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 …
Becki Cohn-Vargas and Debbie Zacarian The practice of identity safety is critical to educators’ ongoing quest to create spaces where every child feels welcomed, supported, and validated, and where they can embrace and celebrate their diverse social identities. Renowned social psychologists and educational scholars have heralded this transformative approach- which …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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. …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
It was an honor to be interviewed by Peter Dewitt, host of the Leaders Coaching Leaders podcast about the second edition of Transforming Schools for Multilingual Learners: A comprehensive guide for educators. During the podcast, Peter asks about the reasons for writing a new edition and using a strengths-based approach. …
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 …
Tan Huynh is a highly regarded teacher of multilingual learners. His popular podcast, Teaching MLs provides the opportunity to listen to the thoughts, ideas, and experiences of the most current leaders in the field. I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Tan about Beyond Crises: Overcoming Linguistic and Cultural …
By Debbie Zacarian and Becki Cohn-Vargas As one school year ends and we plan for the next, we see the glaring inequities that the pandemic has amplified, and we recognize that steps must be taken to address them. Beyond adopting new guidelines for hygiene and reducing our schools’ exposure to …
This Q&A with editor Dan Alpert and co-authors Debbie Zacarian and Diane Staehr Fenner first appeared in languagemagazine.com on January 22, 2020. That piece is titled From Deficit-Based to Assets-Based: Breaking Down the Wall One Essential Shift at a Time and is based on the first chapter of the best selling …
by Debbie Zacarian
This short video describes the rationale for using a strengths-based approach to support students living with adversity and includes three classroom-based strategies. The video originally appeared as part of a project for ASCD on “Trauma-Informed Practices”.
https://inservice.ascd.org/the-power-of-strengths-in-the-aftermath-of-hurricane-maria/?utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=Social-Organic&utm_medium=social
