In this edition of What We're Reading, strategies you can use tomorrow, leveraging the assets that ELLS bring, dual language programs, and much more.

We hope you have the opportunity to rest, recuperate, and spend some time with friends and family as we approach the upcoming holiday. 

Teaching and Learning

• From the Ellevation Education Specialist Spotlight blog series, Alabaster City Schools ESL teacher Amanda Rodriguez discusses building teacher autonomy to help support ELLs.

• In a piece featured in the Christian Science Monitor's Equal Ed series, Nobel Ingram highlights how looking at second language as an asset can lead to better integration in schools.

• From the West Jordan Journal, this article serves as a concrete example of the power of peer tutoring programs and how they can benefit all students.

• In The San Diego Tribune, Kristen Taketa reports on an international effort between San Diego and Baja California to write curriculum on how to prepare dual language teachers on both sides of the border.

• Also from the Ellevation Education Specialist Spotlight series, Garland ISD Instructional Coach and Highest Aspirations podcast contributor Bret Gosselin provides some useful tips on how to use technology to support ELL instruction.

 Policy and Practice

• In  a piece published in Edutopia, Conor Williams explores how asset based approaches to dual language programs are experiencing encouraging outcomes, and how others can get started.

• New America's Amaya Garcia interviews early childhood assessment expert Debra Ackerman about Kindergarten Entry Assessments (KEAs) for English Language Learners. 

• In an article published in Forbes, Nancy Lee Sánchez lays out the concrete benefits of recruiting ELL students to university programs.

• In an opinion piece from The 74, Conor Williams discusses ESSA and ELL challenges in Florida, the last state to have its plan approved.

ELL Spotlight

• On the Highest Aspirations podcast, former EL student and Take the Pledge scholarship winner Maria Perez discusses her experience as en EL, the influence of her family and her teachers, and even the book Don Quijote.

• Richmond Confidential's Meiying Wu spotlights Demetrio Gonzalez's journey from immigrant English Language Learner to union president in West Contra Costa Unified School District, CA.

• From The Hechinger Report, Casey Parks reports on the power of soccer to instill hope in immigrant students, and the challenges that must be overcome to ensure they can play.