Carromato Teatro

Collaboration between ESL (English as a second language)and general education teachers is the answer for supporting more and more struggling primary school ELLs (English language learners) in today's fast paced classrooms.Teachers realize that speeding the curriculum is not the answer to supporting struggling ELLs but rather to find more economical and user-friendly ways to collaborate. The next logical step is for general education teachers to work strategically with ESL teachers. To complicate the problem even more, many school districts do not provide teachers with specific guidelines on how to collaborate, which is what is missing in many collaborative contexts in schools across the US today.Using CollaborationStruggling ELLs are those students who have yet achieved reading proficiency along with their native English speaking peers in a general education classroom. This makes teacher collaboration even more urgent so teachers can support ELLs so they can catch-up with their native English speaking peers.Many general education teachers realize that their struggling ELLs need more than just reading support. Discussing these critical needs can help teachers learn more about how the other teacher provides more decoding and fluency activities to support the early reading skills struggling ELLs need.Steps to Building a Collaborative PlanTeachers need to ... [more..]

Building a Collaborative Plan: First StepsPrior to beginning the process of collaboration and curriculum planning, teachers will want to determine the specific needs of their students. This can be accomplished by conducting an informal needs analysis. A needs assessment is an organizational tool to help the teacher identify differences between current performance and desired performance.It allows the instructor to determine what the students already know and what they are capable of doing. Teachers can then determine what concepts and/or skills students still need to know, or learn, in order to complete necessary tasks. A needs analysis can explore alternate solutions to the problem. It may focus on the gap between current and desired performance.The teacher will define or identify the problem and identify the students and their background, skills, knowledge, and motivation level. A needs analysis also considers the environment, defines performance gaps and prioritizes needs. Teachers use the information gathered to identify possible solutions. Finally, the teacher needs to consider how the instruction will affect the students and determine the desired results.Pre-collaborationIn expert groups, ESL and general education teachers gather information on their struggling ELLs. They use information observation, student documentation, and various assessment practices to learn what they ... [more..]