The teachers I support gather once at the end of each school year for a day of professional development, once just before school starts, and for four half days throughout the school year. These are opportunities for them to collaborate, learn new district and state policies, discover new database portals or computer programs available to them, and a chance to vent and reflect on their own teaching or building situations. Their peers offer support, feedback, and suggestions. Some bring lesson plan ideas or model how to track data. These meetings definitely have room to grow, but they are fairly productive at this time. As the leader, I reflect on their feedback at the end of each session and alter my presentation, agenda, and delivery for future gatherings. They appreciate that I listen and adjust when I am able.
Our meetings are often not in locations conducive to collaboration, so we must be flexible. As the district has recognized more and more that ESL is a vital and legitimate department with each passing year, we are assigned better spaces to hold our meetings. But our space is never consistent. This limits us in some ways because we cannot become familiar with our surroundings or plan the sessions based on the resources or floor design in the room when we are not able to visit it or have never used it in the past.
The technology that my learners have access to is quite impressive. We use several data and records storing portals. Additionally, we have an online closed community for just ESL teachers to share ideas and download resources for classroom use. There are many district-wide software programs purchased to enhance reading and math instruction, and many of them use those with students on a regular basis. Nearly every learner of mine has an interactive white board in their classroom, and if not, they definitely all have projectors and screens. Several of them have at least one iPad for the students to use, and some have enough computers in the room for every student in the pull-out small group to access one at the same time. While all of these pieces are available, they are not always accessible to my learners because of their hesitancy with technology. There is often not enough training available to equip them with the confidence and skills to utilize some of these elements, specifically with the interactive boards and the data housing sites.
For the teachers with tablets, there is a great deal of difficulty with them purchasing applications or even downloading free ones. With all the firewall protection and use of purchase orders in a big district, it becomes tedious for teachers to request access to and purchase apps. Sometimes this hassle thwarts their interest in even receiving this technology in their classroom. Then sometimes when certain ESL teachers have enough computers for their whole group to use at one time, principals will insist the teacher use a specialized computer program with the students for the entire block every day of the week. Often these programs come with supplementary small group or individualized lessons, and the teacher has no time to do these lessons when they must use the entire block to have the student on the computer program. Then the principal even considers that block of time the ESL time, and the teacher has no other opportunity to do language acquisition or literacy lessons with those students. This is also sometimes a problem.
Our district uses a web hosting service called Edline. It is a great tool for teachers to develop simple, straightforward, no frills webpages for parents and students to access. Then another feature is that teachers can make certain content private so that only the staff they want to see it can see it. This is how the ESL department uses Edline. I add articles and websites that seem beneficial for my learners. I also house our district forms and data for teachers to easily access. Additionally, there is a blog section where I can update the teachers on what I have been working on lately, and they can send messages and post topics for discussion. This resource has not been used to its maximum potential, but it is only our first full year with it, and we are still growing in our knowledge of and capability of using it.
Coli Escher 