Debbie Zacarian and Becki Cohn-Vargas When Francisco Lopez was twelve, he and his parents moved from Santiago, Brazil, to a small town in Massachusetts, where his father began working as a Portuguese professor at a university. Accompanied by his parents, Francisco enrolled in a local middle school, where his father …
by Becki Cohn-Vargas and Debbie Zacarian For too long, many children have experienced barriers that harm their sense of safety, belonging, value, competence, and confidence to speak up for themselves and others. Examples include children who are teased about their race, gender identity, the languages they speak, and being neurodiverse. …
“Identity Safe Spaces at Home and School,” by Becki Cohn-Vargas and Debbie Zacarian, is a critical resource addressing educational inequity. The book integrates research with practical tools to support inclusive environments for diverse students. Emphasizing home-school collaboration, it offers strategies for fostering trust, empathy, autonomy, and resilience in classrooms.
For many of us, the first weeks of school are filled with tension. For me, the close of the summer months always meant calming the butterflies that signaled the beginning of a new school year. However, the fears that many multilingual learners [MLs] experience differ greatly from what I experienced …
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 …
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 …
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. …
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 …
Available for Pre-Purchase! Essential principles, practices, and structures for multilingual learners A lot has changed in the ten years since this book was first published. This celebrated triumph provided state, district, school, and teacher leaders with a comprehensive guide to support multilingual learners to reach their full potential. The key messages that …
TESOL Press just released two new publications. Social-Emotional Learning for English Learners [SEL] (Zacarian, 2022) and the Essentials for Engaging Families of English Learners (Zacarian, 2022). These two zip guides are the first of their kind for TESOL Press. Each includes six 8.5×11 laminated folded panels that distill key principles …
