Co-Teaching and Collaboration

The ELL teacher can collaborate with classroom teachers, support teachers, Admin and other colleagues to create meaningful instruction and assessment plans that are equitable and inclusive for ELL students.  ELL Specialists are familiar with a variety of Instructional Frameworks, Including Universal Design  for Learning (UDL), Culturally Responsive Teaching, and the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP). Through these frameworks, teachers can design lessons that target specific language goals, develop academic and social language, build on students prior knowledge, and take into account diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Teachers can also collaborate around equitable assessment practices, ensuring that all students are able to demonstrate what they know, regardless of their language level. 

Though collaborating and co-teaching are essential for providing ELLs with the necessary skills to succeed, the time for teachers to collaborate can be hard to come by. With busy schedules, lack of protected collab time, and a variety of teaching styles and preferences, collaboration can sometimes pose a challenge to the teachers involved. Using professional development days, shared technology and resources, and weekly or monthly team meetings are a few ways that teachers can incorporate collab time into their schedules. 

Video above: ELLs Belong to All of Us: The Role of ESOL Specialists in Collaboration. https://youtu.be/R422RPysEBI?si=6Ae0xGK4hr2PQw_p

Co-Teaching

When determining what type of support will work best for a specific student, all teachers involved need to play an active role. If ELL teachers and classroom teachers decide to co-teach, it's important to establish clear roles and expectations of who will teach what, and how the lesson will be delivered. It's also essential to be given planning time to create lessons and learning strategies together. 

Some tips and strategies for successful co-teaching are listed on the poster below..