A Language Lens® in Every Classroom to Reach All Students

Tailored to Your Needs for Maximum Impact

Our Signature Support Offerings

Enhance Your Academy Experience with Personalized Support

For teams of school leaders, coaches, and teacher teams ready to drive impact and refine instructional impact in real time.

Take your Language Lens Academy subscription further with expert-led coaching, strategic planning, and interactive group learning designed to maximize impact. Choose from the following Signature Support Offerings:

✔️ Leadership Blueprint Session:

Personalized consultation to address the unique needs of your instructional leadership, featuring a co-created professional development plan with tailored coaching and evaluation recommendations, all powered by our Language Lens® Framework

✔️ Guided Group Support Session:

Rooted in the Language Lens® Framework, these expert-facilitated online intensives fosters collaboration, deepens impact, and equips educators with actionable strategies—ensuring every student benefits from stronger, more confident leadership. See example session here.

✔️ School Impact Visits:

A high-impact, on-site experience designed to accelerate school-wide growth. Whether you opt for a live PD kickoff and/or classroom learning walks, this exclusive add-on brings expert guidance directly to your educators—ensuring immediate, actionable results that strengthen teaching and leadership.

Purchase orders welcome.

Program Creator and Your Coach, Sarah B. Ottow

Sarah B. Ottow is an educator, author and professional development leader dedicated to empowering educators and multilingual learners. As the founder of Confianza, Sarah draws on her deep cultural appreciation for the term “Confianza”—a word that embodies trust, confidence, and connection—rooted in her experiences as a language learner and bilingual educator. She developed The Language Lens®, a framework now embraced by educators across the United States and internationally to build culturally and linguistically inclusive classrooms.

Sarah’s journey into education was shaped by her personal experiences as a first-generation college graduate and a sibling of a sister with extreme special needs, which instilled in her a deep commitment to equity, empathy, and inclusion. These formative experiences taught her how to navigate systemic challenges while fostering relationships grounded in respect and trust.

  • Partnering with Confianza has been a wonderful experience. Sarah Ottow is passionate, knowledgeable, and authentic expert in her work. We have meaningful conversations that help develop understandings around language, literacy, and equity to build teacher capacity.

    Shadia Salem, Assistant Superintendent of English Learning

  • I used to tell teachers to make sure you plan with all four domains and scaffolds but now I know I need to provide explicit feedback to them. Utilizing these tools as a coaching resource will shift my practice. I think these forms will structure my feedback to teachers that can move into next steps for their instruction and student learning.

    DAMARIS GUTIERREZ, INSTRUCTIONAL SPECIALIST

  • Asking questions, reevaluating tools for bias, recognizing your own personal bias, understanding the qualities of effective instruction—I found this insightful and inspiring

    RONALD WATSON, PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY LEADER

  • The biggest value from this partnership was the coaching support and modeling, specifically around non-judgmental, inquiry-based coaching. I can now listen to teachers and offer ideas to help teachers focus on oracy skills and giving students power through language.

    Molly Shveda, Instructional Coach

What Does the Language Lens Academy Looks Like?

The Language Lens Academy contains:

  • Coaching Tool Tutorials (see example below)

  • Leadership Lessons

  • Digital Workshops for All Staff

  • Practical Tools for Lasting Impact

What Does a Sample Live Session Consist of?

BEFORE THE MEETING

📝 Preparing

  • Before our first meeting, follow the instructions sent to your group.

  • Then, register for the Language Lens Academy using your own email and unique password.

  • Watch the Coaching Tool Tutorial: Coaching Log/Reflection Log, printing out the Reflection Log for your own use. After watching the video, complete your own Reflection Log with your own role in mind. As Administrators, Instructional Coaches, Teachers or Other Staff Members, make note of the following on your Reflection Log to bring to our meeting:

    • PLUS: What are your current celebrations in supporting staff if you are a leader or supporting students if you are a teacher or support staff?

    • DELTA: What are your areas of improvement going forward?

    • NEXT STEPS: Leave this blank for now. We will work on this during our meeting.

DURING THE MEETING

🙏 Connecting

  • Welcome and Purpose

  • Quick Share:

    • What are your current successes?

    • What are your current areas of need?

  • Facilitator notice trends and patterns.

🔗 Learning

🧠 Applying

  • First, look through your pathway from the Needs Assessment and consider what you need and what your staff might need for skill development and conceptual understanding. Make notes of what areas of the LLA you’ll want to explore and in what order on the Next Steps part of your Reflection Log.

  • Next, in your breakout room, take turns sharing out what your personal pathway might be to meet your specific areas of need at your school or in your department. Designate a Facilitator to ensure equity of voice, to keep track of time and to make note of themes of the discussion.

  • When everyone comes back together, Facilitators should be prepared to share any high level themes or questions that came out of your discussion.

🪞 Reflecting

  • What are your takeaways? (Note any next steps on the bottom of your Reflection Log.)

  • Next Focus Area of the LLA: Action Cycle (if you plan to measure your progress) and area of the Academy based on your own pathway

Future sessions move through a cycle of Learning, Applying and Reflecting. Participants generally work through different parts of the Academy between each session and then come to share with guiding questions below. Additionally, Sarah provides hands-on support through specific coaching/evaluating scenarios by role playing with participants.

  • Did you or will you will try out the suggestions/tools going forward?

  • What happened or what do you anticipate will happen?

  • What challenges do you foresee and how will you overcome those challenges?

  • Asking questions, reevaluating classroom tools, recognizing your own personal bias, understanding the qualities of effective instruction—I found this insightful and inspiring.

    RONALD WATSON, PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY LEADER