During the summer of 2018, I received an email from SIOP® senior project manager at Pearson, Allyson Newton, with an invitation of a lifetime. The email was an invitation to serve as a featured keynote speaker at the 2019 SIOP® National Conference in Portland, OR.
Wow! I wish you would've seen my excitement. No words can explain how humbled and honored I felt to be considered. Not only was I going to personally meet THE SIOP® author, (incredible women I admire for their work and passion,) but I was also going to share a national stage with them. An opportunity I couldn't miss!
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I am super excited to share that I have the greatest privilege and honor to be a contributing author in a new released book titled Community College Teacher Preparation for Diverse Geographies: Implications for Access and Equity for Preparing a Diverse Teacher Workforce.
"This book explores many topics related to the community college role in K-12 teacher education, including the community college mission, the policy landscape, partnerships, the transfer function, the community college baccalaureate, and others. Throughout the volume, the authors explore implications of access, equity, and geography and conclude with recommendations to guide future research and practice." ~ IAP Our chapter: How an Unaccompanied Minor Became Teacher of the Year: The Unrealized Potential of the Community College - Dr. Spencer Salas, Bradley Smith, Bobbi Siefert, and Astrid Emily Francis. To read more about it and/or to order a copy check out this link. The book will soon be available in all major online retailers and will also be available as an eBook. 
Authentic, Meaningful Lessons for Newcomers
As educators, it is our responsibility to create and maintain an environment where our newcomers feel welcomed, valued, accepted, and respected. We can do this by drafting and delivering authentic and meaningful experiences where newcomers are not just learning a new language but acquiring life-changing experiences.
Participants engaged in a range of activities to see how easy it is to create authentic and meaningful lessons and experiences for newcomers to not only acquire the English language but also grow personally. We explored topics such as "Discover Own Identities", "Own Name", Our Story", "Embracing Language", and other topics. Resources used to draft our lessons will vary based on picture books, compelling texts, and Scholastic Action magazines. This post was originally posted on https://ncedleaders.blogspot.com/ on July 3rd , 2019  When I started my teaching career, (15 years ago), my mother gave me this hanging sign that says “3 Reasons for Teaching - June, July, August”. I hang on to it just because my mother gave it to me; However, you’ll never see this sign in my classroom because summer breaks are not my reasons for teaching. Now, don’t take me wrong, I love summer breaks and I always take full advantage to recharge and refresh before the start of another school year. But as good as summer breaks might be, they’re NOT my reasons for teaching My WhyThe path to the teaching profession was not an ordinary path for me. I immigrated to the United States at the age of 15 years old. I started high school with the hopes and desire to graduate and go to college to be the teacher I’ve always wanted to be. From day one, I embraced school and education. Breaking all sorts of barriers, I was able to learn the English language and get all the required credits for graduation. But unfortunately, everything fell apart when I failed American History - Regents exam. With disappointment and a heart in a million pieces, I took the bus home and never went back. In 1997 I became part of the Latino High school dropout.
Failing at school made me question everything I believed I knew about myself. I started working as a cashier where every time I scanned an item the beep was a constant reminder of my failure. I didn’t believe I was capable to do anything else. Years later I decided to rewrite my personal narrative by returning to school. I found a local community college and obtained my GED. I went on from there to find success in college getting y associate’s degree, my bachelor’s and then my Master’s degree. Today, I am where I need to be. Inspiring students every day to reach their highest potential. You see, I had potential within me all along. What I didn’t have was someone who believed in me. Someone in my corner encouraging me to find my passion and help me fulfill my human potential. I strive to be an educator who will be for my students what I didn’t always have: someone to believe in them. So, if you ask me what my reason for teaching is, I would say it is INSPIRING MY STUDENTS TO KNOW THEIR POTENTIAL and PURPOSE.
So this is it! We made it!!
Today, Monday, June 10th, 2019, was the last meeting class with newcomers at Concord High School. It's a happy day because I get to see, hear, and read how much English my students have learned. This, of course, brings joy to my heart since I had them from day one as newcomer students in the USA.
But as happy as this day can be - there's also sadness. My heart feels heavy knowing that they will no longer be in room #225 with me. English for Beginners is a course our school/county designed to provide the foundations of the English language our students need to be able to fully engage in our school, and mainstream classrooms. We meet every day for 90 minutes and we create an environment where risk-taking and changes are supported. I have students who started the school year with only enough English to understand questions such as "What's your name?" - Today, they were writing complete sentences and sharing with peers how far they've come. Of course, I couldn't just say good-bye and not have any memories written to show the world how awesome our class was this school year. So...we created our own presentation with moments that are forever in our mind and heart.  If you're like me, I'm always looking for opportunities to learn and better my craft. This is why I wanted to share this with you. On June 5th, 2019, I had the amazing opportunity to present on a webinar with 3 other incredible educators. This webinar was made available through Achieving the Core, an excellent website that provides free, ready-to-use classroom resources that support excellent, standards-aligned instruction for all students. This webinar helped kick off Achieving the Core's Summer Reading Challenge 2019, which I highly recommend you check out! As "most popular authors" from Aligned, we introduced some of the transformative practices we’ve implemented in our schools that have helped boost engagement and achievement. 
On Thursday, May 23rd, 2019 I had the amazing privilege to attend the 15th Annual Maryland ELL Family Involvement Network (MELLFIN) Conference.
MELLFIN is a non-profit organization, committed to sharing information and resources in support of immigrant families living in Maryland. MELLFIN is a collaborative body, cultivating effective strategies to appropriately meet the needs of Maryland's increasingly diverse and fast-growing immigrant population.
The theme for the 15th annual conference was "Schools and Community Partnership = EL Success". I was honored and humbled to be one of two keynote speakers - Ms. Becky Pringle, Vice President of the National Education Association was our morning keynote and I served as the afternoon keynote.
I had the privilege to share my immigrant journey as well as a few tips to support families and English learners to reach their full (and sometimes hidden) potential. #ELLchat_BKclub Meta Round 17.0  Promo image by Carlota Holder On December 15th, 2018, Dr. Katie Toppel (co-founder of Twitter chat #ELLchat_bkClub) reached out to a few of us in our PLN (Professional Learning Network) and shared her idea for round 17.0 Twitter book chat. For round 17.0, Katie offered us to help facilitate a book study on Making Content Comprehensible text from SIOP by each one of us taking charge of a component. The idea was to make this an 8-week "meta" book study - one week for each component. Each facilitator was invited to guide each component with own ideas, resources, videos, live chats, presentations, and connections with other previously read books in our chat. So each one of us provided our preferences as to which component we wanted to lead. The component assignments were as follows:
As soon as the "meta" promo went out, participants immediately began sending in selfies with the book and showing so much excitement about participating. It was even more amazing with the author Dr. Jana Echevarria started engaging in conversation and even blogged about #ELLchat_bkClub round 17.0 - "Is SIOP Only for ESL Teachers?" - Read her post HERE.
My favorite line is "join the Twitter PLC discussion on SIOP." WOW!! Just awesome to read this from the SIOP author and highly recognized researcher in our field. 
Imaged used to promote the webinar
On February 21st, 2019 I had the privilege to collaborate and participate in a webinar hosted by SupportEd. Participating alongside Diane Staehn Fenner - president of SupportEd, Sydney Snyder, and Jill Kester was just beyond an imaginable opportunity.
First of all, I am a huge fan of their book, "Unlocking English Learners' Potential". This book provides an array of strategies and ideas to support ELs on working at their fullest potential. I've also participated in several of their free webinars and I've learned so much. 
Sydney (left) & Diane (right)
So, the title of our webinar is
Supporting ELs' Oral Language Development Through Academic Conversation. You can access the recorded webinar here.
Mannheim School District 83 in Franklin Park, IL holds an annual Bilingual Parent Summit and I was honored to be invited this year (2019) as a guest speaker.
The Bilingual Parent Summit is designed to provide Latinx parents the opportunity to engage and learn strategies and activities to work with their children. The summit not only provided a wide variety of workshops for parents but also a great meal for the entire family. It was wonderful for sit down and lunch with families as they asked questions and asked for support to better care for their children. I had the greatest privilege to share my immigrant journey as well as my struggles and difficulties as a language learner here in the USA. They best part of the presentation was that it was ALL in SPANISH...yes, and a little in English for our non-Spanish speakers. I noticed several parents crying and hugging their children while I was sharing. After the presentation, I had the opportunity to have to open Q&A sessions where parents asked questions and were free to discuss methods to support their bilingual children. 
From the moment I made it to IL to the day I left, Dr. Piedad Kaye was so sweet and amazing with me. I have so much to thank her for. First of all, she believed in me and gave me the chance to share my story with her staff and school families. She also, was very kind offering all her help knowing I was not feeling well. District 83 provided nothing but royal treatment for me! LOVED visiting them and I would LOVE to go back.
I also had the amazing opportunity to meet Sarah Said. I met Sarah through twitter and we've collaborated in several twitter chats, including #ELLchat_bkclub. It's amazing how connected we felt even though we had never met before. I was honored to attend a wonderful family event night organized by the English as a Second Language of Rowan-Salisbury, North Carolina. This meeting had ELs and their families at heart. Not only they allowed me to share my immigrant story and EL experience to the audience in Spanish, but also they had several workshops available for parents. I loved taking questions and answering concern parents have in regards to second language learning; using native language at home; the law that protects ESL students; how school system works in the USA, etc. I can tell that a lot of parents felt a connection to my story and I hope that my story stays with them forever!  
The Virginia ESL Supervisors' Association (VESA) hosts an annual conference that provides K-12 Virginia educators and administrators of English Learners opportunities for professional development, learning new ideas, networking, and program planning.
I was honored to join Dr. Kate Kinsella as keynote speakers for the 2019 conference entitled: Creating Pathways to Proficiency You can access the full conference program below! 
 So here I am...reflecting on my first semester in High School! As you may know, over the summer of 2018, I made the switch from an elementary school setting to a high school setting. The decision was not a difficult one in the sense that I knew with all my heart I was going where I needed to be. Besides, the passion within me to serve English learners is always seeking out new challenges for improvement. But, to be transparent about my feelings, I must share the FEAR I was facing while making my decision. Fear of the unknown. Fear of failure. High school is a radically different world than elementary school. It's like black and white. The only knowledge I had about high school was what I knew from my son since he is a HS student. So, I was afraid. I was afraid of schedules, services for students, accommodations for testing, enrollment, co-teaching, etc. I was afraid of how I was going to fit in with Concord High School' staff and students. Would they like me? Would I meet their expectations? Would I be a good fit? These questions led to begin thinking about failing. What if I fail. What if I don't fit in? What if I mess up? So many questions that for a moment became reasons to avoid venturing the unknown journey. However, unpredictable journeys can only be lived by being willing to take risks. If we want to maintain a burning passion & seek out new challenges, we must accept the probability that things might not go as planned or as we would've wanted them to; but that's how change happens...and change is good!! One semester. One semester is just enough time for me to realize how much I love working with high school students at Concord High School! Do I know everything? NO. Have I had failures? YES. You see, that's the beauty of unknown and unpredictable journeys; That no matter what the journey brings our way...we stand strong on the heartfelt decision and risks. I have SO MUCH to learn. I have so many relationships to build. I have so many more things to do. Meanwhile, I sit here - looking at the bulletin board with all our ELs' pictures (picture above)...and I smile thinking on the many - many more wonderful memories in the years to come. Thank you for reading & Go Spiders!
 I just LOVE it when I buy a book and that book ends up stirring up everything within me. BE REAL - Educate from the Heart by Tara Martin just shook. My. World!! While reading Tara's story, I couldn't help thinking about my own experiences and realize how I too have experiences that are unique and powerful. Tara's message helped me zoom in and have a clear understanding of my purpose (my WHY) and all I do because of my purpose. You see, I am very passionate about English learners; so anything and everything I do is to highlight their potential and strengths. EVERYTHING I do (my what) whether is teaching, blogging, twitting, keynoting, PD sessions, will all be inspired by my purpose and my passion. For this reason, my #OneWord for 2019 is...ACTIONS. I will be doing everything I do with intentionality. I will, as Tara, says in her book..."measure everything I make using two questions:"
 Whether is a professional or personal action, I will make sure that it is intentional behavior that will benefit my purpose and others as well. "Recognize your talents and strengths and own them! Then, make confident choices. Take the leap and try out an idea, teach, write, speak, encourage a friend over coffee - do what you do and begin to salt the world with your whats. Don't doubt yourself. That you may be easier said than done, but if an idea, action, or next step fits your purpose - your why - go with it!" ~ Tara Martin I will always return to these words that inspired me to continue working hard to make a difference. Thank you for reading and hApPy 2019!
The Long Island Regional Bilingual Education Resource Network (L.I. RBERN) holds an annual conference organized by the ENL/Bilingual Program Office. The Long Island Teacher Institute 2018, "Generation NOW: ACC-ELL-erating Pathways to Success for Linguistically Diverse Learners was on December 7th, 2018.
I was honored to be invited as their featured presenter following the amazing keynote presentation by Dr. Lorena Llosa.
For the past 15 years, I've organized ESL family engagement meetings at the elementary school level and all I had to do was send home an invitation and parents would show up!
Now that I am at a high school level I realize that the process and approach has to be different for family engagement nights. So, I came to a firm understanding that in order to successfully support our students at the HS level, a group effort is a must. What I mean is, it is imperative to create a culture of opportunities and a sense of collaboration among staff so our families and students are supported and successful. Culture of Collaboration and Responsibilities
In order to ensure success for our students and to encourage our ESL families to engage and participate in school events, our staff must have a strong sense of community and shared responsibility. As an ESL teacher, I feel very strongly about the need to have our ESL families' help in making sure that our students (especially ELs) have the support they need to be successful. Therefore, I invited several school staff members to team up with me in planning and implementing our very first ESL family engagement night.
Our form of communication was through email and we maintained a constant communication with all the details. Who
The perfect team to implement our first meeting consisted of our Spanish teacher (Ms. Perdomo), our ELA teacher (Ms. Armstrong), our bilingual secretary (Rina Rodriguez), our guidance counselors ( Mrs. Foster and Stacey Diaz), and admin (Dr. A).
Process
Three of us (bilingual ones) called ALL our ESL parents and personally invited them to attend. We called them with about 2-3 weeks in advance. We also provided the opportunity to attend to either one of two sessions offered. Both sessions followed the same format.
We also sent home this form as a reminder. 
ESL Parent Meeting Format
We didn't want this meeting to be a type of sit and get without engagement, so we provided our information in centers. We also wanted to model how we strive as teachers to have our students collaborate and work in groups with their peers. Also, being in small groups provides a more comfortable setting for parents to ask questions and engage without fear.
We started all together and received a welcome from all of staff who was present. I explained the format of the meeting and parents were divided into groups to begin learning. The groups and information provided were as follows:
Parents spent about 15 minutes at each center and rotated to another center until they had been to all three.
Our principal was there in the room with us to answer questions and engage with our parents as well. Our ELA teacher, Ms. Armstrong, was present and greeted our families and also helped answer any questions regarding class grades or content questions. Stacey Diaz, our county's ESL guidance counselor was with us during our first session and was able to share valuable information with our families too. We also had a representative from a local community organization called "El Puente Hispano" who provided our families with all the available support they have for students and parents.
I must say that without the sense of collaboration and responsibility from everyone who helped - this 1st awesome meeting with our ESL families would have not been as successful as it was.
Our parents were very grateful for all the information we provided and were also happy to create connections with other parents in our school. If you are having successful ESL parent meetings at the HS level, please share your experience with us! We'd love to continue what we started and the more ideas we have the better!! Thank you for reading!  On October 22nd, 2018 - I had the privilege to be featured on DisruptED TV Teacher Sparks. Host, Michele Hill, (a passionate educator who by the way I admire), invited me to not only share my immigrant story but also share what I am currently doing for my students and their families. We had a great conversation around elements and ways we need in our schools and classrooms to create a welcoming and comfortable environment for diverse students. Cultural responsiveness is definitely a topic we both feel very strongly about - so it became core to our conversation. Check out the video and let me know if you have any comments or questions! Thank you for reading and watching the video!!
 On October 23rd - October 26th, 2018 I had the opportunity to attend my first WIDA annual conference! The conference was in Detroit and I was able to attend with Stacey Diaz, Cabarrus County's ESL counselor and Doug Carr, Cabarrus County's social worker. I was honored to co-present a session with my colleagues and I also had a session on my own. I attended several fantastic sessions where I learned a lot and met a lot of Twitter friends! It is by far one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had! Sessions#1: Teachers, School Counselors, and Social Workers: Collaborating for Success  With Stacey & Doug after our presentation "Research shows that students with engaged families adapt better to school, attend school more regularly, have better social skills, and pursue post-secondary opportunities. We explored the role of teachers, school counselors, and social workers in engaging families and learn about culturally responsive family engagement practices. Developed an action plan based on examples given to implement culturally responsive engagement practices at your school."
#2: Establishing a Comfortable Environment for Diverse Students - From Inside-Out  "Students need a respectful environment to function to their full potential. This session provided Culturally Responsive Pedagogy strategies to create the environment diverse students need. Participants visualized that in order to establish such environment, it needs to start from within. Then, as a ripple effect it carries onto our students, our content teaching pedagogy, school culture, family and community engagement, and ultimately engage globally as open-minded individuals. After my session, I asked participants the following question as an exit ticket: A year from now, what will be important for you to remember about this session? EDUCATION ALUMNA USES PERSONAL JOURNEY TO INSPIRE THE NEXT GENERATION "Emily Francis leapt from her seat in the audience of The Ellen Show and made a run for the stage. Only after she was perched alongside Ellen Degeneres did the 2016 Cabarrus County Schools Teacher of the Year realize that in her excitement, she hadn’t given the famous talk show host time to finish her introduction. But looking back at her journey—from a one room shack in Guatemala, to a New York airport facing immigration authorities, to crossing the stage at UNC Charlotte to accept a graduate degree in Teaching English as a Second Language (ESL)—it’s clear that Emily Francis had been racing toward a moment like this her entire life." ~ The Language of Love I love how this article was introduced! The Cato College of Education at UNC Charlotte featured my story on their website this month. They also embedded wonderful pictures and videos they took while visiting me at Concord High School. To read the entire article and watch the videos, follow this link: https://inside.uncc.edu/featured-stories/the-language-of-hope 
Thank you for reading! 
Over the summer of 2018, I took the first step to a great journey...I made the decision to transfer to Concord High School (CHS) after working six years at Irvin Elementary school. The decision was based on a burning desired within me to support students who are facing the same struggles I faced as a high school newcomer student and language learner. Read more about my personal experience as a newcomer here!
I got our classroom ready with so much excitement! However, I was more excited to meet my new students. I had already met a few of them during our ESL summer enrichment program, so I was thrilled to meet the rest of my students. 
On Thursday, August 23rd, 2018 - I had the greatest privilege to present during the National Council of State Title III Directors (NCSTIIID) webinar! I shared my story and some resources and key elements to build great partnerships with our English language learners' families. Building partnership with our families will ensure student success.
**Webinar was recorded .** follow this link: My part is about 60 min into webinar! Below you'll find my presentation slides and the links I mentioned during the presentation.
Link to online slides: Click here to access slides on Building Partnerships with Families to Ensure Student Success
You can also download slides as a PDF document here.
Links to resources mentioned during presentation:
Slide #8 ELLevation Podcast about Talking Points resource.
Slide #9 Con Respeto Blog Post link Slide #10 Parent Survey sample link Slide #16 Sarah Ottow’s blog based on my story link 
After my presentation, I had the audience log into menti.com and answer question related to our topic. These questions and answers were to show our thinking and to see if we were in the same page when it comes to supporting our ELs and their families.
These were the results:
Thank you for reading!
On August 7th, 2018 I had the greatest privilege to be the opening keynote at the North Carolina Department of Education: Growing Success for English Learners' summer conference.
Below you'll find my slides presentation if you'd like to go over it. You may also want to check out the convention's hashtag (#NCELs18) to see our learning! 
During my presentation, I had the audience pause and reflect on my story. I had them go to mentimeter.com and created the word cloud below by entering three words that came to mind after hearing my story. There were 140 participants who enter words and I LOVE how the word 'CULTURE' is the one word that stands out! Passion and inspire are the next two words that stand out.
THANK YOU, thank YOU, to Geovana for catching this short video!!
Thank you for reading!
 On May 16th, 2018, Peter Cameron and Derek Rhodenizer made available a platform where more than 100 educators from around the world shared their best practices and strategies. I spent all day going from video to video learning from so many inspiring educators. The link for all the videos is available here is you're interest in learning more and access all MADPD presentations. I did not present during the event, but I applied to participate on their #MADpd Spotlight Series. Every week a presenter gets the spotlight with chats about the topic. I decided to share the work my students did during our 2017-2018 school year. Their work is so amazing that was featured on www.Achievethecore.com. Check it our here and here if you want to read more. I hope you enjoy this video and let me know if you have any questions. Thank you for reading!
During the summer of 2017, Refugee book by Alan Gratz was released. There was a huge buzz about this awesome book that I decided to get it. I even ordered several copies and shared with colleagues so we could all read it together. However, I had to stop reading it and put it away. I didn't stop reading it because I didn't like it; I stopped reading it because I found myself disoriented while reading it. You see, I am an English Learner (EL). English is my second language. As matter of fact, I've only had 3 years of high school and my college education here in the USA. Read here if you want to learn more. Even though I was compelled and excited to read this story, I found myself struggling to make sense of what was happening. I was getting frustrated. I was getting caught in small details, I couldn't remember the most important events, I was forgetting what I had just read and was unable to make connections between events. I TRIED! I KEPT READING! But I felt like I was wasting my time. So I gave up and put the book away. All year went by and I kept seeing posts about how awesome this book was and how everyone should be reading it. I felt bad and kind of embarrassed that I had not been able to read this wonderful book. However, reading 'Más Allá del Invierno' by Isabel Allende, entirely en Español, was super easy and refreshing to my mind.  So, why did I have trouble reading Refugee, you might ask? Well, allow me to shed some light on the book's NARRATIVE STRUCTURE (text structure is the overall organization of the text). The novel alternates among three narratives that explore the lives of refugees in different decades and parts of the world. The book is beautifully written, and its narrative structure is brilliantly constructed...but, it threw me off and confused me as an English language learner. Isn't comprehension the purpose of reading? If so, if you can't read it, you can't comprehend it! Comprehension is the process of extracting or constructing MEANING!! Giving Refugee Book a Second ChanceThe #ELLchat_BkClub voted on reading Refugee over the summer of 2018. As matter of fact, I also voted on this book because I was still intrigued by everything I've heard about the story and I really wanted to read it. Guess what?!? I read it ALL in just 4 weeks! However, the only reason I was successful in completing the book was that I had support. You see, participating in a book club not only provided the accountability for my reading but also facilitated weekly discussions with other participants reading the same story. Dr. Katie Toppel, the book club moderator, provided weekly questions based on a given number of pages read, and that in itself, gave me the purpose for reading I needed to pause and reflect on what I had read. I was not just reading the words! I was making sense of the information and ideas. I was constructing meaning, and also retaining information. So this experience led me thinking about my ELs and thought about gathering some resources about this topic. Why Teach Fiction/Narrative Text Structures?The question should be, 'why wouldn't you teach narrative structures?'. If you want students to make sense of the text and build on ideas to construct meaning and to retain the information they're reading, then you MUST intentionally teach its structure. Students NEED a purpose for reading! The purpose of reading is COMPREHENSION. Again, if students are finding themselves disoriented while reading a narrative, they WILL NOT comprehend, construct meaning, and/or retain information. How to Teach Text StructuresELs, and all students in general, NEED explicit text structure lessons; they need tools to support them as they move throughout their reading whether is non-fiction or narrative text. I find this blog post on Cultofpedagogy.com by Jennifer Gonzalez loaded with resources on ways to teach text structures for non-fiction text. This "20 Strategies to Teach Text" is fabulous. It actually gives a great perspective as to why and how to teach text structures. Some key elements our students need to focus on while reading narratives are:
Here's an excellent list of printable graphic organizers provided by Fountas and Pinnell. The most important strategy we can teach our students is to PAUSE AND DISCUSS the text! MODEL, MODEL, MODEL how to think aloud while reading! Here's a great video that teaches how to model thinking aloud to increase comprehension. This "Think Aloud Checklist" is a great resource our students can have with them as they read and think about their reading.  Introducing Fiction Text Structure with STORY looks like a fun way to teach this topic! Click here for more. S – SETTING T – TALKING CHARACTERS O – OOPS! A PROBLEM! R – ATTEMPTS TO RESOLVE THE PROBLEM Y – YES, THE PROBLEM IS SOLVED! In conclusion, the method you choose to teach your students 'Narrative Text Structure' doesn't really matter. What matters is to make sure students know how to navigate through challenging text formats to comprehend stories. Having the tools described above will increase reading speed, help retain content, and support with connections with incoming new information.
I would love to know if you use any of these resources or if you have any others I need to learn about. Please share comments below! Happy reading and thanks for reading my post! New Position
I am super excited to share with you that I am starting a new position for the 2018 - 2019 school year...I will now be a HIGH SCHOOL ESL teacher!!!
Working with high school ESL students it's a desire that it's been in my heart for quite some time now. I understand first hand the struggles and huddles newcomer high school students are facing as they begin their educational journey in the USA. It is my hope that my personal experiences and 14 years in an elementary setting, have equipped me with the skills I need to support students are Concord HS. I am very sad to leave Irvin Elementary!! I've built great relationships with students, parents, and staff. However, I feel very strongly about this change. It's the right time. I must admit that I am a little nervous. New content, new staff, new students, new EVERYTHING! However, the excitement and passion I feel about this change are going to help me adjust to all new changes. Wish me luck...and send any HS resources my way please...I'll be needing all the support I can get.
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