Category: General

In my previous post, I shared a definition of critical consciousness, along with insights on how it is similar and different from critical thinking skills. I also shared why I think providing meaningful opportunities for students to develop their critical consciousness is important. In this post, I’ll provide an example of how I supported students in exercising their critical consciousness while also helping them to develop their writing skills.

Years ago, while living overseas, I worked as an English foreign language teacher. During that time, I recall working with a diverse group of adolescent students who helped me to understand the importance of providing meaningful opportunities for students to exercise their critical consciousness. While working with this group of students, I routinely began classes with what I called, chats and check-ins. Our chats and check-ins involved engaging students in conversations about how they spent the previous evening, their plans for the week, or current events. This served multiple functions. Some of them included establishing and nurturing relationships with and between students; helping me gain an understanding of student interests, experiences, cultures, and identities so I could create a program that supported their learning needs; nurturing a community of care, and providing meaningful opportunities for them to practice their oral communication skills.

During one of our morning chats and check-ins, some students began complaining about the school facilities which sparked a whole class discussion. Students complained that the WIFI and other computer technology rarely worked, the textbooks we used were dated, the facilities appeared old and shabby, the washrooms were unclean, and the list went on. Listening to their concerns I empathized with them because their concerns were valid. I also knew that many staff members shared similar complaints. I recall one student questioning how he and others were expected to learn within an environment that lacked essential resources or be expected to academically perform within such an uninviting physical space?

Recognizing the validity of their critiques and wanting to support them in exercising their agency, I suggested they write a formal letter of complaint to the school administration. I explained to them that within communities, formal letters of complaint to political leaders had the potential to effect change due to concerned citizens taking the time and effort to draw attention to a community issue and demanding the issue be resolved. I also explained that identifying or complaining about the issue is not enough; they needed to identify what they want to see changed and recommend solutions. I concluded by saying, if they wanted to write a letter of complaint to our school administration, they needed to identify the issues, explain why the issues are concerning then request what they want to see changed and offer possible solutions.

They liked the suggestion. Then for the next week we spent most of our class time drafting, revising, and editing their letters of complaint. To support students, I helped them to define the success criteria, modeled the letter writing process and format, and provided both oral and written constructive feedback at all stages of their writing process. When all students had completed their letters, I delivered them to the school administration.

Weeks later, one of the school administrators visited the class to thank the students for their letters and further discuss their concerns. At the end of the conversation, she committed to working with the school administration team to rectify the issues. In the proceeding months improvements were made to the school. The WIFI worked more consistently, new and updated textbooks were added to the school, and the washrooms were regularly cleaned.

In one of our morning chats and check-ins following these events, we had a discussion where students shared that they were both happy and surprised to see that their complaints were taken seriously and that their letters worked to effect change.

From the experience, I came to better understand that adolescent students are often engaged in serious thinking about their lives, communities, and the spaces where they live and learn. They are also thinking critically about the inequities and injustices present within their lives and communities. The experience also taught me that students need support in understanding that the inequities and injustice they witness and experience need not be tolerated because they possess a critical consciousness that can aid them in effecting change. I see my role as teacher and the role of other teachers is to help student develop their critical consciousness so they not only think critically about the status quo but understanding they can change it through intentional actions.

To better understand how to support the creation of safer schools for two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and additional identities (2SLGBTQ+) educators, this past spring, I enrolled in a course titled Gender, Sexuality and Schooling. This twelve-week course consolidated into six-weeks focused on matters of equity, inclusion, and school reform in relation to sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression among students, families, and educators in Ontario elementary and secondary schools.

During the course, I intentionally chose to focus on learning ways to support 2SLGBTQ+ educators rather than students or families for two reasons. First, as a member of the community I understand that 2SLGBTQ+ educators working within publicly funded school boards do not receive the same or similar levels of support as 2SLGBTQ+ students or families; I believe this in large part may be due to the position that 2SLGBTQ+ educators occupy. Meaning, because they are university educated adults, employed by a publicly funded school board, and part of a union, some may think 2SLGBTQ+ educators already have the knowledge, skills, and support needed to navigate homophobic, biphobic, and transphobic school spaces. Others may see no need to offer support if there are no known 2SLGBTQ+ educators on staff.

Second, from personal and professional experiences in addition to reading the findings from a  2020 Ontario Ministry of Education Review of my school board and a 2023 Employment Systems Review also of my board, I knew that 2SLGBTQ+ educators within my school board were likely to experience forms of homophobia, biphobia, and/or transphobia that negatively impacted their working conditions. As a result, in general, 2SLGBTQ+ educators have deemed schools in my board to be unsafe spaces for them to be out.

In this post, I’ll share an insight that I gained from my course that focuses on the significance of a legislation and policies. I’ll also explain why legislation and policies alone are insufficient supports when it comes to creating safer schools for 2SLGBTQ+ educators. My hope is that the ideas contained in this,  post will aid others who strive to support the work of creating safer schools for 2SLGBTQ+ educator colleagues.

To begin, I’ll clarify the phrase safe schools. To support, I’ll draw on a definition of safe school planning from an article I read during my course titled, Safe, Positive, and Queering Moments in Teacher Education and Schooling: A Conceptual Framework by Tara Goldstein, Vanessa Russell, and Andrea Daley. In the article the authors share that, safe school planning is defined as systematic process to create and maintain a place where students can learn, and teachers can teach in a warm welcoming environment free from intimidation or fear. They further go on say that in the province of Ontario, the Safe Schools Act exemplifies this approach.

Thinking about the safe school planning definition above in collaboration with other institutional documents, I recognize that Ontario schools have the potential to be warm welcoming environments free from intimidation and fear for 2SLGBTQ+ educators due to the Safe Schools Act, ETFO policies, and the human right’s policies and procedures that are part of each school board’s operational guides. For example, under the School Rules: Provincial Code of Conduct section of the Education Act, it states that all students and community members must respect and treat others fairly regardless of their sex, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation.

Policy 88.1 focused on the 2SLGBTQ+ community in ETFO’s Policy Statement document advocates that school boards update their current policy and procedures to ensure the safety and prosperity of 2SLGBTQ+ educators, students, parents, and guardians. ETFO’s policy 88.2 also advocates that members who are 2SLGBTQ+ have the right to an inclusive and respectful working environment that adheres to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Ontario Human Rights Code.

Within my school board, policy 51, focused on human rights, outlines the board’s commitment to providing an inclusive learning and working environment that is free from prejudice and discrimination, upholds the Ontario Human Rights Code, takes intentional steps to actively encourage and foster a culture of respect, dignity, and acknowledges the inherent worth and value of all people and communities.

If the legislation and/or policies I mentioned above are new or unfamiliar, you may consider reviewing them beginning with your board’s human right’s policy because every educator has a responsibility to know and uphold human rights. Your board’s policy should be easily accessible by doing a quick search in your board’s internal employee website. Your principal and/or superintendent should also be familiar with this document, and either be able to provide you with a copy or provide guidance on where you can obtain one.

The significance of this legislation and these policies is that they ensure the human rights of 2SLGBTQ+ educators are protected because they recognize the historical hurt and harm that educators from these communities have experienced in the absence of legislation and policies being in place within and beyond schools. Legislations and policies further remind all educational stakeholders that forms of homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, and an intolerance for diverse forms of gender identity and expression are intolerable within Ontario’s publicly funded schools.

Yet, while I recognize the inherent value and need for legislation and policies to be in place to protect 2SLGBTQ+ educators, I also understand that legislation and policies alone are insufficient without them being put into practice. Meaning, for legislation and policies to be effective, educators from within and beyond the 2SLGBTQ+ community must work to ensure that laws and rules become institutionalized through practices so that educators from these communities can work within schools in the absence of intimidation and fear.

Our union is committed to the work of creating warm, welcoming, and inclusive school spaces for  2SLGBTQ+ members and allies; this is evident from the spring 2SLGBTQ+ Members and Allies Conference, where ETFO leaders created an opportunity for ETFO members from across the province to come together to discuss 2SLGBTQ+ issues with the goal of removing barriers, challenging stereotypes, and addressing discrimination. ETFO leaders also facilitated a non-binary discussion group to support amplifying the voices and specific support needed for non-binary members who experience disproportionate amounts of discrimination and prejudice for not conforming to binary gender constructs and/or expressions.

I think it’s vital that we remain mindful that supporting 2SLGBTQ+ colleagues is an ongoing process that will change as social and political contexts change and that 2SLGBTQ+ educators are the primary group who can determine whether school spaces are warm welcoming environments free from intimidation and fear; therefore, any conversation regarding the cultivation and maintenance of safe schools for 2SLGBTQ+ educators must involve them in some capacity.

Working with some fellow educators this month, we’ve been planning ahead to next year and some of the texts we will be using intentionally with students. We read a lot of different books by different authors and considered what we wanted to discuss.  We chose several different books to read aloud, some favourites, and also some new ones that we wanted to try with students.  It was a fun project!

While we did a lot of thinking and planning around the literacy block, our main focus was on how to layer texts.  Based on our book study of Cultivating Genius by Dr. Gholdy Muhammad, we were intentional about layering each read aloud with different experiences.  In her book, Dr Muhammad highlights the importance of “layering texts – teaching from multiple powerful and multimodal texts.” The addition of multimodal texts can enhance a child’s learning experience and deepen their understanding of themes and topics.  The experience can also help to scaffold knowledge to help students access the information in the book.  Layering texts also offers opportunities to integrate other subject areas with literacy classes and allows children to use a variety of skills in different contexts. While it takes a bit of planning, it is well worth it to cultivate a rich experience for students in literacy. 

While fun, it was also challenging!  Granted, we did plan for approximately 8 texts, so it took us a while to sort through our thinking, explore different options that would work, and develop a cohesive understanding of our goals.  If you are thinking about layering texts in your literacy classes, I hope some of these thoughts will help in your journey.

• Identify the theme of the book.  Be sure to choose other texts that support the theme. Explore the author’s intent and message to ensure you are honouring their work. 
• Consider the conversations you want to have with students. Do they need some scaffolding to enter the conversation or to deepen their understanding? 
• Plan what type of written response you want students to engage in. Perhaps one of the texts you explore will be an example of this. This should also be inspired by the theme and conversations you’re identifying. 
• Prepare a few different modalities, such as lists, illustrations, photos, designs, art, music, video clips, etc.  You may not know your students yet and having a few different ideas can help you to select how they learn best. 

An example might look like: 

         Focus Text

• Eyes that Speak To the Stars
• Author: Joanna Ho
• Illustrator: Dung Ho
  

       Themes to Explore

• Self-acceptance
• Asian heritage and culture
• Family

       Layered Texts

• Non-Fiction: Biography/Fun Facts from the author’s website
• Picture book: A Family is A Family is a Family (Author: Sara O’Leary Illustrator: Qin Leng), The Best Part of Me (Author & Illustrator: Wendy Ewald)
• Visuals: Maps of Asia, Maps of the world
• Music: Sesame Street: I Love My Family
• Companion books in series: Eyes that Weave the World’s Wonders, Eyes that Kiss at the Corners

       Writing Extensions

• Fun Facts Lists: All About Me or All About My Family
• Illustrate: Family Tree
• Journal: Where is your family from?  What is your heritage? 
• Poster: Illustrate and describe what you love about yourself and why. 

In this example, you’ll notice I found several different texts to support the different themes through different modalities.  I’ve also brainstormed different writing experiences and my layered texts support student learning about the themes and the writing forms.  This type of plan provides space for responding to the students’ identities and learning styles.  As an educator, I would choose a few of these activities to take place over one week to help build your lesson. 

I’m so excited to see how these lessons work next school year.  It’s always exciting to try something new and even better when educators can collaborate together!

 

Democracy works best when people are informed and motivated to participate in the electoral process. As an educator I have the responsibility of informing my students about the workings of a democracy. I believe students are more likely to participate in a democracy if they can understand it and are willing to have their voices heard by voting, volunteering or working during elect

Apathy, on the other hand, is the enemy of democracy. When a population is not engaged in the electoral process, they are putting their democracy in danger. I want my students to see what can happen when countries are not democracies. And I want them to see how they can participate in the democratic process.

This may seem a heavy topic for students in elementary school, but Elections Canada has prepared age appropriate materials that are available to order online at no cost. These materials give lesson plans and activities to help young children understand democracy.

For students in kindergarten to grade 3, there is a kit called Choosing a Mascot. In this case, there are five choices of mascots that a school has proposed and students would create a campaign for a mascot and see it through to voting day. The kit includes a teacher’s guide, ballot box, voting screen, and posters.

The other kit available is an Election Simulation Toolkit which is based on the big idea: “Our democracy depends on each of us taking part in federal elections. There are many ways to do this. Here are a few of them: vote for a candidate, join a political party, work as an election officer, run as a candidate, volunteer to help a campaign”.

Ontario has experienced a provincial and a federal election this year. I think students of all ages in the elementary and secondary panels would be interested in learning more about the process and how to maintain a healthy democracy.

You may be wondering which part of the curriculum the electoral process would fit into if it’s not specifically in your social studies curriculum. I see potential for the language curriculum and the math curriculum to be integrated into this learning. There is an opportunity for students to write and reflect on the electoral process and on the candidates. There is also an opportunity in math to look at statistics and analyze how many electors have voted in previous Canadian elections. In mathematics, we can analyze data from previous elections and display data in graphs. And we can also look at the percentage of people who have come out to vote in various elections. On the Elections Canada website, you can also see the number of votes for different candidates in previous elections, including the results in your own riding.

Please use this link to place your order for free materials from Elections Canada.

https://electionsanddemocracy.ca/

Happy Voting!

Brenda

 

 

 

When I think about student success, I often think about academic achievement first. But strong learning skills are just as important for every learner. This year, in my new role, I have noticed that, regardless of a student’s abilities or background, learning skills is a common area where my students need support. More specifically in taking initiative. Initiative isn’t just about asking questions and showing your curiosity of learning. It’s about acting on ideas, seeking out opportunities, making decisions that support growth, and advocating for oneself.

I remember a student once shared, “I don’t have initiative. It’s hard for me to speak up.” Another student said it came naturally to them, describing initiative as “helping someone.” They were both right. Initiative can look different for everyone. I think at its core, it is about communicating needs, making decisions that support your growth such as asking for help, and being willing to take risks.

In my primary and junior classrooms, I would dedicate time, multiple times throughout the year, to explore all the learning skills, focusing on one each week. We would discuss what each skill was, what it looked like in action, and how it could help them succeed both in and out of school.

For all students, building initiative lays the foundation for independence, resilience, and learning. When students learn to take initiative, they become more engaged in their education and are better prepared to handle challenges. So how do we encourage and support taking initiative?

This year I found myself supporting in writing Individual Education Plans (IEP) goals for students in the gifted/enhance learning program, specifically in the area of learning Skills and taking initiative. The goals focused on seeking enrichment opportunities beyond the classroom and developing self-advocacy skills by expressing preferences for demonstrating work in alternative ways. Other goals included focusing on communicating understanding of the task and advocating for preferred method of demonstrating knowledge with more independence.

One way you can support goals such as these are by creating a classroom culture that nurtures self-advocacy and initiative. For example, we can offer students choice in how they learn and demonstrate understanding. In the classroom, that might look like allowing them to decide whether to create a poster, record a video, or write a report for a project honors their individual learning styles and encourages decision making. Another important strategy is asking open-ended questions that prompt students to reflect on their needs and preferences. Questions like, “How can you show me what you’ve learned in a way that works best for you?” or “What do you need to feel successful in this task?” invite students to think critically and advocate for themselves. We can also prompt and encourage students to get involved in and out of classroom initiatives that might be of interest to them.

Integrating self-advocacy and initiative into everyday learning makes these skills more tangible and relevant. Integrating a task such as “My Learning Journal”, where students reflect on their favorite ways to learn, challenges they’ve overcome, and what helps them succeed, help students understand themselves better and practice articulating their needs and preferences. Throughout the reflections, asking guiding questions such as, “What does this page say about how you learn?” or “How can you make this journal truly yours?” will deepen engagement and ownership.

Teaching initiative is not only about giving students a voice-it’s about helping them discover and use it. By creating opportunities for choice, asking thoughtful questions, and integrating self-expression into classroom activities, we nurture confident learners who are prepared to advocate for themselves throughout their educational journey and beyond.

 

 

Every year, in my role in Equity & Inclusion, I preview and read through many books.  Children’s books, like picture books and novels, but also professional reading about pedagogy and educator learning.  I love reading and thinking and learning, but this year I’ve been extending some of that reflecting to conversations with educators about what they are looking for in a novel or a story to share with students.  Oftentimes, our department is asked to recommend a book that we love – and there are oh SO many books that I love!  I could rattle off a long list of titles at any given time, but I think it’s more important to engage in thinking about what it is we’re looking for when we are sharing a book with students. 

This year I’ve started to ask educators more about their opinions and thoughts about choosing a great book. Through engaging in these conversations, I’ve learned a lot about different perspectives and purposes for a really great book.  I’d love to share some of my learning from these conversations. 

Time of Year

At the beginning of the year, most often educators are looking for books that help nurture a love of reading for the children.  It’s usually something exciting or heartfelt, easily accessible language, and relatable for the students.  Reading a text with students helps to create a community of learners, engage in sharing easy conversations, and open discussions about reading.  Later in the year, these text selections might look differently.  Perhaps we know a little more about our students’ identities or what they like to read about, genres they prefer, authors love, and styles they find interesting.  Choices might be more tailored to the students’ voices and opinions. Some educators are looking for a few different options so that students can choose the next book.  As students learn and grow throughout the year, educators adapt to who they are becoming and the parts of themselves that they share with us. 

Purpose

Representation is a common request.  When educators know more about students, families, and identities they hold they will strive to offer texts that are mirrors for the students.  They want to create a classroom culture where students feel represented in joy and living authentically true to themselves. Educators may also be seeking out a text that provides perspective on an event, such as a historical event, and they are looking for an engaging way to humanize that time period. This might be historical fiction or nonfiction biographies, for example. Sometimes educators are looking for identity specific books to open conversations with students about different systems of oppression. These texts take a little more thought and selection because they can resurface trauma or be conducive to emotionally charged conversations.  Preparing the classroom to be as safe as possible for all can take some time to anticipate and prepare with care.  Selecting the right text for these purposes requires more care, planning, and cultivation of relationships before reading. 

Conversations

Choosing a text that has the opportunity to engage in conversations is another important consideration.  Whether we’re modeling comprehension strategies, such as predicting or whether we’re building the opportunity to share personal opinions about the book, the best part of  a read aloud is the conversations that educators can have with students. It’s such a great opportunity to engage in learning together in a way that allows students to share their ideas with others, practice listening skills, and to learn about each other.  It does take a moment to anticipate what the conversation will sound like; however, it also means that we need to be flexible in the direction that students want to go with the conversation. When choosing a text for this purpose, educators consider the types of conversations they want to have with students and plan the questions they would like to ask. 

Choosing a read aloud to share with students can be a thought provoking exercise.  Many educators I work with make intentional choices about texts, always considering the students through different lenses and perspectives.  Whatever our purpose is for choosing a great book to read together, every educator centres student experiences at the forefront of their planning. 

What would some of your considerations be when thinking about choosing a text to share?

Community services often rely on volunteers. Teachers tend to have a fantastic set of skills to pitch in and help. I’ve had a few different volunteer jobs over the years and I’ve also had times when there was absolutely no time to volunteer for my community.

Volunteering can be something where working with children is all fun and games. There are local organizations in my community that work with children with all kinds of needs. I’ve seen people volunteering with kids who need help downhill skiing. There are volunteers who help students learn musical instruments or singing. There are volunteers who take kids on nature walks and other outdoor pursuits. Of course there are also opportunities to coach various sports or artistic endeavors. But teachers do not have to volunteer with children. Our skills transfer to all kinds of folks.

At times in my life when I couldn’t volunteer on a regular basis, I would sometimes clean up garbage around local parks. Just taking a few minutes to help can make a big difference. I would notice the litter when taking our dog or children to the local park or beach. Some of those volunteer efforts gave the whole family a chance to pitch in.

Working with adults has volunteer possibilities as well. I play a little bit of guitar, just enough to sound impressive to kindergarten children, but I’ve decided to work on it a little more and play during a sing-along time with a local group of adults. Some of the folks in this group have issues with their health and/or have very little income. They attend this group to have a sense of community, share some snacks, sing some songs, and play a game of bingo where everyone gets a prize. It’s a wonderful place to make friends.

Maintaining the work/life balance can be tricky and sometimes volunteering needs to take a backseat. A break from volunteering had to occur whenever I needed to focus on my physical or mental health. There were also times when my commitments to family and work outweighed my ability to volunteer.

I’m at a stage in life that gives me more time for volunteering than I’ve ever had before and I’m grateful for the opportunities. There are so many ways to volunteer and help our communities be wonderful places to live. Hospitals, nursing homes, arts classes and recreation programs are just a few places where we can meet like-minded people. We can’t always give our time but let’s keep an open mind for the right time to lend a hand.

Happy Volunteering,

(When the time is right)

Brenda

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a longtime educator and of Multilingual Language Learners (MLLs, also known as English Language Learners or ELLs) and a lead in my board for ESL/ELD programming, I have been in an incredibly privileged position to learn and implement Ministry policy in Ontario schools. And while I am certain there are more resources and professional development opportunities in the field than ever, many misconceptions about supporting MLLs still persist.

This article is all about clearing the air – here are four common myths about teaching MLLs in Ontario, and what educators should understand in order to align pedagogy to policy and best practices.

Myth #1: Newcomer Students should Learn English First Before Learning other Subjects

Reality: Newcomer MLLs, even in the early Steps to English Proficiency (STEP), can and should learn alongside their peers in every subject. MLLs are acquiring the language of instruction and learning the Ontario curriculum at the same time.

There is no policy or guideline that suggests a baseline level of English proficiency is needed for an ELL to learn the same subjects as their peers. There are, however, many policy supported program adaptations – including modifications and accommodations – that teachers should put in place to provide entry points into grade-level curriculum.

MLLs, especially those in the junior and intermediate grades, bring a wide range of skills and lived experiences to Ontario classrooms. It is important to empower MLLs to leverage their multilingual literacy and numeracy skills to engage with the same curriculum as their peers: this could mean using translation tools, working with same language speaking peers, or having language output goals aligned with their level of English proficiency.

Myth #2: English Learners should Learn English before French

Reality: English language learners can do as well as, and even outperform their Canadian-born peers in FSL programs.

I think the assumption that ELLs should be exempt from French stems from the idea that they should be using that time to learn English instead, or that older elementary-aged newcomer students have already missed too much French instruction to be successful. “Welcoming English Language Learners into French as a Second Language Programs, published by the Ministry of Education in 2016, shares research about ELLs in FSL programs that shows how they are uniquely positioned to be successful in French classrooms.

Furthermore, older ELLs transitioning to secondary school that have received less than 600 hours of French instruction can be supported through courses like FSF1O, also known as the open course. FSF 1O is an introductory course intended for students who have NOT accumulated a minimum of 600 hours of French instruction by the end of Grade 8, regardless of attendance or language proficiency.

Closing a pathway to French instruction to newcomer MLLs is inequitable, and removes an opportunity for students to learn an additional language.

Myth #3: Teachers Must Always Modify Curriculum and check the ESL/ELD box on the report card  for Students in STEP 1 and 2.

Reality: There is no policy or guideline that states students in the early Steps to English Proficiency (STEPs) must receive modifications, though it is highly likely they would benefit from modifications and other program adaptations at that point in their language acquisition. As per Growing Success (p. 76), the box is checked to indicate only when modifications have been made to curriculum expectations to address the language learning needs of English language learners.

Growing Success policy (p. 77) also states, “It is essential for all educators to understand the distinction between modifications and accommodations as well as the importance of providing either or both, as needed, to English language learners. These measures contribute to fairness and social justice for many students in an increasingly multicultural environment.”

Around report card time, I often get the question – “should I check the ESL/ELD box on the report card for all ELLs and STEPs 1 and 2?” The answer to this question is always nuanced, because it is not really an “yes” or “no” response. It depends on evidence of student learning and what we learn as educators from ongoing assessment for learning.

Simply clicking the ESL/ELD box on the report card without understanding the program adaptations that have been made for an ELL is not a best practice. The better question to ask is whether or not the student is receiving modifications to overall curriculum expectations. For many MLLs in the early STEPs, they may very well be – but perhaps not in every subject. For example, in a class like physical education, where the learning is interactive, the student may only need accommodations. The same thing may also be true for students in the Kindergarten program, where much of the learning is play-based.

The takeaway? If you are wondering whether or not to check the ESL/ELD box, consider what program adaptations you have made to make the curriculum accessible to the MLLs you teach. There is no “blanket rule” for modifying for MLLs or checking the ESL/ELD box on the report card.

Myth #4: MLLs Cannot be Considered for Special Education Needs until they have been in School for at Least 5-7 Years

Reality: There is no policy document that states that MLLs must be in school in Canada for any length of time in order to be considered for Special Education Support.

While it can take 5-7 years for newcomer ELLs to catch up to the same academic language proficiency as their peers (Supporting English Language Learners, p. 11), that time frame should not be a determining metric for considering MLLs with possible education needs. Such considerations should always be made on a case-by-case basis, looking closely at the student’s individual portrait, background, cultural funds of knowledge, and programming being implemented in the school and classroom.

MLLs are just as likely as any other group of students to have special education needs, and it is important to identify those needs using the processes and tools available in your board. It is also essential to take the right amount of time to observe the student to determine whether or not their areas of concern are related to language acquisition.