Friday, May 15, 2026
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SB
Opening Session
SAAABE Board Lead
May 15, 8:00am – 8:25am25 minBexar (Level: 1st Floor, Cap 400) -
Keynote Session
Keynote SessionDr. Miguel Cardona Lead
May 15, 8:25am – 9:30am65 minBexar (Level: 1st Floor, Cap 400) -
NG
Advancing Claim-Evidence-Reasoning in Middle School: Bilingual Scaffolds and Structured Collaboration
Instructional Practices in Secondary DLBE ClassroomsNelia Gamez Lead
May 15, 9:45am – 10:40am55 minFiesta (Level: Ground Floor, Cap 30)Show details
This session models how middle school bilingual students use collaborative scaffolds to build Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER) responses through structured discussion, reading, and reflection. Participants will learn how group work, academic talk, and guided supports lead students from co-constructed responses and presentations to independent short answers and full essays. The session provides practical strategies that strengthen both language development and critical thinking while promoting equitable participation. -
ME
Bridging Language and Science in Dual Language Classroom
Effective Instructional Practices in Elementary DLBE ClassroomsMagda Esparza Lead with Nidia Martinez
May 15, 9:45am – 10:40am55 minLa Salle (Level: 1st Floor, Cap 40)Show details
Rigorous science instruction in dual language classrooms requires intentional and systematic language development. This session introduces a research-informed framework for implementing language bridging practices that advance both scientific inquiry and bilingual proficiency from Pre-K through middle school. Drawing on Cummins’ BICS/CALP distinction and the Interdependence Hypothesis, participants will analyze classroom-tested strategies including structured academic discourse routines, bilingual word walls, sentence stems, and purposeful translanguaging practices. Attendees will leave with concrete implementation tools and scalable models to center language, culture, and community as essential drivers of multilingual student achievement. -
CM
Igniting Possibilities for Dyslexia Support in Dual-Language Programs
EBs with Diverse NeedsCeleste Martinez Lead with Karla Mariana Escobar
May 15, 9:45am – 10:40am55 minMaple (Level: 2nd Floor, Cap 45)Show details
This presentation draws on the emerging research into multilingual and multimodal means of representation (Cioè‐Peña, 2022; CAST, 2024) for students with dyslexia in Dual Language and Bilingual Education programs (DLBE). Participants will identify specific strategies to implement in their classrooms by engaging with an interactive, composite case study. This composite case study highlights current practices to enable access to the curriculum. Participants will leave with resources on actionable strategies to implement in the classroom. -
Culture as Curriculum: Belonging Through Story, Culture, and Arts Integration
Culturally Relevant & Sustaining PedagogyBernadette Peña Lead
May 15, 9:45am – 10:40am55 minMedina (Level: 1st Floor, Cap 40)Show details
This presentation guides participants through a culturally relevant, arts integrated approach to teaching that positions story, culture, and community as central to learning in bilingual, dual language, and ESL classrooms. The presentation introduces key concepts on cultural memory, family stories, and the Mexican American identity. The session demonstrates how culture can function as a curriculum to nurture belonging and multicultural identity. Participants will then engage in a hands-on arts activity that models how storytelling, visual expression, and cultural artifacts can deepen language development, affirm lived experiences, and strengthen classroom community. By the end of the session, educators will leave with practical strategies that uplift students’ linguistic and cultural assets. Participants will experience strategies that position culture as curriculum and create learning environments where students feel seen, valued, and connected. -
Building Bridges Between Contemporary Music and Spanish Literature
Instructional Practices in Secondary DLBE ClassroomsEllen Flores Chavira Lead
May 15, 10:55am – 11:50am55 minFiesta (Level: Ground Floor, Cap 30)Show details
This presentation models how contemporary Spanish-language music can be used to build meaningful bridges to literary analysis in bilingual classrooms. Through classroom-tested pairings from AP Spanish Literature, participants will explore strategies that connect students’ lived linguistic and cultural experiences to canonical texts while strengthening biliteracy and critical thinking. The session is interactive and provides ready-to-use comparison prompts that position students as active interpreters, cultural experts, and advocates for their voices and identities. -
Rising with the Bridge: Becoming Campeones of Cross-Linguistic Transfer
Effective Instructional Practices in Elementary DLBE ClassroomsAdriana Navarrete Lead
May 15, 10:55am – 12:05pm70 minLa Salle (Level: 1st Floor, Cap 40)Show details
Unlock the power of the 'Bridge' in the bilingual classroom through a comprehensive exploration of the Dynamics of Cross-Linguistic Instruction, based on the foundational work of Silvia Dorta-Duque de Reyes. This session provides educators with a clear, research-based framework for planning standards-based transfer lessons. We will examine steps of the planning process essential for the lesson framework to be a success: standards, recognizing language subsystems, and transference relationships. Participants will gain insight into designing a strategic lesson sequence using the Gradual Release of Language. Attendees will leave with a structured approach to fostering deep linguistic connections for their students. -
CP
Empowering Multilingual Learners with Disabilities Through Universal Design
EBs with Diverse NeedsCarlos Perez Lead
May 15, 10:55am – 11:50am55 minMaple (Level: 2nd Floor, Cap 45)Show details
Language becomes a tool of empowerment when all students can access rigorous academic content through multiple pathways. This innovative session demonstrates how Universal Design for Learning serves as a powerful framework to integrate evidence-based strategies that unlock academic language for multilingual learners, including English learners with disabilities. Participants will explore the synergy between UDL's three principles and structured instructional approaches: the 7 Steps to Language-Rich Classrooms, QSSSR (Question, Signal/Cue, Sentence Stem, Share, Assess), and Preview-View-Review strategies. Through hands-on practice with a dual language 8th grade US History lesson, educators will experience how sentence stems scaffold academic discourse, how multiple modalities support comprehension for students with reading differences, and how choice in expression honors both linguistic diversity and learning differences. Attendees will leave with a replicable lesson template that transforms any content area into a linguistically and cognitively accessible learning experience. When we design instruction that honors every student's linguistic assets while providing structured and explicit instructional support for academic language development and reading differences, we truly make language a source of power for all learners. -
MF
Short Constructed Responses Across Various Content Areas
Culturally Relevant & Sustaining PedagogyMaribel Faz Lead with Ksenia Pircher
May 15, 10:55am – 11:50am55 minMedina (Level: 1st Floor, Cap 40)Show details
This session focuses on strengthening short constructed responses across content areas in bilingual, dual language, and ESL classrooms. Participants will explore practical, research-based strategies—such as CER frameworks, sentence stems, and language scaffolds—that support students in developing academic language and expressing their thinking in both English and Spanish. Grounded in research that highlights the connection between oral language and writing development (Cummins, 2000; Zwiers, 2008), this session equips educators to build confident communicators. Aligned with the theme “Still We Rise: Campeones de lenguaje, la cultura, y la comunidad,” the presentation empowers students as language champions, honors their cultural and linguistic identities, and fosters strong classroom communities. -
Where Language and Disability Meet: What Districts Must Do Differently
Featured SessionsLizdelia Piñón Lead
May 15, 10:55am – 12:05pm70 minPine (Level: 2nd Floor, Cap 40)Show details
Where Language and Disability Meet explores how schools can better serve multilingual students with disabilities by rethinking systems that often separate language development from special education. This session challenges deficit-based approaches and highlights how they contribute to misidentification, limited access, and inequitable outcomes for emergent bilingual learners.
Participants will examine how policy, instruction, and collaboration can work together to create more inclusive, asset-based environments that honor students’ linguistic and cultural strengths. The presentation offers practical strategies for equitable identification, bilingual and culturally sustaining instruction, stronger collaboration between multilingual and special education teams, and authentic family partnership.
Grounded in research and real-world district examples, this session empowers educators, leaders, and advocates to move beyond compliance and toward transformative practices. Attendees will leave with concrete tools and a renewed vision for creating classrooms and systems where multilingual students with disabilities are fully included, supported, and positioned to thrive. -
SB
Awards Ceremony
SAAABE Board Lead
May 15, 1:00pm – 1:45pm45 minBexar (Level: 1st Floor, Cap 400) -
MC
“¡Juguemos! Let’s Play! Estrategias de vocabulario que incorporan el puente.”
Instructional Practices in Secondary DLBE ClassroomsMichelle Camacho Lead with Michelle Morales
May 15, 1:35pm – 2:45pm70 minFiesta (Level: Ground Floor, Cap 30)Show details
This interactive session will go over the what & why of traditional bridging, and showcase a variety of vocabulary strategies that can be used in any content area. -
VS
“Más que Palabras: Teaching Beyond the Textbook”
Culturally Relevant & Sustaining PedagogyVeronica Sanchez- Saenz Lead
May 15, 1:35pm – 2:45pm70 minMedina (Level: 1st Floor, Cap 40)Show details
This session explores how secondary Spanish classrooms (Levels 2–AP) can serve as transformative spaces where bilingualism and biliteracy are positioned as assets, not deficits. Grounded in the work of Gloria Ladson-Billings and Django Paris, participants will examine how Culturally Relevant and Sustaining Pedagogy empowers emergent bilinguals to develop academic excellence, cultural competence, and critical consciousness.
Through concrete classroom examples tailored specifically to Spanish 2, Spanish 3, and AP Spanish Language courses, attendees will learn how to design identity-centered projects, community-based research tasks, AP-style cultural comparisons, and advocacy-driven assessments that amplify student voice.
Participants will leave with ready-to-implement strategies that integrate proficiency-based instruction with culturally responsive teaching practices, creating inclusive and affirming learning environments where students rise as champions of language, culture, and community. -
Storytelling, Creativity, and Emotional Learning in Dual-Language Classrooms
Effective Instructional Practices in Elementary DLBE ClassroomsMahiette Tarrago Lead
May 15, 1:45pm – 2:40pm55 minLa Salle (Level: 1st Floor, Cap 40)Show details
Discover how storytelling, creative play, and social-emotional learning can boost language development and cultural connection in bilingual and dual-language classrooms. This interactive session shares hands-on strategies, character-based narratives, and play-based activities that engage students while fostering confidence, cultural pride, and community. Grounded in research showing the benefits of storytelling for multilingual learners, educators will leave with practical ideas to make language learning inclusive, creative, and empowering. -
Still We Rise: Creating Pathways for Bilingual Students in GT
EBs with Diverse NeedsDr. Apolonio Trejo Lead
May 15, 1:45pm – 2:40pm55 minMaple (Level: 2nd Floor, Cap 45)Show details
This session explores the underrepresentation of bilingual students in Gifted and Talented (GT) programs and provides practical strategies for equitable identification, culturally responsive assessment, and inclusive instruction in bilingual, dual language, and ESL classrooms. Drawing on current research (Medina, 2025; Trejo, 2021), it highlights systemic barriers and emphasizes the value of students’ home languages, bilingualism, and translanguaging as assets for learning. Participants will leave with actionable tools to create pathways that honor bilingual learners as campeones de lenguaje, la cultura, y la comunidad. -
MJ
Translanguaging with Purpose: Research to Classroom Practice
Effective Instructional Practices in Elementary DLBE ClassroomsMariana Jimenez Lead
May 15, 2:55pm – 3:50pm55 minLa Salle (Level: 1st Floor, Cap 40)Show details
This hands-on workshop bridges research and classroom practice by guiding educators through the intentional design of translanguaging routines for bilingual, dual language, and ESL classrooms. After a concise overview of key research (García & Wei, 2014; Cummins, 2000) to clarify common misconceptions, participants will actively engage in designing cross-linguistic vocabulary bridges, contrastive writing scaffolds, and structured discussion protocols that promote biliteracy and academic language development.
Through collaborative planning and real classroom scenarios, attendees will create practical tools that leverage students’ full linguistic repertoires as assets while maintaining rigorous target language expectations. Participants will leave with ready-to-implement strategies and a clear framework for honoring language, culture, and community in alignment with Still We Rise: Campeones de lenguaje, la cultura, y la comunidad. -
EBs, Former EBs, and Non-EBs: Developing Language in Diverse Classrooms
EBs with Diverse NeedsStephen Fleenor Lead
May 15, 2:55pm – 3:50pm55 minMaple (Level: 2nd Floor, Cap 45)Show details
The modern general-education classroom is highly heterogeneous, with emergent bilingual (EB) students at different levels of English language proficiency, students with unique socioemotional needs, and students with diverse background knowledge about academic content.
How can we practically meet the language needs of all students in a diverse classroom? This session shows educators practical ways to meet students where they are at, give them a voice, and help to grow their language, self-confidence, and academic performance. Additionally, this session models how to achieve success for all students by making the development of academic language the primary objective of every lesson and challenging all students to engage with thinking and language at the highest levels of Blooms’ taxonomy. In this session, participants will:
• Engage as students in language-rich simulations
• Discuss with peers how second-language acquisition (SLA) strategies and diverse support can help all students realize their potential
• Learn how to give students a voice through open-ended, culturally responsive activities -
Still We Rise: Teaching Hispanic Leaders Through Culturally Sustaining Practices
Culturally Relevant & Sustaining PedagogyAngélica Nieto Lead with Dr. Claudia Treviño García
May 15, 2:55pm – 3:50pm55 minMedina (Level: 1st Floor, Cap 40)Show details
Participants will explore instructional strategies that move beyond traditional textbook-based instruction through the use of student-centered, interactive social studies learning centers. These centers engage students in investigating influential Hispanic figures while developing literacy, critical thinking, and cultural awareness.
The session will feature a classroom-ready example that demonstrates how inquiry, discussion, and culturally relevant texts can foster deeper engagement and affirm students’ cultural and linguistic identities. Participants will also learn how to design cross-curricular lessons that integrate social studies with literacy development in bilingual and dual language classrooms.
Educators will leave with practical strategies for creating culturally sustaining learning experiences that elevate historically underrepresented voices and empower emergent bilingual students to see themselves as leaders, scholars, and advocates within their communities. -
TB
Accelerate Learning with Footsteps2Brilliance & Foster Calm Learning with Friendzy!
Sponsored by Teaching Counts! (Silver) Sponsored SessionsTerri Balderrama Booker Lead
May 15, 2:55pm – 4:05pm70 minPine (Level: 2nd Floor, Cap 40)Show details
Discover how to accelerate literacy and support emotional wellness for Emergent Bilingual students through engaging, research-based strategies and resources. This session combines innovative bilingual language and literacy tools with practical approaches to help students thrive academically and socially. Learn how to bridge school and home learning with culturally relevant, developmentally appropriate English and Spanish resources that promote Kindergarten readiness and 3rd grade reading proficiency. Explore how the brain responds to stress and how language and culture influence behavior, while gaining strategies from the Regulate–Respond–Relate framework to create calm, focused classrooms. Walk away with ready-to-use bilingual tools—including visual supports, sentence stems, and routines—that empower students, strengthen connections, and eliminate learning gaps. Attendees will receive access to free resources, including a trial opportunity and materials to immediately implement in their classrooms