New Patterns for Teachers of English
Language Learners
With recent federal legislation calling
for high-quality teachers and teaching,
schools will have to explore new ways
to enhance teachers’ skills sets.
The project is comprised of five components that contribute
to student success, as supported by the literature: • Training
for Capacity Building • Technical Assistance for Classroom
Support • Teacher Mentoring • Teacher-Parent Partnership •
ESL Learning Communities
The process of teacher development
through the practice of teaching is an
important one. The practice of teaching as
a medium for teacher development
requires:
A context of high quality model teaching: High expectations of the teacher
resulting in high student engagement and academic success;
A process of deep noticing:
Observing teachers come
together to share observations
and insights;
A critical result sought is application appropriate to
the observer’s skill level that leads to self-critique
and self-improvement.
An effective lesson for English language learners includes:
recognizing and drawing on student experiences (prior
knowledge); allowing for multiple opportunities to
demonstrate learning and mastery; aligning with state
standards; demonstrating the use of language to develop
content; and connecting to real-life application.
In our example described in the first article, the
lesson was a microcosm of the larger organic
teaching process, showing the relationship among
content, language, management and assessment.
Readers may recall some key themes of the lesson.
For this process we will focus on three groups who must value
it: teachers, staff developers, and the larger system or school
district.
Teachers – This process has underlying assumptions about
teachers, their intelligence and their desire to trust their
own perceptions that increases the chances that they will
apply what they learned and get attached to the process
Staff Developers – Staff developers want to
bring rich context to staff development. They
know that a simulation, video or
demonstration modeled in a workshop is not
enough.
This process of teacher development
through the practice of teaching is a part of
the larger IDRA professional development
and school improvement framework, called
ExCELs, which has five major elements.
Training for Capacity Building: Workshops on
developing a knowledge base for English
language acquisition; the role of language in
content learning; and diversified forms of
assessment.
Teacher Mentoring: modeling, coaching and
material sharing. Teacher-Parent Partnership:
parent meetings; student/teacher/parent
conversations.
School District – With the pressure of accountability and higher
standards, schools have to conduct professional development that
accelerates teacher improvement and reduces the time from
introduction to application in teaching.