Teacher Discussion Forums

I agree that small group instruction and working in pairs plays a vital role in the classroom. When I mentioned group instruction I was referring to having the class view both teachers on an equal level. I was commenting on the case study that was described in Chapter 3, "Two-Teacher Classrooms, Per...

I do know my history. I was commenting on a book's take on the situation. Have you read Forbidden Language that was edited by Patricia Gandara and Megan Hopkins?

Having been a regular education teacher in a two teacher inclusion classroom, I can see the pros and cons of the two teacher model. It can be challenging to have the students view both teachers as equals. I also agree that working with students in groups and pairs is not as powerful as whole group i...

I agree that it is sometimes difficult to bridge the gap between certain expectations and what actually works in your classroom. I like the way that the Philadelphia School District viewed administrators and teachers as important in the decision making process. Many times, decisions are made by peop...

The school highlighted in this book focused on an ELL program that focused on teaching the students English without any native language support. The book went on to describe that Washington State has many programs similar to this. If I did not support the native language of my ESL students in my cla...

I agree that if the facilitator was to pick a few inclusion classrooms and work closely with thoes teachers and students, he or she might be more successful. I feel that a lot of times, ideas like this look good on paper, but are not pratical. In my experience, the collaborative sessions that are re...

If research shows that we should not prohibit the use of the home language for instruction, then why are certain states passing laws that prohibit instruction in any language other than English? Research also points out that it can take ELL students five to seven years to become fully proficient in ...

I am also very torn by this statement. I feel as though, if we are placing ELL students in the least restrictive environment that should be in their regular grade level classroom. The inclusion model of this classroom should contain higher functioning students that could act as role models for the s...

We have Parental Involvements in our school once a month. The parents come into the classroom to do various activities each month. The more that the parents come in; the more comfortable they are to attend events like this and also, events like parent and teacher conferences. I try to send notes hom...

According to Garcia (2005), only 12 states have mandates for special education services for linguistic minority students. Does anyone know of an assessment that could be administered to pre-kindergarten students? Why is it that many states do nor have any mandates for special education services when...

This referendum leads the way for Sheltered English Immersion to be the method for instruction of ESL students in Massachusetts. Results of this method yielded some improvement in standardized tests, while gaps between ESL students and other subgroups increased. What I found to be even more interest...

I also agree that the quality of the education of the students need to improve for their academics to improve. I have mixed feelings about the fact that many of the ESL students in California are taught by teachers who are not highly qualified. Teachers play such a vital part in any students’ educat...

I also struggle with getting my ESL students to participate in group or individual lessons. There are many pieces of advice out there on the internet. I am in the field of early childhood education and a great website is: http://www.pre-kpages.com/esl/. Some of these strategies can be modified for o...

Why is it that many other nations have embraced multilingualism, but the United States has not? Other nations place on emphasis on their “mother tongue plus two foreign languages” (Forbidden Language 2010) for various reasons, but the United States seems to be somewhat behind on the times. Yes, many...