See more of this interview with Robertson on our sister website, Colorín Colorado.
Biography
Kristina Robertson is a professional development outreach specialist for WIDA and an ELL educator with extensive experience as a classroom teacher and professional development leader.
She started as a Peace Corps volunteer in Sri Lanka and has 23 years of teaching and leadership experience. In the U.S., she has taught ESL K-12 and adult classes in urban and suburban environments. She has been an EL and Titles Coordinator at the district level and provided oversight to federal grant work, professional development initiatives and curriculum development. Most recently she was an ELD Specialist/Advocate in Minnesota’s state school improvement network. In this role, she worked closely with schools and used the Implementation Science framework from the National Implementation Research Network to assist leadership teams in implementing targeted strategies for improvement.
Robertson has licenses in K-12 ESL, Reading, and Administration and received her M.A. in TESOL from the School for International Training. She is currently enrolled in the Ph.D. program in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Minnesota with a concentration in literacy. She is also the lead course developer for the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) ELL 101 Professional Development module and a member of the AFT EL Educators Cadre advisory panel.
Robertson is a member of the American Federation of Teachers’ ELL Educator Cadre. She has authored a number of Bright Ideas articles on our sister website, Colorín Colorado. She is also featured in the following Colorín Colorado resources:
Recent articles
Background Knowledge
Accessing Students’ Background Knowledge in the ELL Classroom
Background Knowledge
Connect Students’ Background Knowledge to Content in the ELL Classroom
Curriculum and Instruction
Five Things Teachers Can Do to Improve Learning for ELLs in the New Year
English Language Learners
Increasing Academic Language Knowledge for English Language Learner Success
Common Core Standards
Increasing ELL Student Reading Comprehension with Nonfiction Text
Content Area Literacy
Math Instruction for English Language Learners
Content Area Literacy
Music and Language Learning
English Language Learners
Reader’s Theater: Oral Language Enrichment and Literacy Development for ELLs
English Language Learners
Reading Poetry with English Language Learners
English Language Learners
Successful Field Trips with English Language Learners
English Language Learners
Successful Parent-Teacher Conferences with Bilingual Families
English Language Learners