COVER REVEAL I've been working on something exciting...actually, a dream -- my journey in picture books! Milly’s Journey — (4 BILINGUAL book series) Serie description: From a small village in Guatemala to a snowy street in America, this is the powerful true story of one girl’s journey to reunite with her mother—and the dreams and hopes she carried along the way. Milly grows up helping her family, selling oranges, and dreaming of becoming a teacher. When Mama leaves for America, Milly holds onto her letters like treasures. Years later, when the time comes to cross borders and brave the unknown, Milly packs more than clothes—she carries memories, hope, and love in every step. Told with poetry, heart, and courage, Milly’s Journey is a series of stories of resilience, family, and the strength it takes to follow your dreams—even when the road is long. Milly’s Journey: Where the Dreams Take Root / El Trayecto de Milly: Donde los Sueños Echan Raíces  From making tortillas to classrooms, from orange baskets to big dreams—this is the true story of a little girl with a very big heart. Milly grew up in Guatemala helping her family, walking long miles to school, and dreaming of becoming a teacher. With courage in her feet and hope in her heart, she discovers the power of learning, hard work, and never giving up. Where the Dreams Take Root is a moving picture book about resilience, family, and the roots and dreams that carry us forward. Milly’s Journey: The Letters in my Backpack / El Trayecto de Milly: Las Cartas en mi Mochila  When Mama leaves for America, Milly holds on to her letters — and to hope. Every envelope carries a piece of Mama’s love. And when the time comes to cross borders and skies to reunite with her, Milly packs more than clothes—she carries memories, courage, and dreams stitched into every word. Inspired by a true journey, The Letters in My Backpack is a tender and powerful story about family separation, bravery, and the love that connects us across any distance. In Progress.....Stay tuned! I cannot wait to share more information soon. I have several families reading book 1 and book 2 -- BETA readers will provide valuable feedback to edit the book.
The expected day of release for Book 1 is July 1st so mark your calendar!!
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I had never had to do this before but this school year I had to. Several of our newcomers (1-2 years in the US) are failing my Math I inclusion course so I had to do something about it. After watching my co-teacher implementing strategies and methods to make content accessible and using home language to access content, our newcomers were still failing the course. So, I decided to call our students' parents and bringing into the plan to ensure students' success. I called all our newcomers' parents who were failing and scheduled a patent/teacher conference. Of course, not all were able to come to campus to meet with me, so I scheduled a few home visits. Before meeting with family, I created a folder for each student and it included a "parents in the web" form (see below) with students' strengths's and grades per course taking during school year 2024-2025. We celebrated courses passed during Fall semester and analyzed current grades during Semester 2. Meetings: Shoutout to Dr. Anderson for sharing this awesome handout I modified & translated. This Reflections & Goal Settings handout is amazing (see below)!
TOGETHER we drafted a plan & actions moving forward — LOVED hearing caregivers input & actions to collaborate with us!! I cannot wait to complete these conferences & continue seeing our students grow linguistically, socially, culturally, emotionally, personally, AND academically!  If you like this form and is something you'd like to use with your students' parents, HERE is link that allows you to make a copy and use as you like.
I'd love to hear from you if you decide having these conferences and using this form. We're in this togethers! This is why I'm sharing not only my experiences but also my resources. Thank you for reading! Just in case you are keeping up with my doctorate journey...I'd like to share my strategies to assignments. As an English language learner, I am always applying strategies I teach my students to be successful in literature assignments. Here's my stamina strategy: I had to read a 29 page article and annotate... This week, my homework assignment consisted on reading 2 articles (lengthy), and 2 chapters from our Critical Thinking book, and respond to our readings SUBSTANTIVELY! Anyway, as soon as I saw the assignments my I felt a knot in my stomach…SO MUCH!!! My ELL brain quickly dismissed my potential and fear took over me. But, fear is just an emotion! I’ve taught my students how to target lengthy texts…including text above their grade level.
  And so it begins...the Doctoral journey is real now!! After 12 years teaching ESL and 20 years in Cab Co. Schools, I am beginning a new educational journey - Doctorate in Educational Leadership for Diverse Learning Communities. I will be attending Molloy University in NY but my program is all online. Of course, I will be attending part-time and it will probably take me 5-10 years but I am ok with this. I have 10-12 years left in the classroom and I will be prepared by the time I am done teaching in classrooms. When I grow up, I want to be a college professor. I want to teach future educators and also provide professional development to teachers in districts who need PDs. I am very excited for this journey and I'm so blessed to have many friends on my corner who are offering their support. It is also exciting to see my children's reaction to this news. My 10 year-old daughter said, "wow! You'll be Doctor Francis?" and my son who lives in TX received a text with the news and THIS was his respond - I'm a blessed mommy!  My students and former students are also excited for me. They have sent countless messages congratulating me and sharing their admiration for my journey.
If you are reading this, THANK YOU! I know this is just a personal post but I wanted my readers to connect with me in all I do. My Doctoral student life will be something I will be sharing with you all so stay tuned. Thank you for reading! Yours In equity, Emily  You are invited to attend a Zoom book study interest meeting on Thursday, November 14th, 2024. During the interest meeting we will discuss the format of our book study and dive into the book's forward by Cornelius Minor and the introduction of the book. This conversation will help you decide if you want to participate in our book study. No need to get the book until you know you're participating...although I HIGHLY recommend getting this book. The book: Nourishing Caregiver Collaborations: Elevating Home Experiences and Classroom Practices for Collective Care by Nawal Qarooni - (read all about the amazing author) Caregiver collaborations and/or family engagement is a topic so close to my heart. Teachers, schools, and districts are always searching for ways to increase family engagement and collaboration with students' parents and caregivers -- Well, here's a great opportunity to learn how to do this important work...but it starts with knowledge and understanding of BEST PRACTICES. If you want to join this book study, you can comment below this post or email me at [email protected] I hope you join us!!! Update: Check out this video with all the book study information! Yours In Equity 
Tell the Story Podcast
I couldn't think of a better way to wrap up the school year with my newcomer students than by creating a podcast!
I am ending the school year with 16 newcomers. This is my students' first year in the US and their first course to learn English as an additional language, acculturate, and begin their immersion in the US school system. Throughout the school year, we engaged in many lessons where students had the opportunity to grow emotionally, academically, linguistically, and socially. Stories after stories and activities after activities, my students had the space and time to process their experiences and continue developing their identity as learners while making connections and creating interactions. The core of everything we do in my newcomers' course is HUMANITY. Growing and developing our humanity FIRST is more important than anything else. I hope you enjoy listening to their learning experiences. Process:
This is my ________ school year in the US. I am in _________ class. My first favorite lesson this school year (semester) was _____________, because ___________. My second favorite lesson this school year (semester) was __________, because ____________. My third favorite lesson this school year (semester) was __________, because _____________. My least favorite lesson this school year (semester) was __________, because ______________. This was (a great) OR (not great) class because __________________.
If you choose to do this, let me know! I'd love to hear your class's episodes. Thank you for reading! This post is wrapping up the writing lessons I've shared in three previous posts. My newcomers are finishing up their first semester in the US and I wanted to demonstrate how capable and successful they can be with writing and demonstrating their understanding. As I stated in my previous post, my newcomers are at all different levels for writing. Some can write in English on their own, others just need a little support from peers, while others need teacher support to guide their writing. Because all students are at different levels, I incorporated an activity for all students to complete while we were finishing up our final essay draft. The editing process for newcomers DOES NOT need to be complicated. Do NOT make it too much that they can't handle because is too overwhelming. My editing process was simple and doable. The goal was to have peer and teacher reviews. This allows newcomers to feel empowered because they edit a peer's work. Objective: I can make my summary better by having my peers and my teacher edit my writing. This objective was comprehensible and doable by all students. We discussed that "edit" is simply reading and fixing what you think needs to be fixed. I modeled it with a paragraph adding periods, fixing capital letters, adding commas, fixing misspelled words, etc. Minor edits! Students changed papers with a peer and they all received a PEN. I instructed them to NOT erase anything but to write over the written work that needed to be edited. Some students used Google Translate to verify some spellings and that was OK! Working at their own pace
This is POST #2 of three different posts
Read post #1 (It's not Magic) AND #3 (Editing Writing Process with Newcomer)
The Process - Part II
~ "Reading is like breathing in; Writing in like Breathing out" ~ These were the words that helped me understand that the language lessons I provide to my students go hand-in-hand with the language I require them to produce. I understand that my job as an educator is to make my students fall in love with language, words, stories, and imagination. I must maintain classroom walls dripping with language produced by them as a resource as they develop their language domains. I encourage you to read Ms. Allyn's article HERE.
So, with this in mind, here's the next part of the process that led to my newcomers producing the amazing writing I mentioned in Part I. 
First, I want to state that this was an improvised lesson and planned overnight.
I was in my English II inclusion class when I looked over our Vietnamese newcomer's shoulder who was looking up on Google "What is a summary?" to complete his assignment. I realized that even if he translated the word "summarize" into his home language, he still didn't know the skill. I did not doubt that I had to cover this skill in my newcomers' class. I started the day with our newcomers by having students write their "I can statement" which stated that we were writing a summary. I didn't want to intimidate or discourage students from having to write. I wanted them to feel successful from the beginning. I explained that a summary is just "telling the story in your own words". No grammar complications. Some might say that I need to offer more structure or a more grammatical approach. However, I advise NOT to complicate the process for beginner students. They are in the entering stages of producing language, so we don't want to make them feel that there are too many hurdles to jump through to share our thoughts on writing. In the next lesson, you'll see how editing processes allow room for grammar and more to better their writing. I read the story out loud again, but this time it was the entire story. I had students follow along with me on the screen or in their paper magazines. Once in a while, I'd stop and they would have to say the word I left out. Again, as I'm reading, there's interaction with simple Q&A, hand gestures, body language, sounds, laughter, and excitement. Next, I posted a blank piece of chart paper and told them that to be able to summarize the story, we needed to pull the most important words from the story since we were NOT using the article to summarize it. The list of words we were pulling from the article was about to become the foundation of the events of the story we want to tell in our own words. To keep them engaged and accountable, I had them also write the words on a black piece of paper so they would have them with them. I told them that I was going to read again and STOP at the end of a paragraph to make a list of ONLY the most important words needed to retell important events. I'd circle the paragraph and say, "Tell me what is an important word that can help us make a sentence." - Students would blur out words (some good - some not so good) but I'd validate the words that would go with the events that were essential/important in the story. As a teacher, you must know that there are parts in the text that are not essential to the story. If you take that part out of the story and it doesn't affect/change the meaning/plot of the story, then it's not important. Otherwise, you'd end up with way too many words for students to follow. As students were telling me words, I'd write them on the chart paper until I ran out of room and we got to the end of the story. I tried using a different color marker for each paragraph so they'd remember that it was a different event or paragraph in the story. I pointed to each word and I read them out loud. Then, I had them read them with me. 
We are going strong! #PLC4Newcomers Our PLC for teachers of newcomer students for this school year is going strong. From January to May, we've had a wonderful time meeting on a monthly basis and learning from fantastic guest speakers who willingly joined us to share their expertise with us. Below you'll find links to our meetings as we wrap up our 2022-2023 school year. Be sure to share this YouTube playlist with all your teacher friends. All sessions are available HERE. If you decide to join our monthly meetings, complete this form: bit.ly/PLC4Newcomers2022 Stay tuned for our summer meetings!!
 Follow the research! The first time I heard/read about Virginia P. Collier’s research on second language acquisition was during my first English as a Second Language course in college. I was blown away by the research that language, culture, and academic development MUST be supported SIMULTANEOUSLY not in isolation. Read “Promoting Academic Success for ESL Students” book to learn more about this research and more. As soon as I began working as an ESL teacher, I began practicing this research & sharing it with my colleagues. I came to realize that to practice this research, collaboration with mainstream educators was IMPERATIVE. My first co-teaching experience was intimidating but wonderful. We even ended up looping from 4th grade to 5th grade with our students — The best co-teaching years I've ever had at the elementary level with Ms. Culbreth. Today, during a webinar (which I highly recommend) I was reminded of this important research— just look at the data in the image below. And though this well-known research across the US is on dual language education, I can't help but be drawn to the ESL pull-out services and its results. Pulling students out of their mainstream classroom, beyond second-grade, to provide ESL services is detrimental & IT DOESN’T WORK. I worked with elementary school children and from Kindergarten grades to 2nd grade, students didn't complain about coming to my ESL classroom. However, students in 3rd grade through 5th grade, would prefer staying in the classroom and working in small groups with me. They felt part of the classroom community. They knew they belonged and were different than their peers. As my co-teachers and I planned our small group instructions, we intentionally grouped our ESL students mixed in with all students. Our book clubs and group services were so much fun. So, here're some of the strategies that have worked as I worked with ESL students in mainstream classrooms:
 Click image for more about the research This is just my 11th year teaching ESL so I am still learning and practicing. I'd LOVE to hear from you! What are your thoughts? Are you familiar with this research? How are you practicing this research? What services do you find more effective and why?
Please, share your answers in the comments below and I'll be happy to reply to you. Thank you so much for reading!  "One Word isn't about WHAT but WHO. Who do you want to become, not what you want to accomplish?" ~ Dan Britton I LOVE this time of year - time of reflection and planning. Time to analyze what went well and what can get better. I'm not tough on myself. I know life is life and things happen. Sometimes things go as planned, some other times they just go the opposite of what we planned. Anyway, while reflecting on 2022 and my #OneWord, I can see how this word really came alive. Many things unfolded in my life. I became an author, I started serving students mainly in an inclusion model, my husband and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary...and so much more that is UNFOLDING! I had a busy year. I know I did. But it really hit me when I read my daughter's Christmas card message. "I know you have been busy this year so I hope you like what I got you." This message coming from my 8 year-old really got to me. It made me stop and think how many times have I told her "I'm busy" and put other things before her. Or how busy had I've beed that she didn't reach out to me because she knew I was "busy". Anyway, as I was thinking about my #OneWord2023, I wanted a word that would help me with the "being busy" reflection. I don't think I am stopping what I'm woking on since my book just released. What I can do is BE. Unapologetically BE who I want to BE and also BE present. 
Thank you for reading! 
What a year!! In October 2021, I started meeting virtually with a group of teachers of newcomers who are interested in learning new strategies, and gain lessons ideas to serve and teach their newcomers. I have a list of over 300 teachers who monthly receive an invitation to meet and learn together. Of course, not all teacher attend, but sessions are recorded and I know MANY go back and catch up on the recording.
Our monthly meeting routine is basically the same every time. We have an expert and guest speaker share for 30-40 minutes then we go into grade-level breakout rooms to discuss deeper about the topic. In our breakout room, we have a shared document where we make notes of any ideas or resources we lean about from each other. I am so grateful to amazing and superheroes in the field who have agreed to join us and share their expertise with us. We are better because of their teaching and guidance. A HUGE shoutout to these amazing #PLC4newcomers’ superstars who shared with us from November 2021 to December 2022. If you are interested in watching our previous meetings, follow this link to my YouTube channel ===> https://bit.ly/PLCplaylist We are continuing these meetings in 2023. If you'd like to joining our PLC email list, please enter your information HERE and I will make sure you're invited to our next meetings. Be sure to check out these amazing presentations and follow our SUPERSTARS!!
November - Supporting Struggling Learners with Patricia Vitale-Reilly -- @pattyvreilly
December - Does This Work with English Learners? Holly Genova -- @GenovaHollyAnn January - Language Lens with Sarah B. Ottow -- @SarahOttow March - Re-Imagining Migration with Adam Strom -- @afstrom March/April -- Ramadan with Abeer Ramadan-Shinnawi - @shinram1 May - Wild About WIDA with Courtney Morgan -- @MrsMorganTeach June - Celebrating Us with Lee Perez - @LanguagePerez October 2022 -- Boosting Achievement with Carol Salva -- @DrCarolSalva November 2022 - Engaging Families with Hannah Levister -- @HannahL_MLP December 2022 - Sense of Belonging with Valentina Gonzalez -- @ValentinaESL
If you watch any of these fantastic presentations and find it helpful, please share a comment with me. I'd love to know how we're impacting YOU and your students.
Thank you for reading and watching! Author Guest Post: “Their Story, Our Legacy” by Emily Francis, Author of If You Only Knew: Letters from an Immigrant TeacherThis post was first featured on Unleashing Readers website on September 25th, 2022 - HERE During the first days back this year, our school received a special guest speaker, former educator and coach, who left a remarkable legacy. Coach Smith was fired up, sharing the wonderful stories that highlighted the amazing history of our school which he collected from 1893 to the day he retired. I began to think about how his passionate stories impacted every staff member listening. The power of a story hit me to my core, and I began wondering about our students’ stories: What stories are students telling about our school? About us as teachers? Just like Coach Smith can share his powerful and impactful stories about a building, so our students are out and about telling stories about us. Of course, I connected it to my personal experience as a former student new to the USA. As a fifteen-year-old scared immigrant, I entered high school with so much passion and persistence but left with shattered dreams. My story about my experience as a student in the USA is not a good one. It’s a story of pity and sadness and pain. I can close my eyes and feel exactly how I felt in my high school classes. These were uneasy feelings I don’t want my students to feel. I cannot remember a teacher who would have incorporated practices to support my culture, identity, and strength. My high school years made me question my own identity. Just the fact that it was never acknowledged made me question my own existence. Thinking about my personal stories from my former high school and listening to Coach Smith led me to think about my legacy. George Couros said, “Your legacy is not what you do. It’s what your students do because of you.” I dare to add… It’s what your students SAY because of you. Feeling like we have been robbed of our identity may cause dysfunction in society. I know. I lived it. I now strive every year to make sure equitable practices are in place to better serve our students.   I had the honor and the privilege to attend and present at the 2022 Immigrants Student Success Virtual Conference. If you can, check out the many different recorded sessions that can help you provided support to your immigrant students. The conference covered:
My Session: Identity Affirmation Through Literature, Language and StorytellingLet me know if you watch my sessions! I'd love to hear your takeaways!
Thank you for reading! 
My own copy!
In May, I was thrilled to share with you the amazing cover of my book If You Only Knew: Letters from an Immigrant Teacher, soon to be published by Seidlitz Education Publishing.
During the month of June, advanced readers' copies (ARCs) were sent out to selected readers. I don't have the words to describe the feeling when I opened the package and saw my book for the first time. It was an excitement that words cannot explain. Holding the book in my hand brought tears to my eyes. I can't wait for the world to read it. Some readers received a hard copy of the ARC, others received an e-book. Some readers I selected just because I've followed their work and knew they would enjoy the book and provide great feedback. Other readers were selected by the publishing company or the our marketing company. I'd have to say that PR by Books is doing an amazing job helping me promote the book and making sure the world know about this great book. Just look at this great Author's Page and the NetGalley page where you can read some reviews. Reviews
I am honored and humbled to read these great reviews. All these authors are highly respected and are authors I personally admire and have learned from. I appreciate them taking time to read and review my book.
Kirkus Reviews
NetGalley and Goodreads Reviews
Click image to read reviews
If you are a NetGalley member, you can request an e-book the book and provide your review. If you're on Goodreads, please, add this book to your "to-read" list! Click here to read more.
It feels my heart with so much joy to see my friends and network tweeps reading my book and providing such heartfelt reviews and comments. I was thrilled to see THE Valentina Gonzalez ,author, speaker, and professional development facilitator, make time to read my book. Thank you to all my friends and family for your support.
As always, thank you for reading and staying connected. Be sure co add your name to this book launch form so you are informed when you can order the book!!
Click HERE! BIG NEWS! It's HERE. My book's cover reveal is finally HERE!  I am so excited to share with you the wonderful cover of my book: 𝙄𝙛 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙊𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙆𝙣𝙚𝙬: Letters from an Immigrant Teacher - Published by Seidlitz Education In my book, I share my immigrant story through letters written to my newcomer students The publication date is September 1st, 2022 Be sure to complete THIS form to get all the updates!
 It's that time of year again -- The beautiful time of year to reflect on the past year and plan for the New Year ahead. There are many things I should probably be reflecting on; but, I choose to reflect on my previous years' #OneWord -- That One Word to help guide my year's actions, thoughts, ideas, connections, and choices. One word that has encouraged me to be a better version of myself since it becomes a vision statement for the year.
Tonight, as I sit here reflecting on my previous years' One Word and how my life experiences have revealed a little more of who I am, I can't help but be grateful for whom I've become. #OneWord2022 I have do not doubt that my journey (personal and professional) is unfolding exactly as it should be. I know my life is not where it should be...YET... But, letting my journey unfold and reveal more of who I am is exactly what I need this year. Unfold -open or spread out from a folded position & reveal or disclose. Unfolding my passion. Unfolding my energy. Unfolding my knowledge. Unfolding my love for what I do.  Unfolding will be core this New Year -- Allowing every experience and every step in 2022 to reveal more of who I am.
I'm super excited about my word. Do you have a #OneWord? Is there anything else you do as a resolution for the New Year? I'd love to hear from you. Share your thought in the comments. Are you interested in learning more about the #OneWord? I'd be happy to connect with you and help you as you begin your #OneWord journey! Happy New Year 2022!! I wish you the very best. I am glad we're connected. Thank you for reading!
I had two class meeting days left with our newcomers, and I wanted to do something productive. As an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher, when I think of rich lessons, I think of activities that will make my students think critically, move around, use all language domains (speaking, listening, reading, and writing), and learn!
At first, I thought about showing movie clips about mystery or suspense movies. I could have had them identify story elements like characters, settings, problems, solutions, and describing the plot - which is what we did using text. But, I didn't want my newcomers to get the idea that I wanted them to watch movies as we end our school year. I also didn't want my colleges to see my newcomers watching movies instead of doing productive work. So, what better than End-of-School Year reflection questions?!? Most of my students were face-to-face, but I had four student who were learning virtually. Hybrid teaching is challenging when you are trying to have an interactive and engaging lesson. But, technology comes to the rescue in times like this! I've taught my newcomers how to use google slides, Jamboard, and how to navigate our course Canvas page.
For the most part, I agree when people say - "don't reinvent the wheel..." - Not reinventing the wheel has saved me so much time. I've learned a lot from other educators. However, when it comes to working with newcomers, you can't just use the wheels you find -- somehow, you must reinvent it to make it fit with the group of students you're teaching. You know - personalizing your lesson for a better outcome.
So, if I wanted my students to answers great end-of-year reflection questions, I quickly began searching for what other educators have created. These were the two web pages I found useful to do what I needed.
I created a google slides presentation so it'd look presentable and colorful. Each slide had a question in big font to emphasize its importance. You can access the slides below!
Two reasons why google slides are useful with this activity:
My face-to-face students received colorful sticky-note pads to answer each question.They placed their answers on a chart paper that had all the questions. My virtual students received a link to a Jamboard where they answered on a sticky note for each question. Here is the Jamboard if you'd like to make a copy and use it with your students.
Students were all engaged. Not only were the questions open-ended so they could share their thoughts openly, but it created a stress-free time for students to share their voices.
Several of their answers will serve to make some adjustments as the support they need for the next school year. A great educator should ALWAYS make room for improvements - especially when students are giving feedback. I also learned a few new things about each student - especially the two newcomers who had only been with us for a week or two. The activity outcome made me happy. I almost cried when I saw a few of them mentioning me in their answers. Needless to say, we wrapped our last day with a group picture and selfies. See pictures HERE. What feels like the end 
Thank you for reading!
 Amplifying the Voices of Unaccompanied Minors Virtual ConferenceWhen & Where: July 21, 2021 10:00 am – 1:00 pm CDT Zoom Conference What it is: Amplifying the Voices of Unaccompanied Minors is an opportunity for teachers and school leaders to hear from those who have lived the experience as an unaccompanied minor in the American school system. To register - Click HERE
DEVELOPING ALL LANGUAGE DOMAINS WITH WRITEREADER WriteReader is a wonderful platform I've used with elementary and High school students. It's student-friendly & teacher-friendly. In this webinar I share how & why I use it. Shared Points Confirming Existence – Choosing Compelling Text
You can find more information and several other helpful webinars to support you and your students CLICK HERE
Thank you for reading and watching the presentation. If you have any comments, please share below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.  "The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. I feel like if I begin reflecting and writing about 2020 - it would make for a very long and sad post. 2020 was just a year we will never forget. The battles and struggles were real - But we made it through! As I began thinking about my #OneWord for 2021 - I found myself going back to 2020's OneWord and asking myself whether I needed to keep the same word, or have a new one. You see, 2020 was a year where MANY - MANY things were put on hold. Because of COVID-19, schools were closed, parks, were closed, outdoor events were canceled, etc. Life seemed to have paused. So, as I read my post about my OneWord 2019, I couldn't help but think how this too needed to unpaused. I knew I didn't want to use the same word for 2020 so I thought about a word that would take my 2019 word to the next level. In 2019, I wrote: You see, we are meant to be great! We are not to settle for just "good"...If I get comfortable with just being "good" - then I've failed myself and those around me. There's nothing wrong with wanting more.
That's why my #OneWord2021 is TENACITY! --Tenacity says "I can" even though the impossibilities are bigger than our capabilities. Do you have a #OneWord2021?!? I know many people who like doing New Year's resolutions. I don't have anything against resolutions - If that's what works for you, great. I actually prefer one word. One word that will ignite a fresh new start & new year. Share in the comments your #OneWord or your New Year's goals! I'd love to hear from ya! Previous years' OneWord Click on image for slide link! I finished reading my last book of 2020 around noon on December 31st, 2020. My last book was the awesome middle grade book Everlasting Nora by Marie Miranda Cruz (even my 7-year-old loved it). I really loved and enjoyed every single book I read in 2020. In fact, what makes me so excited is the fact that I was able to not just meet but surpass my 2020 reading challenge!! Of course, this was not always the case. I've tried meeting my reading challenge for years (since 2016) and I had never been able to complete it...until 2020.
**This post appeared originally in www.Middleweb.com on November 12th, 2020**
Click HERE to read original post 
Here's my review of the new book for ELA & ELL teachers by Valentina Gonzalez and Dr. Melinda Miller - Published by Seidlitz Education
Reading & Writing with English Learners: A Framework for K-5
I experienced an extraordinary feeling while reading Valentina and Melinda’s book. I was reading the introduction when I began highlighting text, making notes on the pages, and writing takeaways in my notebook. Reading & Writing for English Learners is a book that highlights the best of my two worlds: my English learner world and my educator world.
The English learner in me couldn’t contain the excitement as I was reading a book with a core belief centered on what’s best for English language learners (ELs). You see, I was once an English learner sitting at the back of class unengaged and just accumulating knowledge without the opportunity to demonstrate my learning. Reading and writing lessons were not structured in a way that students’ background and home language were maximized. This lack of opportunities and modalities to demonstrate what I was able to do in class just made me feel like an outsider and without a sense of belonging. So reading a professional development book that is centered around the whole child – and also provides ideas to weave in culturally responsive practices to help English learners grow linguistically – fills my heart with so much joy and hope for ELs. The educator in me is grateful for a book that not only validates my pedagogy throughout but also provides new ways to help me grow and develop as I learn to teach reading and writing through a language lens. 
This is the second year I get invited to schools to share about my immigrant journey and my Guatemalan heritage.
This year, I had the privilege to share with an elementary school and a high school! Besides schools, I also shared about my heritage on our local publish library's Facebook page. Of course, because of the pandemic, these presentations were organized virtually but they were still fun and filled with so much learning. Ross Elementary - Signature Music School in KS, held their annual Hispanic Heritage Assembly virtually and I had the honor to share a stage with the amazing artist Aaron de la Cuz. Since I knew I was presenting to an elementary audience, I shared my piñata, my cascarones (confetti filled egg shells), how I make my tortillas, and much more! Here is the recording if you'd like to see it. I know students had a blast and they had really great questions (they always ask about the Ellen experience). 
National Hispanic Heritage Month is by far a favorite time of year in the USA. From September 15th - October 15th this country honors, celebrates, and recognizes the contribution and influence of Hispanic Americans to USA culture, history and more!
This year, I decided to share a video challenging my #PLN and followers to do the following:
After sharing my challenge, I had a few friends sending me messages accepting the challenge and sharing their findings. It was wonderful to see friends embracing this wonderful celebration.
I also began sharing all my Hispanic Heritage Books (at least the ones I had at home). Every day from September 15th to October 15th I shared a 30 second video of a book that highlights and honors Hispanic culture. I shared picture books, middle grades books, young adult books. I shared my books on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. All of these videos were curated and uploaded it to my Youtube channel. If you have read any of these books, share with me how you're using them with your students. If you are adding any of these books to your booklist/bookshelf let me know. I'd love to connect and discuss how to use the book with your students.
If you are on Instagram and would like to check out the curated stories, check it out HERE!
Thank you for reading!
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