co teaching co planning model ESL
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newboygirl
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Wed Nov 28, 2012 10:12 pm
co teaching co planning model ESL
I am just wondering about the coteaching coplanning model for ESL teachers at international schools. I have been teaching in the US and where I teach we do not do this model. But now that funding has dried up my position is getting cut next year. Looking to go overseas and I have interviewed with schools in Asia, Africa and Europe and most do this co-teaching co-planning model. When they tell me about it it does not sound like a smart way to reach the ESL students. Could this not cause lots of conflict between homeroom teachers and ESL teachers? It also sounds like a lot of meetings that take away from planning time. Do international schools not do push in and pull out anymore? It seems that the best practices for ESL students is being ignored for this model. Does anyone have any insight into this model? Does it work well at your school? What are the up sides and down sides? To me it seems like not the best way to reach the ESL student and cause friction between homeroom teachers and ESL teachers. THoughts? Are most international schools going in this direction? Why?
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Innsbruckave
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Fri Apr 28, 2023 2:01 pm
Re: co teaching co planning model ESL
It does work very well when mainstream class teachers get the training they need to implement it. It is best practice. You can do your own research on what coteaching and coplanning for EAL students is. With your coteacher you can negotiate how it is implemented in your teaching. There are a few variations. I’ve had excellent success with most teachers. And EAL specialist will be specifically trained in how to support students in the classroom. You will learn a lot and your practice will improve. We are specialists with specialized training, skills and knowledge. Please educate yourself about supporting multilingual learners and that will give you a better understanding.
Response
I dont agree with @Innsbruckave that its "best practice", maybe popular practice, but not best. One of the major factors is both the training and implementation. To its credit Ive seen it work very well, when a lot of resources are put into it, most of the time it doesnt produce nearly the level of clinical results cited in the literature.
The reason for the popularity of the co-teaching (and planning) approach is two fold:
First, at the primary level anything thats pull out or resource comes with a level of stigma attached to it. In many (especially Asian) cultures this is bad. It singles out a student for remediation and brings a lot of social pressure onto the student and family. Which is really the point, parents dont want their child singled out, and parents pay the fees/tuition. This is less an issue in secondary outside the HRT (self contained classroom) model, where its just a different schedule.
Second, is efficacy and efficiency. When you do pull out or resource, the classroom isnt put on pause. Youre exchanging a guaranteed loss of instruction, what happens in the classroom while the pull out/resource student is absent, for what may or may not be effective or comparable ESOL instruction. Even if its timed with reading or literature (language arts) instruction youre still making a zero-sum wager that the loss will equate to a comparable ESOL instructional gain. Parents dont like that. From their perspective their child is likely doing some kind of XC program (eikaiwa/buxiban/hagwon) and the much higher tuition/fees of an IS are for academic learning.
Does it cause problems, sure, but not for long. Usually there are only problems until the ESOL IT realizes that its not their classroom, not their lesson, and they (the ESOL IT) are not in charge. Thats really the stone to steal of it. The negotiation usually comes down to either the ESOL IT figuring out how to adopt their content to the HRTs lesson, or the HRT agreeing to set aside a portion of their timetable to the ESOL IT for ESOL instruction.
Grading and marking is a grey area. Sometimes the ESOL IT reports and issues their own grade for the appropriate student(s), and sometimes its just a recommendation to the HRT, and sometimes its not marked/graded at all.
If you dont like meetings IE may not be for you. If the meeting is chaired by someone in leadership than yes thats a real meeting. If the meeting is just delegated by leadership than those are more likely to be the 'touch and talk' type where you respond to a couple issues (usually by email) rather than an actual meeting. You wont meet with your co-IT formally very often. Planning will be more of the HRT saying heres my lessons, let me know what recommendations you have. The recommendations that are best received are usually those that start out early in the AY, consist of repetitive tasks, and schedule some kind of release time for the HRT. So something like youll do vocabulary prior to the lesson and once a day the ESOL IT takes over for a period or half a period giving the HRT some in classroom release time.
You dont really see push in or pull out very often, unless its an IS with only a handful of students on the ESOL remediation roll. Its just too much coin to designate an IT for only a few students. Resource is more common at the secondary level where its just a schedule change for the student.
The salient point about most ESOL approaches is that they show efficacy, whether this is due to outside instructional factors, immersion, student pressure or some other variable is difficult to account for, aside from the quality and quantity of the ESOL instruction. The real issue for the ESOL IT is how you feel about the role. It can feel a lot like youre only a TA or AT, thats either something that you like or you dont, but its common.
If you want your own classroom than focus on ISs with secondary resource ESOL positions.
The reason for the popularity of the co-teaching (and planning) approach is two fold:
First, at the primary level anything thats pull out or resource comes with a level of stigma attached to it. In many (especially Asian) cultures this is bad. It singles out a student for remediation and brings a lot of social pressure onto the student and family. Which is really the point, parents dont want their child singled out, and parents pay the fees/tuition. This is less an issue in secondary outside the HRT (self contained classroom) model, where its just a different schedule.
Second, is efficacy and efficiency. When you do pull out or resource, the classroom isnt put on pause. Youre exchanging a guaranteed loss of instruction, what happens in the classroom while the pull out/resource student is absent, for what may or may not be effective or comparable ESOL instruction. Even if its timed with reading or literature (language arts) instruction youre still making a zero-sum wager that the loss will equate to a comparable ESOL instructional gain. Parents dont like that. From their perspective their child is likely doing some kind of XC program (eikaiwa/buxiban/hagwon) and the much higher tuition/fees of an IS are for academic learning.
Does it cause problems, sure, but not for long. Usually there are only problems until the ESOL IT realizes that its not their classroom, not their lesson, and they (the ESOL IT) are not in charge. Thats really the stone to steal of it. The negotiation usually comes down to either the ESOL IT figuring out how to adopt their content to the HRTs lesson, or the HRT agreeing to set aside a portion of their timetable to the ESOL IT for ESOL instruction.
Grading and marking is a grey area. Sometimes the ESOL IT reports and issues their own grade for the appropriate student(s), and sometimes its just a recommendation to the HRT, and sometimes its not marked/graded at all.
If you dont like meetings IE may not be for you. If the meeting is chaired by someone in leadership than yes thats a real meeting. If the meeting is just delegated by leadership than those are more likely to be the 'touch and talk' type where you respond to a couple issues (usually by email) rather than an actual meeting. You wont meet with your co-IT formally very often. Planning will be more of the HRT saying heres my lessons, let me know what recommendations you have. The recommendations that are best received are usually those that start out early in the AY, consist of repetitive tasks, and schedule some kind of release time for the HRT. So something like youll do vocabulary prior to the lesson and once a day the ESOL IT takes over for a period or half a period giving the HRT some in classroom release time.
You dont really see push in or pull out very often, unless its an IS with only a handful of students on the ESOL remediation roll. Its just too much coin to designate an IT for only a few students. Resource is more common at the secondary level where its just a schedule change for the student.
The salient point about most ESOL approaches is that they show efficacy, whether this is due to outside instructional factors, immersion, student pressure or some other variable is difficult to account for, aside from the quality and quantity of the ESOL instruction. The real issue for the ESOL IT is how you feel about the role. It can feel a lot like youre only a TA or AT, thats either something that you like or you dont, but its common.
If you want your own classroom than focus on ISs with secondary resource ESOL positions.