ACCESS: Making Content Comprehensible

At the start of a lesson, your teachers are making critical decisions about how to prepare students for new learning. This is where they set the stage - activating prior knowledge, building background, pre-teaching vocabulary, and making complex ideas accessible.

The question isn't whether to provide support. The question is what kind of support maintains rigor while reducing linguistic barriers.

The Core Decision Points

During the ACCESS phase, teachers are asking:

How am I establishing clear learning targets and connecting to previous learning?
Students can't aim for a target they can't see. Clear objectives - communicated in language students can understand - give multilingual learners the foundation they need to engage with new content confidently.

What strategies am I using to help students connect new content to what they already know?
Activating and building background knowledge isn't about filling gaps. It's about recognizing that multilingual learners bring rich cultural and linguistic knowledge that can be leveraged as assets. When teachers connect new learning to students' lived experiences, comprehension deepens.

What anchor charts, visuals, models, or demonstrations am I using to make complex ideas comprehensible while maintaining rigor?
Visual and thinking tools don't replace rigorous content - they provide pathways into it. The right visual can make abstract concepts concrete without lowering cognitive demand. The right model can scaffold thinking without simplifying the task.