Teacher Discussion Forums

[tcollura]

Do you think that we can increase the quality of our education for EL's by offering more professional development for teachers of all subjects in ESL? I think that if we offered more trainings possibly by the ESL teacher in the district offered to teachers at night or on weekends a few times a year on a boluntary basis, but advertised highly we can improve the quality of our instruction for our ELL's. It's just a minor change that could effect it in a big way.

[cmq98]

I would be all for this in my distrcit, which has a high ELL population. Mainstream teachers with ELL's in their classrooms simply do not know how to educate them and get frustrated when they can not complete the work in their classrooms due to proficiency level. I think, at minimum, all teachers with ELL's in their classrooms should be trained in sheltered instruction or SIOP as some states call it.

[Sally Olsen]

I think this is a great idea. Who is "we". Are you able to change the laws or introduce courses and provide money and teachers for those courses. It would be a start. Parents can also educate the teachers during parent/teacher conferences. If they don't feel they can express themselves clearly they can bring and advocate.

[lee115]

It is a good idea to have all teachers trained on how to instruct ELLs. I have been in schools where teachers have turned up their faces when referring to the ELL students in their classrooms. It seems these teachers have no patience for these students. But perhaps if the teachers knew how to help these students, they wouldn't have such disgust for the students.