Helping English Language Learners Excel

February, 2016  EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP—Helping ELLS Excel 

In a period of five days the subject of co-teaching has come up in three separate conversations with different colleagues. One colleague uses this model for student teacher with a high success rate for teaching candidates. One teacher just took a class and wanted to share with me the possibilities of engaging in this practice with a classroom colleague.  The tipping point came from a well-respected colleague who works with principals all over the state and thought this would be a great model for our summer school.

The December 2015 Educational Leadership edition features the thinking and research behind this practice. Starting with a quote from one of educations top researcher John Hattie and his book Visible Learning for Teachers (Routledge, 2012). “The co-planning of lessons is the task that has one of the highest likelihoods of making a marked positive difference on student learning.”

For other who want to learn more about co-teaching here are some guiding questions with answers from the authors and editors of this edition.

What is co-teaching?

“To Clone or Not To Clone?” by Anne M. Beninghof p. 10

What are the approaches to co-teaching?

“Welcome to Co Teaching 2.0 by Marilyn Friend p. 16

How can the co-teaching model by applied to student teaching?

“A Better Model for Student Teaching” by Teresa Washut Heck and Nancy Bacharach p. 24

How can an administrator support co-teaching in their school?

“An Administrator’s Guide to Co-Teaching” by Wendy W. Murawski and Philip Bernhardt p. 30

How to unleash co-teaching potential?

“Revisiting Classroom Routines” by Gloria Lodato Wilson p. 50

There are many other articles with practical applications and lessons learned from the perspectives of ELL, Special Education, and classroom teachers. Although as we move in the realm of students having more ownership of their own learning, authors Fisher and Frey provide insights of having students be a part of the peer-teaching experiences. The model of teaching and learning is quickly evolving and co-teaching is becoming more prevalent in our educational communities

Will AND Skill

Anthony Muhammad & Sharroky Hollie  THE WILL TO LEAD, THE SKILL TO TEACH—Transforming Schools at Every Level 

After reading The Will to Lead, the Skill to Teach by Anthony Muhammad & Sharroky Hollie, I was surprised how much I heard these words in the day-to-day language of education. The author’s defined these terms as follows:

“Will is the belief that all children can learn and perform academically.”

“Skill is the use of responsive instruction that is the practical key to ensuring that students learn at high levels.”

Skill being the more popular of the two words, and often is used both referencing the skills students are taught and the skills students are learning. As we continue on our growth mindset journey, what we are finding is they don’t always align. What is necessarily taught, is not automatically what students are learning. This circles us around to “Will”, which is exactly the point of this book.

As educators we must be our students biggest advocates in believing and ensuring all students will learn and grow and be the amazing people we know they can be.  Every staff member is a leader in this crusade, but in order to transforms schools the journey must be guided by a strong leader. This leader leads by communicating the why of the work with data, in a learning community that collaborates, providing targeted professional development to support the skills needed for “responsive instruction,” with an accountability framework for teaching and ­learning.

“Educators must have the will to lead and the skills to teach” (p. 5) in a learning culture that values effective teaching and learning to meet the needs of all students.