Teacher Discussion Forums

In Negotiating Language Policies in Schools: Educators as Policymakers, there is a chapter on co-teaching. One of the classrooms highlighted involved a humanities teacher, and and ESL teacher who worked very hard to make sure the students saw them as equals.

When you are pushing in to several classrooms as an ESL teacher, is there any specific strategies that you personally use with the students, or with the classroom teacher to ensure that you are respected and viewed as a teacher by all the members of the classroom?

What an aggressive metaphor. I never thought of myself as "pushing in". I was a Remedial Special Education teacher and a traveling one at that. We were associated with the Board Administration and so were contact with the highest level of administration constantly so people were on their toes when we came around. We were supported by the Psychologist and the Special Education Department. We just had to drop the name of the Chair person of the Board and that was our in. "Mr./Mrs. So and So is sure a great bowler." and so on.

Of course, we never used our "power" other than to promote the welfare of the students we were teaching. We never tattled either. But I think we changed some minds about our students along the way with our being so positive with them and the fact that they really improved so quickly. Just showing an interest in the students seemed to increase their status with the teachers and the other students. Of course, actually teaching them helped too.