Amplifying the Curriculum: Designing Quality Learning Opportunities for English Learners

Amplifying the Curriculum presents an ambitious model for how educators can design high-quality, challenging, and supportive learning opportunities for English Learners and other students identified to be in need of language and literacy support.

Starting with the premise that conceptual, analytic, and language practices develop simultaneously as students engage in disciplinary learning, the authors in this edited volume argue for instruction that amplifies—rather than simplifies—expectations, concepts, texts, and learning tasks. The authors offer clear guidance for designing lessons and units and provide examples that demonstrate the approach in various subject areas, including math, science, English, and social studies.

This practical resource will guide teachers through the coherent design of tasks, lessons, and units of study that invite English Learners (and all students) to engage in productive, meaningful, and intellectually engaging activity.

Edited by WestEd’s Aida Walqui, director of the widely acclaimed Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL) and George C. Bunch, professor of education at the University of California, Santa Cruz, this book features:

• A unique model for teaching English Learners and ALL students that highlights the centrality of interactions in the development of student academic autonomy
• Discipline-specific examples to guide teachers in creating learning tasks, lessons, and units of study
• A discussion of how teachers might begin designing such learning opportunities, along with suggestions for how school leaders and teacher preparation can support them
• Grounded in sociocultural and ecological theories of language, language learning, and the development of disciplinary practices

For information about Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL) professional development and Summer Institutes, visit the QTEL website.