Can a Facilitator Model be effective?

[ummsultan]

While reading Chapter 7 "Language Policy through the Facilitator Model" in the book Negotiating Language Policies in Schools edited by Menken and Garcia, I learned of a new way of delivering services to ELLs.

In the facilitator model, certified ESL teachers, act as teacher mentors essentially to regular classroom teachers that have Intermediate to Advanced ELLS in their classrooms. Instead of working directly with students, the facilitator is supposed to provide guidance to the classroom teacher on how to go about scaffolding, and otherwise delivering comprehensible instruction to the ELLs in their classes.

The teacher that was chronicled in this chapter experienced frustration with the model in part because she split time between two schools, and at each school the ELLs were spread among 28 or so different classrooms. All of the classroom teachers were not willing to work with her, and therefore all of the ELLs were not receiving the services they deserved.

Wouldn't it make more sense to choose a few inclusion classrooms, that had teachers that were willing to implement her suggestions? I'm doing my practicum at a high school now, and my cooperating teacher works very closely with the guidance department to make sure her students aren't placed in certain teachers' classrooms, and if possible have them take classes during the same period so that she would be able to push-in and provide assistance.

[JDRRowan]

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 required for the this model to be successful are not scheduled into planning time and usually end up being on the little bit of free time that teachers have. The sad part is that if a teacher is not willing to try new strategies or implement new ideas from the ESL facilitator, it is the students that suffer.

[anajones33]

The Facilitator Model surely sounds great. I have never seen our "certified" ESL teacher faciliate anything in my school. I would assume that a "true" ESL teacher would want to moniter all ELL's. I would assume that a "true" ESL teacher would attempt to offer her expertise with all teachers who teach ELL's. It is a model that would be expected, not just from a Facilitator Model itself. The students were spread around the school. This is true in most schools that house ELL's. There is no way of placing them all in one particular classroom. For this matter it is extremely difficult for any ESL teacher to create a comprehensible schedule that will ensure that all students get serviced. It is even more difficult to tell many educators how to teach their students. Many educators of today have been around for a very, very long time. It is easy to walk a horse to water,,, but you can't make it drink. Time does bring change.

[staciholland]

I believe that if this model of guiding teachers of ESL students was combined with "best practices", or even if the facilitator had other ESL teacher sto help her manage her schedule or get through to the reluctant teacher this program could be successful. However, the ESL teacher was over worked and did not effectively complete the task that was set before her. In her defense, she did not have administrative support nor did she have the resources to handle the daily demands of seeing each ESL teacher for her allotted 30 minutes a day. This brings up other important factors: Who oversees the facilitator? who gauages the progress of this particular model? Do administrators consider th achievement of the students they set out to help or are they simply filling vacancies?

[ummsultan]

I agree with the previous comments. I do believe a facilitator model looks good on paper, especially in light of the need for sustained and meaningful professional development for in-service teachers who have ELLs in their classrooms. As Staci said the model in the book didn't work primarily because of a. lack of support and b. the expectation that this one ESL teacher is apparently superwoman.

I think this model would work much better if there were one ESL teacher who was assigned to work one-on-one with the students, perhaps pulling them out for individual or small group instruction, and another ESL professional who was responsible for coaching the teachers. Unfortunately, in this model where the teachers were the sole focus, the students missed out on much needed services, especially if their classroom teacher was unwilling to participate.