Social Justice for Multilingual Learners
This course introduces educators to foundational principles and practices for promoting social justice and educational equity while teaching multilingual learners in today's classrooms. A central component to teaching for social justice for students labeled as English learners (ELs), this course prompts educators to deconstruct their identities, experiences, and perspectives on cultural and linguistic diversity as a means to recognize and deconstruct language ideologies, deficit-based perspectives, personal biases, and institutionally driven assumptions. Framed by larger sociolinguistic and sociopolitical themes in the field of EL/bilingual education, educators explore students' diversity in their classrooms and schools and reflect upon current practice with that lens. Participants then draw from the literature to develop personal philosophy statements for serving multilingual learners with goals for their own professional learning.
Outcomes: Participants will: Discern the central and active role of teachers as language policy actors and language decision makers in classrooms, schools, and communities; Reflect upon previous experiences with and perspectives on language learners, language education, and language diversity; Probe the role of language ideologies in institutional practices in education as a means to examine and deconstruct biases and assumptions; Explore the diversity of classrooms, schools, and communities, including cultural, linguistic, familial, academic, social, emotional, behavioral, and sociopolitical factors; Analyze historical and current practices in schools for multilingual students in line with research and theory of supporting and promoting equity for multilingual students; Define personal philosophies and professional goals for teaching multilingual students.
Outcomes: Participants will: Discern the central and active role of teachers as language policy actors and language decision makers in classrooms, schools, and communities; Reflect upon previous experiences with and perspectives on language learners, language education, and language diversity; Probe the role of language ideologies in institutional practices in education as a means to examine and deconstruct biases and assumptions; Explore the diversity of classrooms, schools, and communities, including cultural, linguistic, familial, academic, social, emotional, behavioral, and sociopolitical factors; Analyze historical and current practices in schools for multilingual students in line with research and theory of supporting and promoting equity for multilingual students; Define personal philosophies and professional goals for teaching multilingual students.