Dr. Rosa Isiah, A blog about my journey as an Educational Leader for Social Justice

Being a connected educator has allowed me to develop my capacity as an educational leader and learner.   Over the last few years I’ve connected with a number of brilliant and passionate people who have inspired me to find and share my voice through chats, podcasts, research, and blog posts. One of those professional learning network connections is Jeff Zoul, teacher, leader, presenter, author and someone whose work I follow and admire. Last year I received an exciting email from Jeff. He invited me to be part of a project with nine tremendous educational leaders. In his email Jeff shared a bit about the project and I immediately knew that I wanted to be part of it. The book project is titled #EdWriteNow VII and the plan was to write the book over a couple days AND publish 6 months later.   I was familiar with #EdWriteNow Volume I and the great organization associated with the project, The Will to LiveFoundation . The Will to Live Foundation is an organization dedicated t...

What is the Language Acquisition Process? When exploring the needs of English Language Learners, we must review the development of language acquisition. Students are expected to learn two types of language, conversational language and academic language. “The distinction between academic and conversational proficiency was first articulated by Jim Cummins, who coined the terms basic interpersonal communicative skills (BICS) and cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP) years ago and has written extensively about them…” (as cited in Goldenberg, 2010). Conversational language is informal and acquired more easily than academic language. Academic language is the language used in textbooks, writing, and academic conversations. Students can acquire conversational language in a couple of years, but take much longer to master academic language. “Research in language acquisition supports the hypothesis that we all acquire language the same way-by understanding messages” (Krashen ...

This post was originally posted in Education Week, Classroom Q&A with Larry Ferlazzo, 1/31/17 Question: What is the role, if any, of an ELL student's home language in the classroom? “It is hard to argue that we are teaching the whole child when school policy dictates that students leave their language and culture at the schoolhouse door” (Cummins, 2005) The number of English Learners has dramatically increased over the last two decades. Current research indicates an extraordinary boom in our English learner student population in the United States. The U.S. Department of Education estimates that 4.5 million English learners are enrolled in public schools across the U.S. (CDE, 2016). The growth is evident across the nation, but especially in California where “…one of every four students is an English learner” (Goldenberg, 2010). For many educators, English language learners ARE the majority student population in our schools. Clearly, educators have the responsibility of ...

Rosa Isiah, Ed. D. Dr. Muhammad's book, Transforming School Culture , completely changed my perspectives on school culture, leadership, and student achievement.  I picked up the book 7 years ago as a new Assistant Principal and had an opportunity to listen to Dr. Muhammad speak shortly after. As a new administrator, the book and his message were exactly what I needed to help me better understand my teacher teams and the journey from a toxic to a healthy school culture. This is my sixth year as a principal and Transforming School Culture continues to be my go-to culture framework. Dr. Muhammad’s book is organized in a way that allows the reader to navigate the book easily.  The reader can choose and target specific topics or choose to read it from cover to cover. Dr. Muhammad’s introduction in chapter one explains the need for an overhaul of our current educational system. The research presented helps the reader understand the need to shift from the current system to ...

Courageous Leadership By Rosa Isiah “We have to be engaged at the heart level in order to be courageous champions.” -Margaret Wheatley When I decided to enter the world of educational leadership, I underestimated the value of courage. I was enthusiastic and somewhat naïve about my role as a school leader. Within weeks of my new leadership journey, I immediately learned that I needed to deal with difficult situations that I didn’t feel prepared for. We explored challenging leadership scenarios in my administrative credential coursework, but nothing compared to the daily decisions that required deep reflection, courage, and soul searching. My first year was full of opportunities to practice reflection and courageous leadership.  Those opportunities included having difficult conversations and supporting team members who needed a boost. The educator who couldn’t find the courage to raise expectations for students, and not raise her voice. The parent who had good inte...

Are You Leading With Questions? Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question. -E.E. Cummings Think back to your last leadership or team meeting. As facilitator, did you create opportunities for the team to process and discuss questions? How did the team engage?  Many of us walk into meetings with exhausting agendas that lack opportunities for dialogue or problem solving through questioning. Research indicates that questions, the right questions, can positively influence an organization in a variety of ways. A question has the power to identify problems, challenge the status quo, identify biases...all catalysts for creativity, collaboration, and change . Asking the right questions after 22 years After 22 years as an educator and educational leader, I’ve recently learned about the importance of effective questioning. I engage in the challenging and satisfying work of creating an organizational culture of risk-taking and problem-solving.  I’ve...