Nearly 150 educators from across New York state came together at Siena to celebrate five years of professional learning related to supporting K-12 English language and multilingual learners.
“Empowering Educators for Multilingual Success” was held July 8 for educators who have been taking part in Advancing Language and Literacy for English Learners (ALL4ELs), a research and development project for best practices for engaging culturally and linguistically diverse students in content learning and language and literacy development. This was the third and final symposium for the project that was coordinated by Siena’s Department of Education and supported by a grant through the U.S. Department of Education.
Gretchen Oliver, Ph.D., assistant professor of education at Siena, has served as ALL4ELs project director and principal investigator.
“This is the culminating event of five years of research and professional development that has served more than 150 educators across New York,” said Oliver. “They will finish with a shared experience around promoting language and literacy development that they can bring back to their school communities.”
She said many of the educators have earned New York state certification in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) through the project, which allows them to better meet the needs of the linguistically and culturally diverse students in their K-12 classrooms.
ALL4ELs engaged five cohorts of in-service teachers, school leaders and preservice teachers as TESOL Scholars. They explored the new Academic Language Instruction for All Students (ALIAS) strategy, with both teachers and school leaders learning about knowledge building and advanced literacies.
The symposium featured a keynote address and workshop by Jeff Zwiers, Ed.D., a senior researcher and educational consultant specializing in improving instruction and assessment for all students. His work focuses on serving linguistically and culturally diverse learners. Several Siena graduate education students presented their projects during the poster sessions, before sessions on integrating technology for English learners, structured opportunities for oral language, and more.
Karen Gregory, Ph.D., assistant professor of education at Siena and co-principal investigator of the ALL4ELs project, added, “It was a wonderful day of professional learning and networking, and we love having the opportunity to meet so many of our online graduate students in-person. We were able to celebrate the impressive work of our students in the poster session and also learn together from a world-renowned scholar in the TESOL field, Dr. Jeff Zwiers.”
Alison Fisk, M.Ed., project manager in education at Siena, was also closely involved with the project and symposium.