Teacher Discussion Forums

It's sad, but I realize that nowadays many general ed teachers and Bilingual/ESL teachers are having such a difficult time getting support from the administrator and from one another. A lot of them don't want to work together because they don't think that helping ELLs acquiring English is a collaborative effort. Many general ed teachers think that their job is to teach the contents to the students and it's the ESL teachers' job to teach the ELLs English. The ESL teacher at the school that I work shared her frustration with me. She tried to encourage other teachers and the administrator to get on board with her because those issues must be addressed systematically. What can you do to help your colleagues and administrator to realize that the ELL students' achievement is a collaborative effort?

Show them the report cards of the students who have been trained co-operatively. If there is not a teacher who does it in your school, find a school that does and borrow some report cards. Or borrow the students themselves and get them to talk to your teachers or a successful adult who has gone through the system with help.