Setting Your Language Learners Up for Success this School Year (and Beyond)

Welcome educators! Before we get started I want to share with you an amazing free tool I have available to you. It is “The Ultimate Guide to a Successful School Year”. In this guide I walk you through how you can take those nervous jitters to have an undeniable confidence throughout the school year. All because you started with these basic steps in the guide.  To download the guide go to myadventuresinesl.com/ultimateguide.

We are going to start the blog off with your reflection question. How are you preparing your Language Learners for success in your classroom? Take a moment to reflect on this question. Think about this question and answer to yourself honestly where you stand. 

There are so many of us out there that want our students to be successful. The roadblock that many of us encounter is how to make that happen. We often ask ourselves “What can we do to ensure that they are successful?” Success can look many different ways for different students. That poses a small roadblock because it takes time (sometimes time we do not always have available) to craft a success path designed for each student.

There are many of us (including myself) that felt like my students really struggled this past school year. There were so many obstacles put in our way and all I could think to myself was about their success this school year. 

It was a nagging constant question lingering over every assignment, assessment, and activity that they did in my classroom. It was consuming so much of my time and energy. That was until I knew that I had to put systems and tools in place to set up my students for success. 

The first thing I thought about was lessons. Many of my students were struggling with time management and keeping track of lessons in their classes. This was leading to failing grades for most of them. After talking to a few of them, I realized they didn’t understand the concept of time management. To help them with this I modeled for them how to use a calendar to track when their assignments were due. In my class specifically, I created a due date checklist and so many students found this helpful because they could clearly see when the assignments were due in class. 

I also realized that many of the students were not clear about expectations. This could be expectations for arriving to class on time or the expectations around taking assessments. Once I got clear on my expectations for students, I started seeing a lot more success moves in the classroom. 

The first step of setting your students up for success is awareness. This can be done through reflecting on what your students need for a successful school year. Remember this can look different for each student which leads me to my next point. 

Ask your students what they need to be successful in your classroom. In most cases they are not sure so create a questionnaire for them. Model for them how to complete that questionnaire. 

Set goals with your students. Just like you need to be aware, they also need to be aware. Map out a success path with clear expectations on how they can reach each goal. 

Now that you have some clear strategies here is your call to action. First, The Ultimate Guide to a Successful School Year if you have not done so already. Next, reflect on what tools and supports your students need for success. Finally, decide on how you want to create success plans for your students. 

I would love for you to share how you are planning on setting up your Language Learners for success in your classroom. Share your comments below. 

Download the transcript to this episode here.