Students bring powerful linguistic know-how with them to school — the cadences, rhythms, and language patterns of a wide range of varieties of English. Linguistically Responsive Writing Instruction (LRWI) lessons enable teachers to build on this existing knowledge to add new knowledge (Academic Language). Based on authentic written and oral student language, LRWI lessons complement any grades 2-8 writing block. So, when students are revising or editing their work the teacher can draw on a grammar mini-lesson to help highlight the relevant linguistic patterns which the students might choose.

Teacher educator Rebecca Wheeler and urban educator Rachel Swords will show you how to lead students to recognize and choose the language variety to fit the setting. Using LRWI, teachers gain the ability to recognize that often students are not making mistakes in General American English (GAE) but instead are following patterns one of the rich varieties of English spoken in the United States including: African American Vernacular English (AAVE), Chicano English/Mexican American Language, Hawaiian Pidgin, creoles of Native American Languages, and International varieties of English (Australian English, Hong Kong English, British English). Teachers will learn how to recognize patterns and build their own graphic organizers for differentiated learning based on their own student population.