repeat several times “photo”, then “syn”. Then students are shown to blend “photosyn” together several times. Then “the” (with unvoiced TH and long E)”, then “sis”, then “thesis” and then all syllables together as a whole word pronounced as ‘photosynthesis” several times in whispering, loud, happy, grouchy, or stern tones of voices to make the repetition more fun. Then students practice using the word in given sentence frames with common verbs and structures used to discuss and write about photosynthesis.
For MLLs, vocabulary instruction includes Tier 1, 2, and Tier 3 vocabulary. Therefore, word and language structures at Tier 1 (basic common life vocabulary) and Tier 2 (words that can be used in common life and disciplinary-specific contexts)
Support learning resources with visuals such as graphic organizers, handouts, PowerPoint Presentations and posters (illustrations graphs, pictures) so MLLs can derive meaning from them. If content specific graphs or charts are used, do not assume that MLLs know how to interpret and use them. Instead, demonstrate explicitly how to gain information from them. This is an essential component of building visual literacy in the content areas.
Encourage and provide space on graphic organizers or other platforms, for MLLs to use in their home language to engage in interdisciplinary literacy learning. This assists in utilizing translanguaging and the use of the whole learner with their home and new culture knowledge. It also fosters a sense of being respected as a multilingual learner.
Visually display sentence frames typical for a given task. For instance, sentence frames needed to complete certain math task in all its steps or sentence frames to use to make statements about a science experiment, or sentence frames to talk or write about a comparison of historic facts or two poems. MLs can use such structures in oral reflection about content or a task they have completed. Since even standardized math exams require students to write down their reasoning for steps taken, practicing orally before asking students to write down their thoughts is crucial (for more on academic oral language practicing in content areas, see Zwiers reference below). These sentence frames can vary in complexity so that various language competencies can be addressed in a scaffolded way. The following table (Table 1) provides a selective collection of sentence structures commonly used in interdisciplinary literacy settings:

Table 1: Examples of Sentence Frames for oral and written tasks

*Literacy context*	*For oral dialog*	*For writing*
Compare-contrast information	…. is/look/feels like. But …. Is/feels/looks like….…. Is/has/can…. On the contrary/in contrast, …..When I look at…., on the one hand I notice…., on the other hand I see…. I hear you but I see x differently/ I have another perspective to offer. While you…., I think…. because…. I would like to add a contrasting point of view/argument….	When comparing…., it is obvious that….. is/has/shows…… while….. is/shows/has…. In contrast to…., x can….. As opposed to …, X can … because…..While……., x can/does….Contrary to…., ……
Cause and effect information	In my observation of/experience with…, I see the cause for….. in……I think based on what I read in…/we saw in the video clip, …. happened because….I conclude/infer that … because/because of …..Because….., …. happened.Because I forgot to…., I miscalculated….One reason for…..seems to be…. since/because…..	As a result of…., ….. X was/is caused by….. Due to……, ……… Consequently, Based on information by (author) on page,… …. resulted in….

Use gap filling exercises or assessments only with word banks. This allows MLLs to find the correct word which they can only do if they can receptively recognize the correct word. You can place more than the needed words in the word bank to increase the challenge. Without word banks, MLLs in initial and medial language acquisition stages are put at unjust disadvantages.
Allow for digital translation devices to assist when needed and let students write their translanguage findings down in a digital or handwritten resource file/folder. Allow students to use this as a reference whenever needed. Discuss this approach with grade level teams so MLLs can use their resources across disciplines.

Provide opportunities forchoral or paired readingto increases MLLs’ linguistic confidence in interdisciplinary reading, writing oral tasks. In choral reading, teachers read sentence by sentence with appropriate intonation, pausing, phrasing and pronunciation in natural pace and ask students to repeat these modeled sentences aloud as a class chorally. Students follow along on their own printed text copy. Teachers select such sentences/passages for choral reading based on important information and vocabulary.
A variation is choral responses of essential content in phrases and sentences. The teacher mindfully makes an important statement and then has students chorally repeat that essential content once or twice by saying the information/sentence again but then letting students complete the sentence with the missing information.
In order to build basic content vocabulary and routine language for novice MLLs with next to no understanding of English, label classroom items, provide images/photos with supporting language underneath for content specific routines (i.e. science lab procedures, mathematical procedure). Do also for content specific items such as science, math, social studies, technology tools (i.e., cursor on screen, magnifying glass, microscope, ruler, compass, scale, historic timelines, poetry features)

Selected resources:

Ariza, E. N. & Coady, M. R. (2018). Why TESOL? Theories and issues in teaching English to speakers of other languages in K-12 classrooms. (5^th edition). Kendall Hunt.
Blair, L., Oliveira de, L. C., & Avalos, M. A. (2024). Expanding teacher understanding of scaffolding for multilingual learners using a language-based approach to content instruction. TESOL in Context, 33(1), 25-42.
Harrell, A. & Jordan, M. (2019). 50 strategies for teaching English language learners (6^th edition). Pearson.
Zwiers, J. (2019). Next steps with Academic conversations. New ideas for improving learning through classroom talk. Routledge.

Macintosh HD:WINTHROP:FALL 2022_classes & tasks:IDA proposals for F22:BIO PIC Elke.png For over 20 years, Dr. Elke Schneider has been a professor of literacy, special education, and multilingual learner education at Winthrop University, Rock Hill, South Carolina.