Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Ottow.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Sarah. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
If someone would have told me years ago that I’d be a teacher-turned-small-business owner, I never would have believed it. I’ve been an educator my entire career, having taught and coached in Wisconsin and Puerto Rico schools for 12 years then led teacher preparation projects for a non-profit here in Boston from 2012-2015. I didn’t plan on carving my own path yet, after learning more and more about the systemic inequities for our students and teachers, I had no choice but to branch out and provide something different for schools.
You see, English language learners (ELLs) are the fastest growing population of students in our schools, comprised of children from hundreds of linguistic and cultural backgrounds. All students deserve to feel valued and get access to rich learning experiences in school yet many educators lack the proper training to work effectively with the diverse students in front of them every day. Many schools undervalue the rich assets that these students and families bring to them which, unfortunately, are especially highlighted in our current political climate. As a language and literacy specialist focused on increasing equity for this population, I see schools seeking innovative solutions to bridge the gap in teaching and learning.
Because I want all children to have the opportunities to become the best version of themselves, no matter their background, my mission is to work like hell to make sure I am doing my best to be part of this positive change.
People often ask me why I have dedicated my career to a group I am not officially a part of. I can share a couple personal experiences that have really shaped me and my sense of urgency to stand up for others.
I grew up watching my youngest sister with significant birth defects and learning disabilities struggle in public schools and seeing how much my parents needed to advocate for her basic rights. That planted a seed in me about how important it is to speak up for others whose voices are not being heard. To this day, I see my sister as one of my biggest heroes. She faces immeasurable barriers every day to have a life of dignity with humor and with grace. I had my own challenges in public schools, going from a successful student labeled “gifted and talented” where I grew up on the Cape to an “at risk” student artful at skipping class when my family moved to rural Wisconsin in the middle of high school. Along the way, I experienced firsthand the role that educators play in helping a student see the “why” of staying in school. I also know how integral my family is for my vision and perseverance. I went on to be the first person in my family to graduate from college and I’m very proud of that because it wasn’t easy.
Plus, it’s more than a class issue at play here; it’s gender, too. My mother really didn’t have the chance to shape her career like I do, nor did the generations of women before her. My great-grandmother, my namesake, Sarah, who immigrated from Ireland to Boston as a teenager in the early part of the 20th century certainly didn’t have the choices I have simply because of when I was born in history. I don’t take the privileges I have lightly. I am grateful for my access and opportunity and I believe all children should have the right to choose their own path, too.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
As an ‘edu-prenuer’, I can say that the life of a small business owner in the field of education is not easy.
I don’t fit the Boston-area ‘ed tech’ profile and one of the biggest challenges has been to figure out what I am not. My company doesn’t win start-up competitions that fund education products or endeavors. We don’t win the ear or the checkbook of venture capitalists. We aren’t just about ed tech or software and we don’t make slick products. Apps get funded, bigger corporate companies have more swagger, and other business owners with the East Coast cred and Ivy League background seem to get the spotlight on their work in our start-up community. And I’m fine with that. Confianza is more ’boutique’, more ‘home grown’ and more about partnering behind the scenes to get the resources out to the people. Funding professional development or talking about pedagogy or leadership practices or family engagement isn’t necessarily trendy or shiny. Yet unfortunately, part of the problem with improving education in our country is that we often want to focus our attention and efforts only on things that are tangible, measurable and have a good ROI.
Products are something you can buy, test scores are something you can see as a number, return on investment is something you can see in dollars. Yet the human aspect is what drives change in our schools. Relationships are not always easy to see and improving systems by putting all the pieces together in ways that build mutual respect and trust in each other is something that is hard to measure the way our current education landscape is set up. Investing in relationships yields the largest return in our schools. I envision a redesign of how we do school, where we use products in service to the larger charge of doing what is right for students and families, where we learn about their hopes and dreams and where we help kids discover their passions so they can enjoy learning and enjoy life long after school is over. My vision is to build in critical literacy skills so that we have a more informed and empathetic population all working towards liberty and justice for all. My road has been much smoother since defining who I am and what my company stands for versus what I am not.
Another struggle that ELL education is something often seen as separate, like, ‘It’s the ESL teacher’s job to help this kid learn English,” as opposed to “It’s everyone’s job in this school to help this kid feel safe, take risks and accelerate academic language development in every classroom.” We need to all embrace all students as belonging to all of us and not ‘otherize’ those from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. We have more in common than not and schools are where society comes together.
So the road has not been smooth but with the immense support of my mentors, my family, my partner and my growing team, I can say that Confianza is now entering our third year more smoothly than ever.
I have a lot to learn, a lot more to build, and a lot more impact to have. Overall, I just feel really lucky to do the work I do and spend time helping educators improve themselves for the sake of their students.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Confianza story. Tell us more about the business.
Confianza provides consulting, professional development and coaching services directly to educational organizations, state educational agencies, school districts and individual educators with the goal of closing the opportunity gap and improving outcomes for ELLs. In Massachusetts, we provide state-approved courses that fulfill re-licensure requirements yet we now reach educators across 18 states and 4 countries as well. Our professional learning services help all educators–teachers, administrators, and support staff–learn practical skills to make their teaching and leading more effective for language learners and their families. We currently have a team of eight coaches, one intern, two part-time business managers, and myself as the full-time director and head coach. For two years, my talented mother, Jill Ottow, was my business manager. However, in her retirement, Confianza is fortunate to collaborate with the Wisconsin Center for Education Products and Services on several projects related to the WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework out of UW-Madison, as well as support with business management. We also have worked with Teaching Channel, the Center for Applied Linguistics, the John F Kennedy Center for the Arts, iCivics, the Model United Nations of Greater Boston and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
We are known for practical tools and building strong relationships. We take the educational theory about learning language and culture and help educators implement these new skills right away. My background in instructional coaching, teaching and educator preparation has institutionalized our action research cycle to help schools improve based on key priorities. Technology helps since our online courses and modules bring learning to educators at anytime and anywhere.
I’m proud of what we stand for and the work we are doing in service of students new to English. And we do this through our name – Confianza is a word in Spanish that doesn’t quite translate to English It means ‘mutual respect and trust’, not just confidence. Learning nuances that don’t exist in another language like this is one of the most amazing things about being bilingual or multilingual, never mind all the new friends one can make. Confianza is needed in the work of building bridges between cultures and languages. Confianza is something that is at the heart of all relationships that make positive change. Confianza is something we enact every day through honoring students’ stories and celebrating their strengths, often within a society that doesn’t necessarily see their gifts or their humanity. Just using a non-English word (Confianza) sometimes makes people uncomfortable yet that’s often how our students feel. The US doesn’t have an official language so why can’t we interchange languages to reflect the identities of our population? Language is power and we can empower our students by integrating this critical part of their identity–their language.
After years of teaching in bilingual settings as a monolingual teacher, I wanted to become bilingual myself. So, I became a ‘voluntary language learner’ when I moved to Puerto Rico for two years in my mid-twenties. I wanted to experience what my students’ experience, even though they are not necessarily ‘voluntary’ in their learning of English or the dominant American culture. Teaching and living in PR was so informative and life-changing it’s very hard to sum up. Learning a new language was like opening me up to a whole new world. At Confianza, we encourage educators to learn some of the languages their students speak and learn about the world from their perspectives. Our students have a lot to teach us.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
My father always said that ‘good luck is the residue of hard work’ although I believe I’ve also seen that on a fortune cookie. I am so passionate about education for equity that it’s not just my job, it’s my vocation. And I work hard to nurture the relationships and ventures that keep me focused on the work. I guess I’ve had some good timing, or luck, around getting into ELL education really early in my career as to be part of this kind of work from the ground level. Yet I believe I am meant to do this work. I am meant to be an agent of change and to provide a platform for bringing attention to the underserved and often undervalued. I am designed to inspire change and measure my impact by the change in others and in systems. I have been very very lucky though, I must say, in the people that have come to work on my team. I am humbled by their skills, their talent, and their dedication to the work. I only hope I can do well by them and leverage their expertise to help Confianza grow effectively.
When things were really hard the first year of the business, I sometimes wondered if I had bad luck in my timing or my resources or my reach. However, I knew that I had to keep on. I knew that I had no choice but to keep on. With my support network believing in me and providing some resources to help me through, I was able to push on through to a more stable place. Like anyone, we don’t succeed on our own; we do it with the help of those who believe in us.
Pricing:
- Online courses $300 for 15-hour learning sequence; we offer five different online courses
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ELLstudents.com
- Phone: 617-419-0089
- Email: sarah@ELLconfianza.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ELLconfianza/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ELL_confianza?lang=en
Image Credit:
Amber Coleman-Mortley
iCivics
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