Dr. Stephen Fleenor and Tina Beene are on the show and we are so fortunate to get to learn from them in this episode.
You can listen to the show right here.
Listen to “BAP073 Fleenor and Beene EL Experts for Science & Social Studies Teaching” on Spreaker.
Stephen and Tina are my colleagues (and friends) and I’m thrilled that they have written an amazing book, Teaching Science to English Learners. They each have their content area specializations. Stephen is our science expert and Tina is our go-to consultant for all things Social Studies. All three of us are Seidlitz Education consultants so we have a strong focus on supporting English Learners and marginalized populations. We were all trained in Seidlitz 7 Steps to a Language Rich Interactive Classroom (this is where QSSSA was born). The research-based sheltered instruction principles of the 7 Steps are foundational to our work as a company and for us as individuals.
I had so many takeaways from this show! Stephen and Tina helped me reflect on how important it is to keep a focus on a language rich classroom whether we are face to face or in a remote learning environment. As Stephen put it, even in the virtual world, we need to offer students ways to have structured interactions with each other. He actually just released a webinar on Fostering Interaction in an Online Classroom and you can watch it right here. In that webinar he is modeling QSSSA and other techniques you can use in the virtual world. He also recently published this 11 minute video on facilitating QSSSA in zoom breakout rooms. I have watched it several times already!
As you listen to the show, you’ll understand why Tina and Stephen make such a great writing team. I love having Tina back because she always helps me think deeply about how learning is impacted by how students contextualize concepts into their own world view. With everything going on right now, I highly recommend all teachers watch this webinar she just released on offering Compelling Social Studies Content for Distance Learning. And you can find her Teaching Social Studies to ELLs book right here. 
Stephen and Tina co-wrote an amazing resource, Teaching Science to English Learners that is creating a buzz in the field because, just as Tina’s first book in this series, it focuses on low-prep, high yield strategies. Is it any wonder that their books are among our best sellers?
I’m so happy to share more free content from these two! Don’t miss this article Stephen wrote for the Seidlitz blog:
Or this one that Tina wrote about how to survive October… a time that typicially comes with many deadlines, stress and illness. Her practical advice applies so much right now!
October Is the Scariest Month of a Teacher’s Year. by Tina Beene
I am so happy to have a few more Carol & Tina shows for you. I also feel so fortunate that Tina partnered with me to deliver this VirtuEL presentation on Effective Questioning in Social Studies. Check it out for a deep dive in QSSSA in Social Studies:
This is a link to the first time she was on this show. I listen to this one often – it was foundational to units of study that propelled the learning in my newcomer class:
One more big thanks to these EduHeroes in the field! I’m so proud to work with them.
Here is a workshop they are doing on November2nd if you want to go ahead and register and mark your calendar for this:
As promised, here are links to some recent videos I’ve done for newcomer teachers:
Supporting SLIFE in Distance Learning was a webinar for Saddleback. (general ideas of why they should be able to learn quickly and some strategies modeled.)
My 17 min MADPD video on Compelling Projects
My own Seidlitz webinar on how I would set up my newcomer/SLIFE class with authentic experiences.
My Kahoot session on Engaging ELs with Kahoot.
Hope those help add things to your toolbelt.
Thank you for stopping by this blog!
Stay strong and healthy,
Carol