As a part of our journey we felt compelled to share what we were learning with our colleagues.

Sharing with Dual Language colleagues at our school-site

In the middle of the first year, after working with our consultant Silvia Reyes, and beginning to shift our thinking and teaching about language, we wanted to invite our dual language colleagues to join us in learning, refining and reviewing the concepts of teaching for linguistic transference. So we sponsored a Transference seminar by Silvia Reyes.

 Sharing with district colleagues

At the end of the first year of our inquiry project, we presented our learning with our Dual Language and Transitional Bilingual Program colleagues from throughout the district. We had experienced some significant shifts in our thinking that we were excited to share. Mainly, the cognitive habits and abilities that lead to true biliteracy and what practices we had been using in the classroom to promote those habits. Our goal was to offer our peers a glimpse of our developing understanding of the theory of teaching for linguistic transference and how to practically apply it in the classroom. Many of our colleagues were asking for a grade-specific scope and sequence of transference skills so that each grade would build upon the year before. We attempted to answer this request by sharing our plan for the year and how the previous grade (Kindergarten) could lay a foundation that we could build upon that would then extend to the next grade (2nd grade), who could then continue building and extending.

 Connecting with the Larger Bilingual Educator Community

In the middle of year 2, we were ready to share our learning with the larger community of bilingual teachers by presenting at CABE (California Association of Bilingual Educators).

Our desire was to share our journey of transformation with other educators. Through the process of engaging in this inquiry project, we found ourselves truly creating and innovating. We wanted to share our path of learning, reflection and application that not only impacted our students, but how we viewed ourselves as bilingual educators. We shared a journey that lead us to a multi-cultural, interdisciplinary, linguistically rich, transformative curriculum.

At the the end of the presentation, we offered ourselves as resources for other teachers in their journey of understanding and teaching for linguistic transference. As a result, there were several schools interested in coming to visit our program. We had the chance to host a group of teachers and administrators at our school-site for a day of professional observation and collaboration.

 CABE Presentation Power Point