When Dear Dr. Mooney launched in May 2019, the primary goal was to provide advice and support to teachers who had little experience with English learners and to those who were mentoring them. Because let’s f

I don’t know about you, but one thing I like to do in the summer is clean out and straighten up. It’s a time to recycle all those papers and forms you know longer need and put everything back in its pla

At some point during the summer, most teachers begin to think about the next school year. They consider a different organizational setup for their classroom or their daily schedule. They look for new, more

Today marks the middle of June.

You may have been out of school close to month already, or your last day is later on this week. Regardless of how much summer break you have left, it is important to use

Dear Dr. Mooney, Our school year wrapped up just a week ago, but I’m already thinking about August. Isn’t that crazy?!  Don’t get me wrong. I definitely need a break, particularly with as challenging a year

Many teachers strive to construct lessons that follow the SIOP (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol) Model developed by Jane Echevarría, MaryEllen Vogt, and Deborah Short. As the name suggests, it was

Immigrants have lately been in the news cycle once again, particularly those at the southern U.S. border. But, as you know, one problem with any news source is that they don’t always tell the whole s

English is such a crazy language!

Have you ever heard someone say that? 

Perhaps you’ve even thought it yourself when a student asked you why “said” isn’t spelled “sed” or why the first letter of “k

Last fall, we discussed five important aspects of culture, specifically those that are often invisible. It’s easy to see how people from various cultural backgrounds may behave differently, but it’s more dif

Two years ago this week, the Dear Dr. Mooney community was launched. Now that’s worth celebrating!

But here’s another:  Dr. Mooney published her 100th article last week as well.

No other achi

Whether you’re new to your role as an educator, or you have been in the classroom for a long time, we all need to reflect on our practice. What’s the purpose of reflecting, and how can we make sure it is use

Let’s take this single article and accomplish two goals together. How about it?

First, many of you asked for infographics to further explain concepts related to English Learners. It’s a fair request, and I