I was recently invited to give a presentation on effective instruction for English learners at a literacy event. Most of the audience were ESL teachers or coordinators who work with English learners.
Once again, I was preaching to the choir.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I enjoy attendees who bring a wealth of experience and have a knowledge foundation in the field of second language acquisition and proven practices for teaching English learners. They offer insights about their own experience, which facilitates rich discussion. They often say that my presentation validated what they are doing and, let’s face it, sometimes teaching can feel like you’re swimming alone in a vast ocean. So, I’m happy to confirm when research supports their practice.
However, it is classroom teachers who most often need information and professional learning opportunities about how to make lessons understandable so that their English learners can participate fully in learning activities. After all, English learners — the fastest growing population in U.S. schools –are in general education classes for the majority of their school day and receive ESL/ELD instruction for only a specific time each day. The essence of teaching English learners effectively is that every lesson is thoughtfully planned so that content is made comprehensible for learners while at the same time ensuring that English language development is part of content lessons. Unfortunately, too often English learners are considered the responsibility of the ESL/ELD specialist and general education teachers aren’t included in professional development about English learner issues.
The same is typically true in other areas as well. In many districts it is rare that special education teachers, for example, are included in professional development about English learners although they likely have students with IEPs who are dually identified: English learners with disabilities.
General education teachers typically receive little professional development in the area of effective teaching for students with disabilities, although most students with learning disabilities spend 80% or more of their in-school time in general education classrooms.(See NCLD report: The State of Learning Disabilities)
Collaboration is increasingly promoted as effective practice, whether it is through cross-disciplinary meetings or by creating and implementing co-teaching partnerships between general education and ESL teachers and between special education and general education teachers.
Yet it is difficult to collaborate when one professional has limited knowledge about the other’s specialization. There are many benefits to having all school personnel meet together for professional learning around a topic, including creating a more cohesive instructional program, and providing opportunities for deeper conversations and for finding solutions for problems of practice.
Cross-pollination amongst educators is healthy and is in the best interest of students. After all, our students don’t fit neatly into the silos we create, do they?