Get To Know MONIQUE
Meet
MONIQUE
AUTHOR
SPEAKER
TEACHER COACH
ADVOCATE
Monique is the author of 31 Things your English Learners Want You to Know: Lessons from the Classroom. She has more than 20 years of experience in education, including time spent researching and writing about public education in Mississippi, Southern California and Texas.
She has worked as a teacher, serving students who are English learners, homeless students, and migrant students. She has served as an English Learner consultant and project manager at an education consulting company in Ridgeland, Mississippi and also as the Director of Special Populations for the Mississippi Department of Education, overseeing the state’s English Learner, migrant, immigrant, neglected and delinquent and homeless initiatives.
Monique has provided extensive coaching and technical support to teachers, principals, superintendents and others in more than 65 school districts.
Her expertise includes addressing the needs of EL students in rural schools and schools with students of diverse linguistic backgrounds. She has worked in schools where EL students made up 75 percent or more of the student population, and schools with just one English learner.
As a former journalist, she has previously co-authored three books about education and education leadership and has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Redlands in Southern California and Lonestar College in Texas.
When she is not teaching, conducting professional development or writing, she and her husband Matt can be found cheering on their teenagers and trying to stay one step ahead of two rowdy and demanding labradoodles.
English Learners Engage provides nationwide coaching and technical support with a focus on the key tenets outlined in the book 31 Things Your English Learners Want You To Know: Lessons from the Classroom.
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Highly customized, targeted support is available nationally to schools with a variety of demographics, including rural schools with very small EL populations and schools where the English learner population has grown quickly. Support in EL family engagement also is provided, with a focus on helping EL families to support their students academically - even in situations where their own English is limited.
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Supports are structured to meet a variety of budget needs and can be provided virtually, face-to-face or in a hybrid format.
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Additionally, the organization is dedicated to providing a growing library of free resources on this website. These supports are designed for teachers and school leaders, as well as community leaders and after-school tutorial providers.
What Educators Are SAYING
"Dr. Henderson — known as Dr. H by so many of her students — is a talented, compassionate and knowledgeable EL expert with hands-on experience in the current classroom setting. I ordered her book and couldn't put it down. This is the manual all teachers and administrators need to have in their hands. Practical advice, real classroom solutions and valuable insight to help all English learners. I have been sharing her book with other educators, because I see the value offered that I couldn't find in expensive and 'perfect world' scenarios offered in the EL training offered to me previously."
Johanna Castillo
FORMER CONROE INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT TEACHER
"I read this book through two lenses - the lens of an EL coordinator but also the lens of a second language learner. The tips and recommendations shared in the book hit home for me and expressed many of the recommendations I find myself making. Teachers who read this book will be better equipped to be the kind of teacher I needed as a child — and that’s powerful!"
Nancy Tillman
HINDS COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT
ENGLISH LEARNER COORDINATOR
"This book is an outstanding effort to provide teachers with a ready and easy to follow guide in serving English learners. The practicality and accessibility of the book is encouraging and exciting."
Jose Lalas
UNIVERSITY OF REDLANDS PROFESSOR & CORONA NORCO SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER