“We Just Rock and Roll”: English-for-Speakers-of-Other-Languages and Mainstream Teachers Building Shared Understanding About How to Teach Challenging Texts to English Learners

• In Event: The Role and Impact of Professional Development in Educators’ Effective Literacy Instruction

Abstract

In this study, we examine how ESOL and mainstream elementary teachers engaged in collaborative planning and teaching of challenging texts, and how this collaboration affected their learning. This study contributes to the literature on teacher learning by examining how the growing need for everyday interactions between ESOL and classroom teachers might be harnessed as an opportunity for teachers’ learning and growth. Evidence from this study indicates that both ESOL and classroom teachers learned and benefitted from meaningful interactions about teaching ELs. This provides a compelling foundation for building opportunities for ESOL and mainstream teacher interaction and collaboration as they seek to support ELs while teaching rigorous content, particularly in a policy context that is shifting towards further mainstreaming of ELs.

Authors

• Rebecca Deffes Silverman, University of Maryland - College Park

• Megan Madigan Peercy, University of Maryland - College Park

• Melinda E. Martin-Beltran, University of Maryland - College Park

• Stephanie Guthrie, University of Maryland - College Park