Teaching

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 100th 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.

Fostering visual literacy skills with wordless picture books

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By Dr. Elke Schneider

What is visual literacy?

Visual literacy (VL) is a well-defined discipline that requires critical, aesthetic, and socio-emotional interpretation skills based on individual comprehension of visual images. These are all essential for being a successful literate citizen that can handle the massive visual flood of information related to image-rich digital media. For one, VL skills include the ability to identify and interpret messages explicitly or implicitly given through still images (photos, posters, drawings, paintings, sculptures) or moving images (videos, films, TV shows, performances). Critical, aesthetic interpretation of how visual features such as colors, visual perspectives, or specific art media (i.e., watercolors, collages, sketches, charcoal drawing) impact a reader/viewer emotionally is a crucial VL skills component. The expressive side of VL skills refers to the ability to create visual images that present information in either still images (drawings, sketches, graphic organizers/charts, photos) or moving images such as short video clips. According to research, both receptive and expressive VL skills are best taught explicitly.

Why do we need to explicitly focus on developing visual literacy skills?

In this day and age, the non-stop availability of visual imagery via digital devices presents students’ brains with the task to quickly, accurately and critically interpret massive amounts of visual imagery surrounded by no, minimal, or much printed texts. Therefore, it is paramount to assist students in learning to carefully filter through so much visual information so they do not fall prey to manipulation and misinterpretation of implicit or explicit messages embedded in visual materials. Moreover, research has shown that educators require more explicit training in strengthening students’ visual literacy skills. For middle and high school students, VL skills are essential in every subject area and thus are included in middle and high school ELA standards.

What are wordless picture books?

Wordless picture books (WLPBs) are books that present information solely through visual images. Some images may include wording as part of an image such as a poster with a message. Only book flaps and covers include traditional printed text such as book title, author name, publication information, and a summary about the book. Examples of WLPBs appropriate for middle and high school students are shared in Table 1. They include selective ideas for disciplinary integration in ELA, social studies, science/geography.  

Table 1: Examples of WLPBs for VL practice

Book referenceContent descriptionIdeas for use in content areas

Tan, S. (2007). The arrival. Arthur A. Levine Books.   
ISBN: 978-0439895293  
Virtual version: short https://youtu.be/vAay4myoEDE?si=KVj4wH2VR9mxl6pT    		Through detailed imagery in red charcoal drawings, readers learn about the emotional and physical hardships of one immigrant’s journey who in the end reunites with his family. Over 60 detailed images of immigrants of all ages in the end pages allow for varied, adolescent-appropriate critical aesthetic, social-emotional reflections.Social studies: migration history of the United States; relating images to historic events (i.e., WWI, II imprisoner treatments)

ELA: sequence of events for one or several characters, identifying emotions orally and in writing, cause-and effect, impact of different visual perspectives and aesthetics on the interpretation of visual information

Geography: identifying criteria for, cause and effects of ports of migration, drawing cause-effect graphics for geographic locations

Science: Using facial expressions of characters of various generations to discuss aging processes and causes; 

Wiesner, D. (2006). Flotsam. Clarion Books.  
ISBN: 978-0618194575
Virtual version: https://youtu.be/3MTKWnxzqvM    		In intricately detailed, often fantasy-driven water-color images, readers follow a teen who discovers an old camera at the beach that reveals lives of those who owned it in the past.Social Studies: Identifying details of photographs for historic fact interpretations

ELA: Usingimage details, practice describing details of sequence of events, items and characters with reasoning, or cause-effect, meaning discoveries of factual and fantasy elements.

Geography: Researching where the camera was prior to getting to the teen with reasoning based on photographs in the camera.

Science: Researching flotsam items from the story and others that can be studied scientifically; discussing the impact of water, salt/nature on certain materials over time.

Wiesner, D. (2011). Tuesday. Clarion Books.  
ISBN: 978-0395870822
Virtual version: https://youtu.be/JtQ4DdzCZMA?si=aI2OrD-T2nE9wulJ  		On a Tuesday night, frogs fly on lily pads to town to visit the town causing confusion before returning to their pond. The next week, pigs seem to be doing the same. This fantasy is illustrated in colorful, realistic watercolor technique displaying expressive, detailed animal and human faces.Social studies: Impact of the unusual on communities; cultural symbolism of frogs/pigs




ELA: Discussing fantasy elements and their explicit or implicit message through colors, perspectives and actions in visuals; personality studies of characters; symbolism

Science: Discussing the importance of gravity; researching what dreams are and how imagery gets created in the brain; life cycles of frogs

Banyai, I. (1998). Zoom. Puffin Books           
ISBN: 978-0140557749
Virtual version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kgi-RCEjOLw    		Via detailed, colorful images, readers are taken in surprising image sequences from a farm to a city, a ship, and an island providing ample practiceELA: Making predictions with supporting details and reasons; making hypotheses based on retracing evidence

Science: Discussing how hypotheses are made, on what revising hypotheses is based, and how hypotheses are tested based on detailed images

Geography: Discussing where on earth the different sites could be and how they could relate using details provided in the images

Social studies: Discussing differences, similarities and historic events that influence community lives; discussion of time period based on details in imagery

Banyai, I. (1998). Re-Zoom. Puffin Books       
ISBN: 978-0140556940		Readers are taken on a twisted image journey from an Egyptian pyramid to a jungle and a beach by zooming out of color-and-detail rich images that invite predictions turning page by page.ELA: Making predictions with supporting details and reasons; making hypotheses based on retracing evidence

Geography: Discussing where on earth the different sites could be and how they could relate using details provided in the images

Science: Experiencing how hypotheses are created and tested based on interpreting images; comparing jungle habitats to desert habitats in Egypt; discussing how perception is impacted by angles of selections if imagery;

Social Studies: Engaging in Egyptian culture studies based on detailed images and beyond

Why are wordless picture books useful in middle or high school?

Public misconceptions about WLPBs include that they are only appropriate for young children and not challenging enough to working for adolescent students. Moreover, explicit VL skills do not need to be taught explicitly. These misconceptions contradict research findings that highlight how interpreting WLPBs contain an intricate amount of explicit and implicit information that requires developed VL skills to comprehend. Furthermore, it entices middle and high school students to apply varied sophistication in oral and written engagement with these WLPBs. Research also points out many benefits for middle and high school students:

  • VL practice with WLPBs allows for in-depth engagement with essential middle and high school English Language Arts (ELA) Standards through VL practices such as retelling/summarizing image information, inferencing, predicting and revising prediction, compare-contrast, cause and effect interpretation of visual imagery.
  • These VL practices with WLPBs prepare students for applying acquired critical VL skills in other content areas such as social studies, geography, or science where a mix of visual and written information need to be processed and analyzed (see Table 1 for examples).
  • WLPBs offer learning standards-based critical literacy skills through VL practices regardless of reading, writing, and speaking abilities, content or socio-cultural or background. Thus, with WLPBs everyone has equal access to practicing their development of visual literacy skills, including multilingual learners.
  •  It is easier to activate intrinsic curiosity to engage with the visual information because everyone has an equal chance to engage uniquely with the content with a variety of acceptable interpretations rather than only one right answer.
  • ELA skills practices with WLPBs can be easily scaffolded. For students with more basic skills, only a select number of images could be used, simpler sentence frames for oral or written responses can be provided. More advanced students can benefit from and be challenged with more complex sentence structures to use, and more complex and detailed prompting questions. For ideas to prompt questions that strengthen VL skills with WLPBs, see Tables 2.  For sentence frames to be used when verbalizing interpretations of WLPB images, see Table 3.
  • WLPBs allow for easy assessment of students’ critical, aesthetic and social-emotional comprehension and interpretation skills without being hindered by low writing skills. Oral performance rubrics can contain criteria such as ability to (1) summarize sequence of events, (2) make and revise predictions, (3) formulate questions, (4) describe emotional impact of images, (5) draw inferences, (6) connect story parts to personal experiences/ other real-life events, (7) use detailed descriptors to relate social-emotional story components and express empathy.

Ways to foster active use of visual literacy skills using WLPBs

For each of the VL skills areas, namely aesthetic skills, affective skills, critical thinking, and text comprehension, the following tables provide a) ideas for questions to activate students’ in-depth engagement with a WLPB (Table 2), and b) sentence frames with simpler and more complex structures for students to use to share their interpretations including dialog structures to discuss similarities and differences in story interpretations (Table 3). The sentence and dialog structures can be available to students on flip charts, table tents or flash cards to use during discussion time with each other or in response to teacher questions.

Table 2: Questions to activate critical engagement with visual imagery

VL Skill areaAsk students …
Aesthetic skillshow the author created a certain mood (i.e. suspense, fear, worry, excitement, joy) with colors, perspectives, item or character details and how that impacts the reader/viewer.

to identify how the author created the images in a page or in the whole book

why they like or not like certain images

what question/s they would like to ask the illustrator? Why?
Affective skills (compassion, emotions, relation to self, world, others)how they experience characters, events and
why they feel like that

how they or others they care about were in the situation of certain characters in certain situations and why.

how they would change the story for a different or the same main message.

to relate to a character, story event, emotion presented based on a personal experience or what they have watched on TV/in movies before.

to create questions about a story step, character.
Critical thinkingto give reasons for opinions/interpretations and prompt for direct connection to details in the WLPBs.

to compare and contrast their interpretations with those of peers. Prompt them to get reasons that relate back to details in the imagery and their personal experiences.

to predict, or revise a previous idea

to make connections to other readings or learning experiences in other disciplines in school, or outside of school or world events

what they sense (smell, hear, taste, feel) when they look at certain pages and why that might occur

to share what the story means them personally and why. 

Table 3: Sample sentence frames for discussions that foster VL

VL Skills areaSentence frames for students
Aesthetic skillsSimpler structures:
The color/s make me feel…/ wonder if… /realize that…

I like the image on page…. because…

I feel I look at the page from (above, below). This makes me feel…

More complex structures:
I think the author used …. (water colors, thick paint, chalk, different paper) to make the reader think that…/feel as if….

The top down/bottom up/eye-to-eye level perspective causes an impression of…./makes the viewer experience…..

The color/s of… evoke the feeling of… because…
Affective skills (compassion, emotions, relation to self, world, others)Simpler structures:
The detail from image reminds me of … (something in my world, another character in a story/historic event, current event)

I feel for…. because….

If I were in this situation, I would….

More complex structures:
The expression of…/event on this page causes me to think about …

This story makes me want to …. help… by…..ing….

I can relate to… because I saw/read about… that…/I experienced something similar when….
Critical thinkingSimpler structures:
I wonder/would like to know why… /if…

I like/don’t like what…. did/happened because….

I predict/conclude that…  because

More complex structures:
Seeing…(detail from image), I wonder if/why/when…

Looking at (detail from image), I predict/infer/conclude that…

I agree/disagree with how … (character action) because….
Story comprehensionSimpler structures:
This page/story is about…./tells me that….

First, …. (action in story) and then…… (next action), then (next action). Lastly, (last action, resolution).…

More complex structures:
The main message of the story is….
I conclude this because…….catches my attention because….

Looking at… (detail from image), I get the impression that….

I think this story wants me to realize that….
T he story begins with….Then, …..Afterwards, … because…, the story continues with…, …
Finally, … (more variety of transitions and sentences)
    Dialog structuresExpressing Agreement
I agree with you because I felt/thought….

I also wondered about…/asked myself why….

I also interpreted…. to mean…

Expressing Difference
Interesting. I see this totally differently. I understood (evidence from story)…. to mean.…. because…

I understood/reacted to ….  differently. For me, …… because….

As opposed to your interpretation/prediction/inference/reaction,
I …predicted/inferred/ thought/felt…. because…

I hear you- but I see … (character/problem/…) differently.
For me, … because….

Comparing- contrasting
When I compare your interpretation to mine,

I see we overlap in…. But we see… differently.

While you think…, I think…… Why do you…?
How come?

Even though I agree with you on…. , I interpreted…. differently because… For example, …

Compared to what you said about…., I concluded….

Asking for clarification
What exactly do you mean when you say….?

Let me see if I understand you correctly. You are saying that…..

Am I understanding this correctly? You mean to say…..

Summarizing a peer’s comment
So, in sum, you think…. because….

So, from your perspective, … because….

So, your group interpreted… Therefore, you….

Referring to a section in the book (to provide evidence)
I infer/predict/ conclude that… I say that because on page x….

On page x/, do you see how the illustrator….? That makes me think/conclude/predict/infer that….  That gives me the feeling that…

On the right/left top/bottom/in the middle of page…/, I noticed that…

The…. on page x in the middle caught my attention because… This makes me think/predict/conclude/infer that….
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.

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.