Ruslana Westerlund
Email: r-westerlund@bethel.edu
Job Title
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Associate Adjunct Faculty
Education K-12 (M.A.), Graduate School
Highlight
Drawing on her identity as a transcultural Ukrainian immigrant, Professor Westerlund's passion is to advocate for linguistically and culturally minoritized people, including students in school systems at various levels.
Started at Bethel
2002
Education
- Cherkasy Bohdan Khmelnytsky National University, Ukraine - B.A. in Teaching English and German as World Languages, 1994
- Cherkasy Bohdan Khmelnytsky National University, Ukraine - M.A. in Teaching English as a Foreign Language, 1995
- Bethel University - Ed.D. in Educational Leadership, 2014
Biography
Ruslana Westerlund, Ed.D. has been a faculty member (both adjunct and full-time) at Bethel University since 2002. She helped establish the TESOL Licensure program in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) where she taught a variety of courses from Introduction to Linguistics to TESOL Methods. Currently, she teaches Responsive Pedagogy for English Language Learners course in the Master's of Education program since the start of the program.
Ruslana currently serves over 74 Wisconsin schools as an educational consultant at the Cooperative Educational Service Agency in southeastern Wisconsin. Before that, she worked for 8.5 years as a researcher in R&D at WIDA, housed at the Wisconsin Center of Educational Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In that role as a researcher, she was one of the co-authors of the WIDA ELD Standards where she contributed a theory of language, namely Systemic Functional Linguistics, which informed the design of all the standards components. She also supported the professional learning team in the design of various professional learning offerings by working with teachers and researchers to connect research to practice. She believes that language development for multilingual learners is situated at the intersection of the societal, school, and student socio-cultural contexts and that education of such learners encompasses issues beyond language and is deeply rooted in social justice.
Before coming to WIDA, Ruslana worked as an ELD Specialist at K-12, teacher preparation programs at undergraduate and graduate levels and served as an ELD and refugee student specialist at the Minnesota Department of Education. In that role, she supported school districts with technical assistance around Title III and managed grants from the Office of Refugee Resettlement and collaborated with various state departments to provide wrap-around services to refugee children. She completed her doctorate degree at Bethel University where she studied educational leadership. In her dissertation, she explored teachers’ sense-making of the WIDA ELD Standards in their daily practice. Her hobbies are hiking, baking sourdough, and gardening. She is married and lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
She is an author of several publications for teacher use which appear in ASCD, Colorin Colorado, MinneTESOL, Journal of English Learner Education, and as practical papers published by the Cooperative Educational Service Agency 2 in Southeastern Wisconsin. She focuses her writing on supporting busy teachers in their current practice. She has two books with Routledge listed below in the Publications, and is working on the third with Routledge titled Building A Teacher Toolkit for the WIDA Standards. Her mission is to develop teachers' pedagogical language knowledge to make language visible in the service of learning.
As an immigrant who was born and raised in Ukraine, Ruslana serves as a volunteer to TESOL Ukraine by providing professional learning to teachers and university professors in the time of war. She also serves on the Board of directors for a nonprofit to support Ukraine during the full-time invasion of Russia against Ukraine. She currently volunteers by organizing events for the local Ukrainian refugee community and doing speaking engagements to inform the public of the ongoing war against her homeland.
Courses Taught
College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Modern World Languages
- Curriculum and Instruction Development
- ESL Methods
- Introduction to Linguistics
- Second Language Acquisition
Graduate School, Masters of Education program
- Responsive Pedagogy for English Language Learners
Publications
Humphrey, S., Westerlund, R., Malin, O. (accepted). Building a language toolkit to teach the WIDA standards. Routledge.
Cooney, K. & Westerlund, R. (accepted). Developing Culturally & Linguistically Sustaining ESOL Pedagogies through SFL Professional Development in de Oliveira, L. C. & Terrell, K. (Eds.) Preparing antiracist ESOL professionals: Linguistic equity for multilingual learners. Routledge.
Malin, O., & Westerlund, R. (accepted). “What words should I use?" Multilingual learners learning how to make language choices in science explanations in elementary school. In L. C. de Oliveira (Ed.), Applying a functional approach to language development in teaching the content areas to multilingual learners in K-12 classrooms. Information Age Publishing.
Besser, S. & Westerlund, R. (2024). Making language visible in social studies. A teacher toolkit for teaching disciplinary literacy in social studies. Routledge.
Westerlund, R. (2023). From Speaking to Writing Using the Mode Continuum: Webinar for Wisconsin Association for Bilingual Education https://www.wiabe.net/professional-development
Westerlund, R., Chugai, O., Petrenko, S., Zuyenok, I. (2023). Teaching and learning English at higher educational institutions in Ukraine through pandemics and wartime. Advanced Education, 22, 12-26. https://doi.org/10.20535/2410-8286.283353
Westerlund, R. & Folberg, E., (2023). Scaffolding Multilingual Students’ Access to Inquiry in Wisconsin Social Studies Standards through the WIDA Standards. CESA 2 Whitepaper. https://www.cesa2.org/whitepapers/Scaffolding-Multilingual-Learners-Access.pdf
Westerlund, R. (2023). Teaching with the WIDA Standards in a Second Grade Literacy Block. Practice Snapshot. Cooperative Educational Service Agency 2, Wisconsin https://www.cesa2.org/whitepapers/Teaching-with-the-WIDA-2020-Standards-in-a-Second-Grade-Literacy-Block.pdf
de Oliveira & Westerlund, R. (2023). Scaffolding for Multilingual Learners in Elementary and Secondary Schools. Routledge
Daniels, J. & Westerlund, R. (2022). Scaffolding learning for multilingual learners in math. WIDA Focus on. June. Wisconsin Center for Education Research. https://wida.wisc.edu/sites/default/files/resource/FocusBulletin-Scaffolding-Learning-Multilingual-Students-Math.pdf
Westerlund, R. & Adah, E. (2022). Multilingual scientists: The synergy of NGSS and WIDA. White Paper. CESA 2. https://www.cesa2.org/whitepapers/Multilingual-Learners-as-Scientists.pdf
Molle, D., Wilfrid, J., MacDonald, R., Westerlund, R., & Spalter, A. (2022). The WIDA framework for equitable instruction of multilingual children and youth in content-area classrooms (WCER Working Paper No. 2022-1). University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin Center for Education Research. https://wcer.wisc.edu/docs/working-papers/WCER_Working_Paper_No_2022_1.pdf
Westerlund, R. & Besser, S. (2021). Making language visible in content area classrooms using the WIDA ELD Standards. MinneTESOL Journal.
Westerlund, R., & Besser, S. (2021). Reconsidering Calkins’ process writing pedagogy for multilingual learners: Units of Study in a fourth grade classroom (WCER Working Paper No. 2021-4). University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin Center for Education Research.
Westerlund, R. (2021). Using standards as an advocacy framework, Language Magazine, June. pp. 48-51
de Oliveira, L. C., & Westerlund, R. (2021). A Functional Approach to Language Development for Dual Language Learners. Journal of English Learner Education. (12)1. Retrieved from https://stars.library.ucf.edu/jele/vol12/iss1/2
Nordmeyer, J., Boals, T., MacDonald, R., Westerlund, R. (2021). What does equity really mean for multilingual learners. ASCD. https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/what-does-equity-really-mean-for-multilingual-learners
Wei, J., Bitterman, T., Westerlund, R., & Norton, J. (2018). Domain Analysis of a Large-Scale Writing Test for English Language Learners. in Bailey, Kathleen & Papageorgiou, Spiros, Eds. Global research on teaching and learning English, Routledge.
Westerlund, R. (2016). WIDA Focus On Bulletin: Writing with a purpose. Madison, WI: Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. Retrieved from: https://www.wida.us/get.aspx?id=2095
Morita-Mullaney, T., & Westerlund, R. (2016). The No Child Left Behind Flexibility Waivers and English Learners: A Midwestern Portrait of Minnesota and Indiana Policies. MinneTESOL Journal. Fall. Retrieved from http://minnetesoljournal.org/fall-2016/the-no-child-left-behind-flexibility-waivers-and-english-learners-a-midwestern-portrait-of-minnesota-and-indiana-policies
Westerlund, R. (2014). Lost in Translation: A Descriptive Case Study of a K-5 Urban Charter School Implementing the WIDA ELD Standards. Unpublished Dissertation, Bethel University, St. Paul, Minnesota
Presentations
Understanding the Discourse Level in the WIDA Proficincy Level Descriptors. TESOL Conference, March 20, 2024.
Accelerating Skilled Discipinary Writers. October 2013 - April 2024. Southeastern Educational Cooperative. North Dakota
Achieving Equity through the WIDA Standards. Keynote. Gwinnett County Public Schools, Georgia. July 2023
Using the WIDA Standards to Improve Universal Tier I Instruction. Professional Development Training. 8-hour Fargo Public Schools, North Dakota, June 2023.
Making Language Visible in Content Area Classrooms. 8-hour Professional Development for Teachers. Kennesaw State University ESOL Conference. March 2023.
“It’s hard to explain. It’s easier to point and show.” 3rd graders writing Science Explanations in Elementary Grades. Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers Conference, March 2023
Functional Approach to Language Development. Invited TESOL PK-12 Interest Section Webinar. Recording Available Here
Making Academic Language Culturally Sustaining: Debunking Myths and Misconceptions. Conference Panel. TESOL 2022
Scaffolding for Multilingual Learners in Elementary and Secondary Schools. Book Panel. TESOL, March 2022
"Is Calkins’ Writing Workshop Appropriate for My Multilingual Learners?". TESOL, March 2022
“Writing is a little like sledding”: LCT-informed critique of the Teachers College Units of Study for Writing in a Fourth Grade Classroom. Systemic Functional Linguistics Interest Group Conference. Recording available here.
Enacting Equity Through a Genre Approach. 5-hour training for Delaware Equity Summit. October 2021.
Making Language Visible in Disciplinary Literacy. WIDA Conference, October 2021.
Understanding New Key Language Uses in the WIDA ELD Standards. NABE, April 2021
The Ideal Knower in Calkins’ Curriculum: Implicit Neglect of Multilingual Learners in the Teachers College Units of Study for Writing. WIDA Research Community Meeting, December 3, 2020
Understanding New Key Language Uses in the WIDA ELD Standards. WIDA E-Summit, October 2020
Common English Learner Myths and Misconceptions for Administrators. Star Conference Wyoming Department of Education, June, 2020
“Write Down Everything You Know”: An Equity-based Critique of Calkins’ Writing Workshop Unit ‘Bringing History to Life’. International Literacy Research Conference Presentation, December 2019
Language Pathways. AAAL Conference, March 2019
Disciplinary Argumentation: Similarities and Differences, Examples from Social Studies, Science, and ELA. AAAL Conference, March 2019
Keynote Addressing Language-based Inequalities Through Visible Pedagogy. Kennesaw State University TESOL Conference, November 2019
Legitimizing Writing in Science and Social Studies to Develop Disciplinary Literacies for ELLs Using the Teaching and Learning Cycle. WIDA Research Community Meeting, December, 2018
Legitimizing Writing in Social Studies to Develop Disciplinary Literacies in a Fourth Grade Classroom. International Systemic Functional Congress, July 2018
Genre-Based Approaches to Developing and Assessing Writing for Multilingual Writers, Workshop Session. National Association for State Directors of Migrant Education Conference, May, 2017 Orlando, Florida
Genre-Based Approaches to Developing and Assessing Writing for Multilingual Writers. Workshop Session, WIDA Conference, October, 2017 Tampa, Florida
Guiding Principles for Identification and Services of Gifted English Learners, Literature Review and Leadership Consulting. November 2016, Roseville Public Schools, Minnesota
Genre-Based Approaches to Developing and Assessing Writing for Multilingual Writers, Workshop Session, National Association for State Directors of Migrant Education Conference, May, 2017 Orlando, Florida
Genre-Based Approaches to Developing and Assessing Writing for Multilingual Writers, Workshop Session, WIDA Conference, October, 2017 Tampa, Florida
Language is for the Living of Life, not for the Production of Structures, Keynote at the Dakota TESL Conference, October 2016, Fargo, North Dakota
Academic Language Construct in the WIDA Standards Framework, Friday Seminar, University of Sydney, August, 2016, Sydney, Australia
WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, English Learner Language Specialists in South Asia Conference, November 2013, February 2015, Bangkok, Thailand
The Role of Language in Social Justice in Education, TEAL Manitoba Conference, October 2015, Manitoba, Canada
Implementation of the WIDA Standards Framework, Minnesota ESL, Bilingual, and Migrant Education Conference, November, 2013, Saint Paul, Minnesota
Professional Organizations, Committees, and Boards
American Association of Applied Linguistics
American Education Research Association
North American Systemic Functional Linguistics Association
TESOL International
TESOL Ukraine
Wisconsin TESOL
Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers
Hobbies and Interests
Gardening, Sourdough, and Hiking
Areas of expertise
Disciplinary Literacies, English language development, Systemic Functional Linguistics, Genre-Based Pedagogy in K-12 settings
Research interests
Current research interests focus on the use of Systemic Functional Linguistics and its corresponding Genre-Based Pedagogy in scaffolding learning of English Language Learners.
Quote
Your life's work is where the needs of the world and the joys of your heart intersect.