Episode 173 - Brain Science Meets the Classroom: A Conversation with Dr. Lisa Riegel
As teachers, we are incredibly well-trained in structure, curriculum, and how to organize the day-to-day of teaching. But what about the human side of the classroom—for both our students and ourselves...
31 Maalis 34min
Episode 172. Why Your EL Lessons Feel Scattered (and How Backward Design Fixes It)
In this episode, I’m diving into lesson planning and introducing a process called backward design, which is a truly great way to plan for our English Learner (EL) students. You will hear how backward ...
24 Maalis 18min
Episode 171. Stop Planning Everything: A Simpler Way to Plan for Multilingual Learners
In this episode, I dive into a common source of overwhelm for EL teachers: overplanning. The pressure to adapt content-area lesson plans for multilingual learners often leads us to try to plan everyth...
17 Maalis 27min
Episode 170. The 30–60–90 Minute Planning Framework for ELL Teachers
Today, I’m sharing a simple but powerful structure—the 30–60–90 Minute Planning Framework—to help EL teachers stop the spiral of overplanning and find clarity, even during busy seasons like testing. I...
10 Maalis 21min
Episode 169. How to teach listening (not just speaking) to ELs
Today I'm diving into a topic I believe is foundational to everything we do in our classrooms: listening. Communication breakdowns are often about what wasn't fully heard. In the first part of the epi...
24 Helmi 25min
Episode 168. When “You’re the Expert” Becomes Too Much: Decision Fatigue in EL Teaching
In this episode we tackle the pervasive issue of decision fatigue among educators, specifically focusing on teachers of multilingual learners (ELs). We redefine decision fatigue not as a result of bei...
17 Helmi 25min
Episode 167. When ELs Freeze, Shut Down, or Give Up: What Testing Reveals About the Emotional Side of Language Learning
In this episode, we address the overlooked emotional dimension of language testing, exploring why English Learners (ELs) may "freeze, shut down, or give up" during high-stakes assessments like ACCESS....
10 Helmi 16min
Episode 166. Preparing ELs for ACCESS Without Panic: What to Teach, What to Let Go, and How to Stay Regulated
ACCESS season can quietly shift the energy in our classrooms—bringing urgency, pressure, and the feeling that we should be doing more. More prep. More drills. More fixing. But let's talk about prepari...
3 Helmi 21min
