I’ve spent most of my career researching the impact of instruction on the achievement of English learners, most notably as a co-developer of the SIOP Model. The teaching-learning process is where it’s at as far as I’m concerned.
But it isn’t the only thing, especially when it comes to English learners.
In addition to carrying out well-planned, effective lessons, teachers need to pay attention to students’ social-emotional needs. English learners may feel ‘out of place’ and unsure of themselves in school. They may feel anxious, frustrated or confused by the language and/or teacher’s expectations. Teachers can mitigate these feelings by demonstrating in concrete ways that they value each student, including her culture, language, and background.
Here are some ways that teachers can show they value the diversity students bring to the classroom.
Create a Caring and Supportive Environment
The adage, Students don’t care what you know until they know that you care applies here. Students want to know that their teachers care; nobody wants to feel invisible or unimportant. The relationship between a student and teacher is a pivot point that determines whether a student will thrive or fail. Further, teacher sensitively to student needs is a statistically significant measure of effective classrooms. A caring and supportive environment can be created in a number of ways:
- Set a tone of mutual respect with actions and attitude. Warmly greet each student by name as they enter class and ask a brief personal question or make a comment to demonstrate genuine interest. Speak to students with respect and kindness and encourage the same among the students. A caring teacher doesn’t necessarily need to call roll because she knows her students and a glance around the room reveals absences.
- Arrange the classroom environment in a way that promotes support. For example, cluster students’ desks so they sit in groups of four to facilitate optimal interaction and collaboration within each team. It’s hard to feel invisible when sitting across from a peer and working together on assignments.
- Display visuals that communicate high expectations. In middle school and high school classrooms, display and discuss college banners or college information. Inspirational quotes by diverse individuals and pictures of successful individuals from multicultural backgrounds encourages high achievement in any grade.
- Be encouraging. Caring and supportive teachers encourage students with comments such as, “I know you’ll do well on the test because you’re prepared. You’ve been working hard on these practice questions” or, “Good effort! I like the way your group is working together.” Comments are more effective when tied directly to student behaviors rather than a global, “Good job.”
Honor Student Experiences
It’s important that teachers integrate students’ own lives, experiences, beliefs and opinions into lessons so that they feel validated and are more engaged in learning. During a lesson, the teacher might pose a question about the lesson’s topic and ask the teams to discuss it for a specific period of time, then report their ideas or answers. English learners are encouraged to use their home language to clarify points or to express their ideas to a more proficient English speaker who scaffolds their participation in the group discussion. Students link their own experiences to the topic. For example, as the class discusses an article about the conflict in the Middle East, the teacher asks students to think about their own neighborhood or family. “Are there always two sides to a story? In a conflict you’ve experienced, what issues did each side have? I know sometimes it’s hard to see the other person’s side but talk about that for six minutes, then I’ll signal time is up and we’ll think about how it relates to the article.” The teacher asks a group to share out and he makes a T-chart with points for each side. The teacher is prepared to moderate the discussion because sometimes students discuss difficult topics involving, for example, violence or racism. However, he recognizes that it is important for students to be able to openly discuss the realities of their own lives in class and use those experiences to better understand the topics they are studying.
Communicate Mutual Respect
Few would argue the benefits of a classroom atmosphere that promotes safety, openness, and reflection. In fact, research shows that it is crucial for the brain to effectively process and encode academic material, as opposed to being preoccupied with emotional concerns. Teachers set the tone in a classroom. The respect they show to students in the way they speak is mirrored in the regard students show for teachers, including the effort they expend in wanting to do well on assignments and the respectful way they speak.
Teachers must choose their words wisely and be conscious of the impact that tone, facial expressions, gestures, and body language have on students. The following comments taken from actual classrooms show the contrast between supportive language and insensitive remarks that impact students’ achievement and overall wellbeing.
| Insensitive/Unacceptable Language | Supportive Language |
| I see a bunch of students who are doing poorly. | I think some of you may need help. Give me a hand signal if you want me to show you how to do this again. |
| Please don’t tell me you don’t know how to do this! | It looks like we need to pause a minute and review what we did last week. |
| You’re spelling these words wrong. There’s no “e” at the beginning of school and statement. | I see you’re borrowing from your home language by putting an “e” at the beginning of these words. In English, many words start with a consonant, like school and statement. |
| You’re going to have trouble on the test next week. | Let me model a few more of these problems, then you can give it another try. |
| Seriously? You didn’t even show your work! | That’s a good try but I need to see how you got the answer. Please show me your work. |
| Doesn’t anyone know the answer? C’mon guys! | Manolo, thanks for volunteering.
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Today’s classrooms have students from many different ethnic, racial, linguistic and socio-economic backgrounds. The climate of a classroom can be felt immediately – whether it is one that values diversity or one that doesn’t. I’ve experienced both types of classrooms, which is one of the reasons that I hope the suggestions in this post will assist in creating supportive learning environments for students in all classrooms.
Post adapted from: Echevarria, J., Fisher, D. & Frey, N. (2016). How to Reach the Hard to Teach: Excellent Instruction for Those Who Need It Most. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.