Inclusion & ESL

A new school year has begun, along with new challenges. RTI (Response To Intervention) has added a several time restrictions on English/Language Arts and Math. For example, in first grade, students have to have 90 uninterrupted minutes of English/Language Arts. This "uninterrupted" part means I cannot pull my ESL students during that time. I have found tiny loopholes in grades K-2, but I have found it to be very difficult to pull in the upper grades. As a result, I will be doing inclusion in grades 3-5.

Inclusion...what does that even mean?! To me inclusion is a time where I (the ESL teacher) come into the classroom and help my ELL's with difficulties they are having in that class. I've done research on what that is supposed to look like, and the most effective form of inclusion is called co-teaching. This involves the regular classroom teacher and myself getting together to plan lessons that will benefit all students. Unfortunately, this is not happening at my school but I've had to tell myself that it will be ok. This is the first year inclusion has been done for ESL at my school. So I am going to take this year to learn what will work best for my students and what doesn't. It will also give me a chance to kind of "train" the regular classroom teachers on what inclusion should really look like. I have faith that it will work out because I work with a great group of regular classroom teachers.

I have found some very good benefits to being in the classroom instead of pulling my students out. One example is that they aren't missing anything. In the past, I had to pull some grades out of their science and social studies periods. Now, I won't have to do that and therefore my students are finally getting that information. Secondly, I am seeing what they are actually working on in their classrooms and it helps me plan for what I can help them with to help them be more successful. I have also been asking the teachers to give me things I can work with them on and they have which is great.

One thing I am struggling with is how to incorporate the WIDA standards when I am in the classroom. This is Tennessee's first year with WIDA. As you can see, this is a big year for me in ESL. It has started off a little rocky, but I have to believe it will get better. I've got so much to learn. It has shown me that no teacher ever "arrives," and those who think they have, are not looking out for the best interest of their students. We as teachers need to be very flexible and constantly working on improving ourselves to be more and more effective for our students.