This workshop is designed as a hands-on, interactive experience, sharing highly replicable & sustainable strategies supporting a theory of action that values an assets-based approach to instruction. The presenter will begin by citing nationally known experts in language and literacy (Nonie Lesaux, Tim Shanahan, Jeff Zwiers & others), as well as frameworks published by the Council of the Great City Schools, affirming the importance of an assets-based approach, high expectations, and instructional rigor in closing the achievement gap. These ideas will be connected directly to proven practices and effective instructional strategies designed to accelerate achievement for all students, particularly those who may be disadvantaged and thus, often underestimated. Participants will actively explore strategies for activating prior knowledge (using video and language frames as an entry point), tapping into existing schema, and encouraging students to "lean in" to productive struggle, thus building resilience and encouraging a growth mindset.