By Danielle Boggs, Professional Learning Specialist, and Jeremiah Morgan, Professional Learning Specialist

Teachers must see, value, and build on all the strengths students bring into the classroom community.  Educators cannot simply ask (or insist) that students use their full linguistic repertoire; instead, we need to actively implement strategies to develop a culture that supports translanguaging. This is mutually beneficial for both multilingual and monolingual learners. 

Knowing that change takes time, let’s continue to reflect and plan for next steps to take action on our commitment to translanguaging.

In our own reflections and discussions on how to support multilingual learners, our thinking continues to evolve over the months as we reconsidered many long-standing instructional practices. To note, we did the best we could with the knowledge and strategies (and in some ways, technology) we had to support learners at the time. As we identified what we wish we had not done, the conversations shifted to focus on opportunities to improve our actions to support our students. Out of these discussions came a series of continuums listed in the table below that contrast what translanguaging is not and what translanguaging is. These were ideas and practices that we practiced at various points during our teaching career. It is not something that we are embarrassed by; instead, it is a necessary part of our professional growth. Our goal is to increase awareness about translanguaging, so that other educators can join us in reflecting on and identifying opportunities for making shifts to our own practices. 

As you interact with the table, place an ‘X’ to represent where you currently fall on each continuum. Challenge your co-planning team members to do the same, if possible. 

Now that you have taken the time to reflect, consider selecting one of these continuums and generating ideas about how you might move in a desired direction. A next step might be to establish goals for translanguaging and support your co-planning team in achieving those goals. Check out the resources at the end of this article for additional ideas on translanguaging.

Very small shifts on the continuum will have both measurable and immeasurable positive impacts on each learner’s mathematical identity.  As we shared in our earlier article, this work is ongoing. Thank you for taking the time to grow with us. 

Check out these resources if you’re looking to learn more:

1. Teaching Resource (PDF): Mathematical Language Routines
   1. Zwiers, J., Dieckmann, J., Rutherford-Quach, S., Daro, V., Skarin, R., Weiss, S., & Malamut, J. (2017). Principles for the Design of Mathematics Curricula: Promoting Language and Content Development. Retrieved from Stanford University, UL/SCALE website: http://ell.stanford.edu/content/mathematics-resources-additional-resources
2. Book: Chval, K. B., Smith, E., Trigos Carrillo, L. M., & Pinnow, R. J. (2021). Teaching math to multilingual students, grades K-8: Positioning English learners for Success. Corwin.
3. Google Slides: Study Team and Teaching Strategies and Mathematical Language Routines Directions and Sentence Frames
4. CPM Newsletter Article: Mathematics as Communication: Supporting Students’ Linguistic Repertoires
5. Advice Article: National Education Association: AI for Multilingual Learners