74. Special Education Students with Dr. Danja Mahoney

According to UNESCO, learning a second language is human right but too often special education students are left out of world language classrooms. In part one of this two part series, Danja Mahoney explains why special education students need to be in world language classrooms and how to advocate to get them there and how proficiency-based instruction is opening new doors for all students.

Bio

Dr. Danja Mahoney is a language educator with more than 25 years experience teaching in public and independent schools. Her experience teaching Latin, French, Spanish, English, and ESL informs her understanding of diverse pedagogies and supporting all learners in language acquisition. Her doctoral research focused on the intersection of second language learning and learning disabilities, with particular attention to the attitudes and needs of educators in supporting all learners in the classroom. She has presented at numerous conferences, including MAFLA, ACTFL, CAM, CANE, and Learning Disabilities Worldwide. She is a member of the MAFLA Board of Directors and currently serves as the Board Clerk. She is the World Language Department Chair at Reading Memorial High School in Reading, Massachusetts.

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Mentions  

Common Ground: Second Language Acquisition Theory Goes to the Classroom by Florencia Henshaw and Maris D. Hawkins 

Language Acquisition in a Nutshell by Bill VanPatten and Russell Simonsen 

Differentiation and the Brain by David A Sousa and Carol Ann Tomlinson 

Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe 

MAFLA Massachusetts  Foreign Language Association 

ACTFL American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages  

NECTFL Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages  

Delaware's document: https://www.doe.k12.de.us/cms/lib/DE01922744/Centricity/Domain/139/WL_Learning_All_Delaware_Students.pdf 

 Virginia (2017): 

https://www.doe.virginia.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/32907/638047361553670000 

 Virginia - Teacher Toolkit (2020) 

https://www.doe.virginia.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/32905/638047361548070000 

 Ohio - Basics of UDL for WL teachers 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_U-XevDBaz-kcLjGJzgf9xSBgjQSIdeLSWeU8Lh1OAQ/edit 

 This is a document I shared with my workshop at the MAFLA conference this year: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iqnMwYewFW0rCKn-xioQluN-JtwieLvuHkkI7--9m7g/edit?usp=sharing