With multilingual learners now making up the fastest-growing segment of the K-12 student population, an increasing number of elementary teachers report that they feel inadequately prepared to effectively meet the needs of language learners in their classrooms.
Being a Reader, contains the instructional strategies and scaffolds that are critical for teachers to help English learners gain access to academic content before they speak English fluently.
Supports for English Learners |
Supports for Teachers |
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Explicit teaching of social skills creates safe, supportive classroom communities where students respect and care for one another |
Implementation handbook for each grade with resources for supporting instruction and planning specifically for ELs |
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Classrooms honor and appreciate the culture, language, and experiences each child brings to the table |
Designated pre-teaching section with instructional suggestions for preparing students to participate confidently in lessons |
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Explicit scaffolds throughout the program support English learners with accessing the texts and content so they may participate fully in class discussions, and succeed with lesson content |
Weekly extensions specifically designed for ELs to practice or deepen their understanding of a strategy or concept |
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High-quality, diverse texts reflect a range of backgrounds, cultures, views, and perspectives and expose students to rich language and academic content |
Targeted EL margin notes throughout lessons that allow teachers to implement suggestions as they are teaching |
“Too often the initial response of teachers working with English learners has been to 'water down' the curriculum to make it easier for them. But this works counter to what they really need.
Instead, we should amplify the grade-level curriculum for English learners through a lot of scaffolding and support, using visual representations, providing additional time for them to process information, and leveraging the students’ native languages. These are just some of the adaptations that are infused into the Being a Reader program.”
Dr. Marco Bravo, Associate Dean for the School of Education and Counseling Psychology at Santa Clara University, and advisor for Being a Reader, Second Edition
Since the organization’s founding in 1980, our work has reached more than 8 million students and 328,000 teachers in classrooms across the country, developing fluent readers and skilled writers, supporting instructional equity, transforming discipline practices, and bolstering student and teacher engagement.
