ML/EL E6: Curating a confident classroom for multilingual learners, with Arturo Valadez Sáenz

In this episode, Susan Lambert is joined by Arturo Valadez Sáenz, a demonstration teacher from Dallas, Texas, who delves into his journey from his childhood in Mexico to becoming an educator in the United States. He describes his current role, teaching both English and Spanish language arts, and emphasizes the importance of bilingual education. He shares the demographics and linguistic challenges of his students, many of whom are newcomers to the country, some of whom come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds or speak different dialects. Arturo discusses effective strategies like bilingual pairing, feedback for learning, and the impact of Science of Reading practices in his classroom. He also highlights the necessity of creating a positive classroom culture and building students’ confidence. Arturo’s story is a testament to the transformative power of education and the significant difference a dedicated teacher can make in the lives of students.

Show notes: 

• Follow on Instagram: @arturosaenzelviajero 
• Visit: https://arturosaenz.hearnow.com/

Quotes:
“I realized that I truly have a calling of being with kids, and the biggest thing to me is the intrinsic reward that you receive, especially working with economically disadvantaged communities.” —Arturo Valadez Sáenz

“It’s all about confidence, building the student’s confidence. It’s a huge component of preparing students to be successful.”  —Arturo Valadez Sáenz

“It’s not about the teacher. When planning, my biggest suggestion is do not plan for your own actions. Plan for what the students are going to be doing in every single portion of the lesson.” —Arturo Valadez Sáenz

Episode timestamps*
03:00 Introduction: Who is Arturo Valdez Sáenz?
05:00 Journey to Teaching
09:00 Importance of Bilingual Education
14:00 Strategies for creating positive classroom culture
21:00 Parental Involvement
23:00 Challenges in Bilingual Education and the importance of educator collaboration
27:00 Setting High Expectations for Every Child
28:00 The Power of Immediate Feedback
33:00 Building student confidence and classroom collaboration
34:00 Effective Grouping Strategies in Bilingual Classrooms
37:00 Engaging Students Across Different Grade Levels
40:00 Implementing Science of Reading Practices
45:00 Celebrating Student Growth and Success
48:00 Final Thoughts and Encouragement for Educators
*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

Episode Transcript

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (00:00):
We have the power to collect data
during formative assessments ona daily basis, just by walking
around. Walking around. Look atwhat students are producing in
the moment.

Susan Lambert (00:14):
This is Susan Lambert, and welcome to Science

of Reading (00:16):
The Podcast, from Amplify, where the Science of
Reading lives. Thank you forjoining us throughout this
amazing miniseries, exploringhow the Science of Reading
serves multilingual and Englishlearners. So far, we've done a
deep dive into the research onlanguage acquisition and
multilingualism. We've alsoexplored the history of

(00:38):
multilingual education in thiscountry, and shared the story
of a school in a refugeeresettlement community that's
embraced the Science ofReading. To close out this
series, we're going to focus onsome effective classroom
strategies. My guest today isArturo Sáenz, an instructional
specialist from DallasIndependent School District.

(01:01):
Arturo is a demonstrationteacher who performs a host of
roles to support othereducators, and he has extensive
experience working withmultilingual and English
learners. During thisconversation, we talk about his
experience utilizing theScience of Reading in a
bilingual setting, and wediscuss specific strategies

(01:21):
like pairing and immediatefeedback. I think it's the
perfect way to close out thisminiseries. Here's our
conversation. Well, Arturo,thank you so much for joining
us on today's episode. We areso glad to have you.

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (01:39):
Thank you so much for this invitation. I
feel truly honored for beinghere. So, thank you so much.

Susan Lambert (01:46):
Of course. And for listeners, just a little
behind the scenes, I was askingArturo how to say his name
appropriately, and I don'tthink I'll get it right,
because I don't think I canroll my Rs in both of the
places for your name. But canyou say your name for us so we
get it right?

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (02:02):
Of course. So, my name is Arturo.
I come from Mexico, so as aSpanish speaker, it's a very

strong R. So (02:08):
Arturo Sáenz.

Susan Lambert (02:12):
Arturo. I have practiced that one. .

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (02:15):
Perfect.
All right . Well, we would loveif you could tell our listeners
just a little bit about yourcurrent role and a little bit
about the students that youserve. OK. So I am currently
working as a demonstrationteacher, which is basically
having a class period. I teachReading Language Arts plus
Spanish Language Arts. And therest of the time, basically I

(02:37):
need to spend it providingteachers with instructional
support and coaching, planningand creating professional
development, analyzing anddiscussing data with teachers,
and lastly, supporting myadministrative team in the
campus operations, and whereverI'm needed. Let's say, as
educators, we play a lot ofroles and we wear a lot of

(02:58):
hats. So, kind of the same wayin my current role.

Susan Lambert (03:02):
A man with many hats. What's the student
population like at t he schoolthat you work a t?

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (03:07):
So currently we have 291 students
enrolled. At the beginning ofthe school year, we went up to
315. We're a small community.
But we have huge parentinvolvement and that helps a
lot.

Susan Lambert (03:20):
I know you said that you teach English Language
Arts and Spanish Language Arts.
What's the demographics looklike there?

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (03:26):
So, the demographics are kind of like

this (03:27):
We have 65% Hispanic students , 25% African American
, more or less, 15% white, andthe rest are other races.
However, it is interesting thatat my campus — and this is the
first time that this happens tome, in my eight years in
education — our Hispanicstudents are actually
proficient in English, most ofthem. Because we have some

(03:51):
other students that are comingfrom Central and South America
that have never attendedschool. But we will talk a
little bit more of that as t hepodcast advances.

Susan Lambert (04:04):
Yeah, for sure.
And we're gonna talk a littlebit about this bilingual
education that you're workingin. But before we get there,
thank you for introducing whatyour current role is. You have
a fascinating journey to yourcurrent role. Can you sort of
take us through how you endedup being at the school and a

(04:24):
teacher?

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (04:26):
Of course. So, as I was sharing at
the beginning, I am fromMexico. My hometown is
Monterrey. It's very near tothe border with Texas. I
studied organizationalcommunication with an emphasis
in marketing back home. I neverimagined myself becoming a
teacher, and especiallyteaching kids. However, I was

(04:46):
looking for opportunities tocome to the U. S., and one day,
magically , this vacancyappeared in front of my eyes:
"Looking for teachers to teachin Texas." And I'm like , "
This sounds pretty odd. Like,why are these people looking
for people here to teach in theUnited States?" So I gave it a
shot. I passed a few exams. Ithought, "How hard can it be

(05:10):
teaching kids?" " Beingin the classroom?" And I
learned the hard way. < Laugh >I had a very tough first year,
but then , as I was teachingand interacting with my
students , I realized that Itruly have a calling for being
with kids. And the biggestthing to me is the intrinsic

(05:34):
reward that you receive,especially working with
economically disadvantagedcommunities. I always see
myself in these kids. Like,most of these kids are coming
from Honduras, El Salvador,Guatemala, Mexico, Colombia ,
Venezuela. And they have reallyhard realities in their
countries. Some of them arrivevery afraid to the country. But

(05:57):
that's where, as educators, weplay an important role in their
lives. And eight years afterthat shot that I took, I'm
still here in education. Irecently graduated from my
master's in educationalleadership. And I want to
continue growing on myeducational journey, having an

(06:19):
impact not only with a group ofkids in the classroom, but
beyond — either a school or thewhole country. Or the whole
world, if possible. And I tryto transfer this dream and this
vision also to my students, sothey can see that these
opportunities are out there andthey can also have access to

(06:40):
this.

Susan Lambert (06:43):
Wow, that's a great story. And
congratulations on receivingyour master's degree in
educational leadership. And soit's a for-real story, right?
The marketing guy fromMonterrey, Mexico, who decided
to take a shot on kids andteaching, and here you are.

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (07:01):
Here we are.

Susan Lambert (07:02):
I wonder what you would say to your past self
, thinking about when you werein your university studies,
getting your marketing degree .
You said you never even thoughtabout teaching or kids. So—

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (07:16):
I've thought about that and I always
reflect on that. Like, I thinkbeing a marketing student
helped me a lot, in the waythat I can sell myself and
selling the product, because asa teacher, you need to sell a
product on a daily basis.
Especially when the kids aretired or they don't want to

(07:39):
work, or they are having a hardtime. You need to make it fun
for them. You need to sell yourlesson. That's how I like to
call it. And , I don't know,it's just ... sometimes we have
a pathway in our minds, butlife takes us wherever we have
to be at. And I'm very gratefulwith this opportunity of

(08:01):
teaching my students. It'seight generations now. And I
want to believe that I'm havinga bigger impact on this than
any other area.

Susan Lambert (08:16):
I love that.
Well, we're gonna take a shiftinto this idea of bilingual
education, which your school isfocused on, bilingual. I heard
you say that you teach oneblock of ELA, so English
Language Arts and SpanishLanguage Arts. Can you tell us
a little bit about how thatworks? And, and actually before
you do that, maybe can you justtalk a little bit about why you

(08:39):
think being bilingual is reallyimportant? Because personally
you are bilingual—

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (08:44):
Right.

Susan Lambert (08:44):
So it must have had an impact on you. And why
do you think it's important foryour students?

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (08:49):
All right, so, for the people that
are out there listening rightnow, for your audience, let me
give you a little bit ofcontext. So, I work in Dallas,
Texas, in the United States.
Being at this place such as theU.S. we have close to 40
million Spanish speakers in thecountry. More than ever, I
think it is very important forstudents to learn more than one

(09:11):
language as they're growing up,because it's easier for them.
It is easier to learn whenyou're a child. And this is not
limited to Spanish. It alldepends on where you are at and
what is the reality of yourcommunity. Every year, getting
a job becomes more and morecompetitive for us. I cannot
imagine how hard will it be in20 years. So definitely being

(09:33):
bilingual, or more bilingual,we like to see it as a
superpower. Because right now,as a child: "Oh yes, I'm
learning English, I'm learningSpanish, 60 minutes and 60
minutes." And they don't seethe impact of leaving
elementary school knowing twolanguages. But in the future,

(09:55):
I'm pretty sure it will have ahuge impact on their lives. So
just like that , beingbilingual, I consider is
important either in UnitedStates or Germany or Japan. And
I know some countries arestronger in preparing their
students, learning two or threelanguages.

Susan Lambert (10:15):
Were you bilingual before you came to
the United States? How did youlearn English?

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (10:21):
Well, our education in Mexico, when it
comes to English, it wasn't sowell-designed, I will say, when
I was a student there. In highschool, I had a few courses —
English 1, English 2 — as wellas in the university. And it
was a requirement forgraduation. However, I started

(10:41):
learning English, once Igraduated from college, just by
putting it into practice,because most of the time you
receive the content, but if youare not practicing it. ... And
not only in an educationalsetting, but in your social
interactions. So I acquire afew international friends. I

(11:04):
travel a lot, and that gave methe opportunity to actually
sharpen my skills in English,getting familiar with other
phrases that I was not awarethey exist and so on. But
definitely the education thatwe are providing the students
with here in Dallas, it'sworking. And I will share more
of that in a little bit.

Susan Lambert (11:26):
That's great.
And I've used this example, Ithink, on the podcast before,
too, when we've talked ... Ithink we had a conversation
with Jim Cummins. But Iremember in high school
learning German, and learningGerman from a book. So I was
really good at learning thewords and learning the

(11:47):
vocabulary and doing thereading and writing part. And
then we went to G ermany on aGerman trip, and I could speak
none of it because I wasn'timmersed in the language. I
only knew the book part of it.


Arturo Valadez Sáenz (12:01):
Something similar happened to
me when I was applying tobecome a teacher here in the
U.S. The biggest requirement... you know, we have the TOEFL
test here. And the biggestrequirement was getting 26
points in the speaking section.
And the first time I took it, Idid great in everything else —
writing, listening, reading —and by two points, I didn't

(12:26):
pass the first time. I took ita second time and I went up to
27. But again, I was putting itinto practice. And I see it
every day with the kids. Like,sometimes they're quiet in the
classroom because they'reafraid of getting the wrong
answer. Or other kids makingfun of their accents. Which
happens to me very often, bythe way. But when I see

(12:49):
them interacting in theplayground during recess time,
they're actually interactingwith other kids using English
and using Spanish and back andforth. And it's just amazing,
seeing these 7-year-old,8-year-old kids that are new to
the country, and they'realready having these social
interactions in two languages.
It's just amazing.

Susan Lambert (13:11):
That's great.
That's a great segue to talk alittle bit about the students
in your own classroom. Whatdoes that look like for you to
deliver ... first of all, whatgrade do you teach that course
to, that block?

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (13:24):
I currently teach fifth grade.

Susan Lambert (13:26):
Fifth grade.
That's right. And so what doesyour fifth-grade classroom look
like for English Language Artsand Spanish Language Arts? How
do you manage that?

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (13:35):
So , let me tell you a little bit of our
schedule for the day. We startwith 60 minutes of English
instruction that incorporatesreading, writing, grammar, and
morphology. And the other 60minutes are for Spanish.
Basically, the same components.
But it is very interesting how,whatever they learned on the

(13:56):
first language transfersautomatically to the second
language. And I like to play alittle bit. Like, sometimes,
every other day, I start withSpanish, so they don't feel
like, "Oh, start with English.
No, no, no, no, no." Iwant to take you off a little
bit and challenge you. So, as Iwas saying, most of our kids

(14:16):
are English-proficient, but Ihave a few that are struggling
because they're newcomers tothe country. So the biggest
tool that I leverage in myclassroom is having bilingual
pairs. Why having bilingualpairs? Because I have students

(14:38):
that have a Hispanic backgroundbecause their parents moved
here 15 years ago, so thesekids were born here , but they
are not Spanish-proficient. Youmight think, "Wait a minute,
they speak Spanish at home!"But sometimes the parents are
fully immersing themselves inthe culture, and they want to

(15:02):
speak English. All right! OK!On the other hand, I have these
newcomers that sometimes don'teven speak Spanish, but they're
placed in a bilingual classroombecause, "Oh, you are from
Guatemala, go to the bilingualclassroom; you are from
Honduras, go to the bilingualclassroom." But sometimes they
come speaking certain dialectsfrom the regions. And this is

(15:25):
when it becomes challenging forus as educators. Like, all
right, so you need to becreative. And basically, you
need to start teaching themfrom scratch. Thankfully, we
recently acquired a curriculumthat supports the foundational
skills for students at anygiven age. Because back in the

(15:47):
day — and back in the day islast year —

Susan Lambert (15:49):


Arturo Valadez Sáenz (15:49):
Just because you are 10 years old,
oh, you go to fifth grade. Butdoes this child have the
necessary tools to besuccessful in a fifth-grade
classroom? Sometimes, justbecause of being 10 years old,
that doesn't mean that you areat the same level of other kids

(16:12):
in your same age. So this isdefinitely a huge challenge for
us , setting interventions forstudents as they arrive to the
country or to your classroom.
But , I definitely see a hugeimpact in pairing students with
one another and creating thatpositive culture that also

(16:33):
allows for them to take risksand speak in another language.
Because most of the time — andI see this in a lot of
classrooms — the kids aresuper-quiet. They're afraid of
sharing. And it comes mostlybecause of the school culture
or the classroom culture. Thechild needs to feel safe. The

(16:55):
child needs to feel that youtruly care about him or her.
And is not gonna be judged byyou. So in our Hispanic
culture, we respect our elders,and sometimes we are afraid of
disappointing our people. So, Ithink this is why it is
important to create this safespace for them to share and to

(17:21):
communicate what they think.
Because, sometimes, these kidshave brilliant ideas in their
brains, but they haven't fullydeveloped their confidence. So
I like to see it in a holisticway. As educators, we are not
only delivering the content inlanguages, but we are actually
shaping this child's values.
And he finds — or he or shedevelops their personalities as

(17:47):
they're growing up in theclassroom. And sometimes we
don't have an idea of how hugeo ur impact can be in creating
that safe space for them.

Susan Lambert (18:01):
Yeah. I love the way that you talk about that
because you can tell that wetalk a lot about honoring
students' home languages andhome cultures, and helping them
just hold onto that when theycome into a new environment.
The example that you ... thesetwo examples, I'd like to just
highlight them a little bit.
The kid whose parents have beenhere for many years, but they

(18:27):
maybe don't speak Spanish athome anymore — or not a lot of
Spanish at home — and they alsoneed their English developed.
So really, that kid that you'retalking about, your bilingual
situation is helping themdevelop their Spanish language
as well as their Englishlanguage.

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (18:45):
Correct.
And with that, I take advantageof his or her skills in English
to support the newcomers to thecountry.

Susan Lambert (18:54):
Oh , that's great. And then newcomers
sometimes come with differentdialects. So they may not, they
don't have anything that theycan relate to, sometimes.

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (19:06):
That is absolutely true. So, sometimes,
as I was saying, you need tostart from scratch. All t he
way from the phonologicalawareness, the phonics. And
that's why I emphasize, as t heteacher, you need to set a
positive culture. Because someof these English-proficient
kids can be mean to the newkids. But it depends on you

(19:29):
and, and the way you set yourexpectations and your classroom
culture for them to make it acollaborative space. More than,
"Oh , I'm gonna make fun ofthis kid because he doesn't
even speak Spanish. How am Isupposed to help him if we
cannot even communicate witheach other?" On the other hand,
if you emphasize culture duringthe first quarter of your

(19:52):
school year, that will have ahuge impact for the rest of the
school year. And the kids, thekids are good.

Susan Lambert (20:01):
I love that strategy of pairing kids
together and allowing them touse their languages to leverage
the content and theinformation. I think there's
probably quite a bit ofresearch on that that says that
leveraging one language to theother really makes an impact.
Right?

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (20:18):
And if you allow me to share a little
bit more, it's — yeah. They arenot only discussing what they
are learning, but they arereading daily in both
languages. They are discussingwith other peers about their
learning. And also they arewriting every day . So they get
to practice all components ofthe literacy instruction. So,
at the end of the day, they gohome and they can share with

(20:43):
the parents. And this is alsovery important — making the
parents an active participantof the child's education,
because they feel very proudof, "Oh, Dad, look what I
created!" And it's, like, anextended constructive response
with four paragraphs. And then,that's when the parents get
shocked. Like, "Wait a minute,my child never attended school

(21:04):
and now he's writing inEnglish? Like, what's going on
at school?!" So I personallylike having that open channel
of communication with parents,because most of the time as
teachers, we wait for the childto underperform or to
misbehave.

Susan Lambert (21:20):
Oh yeah .

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (21:22):
So we can reach parents, right? But if
you flip the coin and you areproactive in reaching out to
parents, just to, say, share anice thing about the kid, like,
"Hey, your child was able towrite a sentence, a whole
sentence, in English. Perfectgrammar. Perfect punctuation."
And then the parent becomesmore comfortable also, to reach

(21:44):
out, back to school, back tothe teacher. And then with
that, the child gets moremotivated. H e i s like, "Oh,
wait a second, my dad and myteacher care about me. They a
re a team. Therefore, I need toput that extra effort in every
single lesson."

Susan Lambert (22:02):
That's just a great reminder of the
importance of making thatconnection to home and doing it
proactively, not waiting forthe kid to do something wrong,
or there to be a problem.

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (22:13):
Correct.

Susan Lambert (22:13):
That's great. So your work is not just with
teaching this fifth gradeclassroom, but broadly across
the school. So I wonder whatkind of challenges you see, and
maybe we shouldn't just focuson challenges, but what, what
things do you see across theschool as you're trying to
support, you know, otherteachers in this bilingual

(22:34):
education? What are the waysthat you help and support them?

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (22:38):
So the biggest challenge starts with
the teachers and thecollaboration, because
sometimes we have ... for thepeople to understand how we
manage things here in Texas —at least in Dallas, we have a
couple of general-educationclassrooms, full English
instruction, and one bilingualclassroom. And we're all at a

(22:59):
different pace during theschool year. So there is a lack
of collaboration among theteachers. Therefore, when
having professional learningcommunities, it becomes a
little bit challenging. Like,"Hey, what's going on well in
your classroom with thislesson?" And it's like, "Wait a
minute, I'm ahead of you. I'mlike in Unit 2 and you're in

(23:21):
Unit 1." However, we also founda way to kind of increase
collaboration, so students canget the benefit out of it: "OK.
So what I'm listening is ,you're ahead of me. So what
things went well during yourfirst unit, so I can implement
them, and I can give youfeedback on how you did?" And

(23:43):
that way, we can grow alltogether. Another challenge is

basically what I just shared: The kids that are newcomers and (23:48):
undefined
have zero background ineducation , families being
afraid of reaching out to theschool for different reasons.
And I understand them, at somepoint . Some parents do not
want to be actively involvedand seen. But it's very
important to create thatchannel of communication with

(24:12):
them, again. As for the Englishspeakers, I will say they can
learn faster how to speak withother Spanish speaker kids. But
for them it's really hard ,delivering a writing product.
So a huge thing that we'reimplementing right now, it's
writing, writing, writing.
Which are constructiveresponses, extended

(24:32):
constructive responses. And allthese questions are
text-dependent. And I thinkthat is the biggest challenge
that we currently have. Thewriting portion. And just
building the s tudents'confidence to speak in a second
language. .

Susan Lambert (24:53):
Yeah. You know, you mentioned this a couple of
times, you mentioned kids thatcome to your school who are
newcomers and they have maybenever been to school before. I
think that's a hard concept forsome folks to really wrap their
minds around. How do you, youknow, support those kids?

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (25:12):
So, yeah.
And this happens every day .
Like, you can be teaching, and,you know, it's all about the
scores in education. We try tofocus more on growth over time
rather than absoluteperformance. And we have found
this very useful for us, tokeep the child motivated and
engaged in his own or her ownlearning. So, tracking their

(25:38):
own data and progress over timehelps a lot. So they can see
like, "Oh, wait a minute. I wasat 'does not meet' at the
beginning of the school year,then halfway through, I was at
an 'approaches' level to mygrade level." And at the end of
the school year, they are like,"Oh, wait a minute: I'm
'meeting expectations' for mycurrent grade level." So,

(25:59):
tracking their own data, Icannot highlight enough,
because it is super importantto have this conference,
one-on-one, with students, andhelping them see like, "OK, so
based on our last assessment,you have these strengths. So
you have mastered these things,but I want you to put the extra

(26:23):
work on these other things." Sowhat I'm trying to say to the
kid is — because I heard it aswell! — "Oh, I'm dumb; I can't"
— and some teachers allow that.
I don't. And we don't allowthat at my campus, because we
strongly believe that everychild can. But you need to

(26:43):
become that guidance to helphim or help her see, you have
strengths right here. Andsometimes we don't show that to
the kid. Therefore the kidgrows up thinking like, "I
cannot do it." No, you can doit. You just need to put more
effort on this things, or onthese standards here in Texas.

(27:04):
But super-important, havingthese goal-setting conferences
with students. And you can havethem for both languages. And
then you can compare andcontrast, and make decisions
for testing as well. Like, "Iknow you feel more confident
speaking Spanish, but guesswhat? It turns out that you are
great in English!" And then thechild can also see like, "Wow,

(27:28):
I didn't know that." But if youdon't show them their progress,
and you're not having periodicconversations about their data,
they will never know. And theywill grow up with the wrong
idea of, "OK, I'm labeled as aperson that cannot."

Susan Lambert (27:47):
It's that power of immediate feedback like
that. We know that it canreally accelerate their
learning. And so it's a greatreminder of just helping to
point that out with kids. And Iwould imagine that you were
talking a little bit about this, you know, the difficulty with
writing, right? So some ofthose kids that come in as

(28:10):
newcomers — and maybe not evennewcomers — that overwhelming
sense of, "Wow, writing is ahard thing." Right? It's the
hardest thing we ask our kidsto do. Do you employ similar
strategies in some of thatfeedback loop, too, to help
them learn and grow in thatwriting element?

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (28:27):
Yes. I'm actually glad you mentioned
that. We implement somethingcalled Feedback for Learning.
So basically , we introducedthe learning goal for writing
for that piece for the day, andthen we have our success
criteria. So it's basicallythree or four steps ,
student-friendly. Therefore onthe first round, walking around
the classroom, you take a quicklook, everybody gets a check

mark (28:50):
You're on a good track.
So that creates a sense ofconfidence on the student.
Round number two, walk around,maybe a few students start
struggling, I don't know , withgrammar, with punctuation,
capitalization. Sometimes evensomething as absurd as
capitalization becomes thebiggest challenge some

(29:12):
days. But as you said, thepower of giving feedback in the
moment, that is also a hugecomponent of building the
student confidence andsharpening his skills or her
skills over a period of time.
Because sometimes we areoperating in a reactive way.

(29:34):
Waiting all the way t ill theunit assessment to look at the
standards. And identifyingthose t rends. However, we have
the power to collect data during formative assessments on
a daily basis, just by walkingaround. Walking around. Look at
what their students areproducing in the moment.

(29:55):
Because i f you don't providethem with feedback right there,
then it becomes a hugemisconception. Like, "Oh, OK,
my teacher didn't correct me.
That means I'm doing the rightthing."

Susan Lambert (30:09):
Yeah.

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (30:10):
Yeah. And then you get shocked on the
unit assessment? Come on! So most of the times
it's what things are you doingfor the child to be successful,
rather than, "Oh, my child isfailing."

Susan Lambert (30:24):
It's interesting that you're talking — and just
to remind our listeners, we'retalking about teaching in a
bilingual environment. And thisis similar to teaching in a
monolingual environment.
Feedback is really good. And sothe power of feedback, no
matter what language you'relearning, no matter what you're
learning, is really impactful.

(30:46):
But I wonder if you could talka little bit about, you know,
going back to what you weresaying: "Sometimes I start with
Spanish and sometimes I startwith English, and they don't
always know." And , what aresome of the benefits and
challenges of teaching twolanguages almost
simultaneously, or at the sametime?

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (31:06):
All right! So I see it this way:
For people to fully understandthe bilingual model, it's like
when you go to the gym, you'reworking out a certain muscle.
Sometimes you need to shock themuscle. Otherwise, you come to
a peak and you cannot getbetter. Or losing weight. "Oh ,

(31:26):
this diet worked amazingly, soI'm gonna do it the whole
life." But it doesn't work likethat. So you need to shock the
students as well, because theirmind ... you need to trick
them. Your brain, it's alreadycoming prepared, like, "OK, I'm
gonna get my English book; I'mgonna get through the lesson;
and I'm gonna get bored,because I don't understand
anything." OK. But guess what,guys? Today, we're starting

(31:49):
with Spanish! So the childstarts with a fresh and
positive mindset. He has thesegood interactions with other
peers. And then, when you shiftit to the other 60 minutes in
English, the child is alreadyat a good place, where he is
like, "OK, I can do this. I canmake this happen. My peers — I

(32:10):
was supporting the Englishspeakers." And then the kid
feels a little bit empowered,because the English speakers
were literally asking him orasking her, "Hey, what do I do
here? How do you write this?
How do you pronounce that?"

Susan Lambert (32:27):
Yeah.

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (32:28):
And it's all about confidence, building
the student's confidence. It'sa huge component of preparing
students to be successful.
Because if they don't take therisks to write, to speak, to
read out loud a sentence ...
and for some kids, it isterrifying. Just reading one

(32:48):
sentence in front of the wholeclass. And I'm just gonna read
something to you, somethingrandom, like
slowly>, "'My mom and I'...Ican't!" Hands on the face!
Yeah. . All red! Allred. And he is like, "I can't."
But then again, it comes backto the culture that you set in

(33:09):
your classroom. And then youhave the other kids empowering
him, and motivating him. Like,"Hey, no, no, no, let's do it!
Let's do it! Go one more time,one more time, one more time!"
In contrast with otherclassroom settings, where the
kid can feel judged by thepeers and sometimes by the
teacher. But just creatingthese collaborative spaces as

(33:30):
well. You know, we have a lotof activities, but the way I
see it, since I supportclassrooms from kindergarten
all the way through fifth grade, you have all these
activities, but you have yourown reality in your classrooms.
And in your bilingualclassroom, you have your own
reality. In my classroom, Ihave, out of 16 kids, 10 are

(33:51):
English-proficient. The othersix are strong in Spanish. But
some classrooms at my owncampus — same campus! — have
three English-proficient andprobably 15 Spanish-proficient.
And at that moment, how are youpairing people? So now you need

(34:14):
to think about groups. OK, somaybe not bilingual pairs, but
maybe I have, like, threegroups, four groups, and not
based on skill. Because we'retalking about two different

things (34:26):
the skills for the grade level, and the language
skills.

Susan Lambert (34:33):
Oh, I love that you said that.

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (34:35):
So if you're able to truly analyze
and reflect on all the piecesof data that you have
available, you will become moreeffective in creating those
settings for students to besuccessful as well.

Susan Lambert (34:50):
So, language groupings as opposed to skill
groupings, to help them developthe language to then apply to
the skills .

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (34:57):
And that has been proven effective over
my eight years in education.
I've been focusing mostly onputting my groups based on
language skills rather thanperformance skills.

Susan Lambert (35:09):
Yeah. That's interesting. And it's really
interesting to hear you talkabout your classroom — a
different balance thankindergarten and first grade,
second grade. So, you have arange of things that you're
trying to support, all withinyour school.

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (35:25):
Exactly.
And even for people to get alittle bit more background: We
have some classes where we havekinder plus first grade in the
same class, or second andthird, and then it becomes
trickier. Like, what do you doin those cases? So, what we do
is ... you know what, we'realways teaching to the next

(35:49):
grade level. So Tier 1, like,if you have K, K–1, you teach
at the first-grade level. Ifyou have a split of second and
third, you teach to the thirdgrade level. And so on. But
again, every classroom, everyeducator has its own reality.
And you need to be clever toplay around with those pieces

(36:12):
of data that you haveavailable.

Susan Lambert (36:14):
Yeah. How do you see supporting those students
in this bilingual environmentdifferent from kindergarten all
the way up through fifth grade?
Are there different strategiesthat work better?

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (36:28):
We were able this year to ... we
realized that it's all abouthaving school-wide
expectations. So there arecertain things that you need to
do the same way. And there aresome other things that you need
to shape them for yourclassroom. For instance, when
it comes to the writingcomponent, everybody had this
misconception of, "No, the kidscannot write in kindergarten or

(36:52):
first grade or second grade! Insecond grade, they can barely
start writing!" And then webuilt a structure — a strong
structure — having third,fourth, and fifth grade as a
model for writing. We transferit for K–2, and now we have
kids in both gen ed andbilingual classrooms in
kindergarten, writing toread-aloud from the teacher.

(37:16):
Let's say the teacher isreading Cinderella. I dunno . <
laugh> And the question is,like, "What happened at
midnight?" And just bylistening to that — and I will
emphasize the bilingualclassroom. So the read-aloud is
in English. And most of thosekids are Spanish speakers. And

(37:38):
in kindergarten, you are like,what, five-year-old kids? And
the kids are able at least towrite, "because the magic
disappeared ." Something assimple as that. But sometimes,
we have this schema, based onthe way we were growing up,
like, "No, but when I was achild, I don't remember that I

(38:01):
was able to write." Well, maybeyou were not being challenged
to do it. But again, I hear itall the time. Like, the kids
are like sponges. They areready to absorb everything.
Every learning you put outthere for them, every
opportunity you provide them tocollaborate with other peers,
they will take it. And myfavorite thing is that they

(38:25):
learn it. They learn withouteven knowing that they are
learning. Sometimes, inkindergarten or first grade, it
looks more like games. While infourth and fifth, it's like a
little bit more serious, likelearning about the Renaissance.
"And what do you think was thebiggest inspiration for the
artist of the Renaissance?" OK.
You need to put all your braininto that! < Laugh> But in

(38:49):
kindergarten it's more like, Idon't k now, show me your hands
if you think that Cinderella... I d on't know! I'm , I'm
thinking in the moment! That Cinderella l ost
the love of her life. And movearound to the other corner if
you think that. Or this corneri f you think this way. So it
looks more like that. It's allabout making it engaging for

(39:10):
them. Either if you are fiveyears o ld or if you are 12
years old, they need to beengaged in the process of
learning.

Susan Lambert (39:22):
Yeah. Just like we all need to be. Right?
That's how we learn, is toreally be motivated, engaged,
to be drawn into that content .
You've been at this school fora while. And I think you just
recently made a shift to moreScience of Reading-based
practices. Is that right?

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (39:40):
Correct.

Susan Lambert (39:41):
Can you talk a little bit about how that shift
has actually supported yourbilingual, or, you know,
multiple languages? This sortof environment?

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (39:52):
OK. So to me, it's all about
research-based practices.
Sometimes — and I like to saythis, even to my friends — we
are all ignorant. We are justinterested in different things.
But sometimes we are not awareof the tools that are

(40:13):
accessible for us. And all thisresearch that has been put into
place for students to becomebetter and faster. So when it
comes to the Science ofTeaching Reading, it's using
evidence collected fromrigorous research, to have a
successful classroomenvironment. So the Science of

(40:34):
Teaching Reading connects withthe literacy development in
multi-language, multilingualclassrooms. Because of the same
thing that I've been saying thewhole podcast — it allows the
children to read, write, anddiscuss in the moment about
what they are learning. Itdoesn't really matter if they
have a background on whatthey're learning. Because in my

(40:56):
own experience this year, theylove the Renaissance and they
love the Aztecs, the Mayan, andthe Inca history. They didn't
know anything about that! Butthey were super-involved in,
"Oh, what's gonna happen nextwith the Aztecs? What's gonna
happen with the Incas?" So whenit comes to having these

(41:19):
opportunities to read somethingnew, authentic — authentic
reading — and then respondingto the teacher's questions in a
writing way ... but wait aminute , you also have the
opportunity to talk about it!With your friend, with the
teacher, presenting to theclass sometimes. And going

(41:41):
deeper, analyzing the words,analyzing the vocabulary, the
grammar components, themorphology of the language ...
I think all this together has ahuge impact in the bilingual
classroom. Because that is notthe way I learned English. I
was taught , "Whatis your name? My name is

(42:05):
Arturo. How old are you? I am15 years old ." < laugh> With
that t hick accent! But nowyou're actually teaching the
students, oh, this is the wayyou actually speak the
language. This is ... I like tosay, this is the story of the
word. Like with the prefixes,suffixes, the root words, and

(42:29):
the Greeks and so on . And it's just like, if
you put all those piecestogether, the kid gets more
involved in his own learning.
But, definitely — reading,writing, and discussing on a
daily basis, it is the bestthing that you can provide the
kids with. Guys out there,please do not make it a

(42:50):
monologue. It's not about the teacher. It
's n ot a college lecture,guys. It 's n ot yo u, si tting
in front of the kids for twohours, and teaching them about,
I don't kn ow, N ativeAmericans' history. But having
them doing it for you.

Susan Lambert (43:07):
Yeah.

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (43:07):
And when planning, my biggest suggestion
is, "Do not plan for your ownactions. Plan for what the
students are going to be doingin every single portion of the
lesson."

Susan Lambert (43:20):
Oh, I love that.

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (43:22):
What are they doing while reading? Are
they reading to themselves? Arethey reading with a partner?
You are having choral reading.
Do you have a mix of this? Now,for discussing about your
questions ... how are theydiscussing the question? You
have Partner A ... maybePartner A shares in English.
And maybe Partner B shares inSpanish. Then you randomly

(43:43):
pick, and you can make it agame. OK, you have two wheels,
and you spin it, and a Spanishspeaker shares. And then the
next question, an Englishspeaker shares. And then we
give feedback to each other. Soyou're receiving feedback, not
only from the teacher, but alsoyour peers are giving you
feedback, on how are yousharing, how are you writing?
When it comes to the writing,just be out there. Do not just

(44:07):
make it a task for the kid,because you will create a lot
of misconceptions and the kidwill have the wrong idea of
what excellence looks like. Butjust be walking around either
in the bilingual classroom orthe general education
classroom. Be there for them.
They will notice; they will seeit; they will value it; and

(44:28):
therefore, they will respectyou. And you will have great
behavior.

Susan Lambert (44:35):
And good learning! And good learning,
too!

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (44:38):
Good learning, every day .

Susan Lambert (44:39):
I'm gonna put you a little bit on the spot
here. I wonder if you can thinkof a particular student across
your years — whenever — thatyou really saw come alive, or
blossom, with a more Science ofReading-based approach?

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (44:59):
I saw it this year.

Susan Lambert (45:00):
Oh, tell me!

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (45:02):
So, previously we were not
utilizing the Science ofTeaching Reading correctly. And
I can say that we wereneglecting some of our students
in the past. So this year wehad a newcomer kid. He's a boy.
And I've seen him with theuniversal screening that we
have. Again, we're focusing ongrowth. And the numbers don't

(45:26):
lie. So the lexile level wentfrom below grade level — like,
way below grade level, andwe're talking about a kid that
has never attended school,fully Spanish speaker , no
English knowledge — and thatkid took the English test, the

(45:47):
end-of-the-year test, and hewent up, like, 30 points In one
year. And that is the impact ofputting into practice on a
daily basis both languages. Soyeah. I have this one kid in my
mind, coming from Venezuela asa refugee, and I'm very proud

(46:10):
of him. And I only expect thathe continues growing. That
mindset, that me and otherteachers put on him, goes on
all the way till college.

Susan Lambert (46:24):
Yeah. He must be proud of himself, too. He must
recognize the growth.

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (46:30):
He is .
And , again, everybodycelebrates this kid. Like,
their peers. And I alsosuggest, like, let's normalize
discussing data. Becausesometimes we're afraid of
sharing , like, "Oh, this kiddid not meet expectations." OK,
maybe not this time! But whatabout the next unit assessment?

Susan Lambert (46:53):
Yeah.

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (46:54):
And the following unit assessment! And
then at the end of the year,the same way that happened to
this kid, it's gonna happen toyour kids.

Susan Lambert (47:03):
Mm. That's good.

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (47:04):
And just celebrate success; celebrate
growth. Do not see the kid as anumber. But more ... you said
the word "blossom." So see itas a flower! As a flower in the
spring, that sometimes you'regonna have rough winters, but
you need to be out there tohelp that flower flourish.

Susan Lambert (47:26):
You've given us a lot of great advice,
but do you have any finalthoughts as we wrap up for our
listeners that you'd like toshare?

Arturo Valadez Sáe (47:35):
Absolutely.
Yeah. For all educators outthere, first of all, thank you
for being here , listening tothis very nice conversation. I
understand that we havelisteners from 200 countries,
more or less?

Susan Lambert (47:47):
All over the world, yes.

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (47:52):
Wow.
That's amazing. So, for all youout there, be mindful of your
students and their backgrounds.
Sometimes we get frustratedbecause, quote unquote , "My
child cannot read ." However, , I encourage you to
challenge yourselves and putyourselves in the kids' shoes.

(48:12):
Think how will you feel, movingto a strange country where
nobody speaks your language.
Visualize yourself as a7-year-old kid, full of fears
and unknowns. Maybe only oneparent. And maybe this parent
has two jobs, to provide, tobring food to the table. And

(48:35):
you can barely see this parentduring the week, because of
these two jobs. How will youfeel? And I invite you to pause
the podcast for a moment — evenfor a minute, right here.
Reflect on this. Consider howwill you feel being this child.
And with that being said, donot give up on your students.

(48:56):
Sometimes your everything,literally, what they have.
Sometimes they spend the wholeday by themselves at home,
waiting for Dad, waiting forMom, holding two, three jobs.
Especially in the UnitedStates.

Susan Lambert (49:11):
Yeah.

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (49:12):
And, and this goes beyond the U.S., and
it happens everywhere. How manyrefugees we have now in Europe,
for instance ... and they donot speak English. They do not
speak German and French. Youname it. So, be mindful of
their background; celebratetheir cultures; and become that

(49:34):
support in this new settingthat they are facing. And , do
not make their lives morechallenging. Their lives are
already tough. And somefamilies can barely afford
having the next meal. So,please, reflect on this. Be
nice to your kids. Treat yourstudents the same way you want

(49:56):
your own children to betreated. And you will become
the teacher of the year,everywhere you are in the
world.

Susan Lambert (50:04):
. Oh, well, we are so glad that you
joined us to share your journeyhere to the United States, how
you got into teaching, and alsothe impact that you're having
on the students in your school.
Thank you so much for the workthat you're doing, and thank
you so much for joining us ontoday's episode.

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (50:22):
No , thank you. I am truly honored
for being a part of thispodcast, and looking forward to
having more interestingconversation with you.

Susan Lambert (50:31):
For sure. Thank you so much.

Arturo Valadez Sáenz (50:33):
Bye-bye.

Susan Lambert (50:36):
Thanks so much for listening to my
conversation with Arturo Sáenz,instructional specialist from
Dallas Independent SchoolDistrict. Check out the show
notes for links to followArturo and his work and join
the conversation about thisepisode and this miniseries in
our Facebook discussion group,Science of Reading: The
Community. If you missed anyepisodes in this miniseries,

(51:00):
exploring how the Science ofReading serves multilingual and
English learners, please scrollback in this podcast feed. And
while this is the last episodein this miniseries, we're going
to continue exploring thiscritical topic throughout our
upcoming ninth season. I can'twait to tell you more about
that soon. In the meantime,we'll be right back in your

(51:22):
feed in two weeks with a brandnew episode to kick off our
summer series. Here's a littlepreview of what to expect.

Speaker 1 (51:30):
We need to get this job done. The good news is, we
know how to do it.

Speaker 2 (51:34):
We just need to get it done everywhere.

Susan Lambert (51:36):
That's next time, on Science of Reading:
The Podcast. Science ofReading: The Podcast is brought
to you by Amplify. For moreinformation on how Amplify
leverages the Science ofReading, go to
amplify.com/ckla. And thank youso much for listening.