Teachers using Listenwise with their students through remote/hybrid instruction have observed that Listenwise helps them engage students in learning and cultivate student agency. Many also note that Listenwise broadens accessibility to curriculum content and allows them to differentiate instruction to sup

This day offers educators an opportunity to teach students about related current events and their connection to history. There are clear links between MLK’s legacy and contemporary issues of civil rights, race relations, and matters of diversity, inclusion, and equity.

The new year started out with some much needed new funding for schools. As 2020 came to a close, a COVID-19 relief package providing more than $54 billion in direct aid to K-12 schools was finally passed by Congress. That’s about four times the amount allotted to schools back in March 2020, at the start of the pandemic.

It’s clear that as the pandemic has intensified, so have the needs of schools.

I’ve been listening to English language educators this fall as they share how they are reaching their students in what are likely the most challenging educational circumstances they have ever faced. In a series of webinars we called “Teacher Talks: What’s Working with ELs in Remote Learning,” I’ve heard both disheartening and uplifting stories.

We ask attendees of the Teacher Talks, who are typically EL educators from around the country, “What is the biggest challenge with this new learning environment for your students?” Two of the most common responses are access to technology and other family responsibilities.

Access to technology is even more complicated than I realized. One teacher shared that when her 6th grade student was having trouble getting a strong signal to see her on Zoom, she asked if the student could move to another room in the apartment to get a better signal.

The student replied “My family doesn’t pay enough rent to use the living room.”

How can a school system overcome this barrier? What can a teacher do to help? This district had worked hard over the summer to provide every student with a Chromebook and free internet access. But the internet provider only installed one connection per home, and many of her students live with multiple families, and often multiple children in the same room trying to do online school simultaneously. Internet access is clearly a more complicated problem.