Calling all allies, equity warriors and change-makers! 

In collaboration with the AFT Identity-Affirming Classroom Team (I-ACT), Share My Lesson and AFT Professional Learning are delighted to present a new three-part podcast series. You won’t want to miss this opportunity to listen in on a series of three intimate conversations between members of the AFT Identity-Affirming Classroom Team (I-ACT), including program facilitator Melanie Hobbs, AFT senior associate director, Educational Issues, and leading authors and researchers Dr.

Continue reading Register Now! Identity Affirming Thought Partner Series Presented by the AFT and ShareMyLesson at Debbie Zacarian EdD, and Associates, LLC.

I am excited to share that Identity Safe Spaces at Home and School: Partnering to Overcome Inequity, co-written with Dr. Becki Cohn-Vargas, has been released nation-wide. Several people have asked how to spread the word about the book. Here are some activities to do if you would like.

Please share the release of the book on your social media: 

• Take a photo of you holding the book!  
• Encourage others to purchase it at Teachers College Press, Amazon, or other online bookstores
• Please feel free to post this jpeg about the book. 
• Please review the book!

Continue reading New Book! Identity Safe Spaces at Home and School at Debbie Zacarian EdD, and Associates, LLC.

How can we enhance how we teach multilingual learners using a strengths-based approach? It was an honor to listen to Grace Delgado from Aldine ISD discuss the steps that her district took and is taking to transform its practices based on Transforming Schools for Multilingual Learners. Listen to the interview with Dr. Rachel George (of Principal Street Bam Radio), Grace, and me.

Enhancing How We Teach Multilingual Learners: A Practical Guide

Continue reading Interview on Bam Radio’s Principal Street: Transforming Schools for Multilingual Learners at Debbie Zacarian EdD, and Associates, LLC.

Gather a group of educators together and we find ourselves recounting the crazy life experiences that we routinely have going at full speed – regardless of what our role is.

All my adventures came to a screeching halt in September when I had a total hip replacement (THR).  After years of running, playing sports, standing (as most of us educators do), and sitting (as many of us educators and authors do too much of), my trusted hip became too tired to consider itself useful any longer.  After a year of limping, it was time to part ways. 

The surgery was done in the afternoon and I was home by midnight climbing the stairs. It felt amazing to see how quickly I was able to do that!

Continue reading Slow Down Seabiscuit at Debbie Zacarian EdD, and Associates, LLC.

School superintendents, principals, teachers, specialists, support staff, and others are becoming much more aware of the epic number of students experiencing adversity in the form of trauma, violence, and chronic stress.  However, many of us are not familiar with the steps that we should take to support our instructional programming.

Here are seven professional growth resources to strengthen our work. Additional resources may be found here.

1. Using a Strengths-Based Approach: Supporting Multilingual Learners Living with Trauma, Violence and Chronic Stress
2. Short video for using 3 trauma-informed instructional priorities
3. Five Elements of a Positive Classroom Environment for Students Living with Adversity
4. There’s More to the Story than Crossing Borders
5. Supporting students after a violent event.

Continue reading 7 Professional Growth Resources for Working with Students Living with Adversity at Debbie Zacarian EdD, and Associates, LLC.

With the school year well underway, many of us want to modify the language education programming we are providing multilingual learners [MLs].

One reason we want to do this is to ensure that we are following state and federal guidelines to identify MLs and determine or strengthen the programming that’s most likely to work.

Here are 4 ideas for following state and federal regulations and supporting students to flourish.

Continue reading Transforming Policies, Practices, and Structures for Multilingual Learners’ Success at Debbie Zacarian EdD, and Associates, LLC.

By Debbie Zacarian

We all know the importance of family engagement. Whether we work with two parents, a single parent, foster parent, grandparent, stepparent, custodial parent, extrafamilial member, and others, we understand that every family constellation is essential to children’s development.

While we might believe strongly in family engagement, we may overlook its special relevance with families whose language and culture are distinct from our own. Conversely, many families of multilingual learners may not be familiar with the practices used in our schools.

Continue reading Three Strategies to Strengthen Partnerships with Families of Multilingual Learners at Debbie Zacarian EdD, and Associates, LLC.

When Alina was 11 years old, she moved to the United States from Irpin, Ukraine with her mother and younger brother to live with distant relatives. The Russian invasion resulted in their witnessing the destruction of their city and the death of family members. As Alina enrolls in school, we learn that she has never been exposed to English and has missed about six months of school. 

Take a moment to consider Alina and the type of language assistance program that you believe would be the most effective.  During the past few decades, I have been providing policy analysis, strategic planning, and professional development for educators that work with PreK-university-aged multilingual learners [MLs] at the local, state, and national levels across the United States.  I have asked thousands of policymakers and educators to respond to a scenario like this one.

Continue reading Drawing from Strengths at Debbie Zacarian EdD, and Associates, LLC.

Interested in learning more about practices for supporting students living with adversity? Listen in as Dr. Jobi Lawrence and Dr. Debbie Zacarian discuss the topic of teaching to empower and share a call to action to foster student agency, self-confidence, and collaboration. This episode of ASSETS is part of a federally funded National Professional Development series that is available on Apple and Spotify.

Continue reading <strong>Teaching to Strengths: 5 Practices for Supporting Students Living with Adversity</strong> at Debbie Zacarian EdD, and Associates, LLC.

Please join this free webinar hosted by the National Association of English Learner Program Administrators and sponsored by TransAct on Thursday, Jan 19, 2023, 4:00 — 5:30 PM EST. Register here!

Are you seeking support in building, strengthening, and sustaining effective language assistance programming for multilingual learners?

This webinar will explore: How can we design and enact policies, practices, and structures for multilingual learners to feel safe, a sense of belonging, value, and competence?

Continue reading Please Join! Webinar: Transforming Schools for Multilingual Learners at Debbie Zacarian EdD, and Associates, LLC.