Casey, research says that the best way to work with these students is
in a sheltered program. In my twenty plus years of teaching I haven't
met general education who are insecure in their teaching ELL's, but I
have met teachers who think that they can differentiate instruction
for all students and don't need the assistance of specialists to help
them. First off, I believe that specialists can take part of the
differentiation instruction burden off the teacher. ELL's need a
great deal of language support and research has demonstrated that
small-group instruction is one of the best practices for these
students. Beginners or non-English speaker, really need three hours
of daily small group language arts instruction. General education
teachers don't have the time to devote three hours of language arts
instruction to only their ELL's because in addition to ELL's they have
at risk students, special education students as well as gifted
students. This is where the ESL specialist comes in--to assist with
providing this time and instruction. I'm all for a push-in program,
but I also believe that a push-out program helps beginners become more
comfortable in their surroundings. Sometimes I compare this to the
medical field. For example, a general internist is great for treating
a cold. However if you have a liver problem, you see a doctor who
specializes in livers. The same goes with teaching. General
education teachers need the assistance of ESL teachers, and special
education teachers to help them to meet the needs of all of their
students. However these specialists are under a severe time-
constraint so clustering the students is easier for them to be able to
meet their needs.
Dale Marie
On Aug 25, 2010, at 6:10 PM, [email protected] wrote:
Hi,
I probably am looking at the situation differently than you, but, I
do not
think sharing research in that they are all of our responsibility will
affect the situation.
I believe you are referring to homogeneous vs. heterogeneous
grouping of
students.
What is leading the teacher to view instruction in this manner?
Could it
be that the teacher does not know how or feels insecure in teaching
ELL
students? Does he/she feel it would delay the progress of the other
students?
Could it be that the teacher does not differentiate instruction or
know how
to use the students’ strengths and weaknesses in a lesson? Maybe this
teacher does not know how to work with a colleague in a push-in
program. These
are just a few possibilities.
I hope this has given you a helpful way to approach the situation.
Casey
In a message dated 8/25/2010 5:13:55 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[email protected] writes:
Is there an article I can reference specifying the importance of
teaching
all the students in our classrooms. I have a teacher who wants to
put all
the ELL students in one room and have another teacher support them.
My goal
is for her and many other teachers to understand that as teachers
working
with ELL students in our classroom, although it may be difficult,
they are
all of OUR children. TEACH THEM AND THEY WILL LEARN! PLEASE HELP.
Thanks
Hillary Marchel Reading Specialist
Hawthorn Elementary North
[email protected]
We can take some gratification at having come a certain distance
but it
should be a deeper satisfaction, even an exhilaration, to recognize
that we
have such a distance still to go.
--LEWIS THOMAS
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