Serving Multilingual Learners of All Ages
  • *Home*
  • Articles for Educators
    • Home
  • Resources
    • ReadingWritingELs
    • Books for Educators
    • Culturally Inclusive Books for Students
    • Videos
    • Infographics
  • ABOUT VALENTINA
    • Experience
    • Presentations
  • Advertising Disclosure
Picture
Tweet

Registration is open for the Seidlitz Literacy Conference

Picture
Click HERE for details and registration, 

Rewriting the Narrative: ESL Teacher's Role

5/16/2020

12 Comments

 
Picture
I started teaching in the winter of 1997. Hired in a wonderful suburban district outside of Houston, Texas. The campus experienced a little growth and needed a teacher mid year, so I was the lucky one hired in December just as I received my college diploma and teaching certification. 

My college pre-service classes taught me little about what the classroom experience would truly be like. And with wide-eyes I walked into my first classroom and found myself teaching third graders who had a myriad of needs I was ill prepared for. Some students needed special education support, others dyslexia, and some were learning English. I quickly found that the big white binder of curriculum didn’t hold the answers I needed to give these kids the support THEY needed. 
WE TAUGHT IN SILOS
It didn’t take long to notice that we taught in silos. English learners left the classroom daily for English language development support. Our campus had one designated teacher who pulled students out to deliver ELD instruction. It just so happens that this was her first year in a new role too and I learned that she would be retiring in a couple of years. 


I wondered what she did with them. What were they learning? Were they focusing on the same curriculum we were? Did they have different curriculum? What was the room like? Were there other students there? I just wondered so much about it. And then I wondered if the ESL teacher knew what we were doing in here. Did she know what we were studying in math, reading, writing, social studies, and science? One thing I knew for sure is that her job consisted of a lot of paperwork. I knew this because she shared that with us in passing many times and I had to sign a lot of it too. 

I came to realize that she didn’t know what I was doing with the class and I didn’t know what she was doing with the kids she took. And to be honest neither of us did anything about it for a long time. 

One day, I walked by her classroom while my students were in art class. And I peeked my head inside. There they sat in a small group. The ESL teacher sat in front of the students leading them in a discussion about the weather and today’s date. 

That was then...This is now

Decades ago, the role of the ESL teacher was very isolated. In some areas it still is. But I encourage you to rewrite the narrative. Given the world we live in now, there are so many ways for all educators to be part of a community either within their school walls or outside of them. We no longer have to teach in silos. It's a choice. If you are the only ESL teacher in your building and you feel you are in a silo, here are some ways to build collaborative partnership.
  • Reach out to classroom teachers that you serve and offer to plan with them either face to face or virtually through shared lesson planning.
  • Start a weekly or monthly ESL newsletter for the educators you serve. Highlight ESL tips and share this through email or via faculty meeting.
  • Reach beyond the building and join a social media group such as Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Learning with professionals on social media broadens the scope and lens that we see.     
    • Twitter: follow hashtags like #ELLchat, #SeidlitzEdChat, #ELLchat_bkclub
    • Facebook: join groups such as Advocating for ELLs, Leading ELLs, 

ESL teachers, we must be the cream of the crop! We are serving students that are acquiring English and learning new content at the same time. There is a sense of urgency. We don’t have time to waste. Our lessons and guidance has to be efficient and effective. Therefore, ESL teachers have to be leaders in the field. A leader is not a title, it’s a way of doing things. As an ESL leader, we model great teaching, attend professional learning, stay up to date with compliance and instruction, and we advocate for our students and families. If you are an administrator reading this, I encourage you to think carefully about who you place in this critical position. Who you place in this position can change the way ELs and their families are perceived and may shift the overall academic achievement of ELs. 

Back in the day, the ESL position was paperwork heavy. There were days, sometimes weeks, when the ESL teacher would have paperwork to do and not be able to see students. Technology has changed the paperwork load. Thankfully, less paperwork means students are seen and served more. We are freed to use this time to model in classrooms, work with families, provide professional development and much more. 

Several years ago I heard a couple of teachers talking in the hall after school. They were discussing a project and one teacher said, “Oh I can’t do that. I have the ELs. You have the GT kids, that’s why you can.” I’ll never forget those words and that teacher’s deficit perception of English learners. Foolishly, she thought ELs needed to be fixed. She thought there was something wrong with students who were adding English. On the flip side, what we know is that ELs add to our classroom environment, they enrich instruction, they add value to vocabulary, experiences, and points of view.  

We hold the pen so we get to write the narrative for our roles as ESL teachers. It may be that years ago ESL teachers were perceived one way, but that does not mean it always has to be that way. Let’s get busy rewriting the narrative. 
12 Comments
Michelle Shory
5/16/2020 09:40:45 am

This is beautiful and empowering, Valentina! Thank you!!

Reply
Jordan Mayer link
5/16/2020 02:33:12 pm

Thanks for this great post. I love your emphasis on collaboration with other teachers. I’m trying to change my schedule this year to allow for more targeted pull-outs that respond to specific needs in the mainstream classroom.

Reply
VALENTINA GONZALEZ
5/17/2020 01:41:36 pm

That's awesome, Jordan. I think with each passing year we grow stronger and learn new ways to increase our impact on students' success.

VALENTINA GONZALEZ
5/17/2020 01:40:22 pm

Thank you for reading and for your feedback, Michelle. I appreciate what you do for our students and educators. Valentina

Reply
Tan K Huynh
5/20/2020 04:51:00 am

Thank you for this article, Valentina. In collaborating with others on behave of language learners, that's where we change the narrative around what language learners can do because we create the conditions for asset-based mindsets to grow.

Reply
Angel Callahan
5/17/2020 07:29:33 am

This is wonderful! I will be sharing with my colleagues.

Reply
Caz
5/17/2020 11:39:14 am

Right on!!!

Reply
Anna
5/17/2020 12:27:13 pm

Hi! I like this post, except for two sentences where you write about how as ESL teachers we should collaborate with teachers/educators we “serve”— I don’t serve the other teachers. I serve the students.

Reply
VALENTINA GONZALEZ
5/17/2020 01:44:32 pm

Thank you for reading, Anna. For some educators this may be true. You may solely work with students. Others may solely work with teachers. And some may do a combination of the two. Thank you for sharing your perspective. And thank you for the work you do to support students.

Reply
Maggie
5/17/2020 07:03:28 pm

Yes! Asset vs. Deficit... This is one of the things we are working on at my school. Our ELs are not broken and they CAN do it! :-)

Thank you!

Reply
Amy
5/21/2020 09:59:07 am

Love the idea of an ESL newsletter for our collaborating teachers!

Reply
Delia Eugenia Baker
9/10/2021 01:07:18 pm

I really appreciate everything you do for Bilingual/ESL Education. I would love to continue with my Education and to accomplish to finish my Teaching certification. Reading your post is telling me to go for it!

Thank you and congratulations on your achievement!

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Subscribe to Newsletter

    ​Archives

    January 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    May 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    August 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    September 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    May 2016


    Categories

    All
    Academic Conversations
    Academic Vocabulary
    Accommodating
    Accommodations
    Administrator
    Advocacy
    Anchor Chart
    Art
    Assumptions
    Balanced Literacy
    Beginning Of The Year
    Bloom's Taxonomy
    Book Study
    Brain Research
    Building Background
    Building Relationships
    Collaboration
    Communication
    Comprehensible Input
    Conferences
    Conferring
    Connecting With ELL Families
    Content Objectives
    Cooperative Learning
    Cooperative Strip Paragraph
    Coteach
    CoTeacher
    Co Teaching
    Co-teaching
    Courses
    Creativity
    Critical Thinking
    CRT
    Culturally Responsive Teaching
    Curriculum
    Differentiate
    Differentiation
    Discourse
    Distance Learning
    Diverse Books
    DOL
    Ear To Ear Reading
    ELLs
    ELPS
    Empathy
    End Of The Year
    Engaging
    English Learners
    ESL
    Exit Criteria
    Expression
    Fluency
    Foundations
    Four Cs
    Games
    Getting To Know Your ELLs
    GLAD
    Goal Setting
    Gradual Release
    Guided Math
    Immigrant
    Instructional
    Interactive Lecture
    Interactive Read Aloud
    Interactive Word Walls
    Language Development
    Language Level
    Language Objectives
    Language Rich
    Language Structures
    Leaders
    Learning Walks
    Lesson Planning
    Levels
    Library Media Specialist
    Linguistic
    Listening
    Literacy
    Long Term ELs
    Maslow's Hierarchy
    Math
    Memory
    Misconceptions
    Model
    Modeling
    Multilingual
    Native Language
    New ESL Teacher
    Nonfiction
    Observation
    Observation Charts
    Online PD
    Oral Language
    Paraprofessional Educators
    Parent Teacher Conference
    Personalized Learning
    Phonics
    Picture Word Inductive Model
    Planning Instruction
    PLDs
    PLN
    Primary Language
    Principals
    Procedural
    Professional Development
    Professional Learning Network
    Programs
    Q Triple S A
    Readers' Workshop
    Reading
    Reading Workshop
    Revising & Editing
    Scaffolding
    Science Of Reading
    Secondary
    Sentence Patterning Chart
    Sentence Starters
    Sentence Stems
    Shared Writing
    Sheltering Instruction
    Sketchnotes
    Small Group
    Social Studies
    Somebody Wanted But So
    Structured Conversations
    Summarization
    Summer
    Supporting ELLs
    SWBS
    Systematic Change
    Talk
    Talking Heads
    Teacher
    The Power Of Talk
    Toolkit
    Total Physical Response
    TPR
    Twitter
    Verbal
    Virtual Learning
    Visuals
    Vocabulary
    Wait Time
    WIDA Can Do
    Workshop
    Writers' Workshop
    Writing
    Writing Workshop

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Tweets by ValentinaESL
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • *Home*
  • Articles for Educators
    • Home
  • Resources
    • ReadingWritingELs
    • Books for Educators
    • Culturally Inclusive Books for Students
    • Videos
    • Infographics
  • ABOUT VALENTINA
    • Experience
    • Presentations
  • Advertising Disclosure