Meeting the Needs of ESOL Co-Teachers

Abstract

This capstone identifies co-teaching barriers for ESOL teachers as a significant problem in ELL education and analyzes existing research concerning co-teaching challenges for ESOL teachers. Questions which guided this analysis include, “how can administrators support ESOL teachers?” and “what can ESOL teachers do to improve their co-teaching experiences?” Examination of case studies published in peer-review journals revealed that common co-teaching challenges for ESOL teachers are unclear professional identity roles, marginalization of their expertise, lack of co-planning time, and lack of administrative support. Administrators can support ESOL teachers better by limiting co-teacher pairs, scheduling co-planning time for collaboration, and creating CoPs with a shared commitment to ELL education. ESOL teachers can participate in collaborative co-teacher training activities to strengthen their partnership and co-plan using online platforms to work around lack of co-planning time. These results informed creation of a product which may help solve the problem of co-teaching challenges. The final product of this capstone is a professional development presentation about meeting the needs of ESOL co-teachers. It should be presented to administrators, content teachers, and ESOL teachers prior to the beginning of a new school year. The product is intended to train administrators on how to support ESOL teachers and provide co-teacher pairs with an opportunity to collaborate and negotiate roles and expectations in their partnership.