Coaching Conversations for Newcomer Students
By My MLL Mentor’s Susan Patterson and featuring Confianza’s Sarah B. Ottow
Originally posted on My MLL Mentor.
Whether you are an Instructional Coach or an ESL Teacher, coaching conversations are part of the job in order to support our Newcomer students. If you are an ESL or ELD Teacher, you may not have realized that this was going to be a part of your job! This comes with part of the territory as you realize that advocating for your students could become a full-time gig rather than actual teaching.
Inside of our ESL Teacher Membership, we chatted with Sarah Ottow of Confianza about what it means to take on this coaching role and some basic coaching conversation tips for when you have those impromptu conversations at your school. We even got to do a little role-playing! If you are a member, don't forget to check this out! Here is a piece of our chat below:
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All right. Hey everybody. Welcome to Sarah Ottow from Confianza. And she is here today to talk with us about the topic of advocacy, and specifically with our newcomer students. And supporting them in the content area classrooms. So, Sarah Ottow is, I personally have her book and I love it. It's the Language Lens, A Guide for K to 12 Educators of English and Academic Language Learners. Yay. There it is. It's a super easy read too. It's like, yeah, it's not too heavy. It's super easy to go through and read and share with your teachers as well. So Sarah Ottow is a professional development specialist and change agent who is passionate about supporting and improving cultural understanding, communication, collaboration. And she enjoys working in public and private schools, universities, nonprofit organizations, and corporations across the US and internationally. Since 2000, Sarah has designed and facilitated high impact learning experiences for K to 12 students and adults from over 40 different language groups. That is cool. Sarah is proudly a first generation college graduate, and nationally recognized woman owned, small business owner. So she founded Confianza in 2015. And like we already said, she's an author. This book was published by Learning Sciences International, and Sarah is truly a gem. So we're so happy that she's here.
Wow. Well thanks for that intro, Susan. That's really warm. Thank you. It's nice to be here.
Yes. So.
So yeah. Should we dive right in?
Let's dive in. So Sarah has got, what we're going to do is we're going to chat a little bit about advocacy, and we're gonna do something special. We're gonna do a little coaching conversation, and Sarah's gonna kick it off with some introduction to that.
Yeah, you got it. Thanks. And welcome to everyone checking this out. Look forward to this session with you. Now, when Susan and I were planning this, we were thinking a lot about what happens a lot for language specialists when we're trying to help students. But we often can't directly support the students, because they're in other people's classrooms. And they need to be, they need to be in math class, they need to be in science class, they need to be in English language arts. We can't always be with them all day long. So how do we support our colleagues, and thus of course support our students. So I wanted to just frame the scenario that Susan and I are gonna play around with to model for you some ideas. But I wanna frame that first around some tips that I found really useful. And at Confianza, my coaching team and I teach this to other coaches, but also to EL teachers. 'Cause you're kind of ML teachers, you're kind of in a position already, you know, maybe not a coach official, but sometimes you're helping support colleagues. And it could be a hallway conversation, it could be a co-teaching, it could be, you know, you have a shared student, and you're just touching base here and there. So whatever way, shape that taWhatever way and shape that takes, you know, these are some of the tips that we find to be useful. So when I'm approaching this with Susan, this is what I'm thinking about. And as you can see here, it's a lot about active listening, which can be hard when we're really worried about our students, right, Susan? I mean, we have immediate needs, so we wanna think about the students. But yet we need to kind of backup, and think about the colleague that we're supporting.
[Susan] 100%.
And it's kind of a switch up 'cause we're like, we're worried about the student, but we've gotta whoop, we've gotta actually work through another adult.
[Susan] Right.
It's really an art and a science. And I don't know about you Susan, but I wasn't trained on any of this when I became an ESL teacher.
Oh my gosh. No, that isThat is the thing is, we, like you said, we're not officially coaches, but we are kind of thrown into this coaching role. Because not everyone went to school to be a language specialist. Right? Or an ESL teacher. And so we end up being that role. And we wanna keep it student-centered. but we are working with other adults. And we do need to keep these things in mind.
Yeah. And it's hard to do both. But it is possible. So there is hope.
Sure.
There is hope, we can have a both am situation. We can focus on the students, and we can learn how to collaborate effectively with our teachers that we work with. So while we're in this weird kind of defacto teacher leadership or teacher coach role, you know, these are some of the pieces that I recommend is really just focus on the students, right? Again, as much as possible. But also focus on the teacher, as I'm gonna model for you with Susan, is what are they saying? What's their perspective? Try to find some empathy, right? Try to find a bridge. That's gonna help you reach the student together. And it's hard 'cause we do wanna focus on what we wanna say, and maybe we have strong emotions. But at the same time we're gonna get farther if we look at what's actually happening and the facts. Which as we'll model for you too, is really having that inquiry-based intent. It's a lot like when we're working with our students, and we're like, ooh, you know, how do you know this? Tell me more. You're probing the student. That's kind of how we wanna work with other adults, but it's even more important to have what we call, you know, confianza, which translates to mutual respect and trust. I don't know about you Susan, but there's many times when I've walked into a collaborating conversation, before I had this kind of training, before I had this framework Where I would almost like wanna be on a soapbox, and be like, you need to do this and you need to do that. And like, it didn't get me anywhere. It actually did a disservice to the student. I don't know if you've had experiences like that too when you're-
[Susan] Yes. 'Cause we know, we can see like everything that we would do, and everything we would change. And it's hard to not be like, you need to do these five things, and everything will be perfect, right?
[Sarah] Yes. Yeah, exactly.
[Susan] But to them-
[Sarah] It's a recipe.
[Susan] You know, yeah, they're like, whoa, hold on.
Yeah. And we're working with humans, right? We're working with students and we're working with adults. And so it's complex work, like you said, it's not that straightforward always. So one of the other pieces I wanna have us keep in mind as a tip here is focusing on what's within our sphere of influence. As you're gonna see in the scenario that Susan and I are gonna kick around here in a couple minutes, is there's things that I, as the EL teacher, as the ML teacher, can influence with Susan as the content teacher. But there's things that I can't. And so I'm still concerned about those things, but they're not in my sphere of concern. So one example for that might be, which was a real life experience for me, is I actually, you know, had a lot of students when I was an ESL teacher, EL teacher, MLL teacher. Who, you know, had to take common assessments and district assessments and even ELD assessments that were like, I didn't feel like maybe they, you know, I didn't always feel like maybe the student was ready. Like for example, say their second day of school, you know, it was like, whoa, back up. Like this is the right thing for that student's effective filter. But I don't have any control over that. You know, I can make a recommendation to my department head or to, you know, to the principal or to the district. But those kinds of things are in my sphere of concern. So I can't really be proactive about those things, and I can't really do anything about them. But what I can do is I can influence what's happening with say those newcomers when they're with me. And that's tough 'cause, I don't know about you Susan, but there's a lot of concerns that we have as educators, right? A lot of things that we wanna change. But a lot of them are systems issues, right? They're outside of our direct influence. Do you find that as well?
Yes, totally. And I'm sure every district has their own, their own things that, you know, they're strong in, and things that they could grow in. So yes, I can identify for sure.
Yeah. And it can be really overwhelming when you're going into a collaborative conversation with a colleague, and they're asking you to address something that you can't. So for example, I know one of the scenarios you and I were talking about Susan, was when, and again with newcomers, but it could be with any student, is if a teacher comes to you and says, hey we need a newcomer program now. And it's like, yeah, I hear you. We would all love that. However, right? That's not directly within our sphere of influence. We can't really, can just be reactive about that, and get upset about it. But that's not really gonna help the situation is it? And I know you can speak more about that, 'cause you've had, you know, maybe had that experience and met with some of your people in your network that have that experience, for example.
Yes, sure. Definitely. And even in the district that I'm currently in, that's a very big need, super big need butAnd one that I just came from, they just started a newcomer program. So it's like I can see, I'm like, no, you just do this. It just happened, right? Like you do these couple of things, and then you get it off the ground. And your newcomers are supported, but it's not.
[Sarah] Yeah.
So that need I feel like is just everywhere and yeah, definitely something that we have talked about for sure.
Yeah, and just to broaden the aperture a little bit too, with that in mind, I'll be sharing this blog with Susan to share with you as well. Is this is really what we're doing today is this process of how do we identify what's within our sphere of influence, and also be those change agents for our students, right? So we have the ability to do that in our classrooms. I'm gonna circle down here, but we also have the ability to sometimes not be able to do things beyond our classrooms. So here's some of the common challenges that I hear, right? We need better collaboration. Like for example, we need a co-teaching model now. It's like, yes, let's do that, but it's not gonna happen right away, right? Or this is a common one. I'm sure you see this one a lot too, Susan, right? Not having-
[Susan] Oh my gosh, yes.
I mean, if we had a dollar for every time we've experienced that, or we worked with others who have.
For sure.
You know, all the different issues. Like do we know what their first language and literacy proficiency is? Sometimes we don't have the tools for that, right? And on and on, you know, when students are coming in and coming out, the trauma. There's so much that, and again with the programming too, like there's so much that we wanna change. But sometimes when we're in those coaching collaborative kind of coaching spaces with our colleagues, we just gotta really focus. And you're gonna see me do that. Really help Susan focus as the content teacher, and me as the MLL teacher. Like, okay, what can we actually do right now? So again, if this is useful for you, take a look at the resource here and try it out, 'cause it is reallyIt's kind of common sense, and you may already do this a lot of you. But I just find really pulling out what is the mindset that we have to have. And then the second part here, before we jump in is, what is the language? So as I talk to Susan, and Susan, I'm gonna ask you to listen to this too, is like, how do I use different types of language as opposed to telling you what to do? Because we've already talked about like telling people what to do, especially other adults when we're not their evaluators, we're not their supervisors. That doesn't work, does it?
Sure. No. That's kind of the like awkward position that we get put in is that I'm not your administrator, you know. We are equals. I see you in the lounge, in the lunchroom, and like, I don't wanna tell you what to do, so what's the best way to do that?
And there isn't one way. But some things to keep in mind, and I'm gettingWe're gonna unpack this after we do the scenario here is try to use language that validates, right? Like people are stressed out. So I'm gonna use some of those stems, and we'll talk about that in a minute. But, you know, lowering people's affective filter, we all have brain-based learning challenges, right? When we're stressed out, the brain shuts down. So when we're working with a colleague who's stressed out, they need to be validated. Even if we don't a hundred percent agree with what they're complaining about or what they're looking for help in or what their challenge is. We've gotta see them as a human. And that's number one. And then number two is this other piece that of course we do with students, we teach them to do with their academic language, which is to really use language to learn more about what somebody's saying. Or in the classroom we do this a lot with text. Like what is the text saying? Help me understand. And, but we have to do that with each other. And I find, I don't know about you Susan, but I find in learning spaces with other adults, we don't often have the language for this. We just kind of assume that we can have like adult discourse, but maybe we can't. I'm guilty of that too.
Yeah, I am too. I feel like I think of myself as a good listener, right? Like I can sit there and listen and I'm like, so I should be able to have this conversation right? With this other person. But it's kind of intimidating. And if you don't have those skills, if you're not using them all the time, it doesn't come natural, so.
Yes.
[Susan] Tools I feel like are valuable. Yeah, that-
[Sarah] Right. So with that, you know, we can unpack this after. But this piece, as I'll use some stems for paraphrasing and clarifying helps us really understand what is the other person's issue. And it also gives us more think time. 'Cause I hear you, it can be really overwhelming. It can be really stressful to be like the resource to try to solve all the problems. When A, we can't actually solve all the problems, and B, we can't actually change other people. We can just help them think differently.
[Susan] So true.
[Sarah] So just kind of digging into that as we'll do is like giving us a little more space, and also bridge building. Trying to understand what their experience is so we can try to help. As opposed to be like, oh we know what to do. We're the language specialist, but they're not language specialists. They're content specialists. So they have a totally different perspective.
[Susan] Right.
And then this is the best part, but it doesn't come 'til later in the process, as you'll see in the conversation, which is, okay now what? So you know, we show the love, we ask some questions, and then we still ask questions. So we don't say, oh do this, or change your test or change your seating arrangement or do that, you know. This is what you need to do, because the brain doesn't like that. The brain likes choice, especially for adult learners. We need to give people choice. And so again, asking questions as you're gonna see is really a powerful strategy to put more of the onus on the other person. So we'll come back to this after we go through the scenario, but I wanted to frame it around this so we can unpack that at the end with that in mind. So let's talk about the scenario. So Susan, you're gonna play the role of a content teacher, yes?
Yes.
And can you give us a little background before we dive in? Are you, did we say high school math is kinda what we're thinking? Like an algebra, geometry teacher or what do we think?
Yes. I think, 'cause I'm thinking in my own mind about my students, but I'm also like, I hate math. So let's maybe do like history.
Right. Love it. Yes, yes, yes, yes. You do you. So you're a history teacher and I'm your MLL teacher. We both work at the same school, right? And we have some of the shared students, Susan. Yes.
Yes.
So we're gonna be talking about this issue, and how there's a lot of layers here. But what we can ultimately do, what I can ultimately do to help Susan, but ultimately what Susan can do as a teacher. 'Cause I'm not here to do things for you Susan, right? I'm here to actually help you do things for your students. So should we start our Emmy award-winning performance?
Yes, I am so ready for it. Should I start?
Yeah, maybe we're just connecting like between classes for a couple minutes. How does that sound?
[Susan] Okay.
Just like a healthy conversation.
Yes.
[Sarah] Does that sound like the right scenario when we're-
Yes.
Frenzied and trying to do a hundred things at once.
Yes. Okay. Yeah. Let's do it. Right. Okay. 'Cause that's when it happens, right? Like those like, those moments like this passing by. Yeah.
[Sarah] Yes.
Okay. So hey Miss Otto, I'm so happy I found you in the hallway, because I've like really got an important thing to talk to you about.
Oh I'm so happy to Ms. Patterson, and IYeah, I've been wanting talk with you too, 'cause I know we have some students in common. And we're just kinda gearing up here as the first quarter moves on down the road, doesn't it? Things are going by really quickly. So what's, what's going on?
So quick. Yes. And I only have like five minutes to chat, but I just really, I have this student, Urate. You know Urate, I think she just got here this year. So like a month or two ago? Two months at this point.
[Sarah] Okay. That's right. Very, very recent arrival.
Yes. And I honestly don't know what to do with her, because I've tried to pair her up with another Spanish speaker. I know she speaks Spanish, but like we've got a lot, history is super like reading heavy.
[Sarah] Yeah.
And II can't just like have this kid read the text to her in Spanish. Like I just am really not sure how to get her to engage in my lessons. Like she's totally quiet and I don't know. I don't know the first thing, like the first step.
Wow. Well I'm so glad that we're having this conversation. I wanna thank you for being so open with me. I also hear you. It's really frustrating when you're trying to reach a student and you're not sure what to do. I've been there.
[Susan] Yeah.
Yeah. And I'm getting to know her too. So I'm excited to work with you. And I wanna just explore some initial ideas right now. But let me make sure I understand a little bit more about the problem. So let me clarify a little. So it sounds like so far you're saying that, is really just her in your class that's at this beginning level of English proficiency. And you've tried pairing her up with another student who speaks her home language, which is Spanish, but you're not really sure, is it working? You're not really sure. Like, are there other strategies? Is that fair so far? Did I get it?
Yes. Yes. That's fair. And I'm just like, yes, she's my only student who's at this level. I have like other multilingual students, but I feel like she's reallyShe just needs that extra help that I don't know if I can give it to her, 'cause I have a lot of students in my class.
Yeah, understood. I get that. And then you've got six classes throughout the day, so.
[Susan] Exactly.
[Sarah] It's a lot happening. And so what I think we can try to do is come up with some initial ideas, even if it's just one idea today. And try to figure out a way that we could work together to help her. Would you be open to that?
Yes, yes. Really.
[Sarah] Okay.
Anything.
Yeah, you got it. I mean this is what I'm here to do. I can't come into your classroom. I wish I could. I wish we could do all these new innovative models of co-teaching and so forth. But what I can say is that I do work with her and some of the other students at that level that are new arrivals every day, second period. So I'm getting to know the students, I'm getting to know her. She seems very shy even in that group. But I can tell you that she, what I've seen based on some of the informal assessments I've done, she is really proficient in Spanish. However, I think you're right on, that doing all of the texts in Spanish. I wonder if thatI also wonder is that the right strategy? So let me back up and ask you some more questions so I understand. Do you have any students in your class or your other classes that you're teaching right now for this topic that are below grade level in reading that might also have issues accessing the text, even if they're not multi-learners.
Yes, for sure.
[Sarah] Yeah.
Yeah I do.
I figured right. We have a real mix at our school, don't we?
[Susan] Very, yes. A very diverse class for sure.
[Sarah] Yes. And I know, you know, we're all learning how to teach language and literacy more. I think in history there's so many opportunities both to connect to the students' culture, and what do you think also to like kind of make the text more interactive for students?
I didn't think about it like that but yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. I mean we can talk about the culture piece later. 'Cause I think, you know, if she's, you know, from Central America, she has experiences like with say, you know, a people of democracy or certain themes that might be coming up, right?
[Susan] Yeah.
We could make connections, and maybe that's something I could even get a word of with her if I knew in advance.
[Susan] Yeah.
You know what I mean? And kind of builds. It's not always about building background I find. It's like sometimes it's just activating. She might have the background but she doesn't maybe have it.
[Susan] Right.
[Sarah] Does that make sense?
That does. And I like the idea. Can you keep me posted on maybe what you find out about her? 'Cause I like the idea of making that connection. I didn't think about that.
You got it. I'm so happy to, we should check in again. But the other piece I was thinking too is the grouping. I love what you were doing, and it sounds like that is a strategy that is working. What are you thinking about for students, again that are even are in her class, where they can't access the text? Like do you have other strategies that you're using for students? 'Cause I'm reading this book called The Language Lens for Content Classrooms. The author talks about how we're all academic language learners. And so it makes me think about, it's not just her, but it's other students who again, can't maybe access that level text. So what other strategies have you tried or could you try that could help other students make the text come alive?
Yeah. Okay. So the first thing I think about is like for some of my other students, I do try to at least like point out some of the visuals that are already in the book. And then I try to like project other visuals up on my projector. Like if things come up in the moment, and I'm like, oh, this is what that looks like. And honestly we don't read, like with some of the other students, we don't read the whole text. If I'm like, oh, we're supposed to read this whole like pages and pages. Like I know they're not, not that they can't do it, but I know that it would be more beneficial if we didn't read the whole thing.
Right. Because it sounds like you're saying, correct me if I'm wrong, but kind of getting the gist is more important.
[Susan] Yeah.
Than like every single date and detail and-
Like the, yeah, like the important, like chunks.
Got it. That sounds really promising. And it makes me think about, what I've seen in some other classrooms is like a study guide. So here's the unit that we're gonna be studying, here's the big vocab, here's the sentence stems they might need. So that's something that youThat I wonder if you're thinking about that might help other students as well. Would it be helpful to explore that together?
Yeah, I think so.
Like maybe just a one sheeter, like a format that could be done, and you could hand it out to all the kids. I mean just a thought, or maybe the students who might need that extra support. 'Cause then it would give me a heads up, a little bit, you know. I can't do a lot of support of history, but at least I could, you know, maybe check-in and see how it's going. And maybe give you a template for that or offer to.
Yeah, I've honestly been seeing things like here and there about thinking maps. And I just read that it's beneficial to have like one page, like a one page study guide type thing. So you saying this really helps me connect that together. So maybe something, like some kind ofYeah. Organizer or thinking map.
[Sarah] Sure.
[Susan] Like as a study guide. Yeah. That's a great-
It sounds like, yeah, I mean it sounds like to me Ms. Patterson, that you already like, have some of those ideas and resources. So maybe we could just connect again for the, you know, this five minute chunk of time in a couple days if you want.
[Susan] Yeah that sounds great. And just, if you've given any thought, or see if I can have some ideas on my end that I could show you. Would that be-
[Susan] Yeah.
Anything you'd like to look at?
Yeah, so we can look at like, some study guide ideas again really quickly. We can make like an appointment in the hallway. And then-
[Sarah] Yeah. We can do a hallway appointment, or we can just meet after school. You know, let me know, like you, I'm running around with lots of classes. But this is something that I'm actually trying to help the system with. Is like being more proactive rather than reactive. I mean it's so hard for us to get ahead of it, but like if we could have a consistent way for students to have like, like a thinking map. Like oh this is what we're gonna be learning with the visuals in there with the-
[Susan] Yeah.
[Sarah] And in stems, in such great, like baked in.
[Susan] Yes.
So I get really excited about that, and partnering with you.
I'm excited too. This was such a good five minutes. Thank you.
[Sarah] Yeah.
Like I don't even mind missing my bathroom break.
I know I really have to go get some copies made, but it was great to talk with you. And let's talk in a couple days.
Yay. Thanks Miss Otto.
Thank you. Bye Miss Patterson. And scene.
[Susan] Cut. That was so fun.
Well you're a natural actress. Lemme just tell you.
I love it. Maybe that's why I love teaching newcomers, because I feel like I get to do my acting and my gestures and my facial expressions.
I know all too well. So let's break it down. I mean, first of all, thank you for jumping in and just doing that.
[Susan] Yeah.
Being a foil to the teacher leadership and coaching skills.
[Susan] Yeah.
That I was trying to demonstrate. But how did it feel for you to be in that space? Even in a scenario like this?
I felt, honestly, like I really truly felt like I was that history teacher and I was like, how would I do this? Like I'm like, I have 30 kids, right? Like, could be 30, 35 kids.
Yeah. Could be more.
But it was helpful to see like from the other side that there are things that teachers have, and that they're already doing. And that they just have to put on like that, I don't know, that lens I guess, of like, what am I already doing? Like it's not this scary thing like, oh I have a newcomer, and they're like this totally different student. So it was helpful to see that there are things that they're already doing that could help.
It was cool to hear you talk about like, oh, I actually have a strategy for that. Or I didn't think of that, but I've already been thinking about thinking maps. And I think sometimes it can be less scary or less, like you said, new right? When people can connect it to what they already know, and then they realize-
[Susan] Yes.
[Sarah] Oh this can also help other kids. Like language is something that, but are we gonna solve all of, did we solve all of it? No, I mean I had a hundred more ideas, right? The grouping.
[Susan] Right.
The L1, I was like, okay, what might be a first next step to help.
[Susan] Yes.
[Sarah] To me I was really concerned about the student, but I was more concerned about you to be totally honest. Because I wanted you to feel not overwhelmed with this child in your class. 'Cause that's what I sensed, was I right?
Yes. And I think that's like, you know, the typical feeling if you're not used to having a newcomer in your class. It's kind of like a, not scary, but like an overwhelming feeling of like, I wanna support this student but I don't know how, you know.
[Sarah] Yeah.
[Susan] So.
For sure. So let's break down some of the language. I'm just gonna pull up the scenarios again or the language again and see. 'Cause not that you were paying attention to everything 'cause you were also acting by the way. So you were, you were on. But let's look at it and see did we notice, or I can point out. So did you feel validated? Like when we first started, it was clearly one of our first conversations. We didn't know each other well. But like did you feel validated at all in the beginning of the conversation and/or throughout?
I did. Because you said I'm getting to know the student too. So it's like you were on my side. So I felt like we were kind of on the same team when you said that.
Yes. So it's like bringing that co-equal, we're together.
[Susan] Yeah.
[Sarah] Yeah.
Right.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And I've thought that's a nice way to bridge it, and it's true, right? So just being honest as the EL teacher, I feel like we don't have to have all answers. We can be human with the other person, 'cause you're being vulnerable to me. So I can also be vulnerable to you. Yeah.
[Susan] Right.
How about the paraphrasing, clarifying, like, we didn't jump right to some ideas, right? We kind of explored what the challenge was. Did you get that sense, Susan, that I was trying to help you, or I was actually paraphrasing what you were saying, and even kind of clarify. Like what, tell me more about that. Like, did you notice that piece?
I did. I don't remember exactly what you said, but I did feel like you were asking me questions, like to pull out, like what the situation was. So .
[Sarah] Yeah. And like these are stems that people can use. Like they're right from, you know, the coaching world. But tell me more is one. I think I said, let me see if I understand, and then paraphrase back. And was like, did I get it? Is it fair? Did I summarize what you said? 'Cause it is really important to see like, am I actually understanding what your challenge is? Your challenge might be different than what I think the chaI probably have a laundry list of what I think the challenges are, but again, we gotta start with what Miss Patterson needs. Right?
Yes.
[Sarah] So kind of explored that a little bit. Yeah. And then how about the next steps? Like I gave some ideas, but I really talked about what I was doing right? I talked about like my instruction, and then what did we do for exploring ideas? We're exploring next steps.
Yeah. I like how you, like you kind of suggested something that I thought maybe you already knew that I might be doing.
[Sarah] Hmm.
[Susan] Like as a history teacher, or even just as like a high school or secondary teacher, we know there's study guides, right? Like.
[Sarah] Yes.
And-
[Sarah] We hope. We hope.
[Susan] Right. Like and you know, for better or for worse, like how they're made, like the study guide.
[Sarah] Right, exactly.
[Susan] Like I feel like you knew, like okay that's probably a thing that I'm doing. So yeah. What am I already doing? And then how can I make it like, better for my newcomer, but also for all students. So.
Yes. What other students might benefit. So kind of like not'Cause you know how in some programs when you're like teaching out of a teacher's guide is like, the ELL or the MLL stuff is like a sidebar in so many ways.
[Susan] It's yes. In the margin.
[Sarah] Yeah.
A little note and it's like one little thing that's not gonna super duper move the needle, but it's like-
[Sarah] It's a good idea.
[Susan] Yeah.
I know right? It is. It's like a little idea. It's like a little nugget and it is, it's a sidebar. It's like truly marginalized 'cause it's like it's in a margin.
It's in aYes.
[Sarah] And like our students get marginalized versus like what I believe to be true. And that's what my work is about is like start with the ALL, start with the tier one.
[Susan] Yes.
[Sarah] And like you must have other students that are not reading at grade level. So don't make it just about, I'm a language learner. Make it about reading, make it about literacy, make it about the content. You know, maybe there's connections to the culture. Like that's gonna motivate other kids too. Right? So I was a content teacher for a really long time, before I was a language teacher. And so I kind of think of it in that lens.
[Susan] Yeah.
[Sarah] So you went back there too, like wait a minute, like let me think about the whole class.
[Susan] Yes.
[Sarah] Right. And that also helps kind of lower the stress a little bit too.
[Susan] For sure. And I really extra love, how you brought in the culture piece.
[Sarah] Ah.
'Cause in my history teacher brain, I was like, oh my gosh. Like I didn't even think about, like I truly like was not acting. I was like, oh wow. I didn't think about that.
[Sarah] That's awesome.
So yeah, I love that, that piece.
[Sarah] Yeah. And I might have had 10 more ideas, but I didn't wanna overdo it. So really I like touched on culture, right? And then we're like, okay, how can we like maybe polish up your study guides. But seriously there's many other ideas. Like the grouping was intriguing for me. I was like how often is the student getting to speak and or like-
[Susan] Right.
[Sarah] Or like having safe places to speak. Right? There's so many things that our MLL brains go to. However, I put those in my back pocket. Right? Because it was only five minutes. And what do you think would've happened, Susan, if I said, and what about this and have you tried that? What about this? What would've happened to you?
I probably wouldn't have tried any of them, 'cause I would've been like, whoa, okay, I gotta go to the bathroom. Okay. You know, overload.
[Sarah] Right.
I might have like thought of one. Okay, maybe I'll try that. But no, they would've gone in my back pocket for sure.
Yes, exactly. It's like you're saturated. You said your brain is saturated, and therefore they're not asking us to give them a master's class in teaching ESL. They're asking for like one little life, you know, lifesaver for now. Like.
[Susan] Yes.
How do I not'Cause they're feeling like they're sinking and swimming. If the students are sinking and swimming, they feel like it. I know. I have felt like that as a classroom teacher. How do we give them that one little thing?
[Susan] Yeah.
[Sarah] Right? So, and actually I gave you two just to see. Just 'cause I was kind of testing the waters. I don't know why we have all these water metaphors right now, but we do. We're going with it, you know, but I was like, hmm, maybe you should be open to a little , but let's see. Right? Like
[Susan] Right. And I feel like I was, I feel like I was kind of acting as a teacher that is more open, because I was the one wanting the information. And you know, there's so many teachers out there that, well they're not asking questions, because for whatever reason they're overwhelmed. They don't have time. They literally need to use the restroom and get their coffee, you know. So for the teacher who is super duper overwhelmed, they are probably not gonna be as open. So Yeah.
[Sarah] Right. That's a really important point. So we might not have gotten as far. But with somebody who was maybe again so busy or totally overwhelmed or maybe resistant, you know, 'cause that happens too.
[Susan] Right. It does. Yeah.
[Sarah] We might have just tried to like even just stay here like, hey trust me. Like just build that trust, and just kind of, okay now let's talk about some of the challenges next time. Or you knowOr we might not get through the whole process. Right? Because-
Sure. Baby steps.
[Sarah] They're not ready.
[Susan] Yes.
Yes. And so it isn't like a recipe, but it is, you know, it's a framework to think about.
[Susan] Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
[Sarah] Yeah. So I mean this is something I'm really super passionate about as you can see, because I've been there on both sides. And every day I meet teachers, like the ones that we were just talking about. And I just find it to be kind of missing in the field. So I try to help. Say you don't have to be a coach to use coaching language. Right. And-
[Susan] Yeah.
[Sarah] It is helpful for people. I wanted to also point out, and you'll have this information, those of of you watching the video. We've got a lot of free resources on our blog at Confianza and I put a bunch of links in the slide deck that go-
[Susan] Oh awesome.
[Sarah] On these topics. And even more if you're interested. The one that I cited about identifying our spheres of influence. That's really what we kind of practice today. So that's there for you if you're interested. But if you want more, there's a lot onSo we talk about pedagogy, but what about andragogy, which is adult learning. So we talked about like adults need choice, we talked about that a little bit today, right, Susan? Adults need, like, they need to make it work for them. So this gets into that. And then you know, even more about how to help people feel safe, you know, psychologically when we're trying to ask 'em to change. And some other ideas in there as well. This one with the equity based family engagement, this gives some more scenarios too to try out some.
[Susan] Okay.
[Sarah] You know, asset based, deficit based kind of ways and others as well. So I wanna make sure your audience had that.
Yeah, thank you. These are really good. I'm like, I'm looking forward to digging into some of those for sure.
Yeah, please feel free. And anybody can go to our website, access our blogs. We're always pumping out new ones. Today we just published one from one of our writers and educators, Maria Lee, about stages of team development. And how normal it is to like kind of, you know, take some time, like you and I were doing. Where we're kind of just forming and storming.
[Susan] Yeah.
We weren't really norming or performing yet. And that's okay. Right? It takes time to kind of jive. You can also sign up like it's totally optional, but if people wanna stay connected, we have all the way down at the bottom of our website, we have the, you know, the resource place here where you can-
Nice. Perfect. 'Cause if you're pumping up blog posts, like I-
[Sarah] So yeah.
I'm always like, every morning I'm like, what's up today in my email? So I'm alwaysI feel like I'm signed up but maybe I'm not. Sometimes like things get buried and then-
[Sarah] I know.
You don't click on it after a while. Once they've been buried then they don't go-
[Sarah] Oh yeah.
To your inbox.
[Sarah] Like your main.
Type thing. So.
Yeah. And truth be told, we don't send a lot of emails. We're just kind-
[Susan] Oh.
We actually send a lot, when we send an email, Susan. So maybe you haven't heard from us in a while 'cause I try not, we try not toMy team we try not to like overdo it.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
[Sarah] But we do, like when we send one, we're like, here are five new blogs, you know, so we have batches.
[Susan] Yeah. that's good.
[Sarah] Send 'em out at once
Yeah.
[Sarah] It's kinda nice. So take a look. But also we post 'em on social media. So we're on Twitter, we're on Facebook. We have courses, and one of our most popular courses is what we did a little bit of today, which is those two
[Susan] Yeah.
[Sarah] Obviously the book. And we work with schools, you know, in different ways.
[Susan] I love that.
[Sarah] We love collaborating and today was no different. So I'm just thrilled that we got to work together. It was fun.
Thank you so much for coming. I know, I feel like the coaching scenarios, like they're, like I said before, I think before pressing record, like they can be kind of nerve-wracking. Because you don't know how it's gonna go. But then once you start you're like, this is so fun. Maybe I just need to be an actress. I don't know.
Well, I mean. But the thing is you stepped into your experience, which was so clear to me. You were like really feeling it.
True.
[Sarah] Because-
And I was.
[Sarah] Challenges are real.
[Susan] Yes.
It's like we can slip into it at any time. 'Cause like we care so much about the students.
Exactly. I know.
[Sarah] And it's anxiety provoking for us. But.
[Susan] Yeah.
No, you were amazing. If I did have some kind of, you know, daytime Emmy award for education, I would be awarding it to you. It was so natural.
[Susan] Thank you.
So thank you.
Thank you. Well thank you Sarah, so much for coming. We really appreciate it. And I know everyone who watches this is gonna be like, oh my gosh. Like this was me last week. Right. So this is so valuable. Thank you.
It's my pleasure. Thanks for having me.
[Susan] Yeah. Thanks Sarah.
[Sarah] Thanks Susan.
All right, I'm gonna press stop record. You sure you wanna stop?
Focus on the Evidence in the Moment
It's easy to think of our Newcomers and imagine the ways your student is not getting the support they need. We might tell ourselves, "Oh, it's US History and I already know this teacher. I know my student isn't getting the scaffolds they need." However, I have been surprised many times and have learned new things as well from our awesome content teachers!
Whatever the content teacher is telling you in that moment, that is what should be the focus of the conversation. You may have a million other questions and comments and that's okay- keep them on the backburner and focus your attention so your teacher feels supported and therefore, can support your students with you. You are a team and the goal is to discuss ways to assist your students to thrive and access grade-level content.
Since you are the language expert, as you are listening, think of what the teacher is saying with your Language Lens™ on so you can be prepared to provide inquiry-based questions for the teacher that might lead to more language support for the student.
For example, if a teacher is talking about supporting the student in math and is saying that they are having difficulties understanding simple directions, your questioning might be first in your mind:
What visuals are being provided that may lower the language barrier?
What is some of the academic language in the directions and how can it be supported with cognates, explicit instruction, or translations?
What scaffolds have you tried and what do you think is working?
Practice Active Listening
Being an active listener means focusing on what the teacher has to say and doing so by making eye contact, nodding, asking questions, and making the teacher feel validated and supported. This also means minimal interruptions unless asking for clarification. When the teacher feels like you are seeing from their point of view and you are keeping an open mind, they are more likely to collaborate with you in the future. It also means that they will tell your colleagues about the positive experience and others may be more open to collaboration too! When teachers are collaborating together for student success, our students win!
Use Language of Collaboration
Some simple language stems to use while having impromptu or planned coaching conversations include some of the following stems and statements from our coaching chat:
Inquire: Have you thought about trying...?
Clarify: Tell me more.
Validate: I hear you.
What other phrases can you use to support inquiry, clarification, and validation?
These conversations don't have to be well-planned to be impactful. Our coaching scenario was based around a 5-minute class change chat on the way to the restroom. That's the beauty of coaching! Even if we do plan, we never know how coaching conversations will go. What we do know is that we keep our students at the heart.
To learn more about mymllmentor, visit their site.