• Home
    • Annual Voices Journal Submission Guidelines
  • Annual Voices Journal 2025
    • Journal 2025 Picture Word Indicative Model (PWIM)
    • Journal 2025 Creating ESL Bilingual Units
    • Journal 2025 Creating Lessons for All through Picture Books
    • Journal 2025 Faculty Resources for ML Student Success
    • Journal 2025 Fostering Inclusive Environments
  • 2025 Spring Weekly Voices
    • Teaching Newcomers? Effective Writing Strategies for ELL Newcomers
    • Proposed Changes of HS Requirements for Districts and Students
    • Congratulations to April’s NJTESOL/NJBE Member of the Month: Daryl Perkins
    • Preserving Family Culture and Language: A Parent Workshop in Irvington’s Early Childhood Department
    • Trauma Informed Considerations and Strategies for Multilingual Learners
    • Addressing Student Trauma, Anxiety, and Depression
    • Free Resources to Explore and Use ChatGPT and AI
  • 2025 Winter Weekly Voices
    • Professional Development Opportunities in 2025
    • NJTESOL/NJBE Scholarships and Awards for your students and you!
    • Congratulations to January’s NJTESOL/NJBE Member of the Month: Brittany Fuentes
    • English Learners With Disabilities: The Rules Schools Have to Follow
    • 2024 Higher Ed Scholarship Winner’s Essay
    • 2024 Higher Ed Scholarship Winner’s Essay
    • Resources for Educators Pertaining to Immigrant Students, Families, and Preparation for Response
    • How to Identify and Serve English Learners with Disabilities
    • 2024 Raquel Sinai Newcomer Scholarship Winner’s Essay
    • How to Connect With English-Language Newcomers: Teachers Share Their Favorite Lessons
    • Congratulations to March’s NJTESOL/NJBE Member of the Month: Juliana Neno
    • 2024 Pedro J. Rodriguez High School Scholarship Winner’s Essay
    • NJTESOL/NJBE Spring Conference Invited Speakers
  • About Us
    • Mission Statement
    • Executive Board
    • Membership Information
    • The Hotlist
    • W25 January 21

Contact Us by Email

webmaster@njtesol-njbe.org
njtesol-njbe-voicesnjtesol-njbe-voices
  • Home
    • Annual Voices Journal Submission Guidelines
  • Annual Voices Journal 2025
    • Journal 2025 Picture Word Indicative Model (PWIM)
    • Journal 2025 Creating ESL Bilingual Units
    • Journal 2025 Creating Lessons for All through Picture Books
    • Journal 2025 Faculty Resources for ML Student Success
    • Journal 2025 Fostering Inclusive Environments
  • 2025 Spring Weekly Voices
    • Teaching Newcomers? Effective Writing Strategies for ELL Newcomers
    • Proposed Changes of HS Requirements for Districts and Students
    • Congratulations to April’s NJTESOL/NJBE Member of the Month: Daryl Perkins
    • Preserving Family Culture and Language: A Parent Workshop in Irvington’s Early Childhood Department
    • Trauma Informed Considerations and Strategies for Multilingual Learners
    • Addressing Student Trauma, Anxiety, and Depression
    • Free Resources to Explore and Use ChatGPT and AI
  • 2025 Winter Weekly Voices
    • Professional Development Opportunities in 2025
    • NJTESOL/NJBE Scholarships and Awards for your students and you!
    • Congratulations to January’s NJTESOL/NJBE Member of the Month: Brittany Fuentes
    • English Learners With Disabilities: The Rules Schools Have to Follow
    • 2024 Higher Ed Scholarship Winner’s Essay
    • 2024 Higher Ed Scholarship Winner’s Essay
    • Resources for Educators Pertaining to Immigrant Students, Families, and Preparation for Response
    • How to Identify and Serve English Learners with Disabilities
    • 2024 Raquel Sinai Newcomer Scholarship Winner’s Essay
    • How to Connect With English-Language Newcomers: Teachers Share Their Favorite Lessons
    • Congratulations to March’s NJTESOL/NJBE Member of the Month: Juliana Neno
    • 2024 Pedro J. Rodriguez High School Scholarship Winner’s Essay
    • NJTESOL/NJBE Spring Conference Invited Speakers
  • About Us
    • Mission Statement
    • Executive Board
    • Membership Information
    • The Hotlist
    • W25 January 21

Inspirational Quotations

Earlier this month, some of us on the NJTESOL/NJBE Executive Board were sent an encouraging quote, “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” Nelson Mandela

Here are some others related to Thanksgiving and teaching.

  • “When you practice gratefulness, there is a sense of respect toward others.” Dalai Lama
  • As we were having a conversation, the student receptionist for the ESL tutoring center at Bergen Community College made this comment, “When I think about the circumstances of other people in the world, I wonder why I’m so lucky to be able to live here.” Diana
  • “In a gentle way, you can shake the world.” Mahatma Gandhi
  • “Memories of our lives, of our works and our deeds will continue in others.” Rosa Parks
  • “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.” Maya Angelou
  • “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” Desmond Tutu
  • “More compassionate mind, more sense of concern for other’s well-being, is a source of happiness.” Dalai Lama
  • “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” Aesop
  • “Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” Warren Buffett
  • “As knowledge increases, wonder deepens.” Charles Morgan
  • “Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.” Malala Yousafzai

 

Collected by Marilyn Pongracz, BCC ESL Tutoring Supervisor, NJTESOL/NJBE Technology Coordinator

Announcements

2024 Spring Conference Silver Sponsor

NJTESOL/NJBE Essex-Union Chapter Presents: Starting off Right: A Bilingual/ESL Conversation about ACCESS for Students
December 4, 2024, 4:30-5:30, Linden Public Library, 31 E. Henry Street, Linden, NJ 07036
Let’s talk shop and plan for the future together!
Everyone is welcome!

Register for our next PLC event,  How to Teach MLs with Reading Difficulties to Read in Spanish When They are Past the They Were Expected to Learn to Read, Wednesday, December 11 @7pm

There will be no Advocacy Meeting in December. Thank you for all of your hard work this year, the Advocacy Committee is grateful for all you do for MLs and their families every day!

Registration for the 2025 Spring Conference is open!
Theme – Intersectionality: Shaping Experiences and Creating Opportunities
Two components to choose from:
In-Person Conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel
May 20, 21 & 22 (Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday) – All Three Days: General Interest, Content Area Instruction/ESL Pre-K through 12, Higher Ed, Teacher Ed, Adult Ed, K-12, Dual Language/Biliteracy
OR
Virtual Library Conference: Access starting on May 27 through August 21
Take advantage of discounted early registration through January 31, 2025
or regular registration through April 25, 2025

Nominate the member of the month!
NJTESOL/NJBE has so many amazing teachers throughout our state that it would be fitting to highlight some of them. Nominees could be colleagues who are available to answer questions about ELLs or the Bilingual Education code; educators who support students and their families beyond the classroom with projects, college applications, and extracurricular activities; someone who joins committees in support of ELLS or to implement positive change for the community. The nominee must be a member of NJTESOL/NJBE. Nomination Link

A Chorus of Reasons Why We Teach

An episode of ABC’s Nightline shined a national spotlight on the water challenges we face daily at Wilkins Elementary School in Jackson, Mississippi. In addition to ongoing water issues that make the school’s water dangerous to drink, we’ve used portable restrooms outside of our building where teachers have had to fight off stray dogs to keep students safe. Under these conditions, why would teachers teach? Here are some of our reasons. The dedicated teachers and staff at a Jackson, Mississippi, elementary school share what keeps them committed to teaching.

Wilkins Elementary School Educators
Issue 4, Spring 2023

“I teach because teaching gives me the opportunity to positively influence, inspire and educate our future,” explains fourth grade teacher Ammie Stewart. “I want students to know that they can truly excel. Teaching goes far beyond knowledge, and my students get to experience that in my classroom. Relationships are built that create opportunities for lifelong learning. I have been truly blessed in continuously helping students understand that they can make a positive impact on the world.”

“I teach simply because I love building relationships and making a difference in the lives of my scholars,” remarks third grade teacher Danielle Dixon. “When I see the light bulb come on, it lets me know that what I am doing is not in vain. I teach my students that we are a family and to always show love to each other. I teach to help make a difference in our future.”

“I teach because I pledge to inspire growth in my students by giving them tools to take into other disciplines and into other domains of their lives,” second grade teacher Linda Porter says. “It is my belief that every student is capable of tasting the same passion that I feel for teaching by becoming collaborators in the exploration of learning.”

“Each day in the classroom is an opportunity to mold the hearts and minds of scholars to become productive citizens who care about others, take stands for justice and are lifelong lovers of literacy,” says third grade teacher Kerri Harrion. “Teaching is not only my passion but my calling.”

“Teaching Our Future”
By Ammie Stewart

I am serious, because serious I am,
Teaching my future, your future, our future
Isn’t about glitz or glam.
It’s what I choose to do, sometimes with little rest,
Because my future, your future, our future
Deserves only my best.

You can find more inspiration here.

Notebook LM

and

5 Ways to Use AI-Generated Images in Your Classroom

ARTICLES:

Meet Our New Executive Board Members

Science of Reading Podcast 3:
Diagnosing Dyslexia in Multilingual Learners
– with Francisco Usero-González
and
Science of Reading Podcast 4:
Practical Strategies for Multilingual Learning
– with Diane August, Ph.D.

Communication is KEY!
and
Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric Has Consequences. What Schools Can Do to Help

Congratulations to October’s
NJTESOL/NJBE Member of the Month Kellie Cuccaro

and
Every Teacher Is a Language Teacher: Strategies for Supporting Multilingual Learners of English in the Mainstream Classroom– Naashia Mohamed

3 Ways to Ensure English Learners Benefit from the Science of Reading
-Leslie Villegas
and
Supporting Multilingual Learners in Developing Reading Fluency across the School Day– Kate Kinsella

Announcing the 2025 Spring Conference Keynote Speakers!

Congratulations to November’s
NJTESOL/NJBE Member of the Month Mrs. Singh

and
4 Ways to Support Long-Term English Learners – Sarah Said

Word Analyzer Vocabulary Tool
and
Online Dictionaries

Notebook LM
-Jessica Duran
and
5 Ways to Use AI-Generated Images in Your Classroom -Brent Warner

Inspirational Quotations
and
A Chorus of Reasons Why We Teach

Invitation to Write an Article for the Yearly Voices Journal
and
Padres con Poder/Parent Power Parent Expo

5 Ways to Bring Cultural Diversity into Your Classroom -Carol Higho
and
Defying Labels at Tables -Joyce Farr

Season’s Greetings from the NJTESOL/NJBE Executive Board

NJTESOL/NJBE Voices Editorial Board

Executive Director
Kathleen Fernandez

President
LeighAnn Matthews, Bridgewater-Raritan Public Schools

Past-President
Michelle Land, Randolph Township Schools

Layout
Dale Egan, Bergen Community College

Technology
Marilyn Pongracz, Bergen Community College

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