Summer Institute
Professional Development

Facilitator(s): Rachel Gately
Date & Time: Monday, August 3, 9:30-11:30am
Description: Explore the following guiding questions with us: What is the history of DLBE? What is DLBE? What makes DLBE different from other language programs? Why do we say DLBE is the best program for emerging bilingual (English Learner) students? What are the basic components of a DLBE program? What decisions do we have to make when creating a DLBE program and why do we make them? This PD provides a foundational knowledge of DLBE as well as an understanding of the planning and commitment required to build a successful program. The goal is for all participants to understand the research and theoretical rationale, the goals, and a beginning understanding of the program structure of DLBE.

Facilitator(s): Luz Mendes
Date & Time: Monday, August 3, 12:30-2:30pm
Description: NEW! Coming soon.

Facilitator(s): Rachel Gately
Date & Time: Tuesday, August 4, 9:30-11:30am
Description:Explore the following guiding questions with us: How is teaching in DLBE unique? How do I know if my DLBE school/program/classroom is successful? How can I learn more about DLBE pedagogy? This PD provides a foundational knowledge of DLBE as well as an understanding of the planning and commitment required to build a successful program. The goal is for all participants to understand the research and theoretical rationale, the goals, and a beginning understanding of the program structure of DLBE.

Facilitator(s): Rachel Gately
Date & Time: Tuesday, August 4, 12:30-2:30pm
Description: In this PD, participants will explore classroom tested metalinguistic strategies to help students build their own vocabulary and discover connections across languages. Participants will take on the role of a student to complete a routine that can be flexibly implemented in any classroom. Participants will leave with strategies and resources that can be implemented immediately, as well as ideas on how to get students excited to take ownership of their own learning and how to make vocabulary fun!

Facilitator(s): Dr. Meg Burns & Elissa Washburn
Date & Time: Wednesday, August 5, 9:30-11:30am
Description: This session will introduce and differentiate between two essential components of DLBE planning: the language allocation plan and curriculum alignment plan. We will discuss why creating these two plans prior to program launch will help ensure program success and district systemic coherence. We will build capacity for designing units that support and extend instruction between the two partner languages across content areas.

Facilitator(s): Elissa Washburn
Date & Time: Tuesday, August 4, 12:30-2:30pm
Description: This session is designed to share strategies from Literacy Squared’s Así Se Dice to explicitly teach cross linguistic connections in Spanish DLE classrooms. Participants will discuss how to write targeted metalinguistic awareness language objectives that compare and contrast English and a partner language in a contextualized setting, focusing on the difference between literal and conceptual translations. We will also share strategies from Literacy Squared’s Dictado to explicitly teach phonics, syntax and grammar in Spanish DLE classrooms. Participants will discuss how to write targeted metalinguistic awareness language objectives for dictation exercises that allow students to increase their academic language through writing and editing.

Facilitator(s): Analiese Reigstad
Date & Time: Thursday, August 6, 9:30-11:30am
Description: NEW! Coming soon.

Facilitator(s): Jess Pires & Ashley Dupere
Date & Time: Thursday, August 6, 12:30-2:30pm
Description: Mapping foundational skills in a dual language program can be quite a tricky puzzle to solve. With multiple curricula to use, various teaching structures, and very little time to fit it all in, teachers are left with lots of overwhelm. In this session, we share our experience with foundational skills mapping within and across languages. We will walk through our process, highlighting what went well and challenges we faced. Participants will leave the session with practical tools and strategies to support foundational skills biliteracy mapping.

Facilitator(s): Lizbeth Torres
Date & Time: Friday, August 7, 9:30-11:30am
Description: “Morning Meeting is a way to start our day in a nice, welcoming environment and headspace.” This session highlights how starting the day on a high note sets the tone for learning, engagement, and connection. Participants will explore how purposeful movement, interactive routines, and community-building activities support vocabulary development and oral language, especially for multilingual learners. Though rooted in the morning meeting, these routines can be embedded across all subject areas to break up the normalcy of day-to-day lessons and create more joyful, engaging, and interactive learning experiences. Attendees will leave with practical, ready-to-use strategies to build inclusive, language-rich classrooms where students feel confident, connected, and actively engaged throughout the day. NEW!

Facilitator(s): Dr. Meg Burns
Date & Time: Friday, August 7, 12:30-2:30pm
Description: Coming soon.

Facilitator(s): Elissa Washburn
Date & Time: Monday, August 10, 9:30-11:30am
Description: This session is a brief introduction to The Bridge (based on Teaching for Biliteracy: Strengthening Bridges Between Languages) for teachers of DLE learners. We will review three components of the Bridge: a level one translation "bridge," a level two "Bridge" with a metalinguistic focus, and a follow-up activity to the bridge lesson. We will analyze a sample "bridge" from the elementary level and discuss the purpose of each of the three components. Participants will dive deeply into the metalinguistic awareness opportunities provided by the level two bridge and practice planning a sample bridge together.

Facilitator(s): Cristina Sánchez-López & Theresa Young
Date & Time: Monday, August 10, 12:30-2:30pm
Description: As seen in #MABE2026. In this session, participants will explore the characteristics of inclusive practices that welcome multilingual learners with disabilities into all of our classrooms. As practitioners, Theresa and Cristina will share strategies, and resources that have been found to support multilingual learners (both young and adolescents) with disabilities to develop language, literacy and content area knowledge in a variety of learning contexts.

Facilitator(s): Elissa Washburn
Date & Time: Tuesday, August 11, 9:30-11:30am
Description: In this session, we will map out a plan for making cross linguistic connections between languages of instruction and plan intentionally for translanguaging in the dual language classroom. We will label different types of translanguaging using Liz Howard and Shera Simpson’s vocabulary from Tandem Teaching using examples and consider the pros and cons of these types. We will purposefully plan ways to make cross linguistic connections both synchronously and asynchrounously and strategically plan for translanguaging in DLBE classrooms.

Facilitator(s): Christina Sánchez-López
Date & Time: Tuesday, August 11, 12:30-2:30pm
Description: As seen in #MABE2026. In this session participants will review a recently developed guide to writing culturally and linguistically appropriate IEPs for bilingual learners with disabilities. The guide provides information about the different areas of the IEPs where teams can incorporate cultural and linguistic considerations: Student Present Levels, Parent Concerns, Communication Needs, Consideration of Special Factors, Annual Goals, Accommodations & Modifications, and State and District Assessments. The guide includes examples and suggestions for applying these guidelines in a variety of program models, for professional learning, and for ongoing collaboration between bilingual and special education teams.

Facilitator(s): Ayda Parras Rojas
Date & Time: Wednesday, August 12, 9:30-11:30am
Description: As seen in #MABE2026. Esta sesión explora las destrezas fundamentales del idioma español en estudiantes emergentes bilingües en los Estados Unidos, dentro del contexto de programas bilingües y de doble inmersión. Partiendo de un análisis de los estándares fundamentales del español y el desarrollo del acento, esta actividad da prioridad a la aplicación estratégica. Los asistentes no solo identificarán similitudes entre idiomas, sino que participarán activamente en la creación de soluciones pedagógicas para desafíos comunes. El objetivo central es que cada participante domine herramientas prácticas y estrategias de instrucción explícita que puedan implementar de inmediato para elevar el rigor lingüístico.

Facilitator(s): Silvia Lima
Date & Time: Wednesday, August 12, 9:30-11:30am
Description: This professional development session will focus on how literacy instruction differs — and aligns — across English and Portuguese. Participants will explore key contrasts in phonology, morphology, orthography, grammar, and vocabulary development. This session will help teachers leverage these differences to strengthen biliteracy and engage students more effectively across both languages.

Facilitator(s): Christina Sánchez-López
Date & Time: Wednesday, August 12, 12:30-2:30pm
Description: As seen in #MABE2026. In this session, participants will examine critical factors that impact multilingual learners’ response to instruction and intervention, how to gather information about each factor, and ideas for both systemic and specific interventions to create more supportive learning environments for learners. Through a sample case study, participants will practice problem-solving at the Tier 1+ level of MTSS and generate a plan for supporting multilingual learners who experience challenges.

Facilitator(s): Sarah Rodriguez & Kaeley Vera
Date & Time: Thursday, August 13, 9:30-11:30am
Description: Many of us use gestures when we teach to help with student comprehension, but there are ways to take it to the next level to engage students, increase comprehensible input, and build academic vocabulary. In this session, participants will learn specific strategies that can be used in any grade level and content area. You will get a chance to apply the strategies to create materials to use in your classroom and with your own topics/units. As seen in #MABE2026.

Facilitator(s): Joan Lachance
Date & Time: Thursday, August 13, 12:30-2:30pm
Description: As seen in #MABE2026. This presentation builds ways to bridge pre- and in-service teacher preparation programs with social justice and advocacy at the forefront. The participant-centered session offers activities to unpack the EMMA teacher preparation Standards and their applicability for both district and school-based professional learning, including ways to partner with higher education faculty for site-based communities of practice. Session take-aways include creative ways to use the EMMA Standards for a community of practice approach to professional learning.

Facilitator(s): Jennifer Adams & Elena Schmitt
Date & Time: Friday, August 14, 9:30-11:30am
Description: Achieving a Multicultural Classroom Through Mindful Changes demonstrates how intentional instructional shifts — like integrating students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds — boost engagement and language development. Grounded in sociocultural competence, this approach teaches students to value their own identities while navigating diverse perspectives. By framing curricula as both “mirrors and windows,” the presentation shows how to maintain academic rigor while diversifying access points to create a truly inclusive, responsive environment. As seen in #MABE2026.

Facilitator(s): Elissa Washburn
Date & Time: Friday, August 14, 12:30-2:30pm
Description: In this session, participants will learn to backwards plan for language in oral conversation by writing clear and effective langauge objectives with language functions and features. They will create a variety of scaffolding tiers to support oral language for students at different levels of language aquisition. We will also briefly review strategies for extending discourse in the classroom including academic conversations, collaborative structures and visible thinking routines.