The Power of Teams: Supporting English Language Learners
by Jennifer Schultz
Jennifer Schultz works in an urban, Southeastern Wisconsin district as the English as a Second Language teacher and department chair. Her current school district sets strong expectations of collegial collaboration to ensure success for all students. She is a firm believer that together we can accomplish more.
There are many acronyms in the teaching field that refer to groups of collaborating professionals. Some of these include Professional Learning Community (PLC), Student Intervention Team (SIT), Student Support Team (SST), and Individualized Education Program Team (IEPT). We see different teams meeting regularly to collaborate. Being part of a team means that many voices get heard. At the heart of this lie solution-focused and student-centered conversations.
As the field of English as a Second Language (ESL) moves to a more inclusive practice, teamwork is critical. The EL (English Language) specialist and the regular education teachers need to establish a relationship built on trust and reciprocal learning, or confianza, which means mutual respect and is at the heart of our work. The general education teacher is the content expert, while the EL specialist is the language expert. The two components come together in a powerful and meaningful way. English Language teachers’ time are usually divided between several classrooms based on the specific needs of a school. Therefore, the time EL and regular education teachers spend preparing for team-teaching, modeling, or coaching is invaluable. Schools should allocate times for such team meetings as they are powerful settings for both teachers. If we value collaboration, our schedule should reflect that. The regular education teachers build EL differentiation skills and learn about best practices in second language acquisition, while EL teachers become familiar with content area standards and curriculum.
In my current building we have PLC teams, SIT teams, grade level planning, and co-teaching planning. You may be thinking, How is this sustainable? My personal experience is this practice does work when a team of professionals share a vision, work toward building trust, and assume shared responsibility. Also, when a team is effective the philosophy of working smarter not harder is easier to infuse into our demanding profession. Teamwork is essential between colleagues for assessment planning. Developing common assessments within the building and even the district, ensures that all students are getting quality instruction. Collaboration to create meaningful assessments is critical in outlining big ideas and skills we want our students to master and apply. It is also important for teams to create proficiency scales and rubrics to determine “amount” of understanding. One final reason to meet is to reflect on and calibrate assessment scores as a group. This ensures fair grading practices and promotes communication within the team. Teams are also beneficial when planning for instructional and behavioral interventions. As EL populations continue to rise in public schools, being a part of these collaborative teams fosters instructional and social advocacy for all students and their needs.
I don’t want to mislead, I still spend time preparing for instruction outside of team meetings. For example, my job might be to make modifications to the tasks in order for ELs to take smaller steps to be successful. In the meantime, the content teacher might be looking for ways to present the material to make it more attainable for all learners. This could include using simpler vocabulary or synonyms, and/or supporting with a quick video . So, while I’m prepping one component, another team member is doing something else. There is a level of accountability between all members because there is buy-in from all of us. The work each person contributes is worthwhile and meaningful. Members are depending on each other and establish common goals for students.
Teams are especially important when advocating for the needs of English Language Learners (ELLs). With many of our students spread out in our buildings or potentially even our district, we need to try to make sure that all students experience good instructional practices at all times. The EL specialist being part of the team ensures the “language acquisition,” voice is heard. We can also coach our teammates and model best practices of differentiation to meet diverse student needs. This can be done by, supporting the regular education teachers on the team with resources, modifications, or modeling through co-teaching.
Some Consideration When Setting Up Your Team
Narrowing down a focus question and outlining possible answers
Ex: Our team is working to improve outcomes and experiences for students
Ex: The regular ed. teacher will work on scripting language objectives for EL students, while the the support EL teacher will developed sentence stems to support speaking and writing.
Understanding that each team member has strengths; the team can benefit from these individual strengths.
Ex: The regular ed. teacher will set up technological supports and the EL teacher will find diverse mentor texts to support read-alouds.
Mutual Respect and Trust (confianza)
shared decision making
agreements on how team members treat each other
actively listening to one another
continual learning from one-another
Ability to agree and disagree, respectfully
constructive, solution-focused problem solving
Accountability of all team members- be ready, do what you say
meet deadlines
come prepared
Norms- each person contributes, to stay on track
facilitator
record keeper
time keeper
Team collaboration does not take the place of prepping for instruction. Meaningful teamwork digs deeper at the reasons behind what we will instruct and the best practices of instruction. Teams analyze data of their students in order to reflect on, or guide future instruction. This is why it is so important that all team members have a voice within the group and feel that their team is a safe place to share ideas. All of the members have to buy into the goals and the work, in order to get strong outcomes.
The Importance of Teams
Strong teams help sustain and retain teachers
Effective teams learn from each other
Capable teams yield student achievement
Powerful teams instill a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement
Teams share responsibilities
In conclusion, being part of the team creates a means for EL specialists to empower teachers, in order to make sure EL students are getting what they need, even when we’re not there. As ideas are shared about why and how we facilitate best practices for certain groups of students, regular education teachers are better equipped at servicing students. When a strong team is working effectively, then “OUR” students succeed because we are all stakeholders in their success.
Special thanks to Confianza partner district Taunton Public Schools, MA
To Further Your Learning
From MA Department of Education--PLC Modules
From ASCD--What is a Professional Learning Community?
From Edutopia--How Teams Can Transform Schools
From Edutopia--When Belief Systems Collide
From Confianza--Taking Professional Learning Communities (PLC) to the Next Level
Books
Leaders of Learning: How District, School, and Classroom Leaders Improve Student Achievement (Bringing the Professional Learning Community Process to Life) by Richard DuFour and Robert J. Marzano
Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work™ (An Actionable Guide to Implementing the PLC Process and Effective Teaching Methods) by Richard DuFour and Rebecca DuFour