Elevate Student Thinking & Voice:
Student Discourse Kit
for all educators
Confianza's Student Discourse Kit helps educators and leaders make academic language visible, so students can explain, question, justify, and build ideas together.
Because every student is learning the language of school — and multilingual learners simply make that reality visible.
Before:
→ Students use academic language to explain their thinking.
→ Discussion is anchored to grade-level content and shared across all students for equity of voice.
→ Talk makes thinking visible through paraphrasing, explaining, supporting, and synthesizing.
→ Teachers and students share clear criteria for what effective discussion looks and sounds like.
→ Reflection builds student agency by focusing on how they talked and what they learned.
→ Students may be talking, but their thinking remains unclear.
→ Discussion feels uneven; some students dominate while others stay quiet or completely unengaged.
→ Sentence stems exist, but they aren’t clearly connected to the content or standard.
→ Teachers aren’t sure how to tell if discussion is actually supporting learning.
→ Reflection, if it happens, focuses on participation — not understanding.
After:
The Transformation
What changes when students learn the language of learning
When academic language becomes visible, learning becomes visible.
Explore practical, classroom-ready Canva templates for your coaching or teaching setting.
Get your students talking, learning and reflecting today!
- K–12 educators, instructional coaches, and school leaders
- Anyone who wants to strengthen language-rich instruction for all learners
- Educators who support multilingual learners and want clearer entry points into Confianza's Language Lens® approach
- Schools and teams looking for practical, research-based resources they can explore right away
- Leaders who want to build stronger instruction, coaching, and shared understanding around academic language
Who the Student Discourse Kit is For
— Tim Boals, WIDA Founder and Director (RETIRED)
“Putting on a ‘language lens’ is like giving students superpowers. These practical ideas transform classrooms into interactive, language-rich spaces where students use language with purpose and confidence.”
About the Language Lens®
Created by Sarah B. Ottow
Sarah B. Ottow is an educator, author, and leadership coach who has supported schools and districts across the country and the world in strengthening instruction for multilingual learners and all students.
Her work focuses on helping educators lead and teach through a Language Lens so academic language becomes visible, purposeful, and accessible for every learner.
— shannon kane, adjustment counselor
"This learning has helped me to realize just how important it is to understand that when working with students because they may not necessarily know what we mean if we don't explain it. I will be much more thoughtful about the language I use."
