Why co-teaching? (Part II?) and What do English Learners Need (Part One Million?)

Why NOT co-teaching: A Cautionary Tale

“You don’t have to be different to be special.”

What standards-related learning target are we going to use this text to teach?

Literature Key Ideas & Details Describe characters, settings, & major events in a story, using key details.

THEME “You don’t have to be different to be special.”

Literature Key Ideas & Details Retell stories including key details, & demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

Why? old? “big scary district person”? super-confident? confident district people = don’t know what they’re talking about? didn’t have much time to plan? because they didn’t want to seem to be aiming to low, arguing for a less rigorous curriculum?

Why co-teaching?

Diversity & Complexity

As teachers, we accept responsibility for meeting the learning needs of staggeringly diverse group of students. Diverse socio-economic levels diverse educational backgrounds special needs (physical, intellectual, behavioral, emotional) home situations

They’re all in your class, they all need to learn, they’re all your responsibility.

Joker in the Deck: English Language Proficiency Levels

Four Language-Related Instructional Issues 1. Language-related demands of instruction -Input: Listening -Input: Reading 2. Language-related demands of processing -Output: Speaking -Output: Writing 3. Language-related demands of formative content assessment -Evidence within the constraints of their Limited English 4. Ongoing monitoring of English Language Development (to assure best decision-making in the first three categories)

Modify the Language Demands of Instruction (Input) Listening Reading

Modify the Language Demands of Processing Learning (i.e., not assessing) Speaking Writing

Proficiency-Appropriate Formative Assessment of Content Learning Given the Limited English of this student, what does evidence of learning look like?

Assessment of their Developing English Proficiency The WIDA ACCESS score is good – four domains, but … 3 months old by the time we receive the scores As much as 7 months old by the time you start to use them

As teachers, we accept responsibility for meeting the learning needs of staggeringly diverse group of students. Diverse socio- economic levels diverse educational backgrounds special needs (physical, intellectual, behavioral, emotional) home situations Language Needs -Language-related demands of instruction -Language-related demands of processing -Language-related demands of formative assessment, -Ongoing monitoring of English Language Development (to assure best decision-making in the first three categories)

This would be a challenge if you were doing it for one kid …

But you have to do it for five or ten or 15 … with varying language proficiency levels, with varying language-related learning needs.

This is where co-teaching comes in … A specialist with expertise in addressing the complex and diverse language-related learning needs of your Limited English Proficient students

Detour: If they’re such experts, why don’t they just teach the students themselves? They’re not classroom teachers. The goal is “universal design” – changing the way we all teach to provide access The challenge is so great that the only way to meet it is to keep it constantly before us. – water down, slow down

This Institute The Big 6 (Basic Models of Co-Teaching) Standards-Based Learning Targets as the Key WIDA 101: What the WIDA Levels tell you … and what they don’t tell you. Co-Teaching & Modifying Instruction (Listening & Reading tasks) Co-teaching and Modifying Processing (speaking & writing tasks) Co-Teaching and Formative Assessment of Content Learning Co-Teaching & Monitoring English Language Development Collaborating Across Time and Space (the Wikis and other sources)