Episode 122: Supporting Multilingual Learners with Katherine Hamilton of Ensemble Learning
Katherine Hamilton is the Vice President of Programs at Ensemble Learning, where she oversees the development, implementation, and evaluation of all programmatic activities. With nearly 15 years of experience in the K-12 education space, Katherine specializes in effective teaching and learning, instructional leadership, overarching strategy to ensure equity for all student groups.
In this episode, Katherine told me about her journey from being a math teacher in L.A. to instructional coaching and how to best serve multilingual learners. She also shares some great insight on why teachers should consider different career paths.
Topics Discussed:
Teachers needing to look at work patterns
Balancing coaching and teaching
Teaching both content and language
Resources mentioned:
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Read the transcript for this episode:
Welcome to Educator Forever, where we empower teachers to innovate education. Join us each week to hear stories of teachers expanding their impacts beyond the classroom and explore ways to reimagine teaching and learning.
Katherine Hamilton is the vice president of programs at Ensemble Learning, where she oversees the development, implementation and evaluation of all programmatic activities. With nearly 15 years of experience in the K through 12 education space, Catherine specializes in effective teaching and learning, instructional leadership and overarching strategy to ensure equity for all student groups. Welcome Catherine, so nice to have you here.
Katherine Hamilton
Thank you so much for having me today, absolutely.
Lily Jones
So I would love for you in whatever direction you want to take this to tell us about your journey as an educator.
Katherine Hamilton
Yeah, so I like to start as a student. When I was a student, I love I love school in general, but I really love learning math. And I kind of saw math as like a puzzle, and a lot to figure out. I never, I never worried too much about memorizing things. And kind of as, of course, as I got older, I realized, wow, like most people don't see math this way, like it's really challenging. So as I was in college and kind of deciding where I wanted to go in life, I really kind of put that together with my desire. I really like helping people. I like working with people, and I decided to become a high school math teacher. Just saw it as such a barrier for students entering college career, and wanted to kind of figure out, how do we teach math better? How do we teach math differently? And so that was my first, like official foray into being an educator, and I taught, I'm in Los Angeles. I taught in the northeast, San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, a really diverse student population, many Latinx native Spanish speaker students. And through that, really learned a lot about like, how do we really build students confidence in math? But began to see just the power of language and the ability to use language to communicate our thinking.
Katherine Hamilton
And so I, in my role as a teacher, kind of realized that my favorite time, I loved all my students. I loved them as people, but when I really reflected on my time, my favorite part of the job was the time collaborating with other teachers, opportunities I had to facilitate professional learning, or, you know, peer observations and just the ability to spend a little more time talking about what we do in the classroom and mentoring and helping other teachers. And so I moved into instructional coaching and kind of instructional leadership, and loved kind of love nerding out thinking about teaching, always with this eye towards, like, how do we support students, both learning content, like math, history, you know, ela literature, as well as learning academic language, and really feeling powerful in that, and that's really led me to where I am now. I'm at Ensemble Learning. We are a nonprofit dedicated to equity for multilingual learners, and just that ability to work with educators, you know, all the time, and think about instruction and how we support our students is just like the privilege of a lifetime.
Lily Jones
Yay. That's awesome. And I love how you reflected on, kind of what you loved about teaching, and I'm sure there were many things, but really honing in on collaborating with other educators and taking that leap, kind of to go into that direction. And I'm curious a little bit more about that transition, like I know that for me, thinking back in my transition out of the classroom, I can talk about it in a way that, like, seems really easy, and it wasn't easy. Like it was very complicated, and felt like rife with emotions and all the things. And so I'm curious for you making that decision to lead being a classroom teacher and working in other ways in education. Can you unpack that a little bit?
Katherine Hamilton
Yeah, I was really fortunate to it after I had this realization and thought how I kind of want to go into maybe working with adults more, I moved into a position that was a hybrid instructional coach and teaching position, and so it gave me a year of spending probably about 60% of my time still teaching students. So I was still, as you say, in the trenches, planning with students, assessing, kind of doing all of those core pieces. And then my other about 40% of the time, I was coaching about four new teachers, but then also helping school leadership with PD and walk throughs and other activities. And it was that year that was really, I think, helped me build the confidence in my pathway and my decision. Because I think even more so, you know, I would be in the middle of a day and I'd have a class of students coming in, versus maybe the next day, kind of around the time I would have coaching time, you know, maybe after lunch, and just comparing how I felt and the excitement and the passion and the I'm a big believer in, you know, really enjoying the work that we do and and so I kind of listened to my instinct, and in that hybrid year, it really helps solidify the decision of mine. What I continue to say is I could never fully be away from schools and fully be away from students. And for example, last week I was out. I was coaching a leader -- a school leadership team. I was there at a school site for all day, you know, on a Thursday with students in classrooms observing, and then on Friday, I got to go to a different school and support one of my teammates as she was leading PD and and I was like, this really is, like, that kind of sweet spot for me. I can never feel like I can be too far from students and where that magic happens with them, and really being grounded in that work. But if I get to really unpack kind of the system level challenges and work more directly with adults, that's that right mix. So I think listening to listening like and leaning into like, how am I feeling? What's bringing me joy? What's bringing me energy? In that hybrid year helped me really feel confident in my decision to move in, you know, away from the classroom.
Lily Jones
And what a cool opportunity that was to have the hybrid year. I mean, I think that if everybody could have that, who is interested in it, that can be a great like, scaffolded way to try out these different things. And I love how you tuned into what was working for you and what wasn't, where your energy was coming from, and what you felt motivated by. And I think along with that too, like knowing that there are multiple ways to get those needs met, right? Like, even in your role now, it sounds like you have interactions with students and schools and play a part in that. And I think sometimes, being a teacher, we can feel like it's our only way, right? Classroom teacher is our only way to get this kid time, or to be in schools, or to make a difference in this way. And there are so many different ways to do that. So I'm curious:You can tell us a little bit more about Ensemble Learning and your role there?
Katherine Hamilton
Yeah. So I, as I kind of mentioned, Ensemble Learning is a nonprofit organization, and we, I always say, we have the luxury, we have the privilege of focusing, really solely on the student group of multilingual learners. And we use the umbrella term multilingual learners. Some states say English learners, or English as a second language, or emergent bilinguals. There's, there's a whole range of terms, but we're really talking about students who are not coming into our schools fully fluent in academic English yet, and are kind of going through those services, and we like to say multilingual, because so many of those students actually come in, like, speaking, sometimes two, three other languages, and we can really tap into that. And I actually was first introduced to Ensemble Learning when I was still working at a school district central office. So I was a director of teaching and learning, and I was actually approached by Ensemble they had some funding to kind of run a pilot project and bring in a few districts in Southern California for bring some of the leaders together for some learning, like professional learning, walk throughs collaboration. And so we were one of the participants in that. So I kind of was on the client side first, and I was just immediately kind of struck by the genuine passion for this group of students, not just like paying lip service on paper, because we have to look at data this way, but truly saying, like there's something here, that if we can get it right, we're Changing, changing lives, changing our education system. And really when we figure out how to get things right for multilingual learners, a lot of them are kind of universal designs for accessibility and, you know, help all students develop academic language. And it was really that kind of the passion I saw in Ensemble Learning. And then really the people like it was clearly an organization that cared about people and the work that they do, and really valued educators. And so it was super lucky timing when we were wrapping up our work. You know, as clients of ensemble, they earned a $7 million federal grant to continue the work, and they needed someone to come on and run that grant. And I like, raise my I was like, please pick me. I really want to keep doing this. And so just it was really like, fortunate timing. And so I've been there since 2019, so coming up on six years. My role has evolved as we've had different projects and different funding. But at the core of it, I've always been working on our programming and really thinking about, how do we support, you know, educators at all levels of the system. How do we support teachers? How do we support school site leaders? And then, how do we help districts and networks of schools build infrastructure to support multilingual learners? And so I'm currently our vice president of programs, which is just so exciting to see everything that we're doing, doing a lot of work in dual language schools, and really just continuing to well at this point, kind of very currently looking at like the current administration and some of the hectic things that are coming out and for schools and their funding and helping them stay focused on supporting students. So, yeah, it's exciting and a lot to look forward to.
Lily Jones
Yeah, it's such important work. And most of my teaching was with students who are multilingual learners, and I have done a lot of curriculum work, writing supports for multilingual learners and thinking about, you know, what students at different levels of language proficiency need to be sufficient, or need to be successful in different opportunities, and all of that. So I'd love to have a little shop talk and hear from you for teachers out there, what resources or advice you might share for teachers about how to support multilingual learners?
Katherine Hamilton
Yeah, I think the number one thing, and I kind of mentioned it back when I was teaching, but really it's getting your mind around this idea that I am a teacher both of content and of language. And I think a huge shout out to elementary teachers, because I think at their core, they really embrace this, because they're, you know, they're teaching all day, they're teaching ELA, they're teaching math. And so I think that they they think about literacy kind of through all content, but it's a push for a lot of teachers to think about, not only what is the content, or what are the content demands that my students are facing in my classroom, but really, what are those language demands? What are students having to listen to and comprehend and make sense of when instruction is given or instructions for a task are given? And then, what do students have to do in terms of that kind of interpersonal language with peers? And then, what's that output? Where do they having to speak and say, what are they having to write? And that we can't just teach content. We have to teach all of these other skills and all the language around it. And I think, first and foremost, as a teacher, if you can put that lens on and look at your lesson, look at your instructional materials, and really use that lens to say, Okay, what's the content I'm teaching, but also what's the language I'm teaching. It's not just, and I use math as an example a lot. It's not just that my students know how to, you know what slope is when we talk about the slope of a line, but that students also have the mortar words as we talk about kind of brick and mortar, but they have those words so that they can communicate with a peer and say, Oh, I think the slope. Is this because or I calculated the slope, or even asking questions. Can you help me? You know, I got a different answer than you. Can we work on this together? Because those are really the skills, you know, I don't see many 35 year olds calculating slope in their daily lives, but we see so many professionals using interpersonal language and navigating content, and so I always start with that, just that mindset of I teach content and I teach language, and I'm really equipping students for access and for the language skills for the future.
Lily Jones
That's great. Yeah, absolutely. And it's like they're separate, and they're not separate, right, language and content. And so thinking about both, and thinking about how both really make each other stronger, right? And I love that connection too, to just how students will be using language, regardless of the content, in so many different ways going forward. So putting the focus there, yeah? So I know, you know, it's been a bit since you've transitioned out of the classroom, and I'd love to hear kind of what you've learned about yourself through making this transition.
Katherine Hamilton
Yeah, I think I'll reflect back on kind of that, that hybrid year I had, and as I was going through this decision to leave the classroom, I had a mentor, and he was actually my first principal when I started teaching. So he and I go, go way back, and he really knows me and my work well. And he brought up this idea, you know, similar to how you might do, like a Myers Briggs assessment. Or, you know, there are all kinds of these assessments of like, how do you work best? How do you all this but, but he brought up this idea of like, there is work that's very like day to day in the moment. And like, teaching is very much that like, you want to, like, be there with kids. You love that interaction. Um.
Katherine Hamilton
And then there's work that's very like long term, being a researcher, being like a writer. It's you, yeah, you have some checkpoints, but you're managing it. It's longer term. And I think I always felt the challenge of teaching is really it's both, because you have that in the moment, day to day. But it's not one of those jobs where, you know, 330 bell rings and you're done, because you're now doing that longer term planning, thinking about the next day, what do I need to adjust? What did my data say today? It's a job that for me felt like, wow, this could never end if I didn't let it like it really could go on. But he really introduced that framing for me of think about, you know, do you like that work that's in the moment, day to day, like that work, type of work might tell you like out of the classroom you want to be a principal or an AP or someone who's like, you're still with people kind of in it every day, or are you liking a little bit of that slower thinking, that planning, and it's a framework I continue to go back to. And even in thinking about, like our staffing at ensemble, and how we build up our team of experts, and kind of the roles that we take. I get closer to understanding the ratio of that kind of work that I like, and I'm someone who, like, I said last week, I got to be out at a school site for a day, and then I got to be out again for like, a shorter PD, and that was wonderful. But then I also got to work from home and work kind of on these projects, and yes, collaborate with people, but work a little more, like, slowly and methodically. And so I think I've learned that I do need both, but I tend to professionally, need a little more of that, like, longer term planning, strategizing versus the like, really day to day. I'll also say I have two young children. I have a two and a four year old, so I also get the like in your face when they're home. So maybe that's adjusted my mindset around work a little bit too.
Lily Jones
Yes, I absolutely understand that. I think that when I left the classroom was when my daughter was born. She's now 12, and I have a nine year old too, and I was like, All right, I just needed to be quiet when I'm working. So, yeah, I mean, I think that what you're saying though about the reflections, it's always evolving for many of us too, and in different seasons of our lives, maybe there are different combinations, but I appreciate kind of tuning into what do I need right now? Or what am I thriving about? Or thriving with? And you can kind of put together the puzzle pieces to create what you need and where how you best work, too.
Katherine Hamilton
Yeah, absolutely.
Lily Jones
And so thinking about teachers who are perhaps wanting to move outside of the classroom, what advice would you give for them?
Katherine Hamilton
I think it a couple things. One is to do that reflection and actually, like, take your calendar, look back at the last week or two and really reflect and say, when, when was I happiest? When was I most motivated at work? Um, when was I most stressed? And see what patterns you can find that emerge, and asking yourself, what part of the role do I really like the most? Like, if you're loving, oh, I had these great one on one conversations with my students, or I had lunch with this one student who was having a tough day, and I loved that. And you're thinking about, Wow, all the time I'm loving is really like face to face, connecting with students a role like working in counseling, or moving more into something where you're able to think more about like students and well being versus that, plus learning, math, learning, science, grading, You know, all of those things might be a design that's going to bring you more joy. The other piece, I would really say, is connect with people who have made that shift and are doing different types of jobs. I think sometimes we think, I think it's gotten so much better nowadays, but I think for a long time it was, if I don't want to teach, I'm going to go into school administration, I'm going to go become a dean, an AP, a principal, like those were really the choices. And I think the world has really opened up. You know, I met with someone who is she was a teacher, and now she works for Canva, and she creates tools for teachers at Canva. And I, you know, you are leading a podcast like there are so many really great options. And so as you reflect, saying, you know, I really, my favorite part is designing these activities for my students. Maybe I want to try to go work for a publisher or something like that or like there are a lot of unique opportunities seek out people. You know, educators are among, I think, the friendliest, kindest folks who want to help other people. I mean, we get into education because we want to support learners and students, and so I love to connect with people as they kind of reflect and think about their next moves, and sometimes the conversation is actually, thanks for talking with me, but I want to stay put. I realize I really love teaching, and sometimes you just need that validation as well. But it's so good to connect, whether it's a mentor, a peer, but someone who's gone through it and can give you that inside view.
Lily Jones
And seeing the possibilities. I mean, I think there are just so many possibilities and so many ways where we need educators to really share their expertise and to report back on what's been happening in the classrooms. And so really seeing those different options, that it's definitely not just being a teacher or becoming an administrator. There are all sorts of things you can do, and you can also have some sort of agency over the process, right? We might not be able to create our dream jobs right away, but we can reflect, just like you're saying, on the things we want, the things we don't want, and then start to make those connections to make what we want a reality.
Katherine Hamilton
Absolutely.
Lily Jones
Awesome. Well, thank you so much. Catherine, it was so nice to connect with you. Can you tell people where they can connect with you?
Katherine Hamilton
Yeah, so we point people over to our website at Ensemble Learning.org,and you can find me there, as well as my colleagues, who are all brilliant and can provide awesome resources. And we have a place there on the website that we invite people to connect with us. We, while we have official projects, we also just love to connect and support and so we do a lot of like complimentary consultations. You can find me on LinkedIn. Katherine Hamilton, I'm at Ensemble Learning, or just by email, I'm at K Hamilton at Ensemble Learning.org I like I said about math, I'm a nerd in all ways, both math and, you know, all things education and so I love to connect with people hear new ideas, but yeah, if any listeners are really thinking about, you know, making the shift, or making the shift into the nonprofit world, there are some nuances and some differences there, and so please reach out by email or LinkedIn or our website, and you know, I'd love to just chat and hear your story. Too.
Lily Jones
Wonderful. Thanks so much Catherine.
Katherine Hamilton
Thank you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai