Iâll begin posting new questions and answers in early September, and during the summer will be sharing thematic posts bringing together responses on similar topics from the past six years. You can see all those collections from the first five years here.
Here are the ones Iâve posted so far:
This Yearâs Most Popular Q&A Posts
Best Ways To Begin The School Year
Best Ways To End The School Year
Student Motivation & Social Emotional Learning
Todayâs theme is on Teaching English-Language Learners. You can see the list following this excerpt from one of them:
* Teaching ELLs to Write Academic Essays
Tan Huynh, Vicky Giouroukakis, Maureen Connolly, Margo Gottlieb, and Ivannia Soto share suggestions on assisting English-language learners with academic writing skills.
*Home Language Support âHelps Learners Navigate Both Worldsâ
Anna Bartosik, Nathan Hall, Chloe Smith, and Beth Konomoto wrap this three-part series up with their suggestions about the role of an ELL studentâs home language in the classroom.
* Understanding the Benefits of a Studentâs Home Language
Rosa Isiah, Tan Huynh, Karen Nemeth, and Sarah Thomas contribute their ideas on the role of English-language learnersâ home language in school.
* ELL Studentsâ Home Language Is an Asset, Not a âBarrierâ
Melissa Eddington, Wendi Pillars, Tracey Flores, Sandy Ruvalcaba Carrillo, and Mary Ann Zehr offer their thoughts on the role of an ELL studentâs home language in the classroom.
* Response: Ways to Help ELLs Learn Pronunciation
Wendi Pillars, Paul Boyd-Batstone, Ivannia Soto, Judie Haynes, Diane Mora, Eugenia Mora-Flores, and many readers offer suggestions on how to help English-language learners develop good pronunciation skills.
* Effective Strategies for ELL Error Correction
Anabel Gonzalez, Katie Brown, Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, David Freeman, and Yvonne Freeman, and readers, offer suggestions on how to handle error correction with English-language learners.
* Teaching English-Language Learners With Special Needs
Frank E. Vargo, Cindy Pirro Vargo, Donna DeTommaso-Kleinert, Susan Hillyard, and a reader contribute their thoughts on how to support ELLs with special needs.
* Ways to Support ELLs With Special Needs
Maria Montalvo, Beverly Maxwell, Ann Wilson, and Jennie Farnell share their suggestions on how to support English-language learners with special needs.
* Building Relationships With Families of ELLs
Rusul Alrubail, Anna Bartosik, Jordan Lanfair, Anabel Gonzalez, Karen Nemeth, and Judie Haynes offer suggestions on how to engage with parents of English-language learners.
* Teaching ELLs That âScience Is a Verbâ
Maria Grant, Diana Lapp, Judy Reinhartz, Lori Fulton, Brian Campbell, and Laura Cabrera contribute their ideas on using the Next Generation of Science Standards with English-language learners.
* Teaching Science to English-Language Learners
Alicia Johal, Maria Montalvo-Balbed, Donna Barrett-Williams, Caleb Cheung, Laura Prival, Claudio Vargas, and Ariane Huddleston share their suggestions on using the NGSS with English-language learners.
* Helping English-Language Learners to âSurvive & Thriveâ
Mary Cappellini, Ekuwah Moses, Giselle Lundy-Ponce, Pamela Mesta, Olga Reber, and Heather Wolpert-Gawron contribute their suggestions about teaching ELLs.
* Teach English-Language Learners by Meeting Them âWhere They Areâ
Wendi Pillars, Annie Huynh, Regie Routman, William Himmele, and PĂ©rsida Himmele share their advice on teaching English-language learners.
* Donât Leave English-Language Learners âIn The Coldâ
Educators Sonia Nieto, Alicia LĂłpez, Diane Staehr Fenner, Sydney Snyder, Katie Brown, Judie Haynes, and Virginia Rojas share their suggestions on how we can encourage our colleagues to face the challenge of teaching ELLs âface-on.â
* Ways to Encourage Support for English-Language Learners
Diane Mora, John Wolfe, Toby Karten, Armine Spoelstra, Kirke H. Olson, and Rick Murry share there thoughts.
* ELLs & The Common CoreâPart One
Educators Wendi Pillars, Virginia Rojas, Debbie Zacarian, and Maria Montalvo-Balbed contribute their responses.
* Supporting ELLs in The Common Core Era
Kathryn Haydon, Dr. Lindsey Moses, and Lori DiGisi contribute their thoughts. Iâve also included comments from readers.
* Strategies For Vocabulary InstructionâPart One
This post includes suggestions from Katie Brown, Jane Fung, Marilee Sprenger, and Karen Bromley.
* Vocabulary Instruction Is More Than Giving âA List of Wordsâ
This column highlights commentaries from Camille Blachowicz, Charlene Cobb, Katherine S. McKnight, Nicole Zuerblis, and Susan Chenelle.
* Ten Principles for Vocabulary Instruction
Laura Robb and Amy Benjamin share their thoughts, and I also include readersâ comments.
* Teaching Strategies for ELLs in Content ClassesâPart One
This post shares responses from four experienced educators: Judie Haynes, Mary Ann Zehr, BĂĄrbara C. Cruz, and Stephen J. Thornton.
* âEvery Teacher Is a Language Teacherâ
Margo Gottlieb, Maria Montalvo-Balbed, and Tracey Takuhama-Espinosa contribute their ideas. In addition, Iâve shared responses from readers.
* Ways to Teach Common-Core Math to ELLs
Educators Bill Zahner, Ben Spielberg, Gladis Kersaint, Denisse R. Thompson, Maria Montalvo-Balbed, and Denise Huddlestun share their suggestions for how teachers can best handle this challenge.
* To Help ELLs, We Need to Understand âHow Language Learning Worksâ
Staff from Stanfordâs âUnderstanding Language,â Mary Cappellini and Paul Boyd-Batstone share their thoughts in this post. I also include comments from readers.
* âRespecting Assets That ELLs Bring to a School Communityâ
Four educatorsâKaren Nemeth, Judie Haynes, David Deubelbeiss and Julie Goldmanâprovide guest responses here.
* Many Ways to Help Students Develop Academic Vocabulary
Several educator/authorsâMarilee Sprenger; Jane Hill and Kirsten Miller; and Maria Gonzalezâprovide guest responses.
* Helping Long-Term ELLâs & Evaluating ELL Teachers Fairly
Katie Hull Sypnieski, the best teacher Iâve ever seen in the classroom, and staff from the American Federation of Teachers researching teacher evaluation contribute their responses.
* Ways the âNext Generationâ of Standardized Tests Should Treat ELLâs
Representatives from the two groups of states preparing the new assessments, the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium, or SBAC, and The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers Consortium, or PARCC, contribute responses.
I hope youâve found this summary useful and, again, keep those questions coming!