Teachers’ Perceptions of the Power of Cultivating Collaboration and Alignment Between Classroom and ESL Teachers

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 1:45 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Examining Teachers' Perceptions to Reimagine Education (Table 13)

Abstract

This paper explores the ways ESL, Kindergarten, and 1st grade teachers described the impact of a professional learning (PL) program on their collaboration and instruction for multilingual learners. Teachers attended the year-long PL program as a school team which included weekly collaboration and monthly implementation coaching. Ten teachers participated in interviews about their experiences at the end of the school year which were recorded and transcribed. Using Braun and Clark’s (2006) six-part Applied Thematic Analysis method, we found that teachers described: 1) a culture of collaboration; 2) the ways in which they aligned instructional goals and strategies between classroom and ESL settings; and 3) and how they implemented evidence-based strategies to support their MLs’ language and literacy growth.

Authors

• Steven Knotek, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Jennifer C. Mann, Duke University

• Leslie M. Babinski, Duke University

• Steven J. Amendum, University of Delaware

• Marta Sánchez, University of North Carolina - Wilmington