The following are a preview of the breakout sessions that will be offered at the 2026 WABE Winter Institute. Stay tuned for more breakout session announcements!
Help Newcomers Express Themselves in Uncertain Times
January 30, 10:45am – 12:00pm
Elise White Diaz
New-arrival students at the early stages of language production often face unique challenges as they navigate a new school system, culture, and language. Furthermore, they may bring experiences of hardship and resilience, perhaps including a challenging journey to the United States. Educators play a crucial role in balancing support and inspiration to help newcomers find their voices. This practical workshop models tools and strategies to amplify the voices of new arrivals, using a trauma-informed, language-rich approach, and to continue building from their heritage language.
OCDE Project GLAD & WIDA: A Powerful Partnership
January 30, 10:45am – 12:00pm
Rachel Hoff & Katie Sachter | Highline School District
Do you use GLADⓇ strategies, but need help implementing WIDA standards in classrooms? Do you know WIDA standards, but need an effective way to bring them to life with students? Come learn how one district used the powerful partnership of OCDE Project GLADⓇ and WIDA to integrate language and content instruction in general education classrooms.
Develop a Multilingual Learner Action Plan Rooted in Best Practices
January 30, 10:45am – 12:00pm
Kristin Percy Calaff | OSPI
In this session, we will unpack Washington’s Multilingual Learner Statewide Strategic Plan and Toolkit to promote asset-based mindsets, strengthen instructional practices, provide support for educators, and engage multilingual students and families. Explore how to use WIDA ACCESS data, surveys, and reflection to build programs rooted in best practices!
Expanding Reading Practices for Multilingual Learners
January 30, 1:30 – 3:30pm
WIDA at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Session description coming soon.
Reclaiming Humanity and Joy: Our Multilingual Learners’ and Our Own Resilience
January 30, 1:30 – 3:30pm
Christopher Fontana | Full Circle Leadership Center
How do we operationalize joy in our learning communities with multilingual learners? How do we consistently build inclusion, belonging, connection, laughter, and the joy of learning every day into our multilingual learners’ school lives? We’ll explore hands-on ways to create a cohesive, responsive, teamwork-focused community in student-centered classrooms and teacher teams that support multilingual learners’ and educators’ resilience.
Unifying for Literacy: A District’s Journey to Multilingual Learner Success
January 30, 3:45 – 4:45pm
Amelia Larson | Summit K-12
Discover how leaders of a district came together to shape the future of literacy instruction by building a unified, system-wide framework with multilingual learners at its heart. In this dynamic session, we’ll dive into how they aligned resources, fostered coherence, and built the infrastructure needed to deliver equitable, high-quality language and literacy education. Walk away with practical strategies and a vision for empowering every multilingual student to thrive.
El Puente to Fluency: Connecting Chispas with Decodable Routines
January 30, 3:45 – 4:45pm
Joel Lizardos | Benchmark Education
Teachers will deepen their understanding of how a systematic Spanish foundational phonics scope and sequence is intentionally structured so skills build over time, enabling them to better anticipate student needs and plan developmentally aligned instruction. They will learn high-leverage Spanish phonics routines such as Leer/Deletrear/Escribir and Introducir el sonido—by participating as “students” during a live model, allowing them to implement these routines with clarity and fidelity. By observing the distinction between a first read focused on syllabic decoding and a second read focused on fluency using a Spanish decodable text, teachers will gain insight into the instructional purpose of rereading and be able to plan opportunities that support both accuracy and fluency. Finally, teachers will explore how a Before–During–After reading protocol moves students from decoding toward deeper comprehension in both Spanish and English, equipping them to design lessons that bridge foundational skills with meaningful understanding across languages.
Authentic-Meaningful Experiences for Newcomers
January 31, 9:45 – 10:45am
Emily Francis
As educators, it is our responsibility to create and maintain an environment where our newcomers feel welcome, valued, accepted, and respected. We can do this by drafting and delivering authentic and meaningful experiences where newcomers are not just learning a new language but acquiring life-changing experiences. Participants will engage in a range of activities to see how easy it is to create authentic and meaningful lessons and experiences for newcomers to not only acquire the English language but also grow personally. We will explore topics such as “Discover Own Identities”, “Own Name”, Story”, “Embracing Language”, “Acculturation” and other topics.
Reimagining Multilingual Education: Building Resilient and Sustainable Multilingual Learning Communities
January 31, 9:45 – 10:45am
Julie Kaspar | Puyallup School District
Explore how collaboration and co-creation build resilient educators, learners, and programs in multilingual contexts and in uncertain times. Using the Sustainable Learning Framework (https://www.learningagenda.org), this workshop invites participants to reimagine teaching, learning, and leadership for sustainable growth in rapidly changing multilingual education (eco)systems.
Looking for KLUs
January 31, 9:45 – 10:45am
Katelynn Brown | Vancouver School District
Join Katelynn Brown, a Professional Development Specialist in the world of Multilingual Education, in this practical, high-leverage session. Katelynn will guide participants through deconstructing the WIDA Standards to identify the “hidden language clues”—the specific grammatical features, cohesive devices, text structures, and disciplinary vocabulary—that underpin each Key Language Uses in rigorous academic text.
Empowering Newcomers in Academic Success
January 31, 11:00 – 12:00pm
Yvonne Oronoz-Williams | WCEPS
This session builds educators’ capacity to support newcomer students through asset-based practices. Participants explore who newcomers are, examine research on their academic growth, and learn practical strategies to create welcoming environments, partner with families, and implement effective instructional approaches that promote language development and classroom engagement