It didn\u2019t take long for New Britain fifth-grade teacher Kim Rosa Gionfriddo to realize the strategies she learned as a Neag School of Education REALL fellow to better teach students with limited English proficiency could \u00a0benefit native English-speaking students, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a simple thing, but just by being more explicit and taking time to define terms\u2014reminding students, for example, the difference between a product and a quotient\u2014can help keep them focused and ensure they keep up with the lesson, rather than wonder, become confused or fall behind,\u201d said Gionfriddo, one of 45 Connecticut teachers accepted into the graduate-level Raising Expectations for All English Language Learners (REALL) program.<\/p>\n
Developed in 2007 by Neag Assistant Professor Eliana D. Rojas, Ph.D., and funded with a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education, the REALL program graduated its final fellow this past May. Experts, however, expect the skills and strategies fellows learned to improve ELLs\u2019 academic achievement will have long-term and far-reaching effects.<\/p>\n
Focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teachers working toward their master\u2019s or Sixth Year degrees, the program was designed to contribute to efforts to close Connecticut\u2019s achievement gap. Perhaps more importantly, it was also designed to give teachers the ability to show Latino and other ELL students they aren\u2019t the \u201cfailures\u201d standardized tests and assessments say they are.<\/p>\n
\u201cELL students deserve the same opportunities for academic achievement as their English-speaking peers. They have just as many abilities, but many need to be taught differently,\u201d Rojas said. \u201cSimilar to students with physical disabilities, ELLs have special needs to be accommodated, and it\u2019s our job as educators to find best practices to do that\u2014to make these students feel passionate about learning, rather than to make the experience of learning frustrating, or to make them feel like failures.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emphasizing math, REALL provided fellows with proven ELL teaching models. Strategies and tools for better cross-cultural communications and building a more culturally responsive learning environment were stressed, including web-based technology that allows ELLs to work on their individual challenges. Bilingual math teachers were taught a proven intermediate algebra\/pre-calculus teaching model.<\/p>\n
REALL fellow Andrea Handler-Ruiz, a science teacher in the Arts & Humanities Academy at Windham High School in Willimantic, walked away from the program with not just more effective teaching strategies, but a \u201cfortified\u201d belief that great teaching is not just about providing an effective education, but an equal education.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThe importance of programs like REALL cannot be overlooked,\u201d Handler-Ruiz said. \u201cThe readings and dialogues we took part in showed us how to embrace diversity in the classroom, as well as solidly argue in favor of integrated teaching approaches that best serve multicultural students.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rojas, whose continued dedication to strengthening the abilities of ELL educators has made the Neag School of Education a leader in the field, echoed Handler-Ruiz\u2019s beliefs: \u201cHow do we target students who face the biggest challenges, without diluting expectations? Materials and standards don\u2019t need to be \u2018dumbed down\u2019 for ELLs, but presented differently. REALL gave educators the tools to do the important work they are committed to. And the benefits? The results we\u2019ve seen are that everyone wins.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It didn\u2019t take long for New Britain fifth-grade teacher Kim Rosa Gionfriddo to realize the strategies she learned as a Neag School of Education REALL fellow to better teach students with limited English proficiency could \u00a0benefit native English-speaking students, too. \u201cIt\u2019s a simple thing, but just by being more explicit and taking time to define […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":206081,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2424,1855],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2455],"class_list":["post-206080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-neag-community-engagement","category-neag"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-07 06:31:09","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206080"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":206082,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206080\/revisions\/206082"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/206081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206080"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=206080"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=206080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}