Being Inspired at The Bueno Center in Boulder, Colorado

This summer Dr. Jen Stacy and Dr. Lilia Sarmiento travelled to Boulder, Colorado to join educators from different parts of the country to engage in professional learning centered on equity, justice and diversity. On the first day, the keynote speaker, Dr. Kathy Escamilla passionately addressed the audience of the importance of world languages and created the metaphor of building barns to highlight exemplary programs and leaders who are creating robust learning programs and case studies of educators seeking social justice.

Additional highlights included: a web design of a unit of study centered on immigration, variations of semantics in Spanish, how teachers can embrace activism for transformation and social change, the importance of establishing strong professional networks, build community, and collaborate, advocacy for bilingual students with special education designation in learning, and re-imagining read alouds to support a holistic view of students. It was a time to reflect on what it means to be a bilingual educator and the critical role of leadership we all have to embrace. The presenters demonstrated their generous spirit for sharing their resources with an open invitation towards collaboration.

At the end, a panel of officials shared some of the challenges and opportunities at the State level as they enhance practices and policies for emergent bilinguals. Their insights confirmed the importance for all to take action to change the view that multilingual learners are an asset.