Good Instruction Activates Prior Knowledge and Uses Authentic Assessment

"My mom is a hero," Alfredo said, cutting me off one sentence into a picture book about Martin Luther King, Jr. His chubby second-grade body perpetually squirmed on the rug where my 32 students were seated. "She brought us here from El Salvador by herself. Me, my two sisters, and our baby brother. We walked."

"My mom is a hero too," said Catalina. "She brought us from Mexico. But we came in a truck."

"The desert was hot," Alfredo cut her off.

"The truck was hot," Catalina said. The two began to argue. I closed the book. Other students had started telling stories about grandparents and parents who had immigrated. Some listened to each other and engaged in conversation; others talked over each other. Read more