Saguaro Education

    Agency is defined as the ability to make one's own choices and decisions, to be able to control one's own life. Adults have this in all sorts of ways; they can choose to go to college, to call out of work when they are sick, and to live in a city with public transit as opposed to buying a car. These are only a few examples, but even something as simple as choosing toaster waffles over cereal for breakfast is an example of agency, and it is something people often take for granted.      In traditional schooling, however, agency is often removed from the educational lives of the students. Sure, they can choose which pen to write their essay with, but what good is that if they can communicate their knowledge better with a PowerPoint and are not given the option to do so?      Multiple well-respected experts (Vygotsky, Skinner, and Bandura, to name a few) in the field indicate that agency is vital to learning. There are many uses for agency, from rebelling against social norms,

            Four is an important number for Arizona when it comes to EL instruction. Four principles of instruction, and four approved instruction models, which every educator should be aware of when teaching in Arizona.  The first of the four methods is the  Two-Hour Model, which requires  elementary schools to provide a total of 600 minutes per week,  and high schools to provide 500 minutes,  of targeted ELD instruction to each and every EL student. These minutes could be spread throughout a school day, with some in each core subject, for a total of 120 minutes per day for elementary students, and 100 minutes daily for high schoolers. Alternatively, schools could provide all of these minutes in an ELA (English Language Arts) class. It should be noted that whatever time is left in the day should be used to provide EL students with the same academic standards and learning opportunities as their peers. In other words, EL students are not to be singled out, or have their education standa

      Arizona has 4 primary principles regarding its approach to language development for its EL students. As Arizona educators, it is important to know these principles and be ready to use them in the classroom. Even if there are not any EL students in the classroom, these principles are helpful to general education students as well. Research based and designed to provide high quality education, Arizona's 4 Principles of Language Acquisition will help students learn both English and other academic content.       The first of the 4 Principles is Asset Based Behaviors and Expectations, wherein educators build instructional expectations based on the student's current assets, as well as provide opportunities to students that will benefit them in the future. This often takes the form of providing EL students the same secondary education applications as their native English-speaking peers or celebrating the student's home culture in the classroom on a day-to-day basis. While pro

          The world is becoming increasingly connected, and people from a wide variety of places are mingling with people from equally interesting locations. On top of that, the United States has long prided itself on being a melting pot of cultures and has often been the middle meeting point for people who--in the less connected past--never would have met. This day and age are an amazing opportunity for people to share their cultures, languages, ideas, and perspectives, as well as gain different ones themselves. But whenever there is an opportunity for growth, there is an opportunity for challenges, as educators across the United States know well.      One such challenge is the responsibility of teaching students who do not speak English at home and provide them with the same educational opportunities promised to every American child. The only problem? They may or may not speak or understand English! This is where ELL (English Language Learner) and ESL (English as a Second Language) p