The Black Apple-Episode 11: ELL and the Language of the Classroom

MLK Day is around the corner. How do you plan to celebrate? What action steps are you taking? And how do you plan to teach the concepts of social justice to mark such an important day? Not sure to any of these answers...well then take a listen!

Building empathy is very important for me as a teacher. I knew that students hadn't gained a deep understanding of privilege, so I took the time to do an activity that exercised my students' notion of privilege meanwhile giving them the knowledge of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

September is Hispanic Heritage Month. This month, I've been covering a person influential to hispanic heritage every week, with an in-depth study. Hear how I taught about Frida Kahlo and her message of self-love.

In this episode, I talk about what happens when you include parents to be apart of the learning process. You'll hear a story from my actual classroom that I have today and what I learned about inclusion and family engagement.

DACA was recently eliminated and teachers have questions about how to teach DACA to their students. Hear what I did in my classroom and how talking about current events is important.

English Language Learners are a growing part of our school communities. How can we learn to teach ELL students effectively while keeping true to their authentic culture?

After the radical racist protest of Charlottesville, I examine what we as educators can do to teach students about racist acts of violence. Our job as educators is to help the next generation of students to make better choices and change their viewpoints when it comes to diversity and difference. We have to now teach diversity and inclusion to another level in order to prevent another tragedy from happening.

The reality is that you will have a child who identifies as LGBTQ in your classroom. How will you nurture that student just like any other child in your class? I talk about ways to bring the LGBTQ perspective to your classroom in order to build your cultural competency.

I talk about the merger between mental health and education. In order for us to be quality educators, we have to learn how to evaluate who we are and the status of who we are, and react accordingly. I give you some practical tips and suggestions to how to make this work in your work-life balance.

Educators are some of the best people to have in your corner. However, sometimes drama can get in the way of educating kids. Learn how to deal with judgemental colleagues and create a positive student-centered environment.