Sarah Ottow
Sarah B. Ottow is the founder and director of Confianza, which works with professional learning leaders, coaches, and teachers to develop educators’ capacity to provide access and opportunity for culturally and linguistically diverse learners.
All Articles
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Why I’m focusing on multilingual learners at Learning Forward’s conference (and why you should, too)
When I heard about this year's Learning Forward Annual Conference theme - transformation - I was inspired to plan a deep-dive preconference session on transforming schools for a population of students near and dear to my heart: multilingual learners (also known as English Language Learners or English Learners). With school […] -
What English learners need now
Almost 1 in 10 students in the U.S. is identified as an English learner, also known as a multilingual learner (MLL) or emergent bilingual. Multilingual learners are extremely diverse, speaking more than 400 languages, learning two or several languages, and attending all kinds of school districts (urban, suburban, exurban, and […] -
How instructional leaders can thrive during the pandemic
"We are stuck in logistics land,” is something I hear from instructional leaders I support almost daily. For many of us, this is all too true right now. Logistics are still very much the focus during this ongoing pandemic. Many schools are still having issues with poor Wi-Fi, lack of […] -
Take a schoolwide approach to supporting English learners
As a professional learning specialist focused on English learners, I often hear concerns like this one from Bridget, an English learner teacher: “My colleagues in general education classrooms say they care about our school’s English learners, but when it comes to teaching them well, with high standards and the right […]