Arleen Standiford was able to take a group of struggling bilingual kindergarten students to success. In January 2022, she was offered a job as a bilingual kindergarten teacher. She was the fourth teacher for these students in a semester. The students had not had a stable first semester so when she got to the classroom, Arleen had a big challenge. The students needed stability and true academic instruction.

Arleen used her background as an elementary teacher to help them learn to read and write properly. She added musical games and songs to help them learn English. She created a class community by giving the students “class jobs” and having a daily “morning meeting.” She asked for help from district experts and worked with them to establish order and enrich their academic environment. She used her background as a former Montessori teacher to make math manipulatives and sandpaper letters so that they would have hands-on materials instead of worksheets. She helped the bilingual coordinator bring in training for all the elementary bilingual teachers so that they would be able to learn to read in both languages.