Resilience and English Language Learners

Recently I've been sharing stories of resilience. With that topic in mind, today I’m interviewing author, Beth Anderson, about her experiences as a teacher for English Language Learners. Beth and I will be serving on an author/educator panel along with Jolene Gutierrez for the annual Reading in the City Conference on April 15, 2023, in Denver, CO. The topic is “Using Narratives as a Bridge to Informational Text.”  See last week's interview with Jolene.

Carolee: You have written several narrative non-fiction picture books about real-life characters overcoming adversity. I’m sure that many of your students who were English Language Learners faced extreme adversity in their early lives. Did you find that certain stories resonated with them more than others?

Beth: Some of my students had dealt with things unimaginable to most Americans, but stories of real people facing challenges rang across culture, time, and place. True stories always opened up thinking as they inspired questions and connections. Most were stories of struggles, survival, life-changing choices, and trying to claim one’s place in the world. I think many immigrants and refugees have a stronger connection to these stories than many of us as they’ve lived these kinds of challenges.  Not only do those stories connect to students, but they also have potential to contribute to the classroom community with shared understanding. 

Carolee: Did you ever use picture books with teens? If so, what tips do you have for teachers who may want to use picture books with older readers?

Beth: I used picture books ALL THE TIME! Before we had an ESL curriculum, they were the springboard for content units that built language skills. Using the term “illustrated texts” can help with older kids who may be offended by “picture books.” I used them with high school English language learners and all the time with middle school kids. They were perfect for so many reasons: length, illustration support, rich language, embedded content, text/page, and more. I could teach all the language arts skills and also sneak in content support and academic vocabulary. Narrative nonfiction is dignified and inspiring for any age. Nothing “childish,” nothing that talks down. That’s the key. So my advice is to choose books that kids can relate to, that contain themes and characters suitable for maturing minds, and use high-quality art.

Carolee: In your book, Tad Lincoln’s Restless Wriggle, Tad had difficulty with reading as well as speaking. When a student is struggling to learn English as a second language, it may be difficult to tease out which ones may have speaking or reading challenges in their original language. Do you have any tips for identifying or working with these students?

Beth: Identifying learning issues and challenges is always extremely difficult for English language learners. While we don’t want to make hasty assumptions, we do want to get a student the support they need to be successful. It requires observing and taking notes as you try different approaches over an extended period of time. Learning as much as possible about their schooling history and past academic challenges through family interviews and any records you can obtain is helpful. Knowledge about their first language can shed light, too. The ability to test in the first language can be the only way to surmount some of the barriers, but not all school systems have that ability for every student. 

Carolee: One of the topics that you are planning to discuss during our panel is the Affective Filter. Can you tell us more about that topic and its implications for struggling learners?

Beth: The Affective Filter is a metaphor for how attitudes affect language acquisition. When cognitive overload and the inability to connect and create meaning from input result in frustration and failure, learning shuts down. The goal with ELLs is to scaffold and design instruction to make the classroom a learner-friendly environment where students can be successful. If you can lower the filter, learning happens. I think the affective filter is real for all students facing learning challenges. We all know how stress affects us—not only physically, but mentally and emotionally, too. The more support educators can provide to relieve classroom stresses and support struggling learners, the better chance they'll have to achieve and find their way in the world.

Carolee: Thanks for your insights. I look forward to our panel next week!

Find out more about our upcoming author/educator panel on "Using Narratives As a Bridge to Informational Text" HERE. Read the interview with co-panelist, Jolene Gutierrez, HERE. 

Learn about Beth's latest book, Cloaked in Courage and explore last year's Q&A with Beth about Tad Lincoln's Restless Wriggle. Download the free activity guide.

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The Resilience of BIONIC BEASTS: Q&A with Author Jolene Gutierrez

Today I’m interviewing author, Jolene Gutierrez, about her experiences working as a teacher and librarian for diverse learners. Jolene and I will be serving on an author/educator panel along with Beth Anderson for the annual Reading in the City Conference on April 15, 2023, in Denver, CO. The topic is on “Using Narratives as a Bridge to Informational Text.” Since the theme of this year's blog is resilience, I wanted to ask her some questions about her experiences as an educator as well as her new book, Bionic Beasts: Saving Animal Lives with Artificial Flippers, Legs, ad Beaks

 

Carolee: I have been sharing your book, Bionic Beasts, with my students with dyslexia. They love the stories of animals with physical disabilities overcoming challenges by using prosthetic legs, fins, and beaks. Your title, BIONIC Beasts, not only normalizes the use of prosthetics (or any aids for that matter), but it even makes these animals sound a bit like superheroes. In your work with struggling students, how have you seen stories help them to develop a growth mindset?

Jolene: Wow, Carolee! My hope for Bionic Beasts is that it’ll inspire young readers to think about how they might help animals through technology, and I so appreciate you sharing it with your students! 

One of the biggest gifts books give us is the ability to broaden our world by learning about others’ experiences–stories help students become more compassionate and open to others’ viewpoints. Many of my students have connected with characters who have had challenges in their lives. I think it’s comforting to know that you’re not alone in your struggles, and books help young readers to see that. 

Carolee: Stories of resilience are so important to kids with learning challenges. I’m sure that in your role as a librarian, you have had the opportunity to connect readers to books that help them see real-life or even fictional examples of resilience. Are there any particular titles that you recommend?

 

Jolene: Learning differences don’t figure into most of the author Avi’s characters, but Avi has a long history with our school and has spoken candidly with our students about his own learning challenges. It’s inspiring for our students to have a personal connection to an author who has become so successful despite his struggles in school. We’ve also had visits with Henry Winkler and Patricia Polacco, both of whom spoke about how dyslexia impacted their lives. Because of these author visits, our kids love the Hank Zipzer and Here’s Hank! series as well as Polacco’s picture books. For more in the realm of books written by people who have experienced challenges themselves, we love Elana K. Arnold’s A Boy Called Bat trilogy, Leslie Connor’s books, Cece Bell’s graphic novel El Deafo, and Raina Telgemeier’s graphic novel Guts.

 

Carolee: In your Bionic Beasts chapter about Lola, the Sea turtle, I was struck by how depressed she seemed to get when she couldn’t swim without bumping into the side of her tank. She basically gave up and sat at the bottom waiting for food. Then when she received her prosthetic fin, she made a complete turnaround and swam all the time. What do you think animal emotions can teach kids about their own emotions? 

Jolene on the farm

Jolene: I think understanding that humans aren’t the only creatures who experience emotions will help kids to better understand their larger connection to the world and, again, this is a chance for them to practice compassion. I grew up as a farm kid in a very small community, and even though I was surrounded by animals my entire life, books like Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White and A Horse Called Dragon by Lynn Hall helped me become a more thoughtful human being. In my personal and professional experience, many kids love nature, science, and animals, and sometimes, they connect with animal stories more deeply than stories with human characters. 

 

Carolee: Thanks for your insights. Check out our upcoming panel HERE. Check out more of Jolene’s books at https://www.jolenegutierrez.com/.

 

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Using Narratives As a Bridge to Informational Text

I'm thrilled to announce that I will be presenting on an author panel with Beth Anderson and Jolene Gutierrez at Denver Academy for the annual Reading in the City Conference on April 15, 2023. The subject is "Using Narratives As a Bridge to Informational Text." 

Many students struggle with understanding story structure. Even those who do have a good understanding of narrative text still have difficulty making the leap to understanding informational text.

Narratives and Informational Texts actually have a lot in common, especially when those narratives are based on the type of real-life heroes and celebrities that Beth and Jolene write about in their books. Some of those characters are even animals! Narrative non-fiction picture books, biographies, personal interest stories, and scientific innovations told from the perspective of the characters who experience them can all be used to help students form a bridge between narratives and non-fiction. 

Watch my blog in April for Q&As with these two amazing authors and learn more about their books. I will also be sharing tips for comparing narratives and informational pieces from my book, Story Frames for Teaching Literacy.

These women are not just successful authors. They are also educators. Beth is a retired ELL teacher who spent many years teaching English Language Learners. Jolene works with students with learning challenges as both a teacher and librarian. 

The regular registration price for the conference is in effect through March 30. Find out more information at https://idarmb.org/ritc-speakers/. 

Keep up with book reviews and stories of resilience by signing up for my newsletter. Visit the Sign Up Page on my website at www.wordtravelpress.com for details and discover free offers.