The Balance, by Dr. Catlin Tucker
Oct 20, 2026 · 25 min · 7 segments
How can we make instruction more effective for students with different levels of readiness, learning needs, and language proficiencies? In this Ask Catlin episode, I answer three listener questions…
Catlin TuckerHost
Ashley writes, I've been teaching for 13 years and this year I moved to seventh grade math.
95% are emergent bilingual and their sixth grade star results show they were not meeting expectations.
How can I chunk lessons and better facilitate their learning? So Ashley, you're working within a short class period with students who bring different levels of readiness and language proficiency.
The chunk pause process cycle can help you make that whole group instruction more effective for those learners.
When students are struggling with a concept, a long explanation can give them too much to work through and kind of hold in their working memory at one time.
So if they're still trying to understand the first idea, they miss what's coming next.
So breaking up instruction gives them time to make sense of one piece or one segment of instruction before we add another.
And for our multilingual learners, it also creates opportunities to hear ideas expressed in different ways and practice using language to explain their thinking.
It also gives you as a teacher more opportunities to check for understanding during instruction.
You can hear where students are making connections, where there might be gaps or misunderstandings, and where they need more support.
So for anyone unfamiliar with the chunk pause process cycle, here's a quick review.
Ashley writes, I've been teaching for 13 years and this year I moved to seventh grade math.
95% are emergent bilingual and their sixth grade star results show they were not meeting expectations.
How can I chunk lessons and better facilitate their learning? So Ashley, you're working within a short class period with students who bring different levels of readiness and language proficiency.
The chunk pause process cycle can help you make that whole group instruction more effective for those learners.
When students are struggling with a concept, a long explanation can give them too much to work through and kind of hold in their working memory at one time.
So if they're still trying to understand the first idea, they miss what's coming next.
So breaking up instruction gives them time to make sense of one piece or one segment of instruction before we add another.
And for our multilingual learners, it also creates opportunities to hear ideas expressed in different ways and practice using language to explain their thinking.
It also gives you as a teacher more opportunities to check for understanding during instruction.
You can hear where students are making connections, where there might be gaps or misunderstandings, and where they need more support.
So for anyone unfamiliar with the chunk pause process cycle, here's a quick review.
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