By Linda Chantal Sullivan
As I read Nancy Bailey’s blog post, “Challenge to the Common Core King and Queen: Get Involved Really!,” I found myself vigorously nodding my head in agreement. How ridiculous that Bill and Melinda Gates say reforming our education system is the hardest job they’ve ever tackled.
I was thinking, “Yeah, you want to see what’s hard? Come spend a week with me!”
You see, I am a high school ELL teacher–English Language Learners for those who use other acronyms. My students are immigrants whose English skills range from nonexistent to advanced, but still not advanced enough to be considered English proficient. They are all LEP, or Limited English Proficient.
Nancy laid out a great list of what’s hard. Many of them really resonated with me but, as I read down the list, I thought about how much I have learned about high school ELLs that many may not know. Maybe I could add some of those to Nancy’s list. She invited me to and so here they are. My list is based not on statistics, but solely on my own fifteen years in the high school ELL classroom.
Here’s what’s hard:
- Kids who move here and speak little to no English but are required to enter mainstream classes immediately because we have no newcomer program for them. Yet teachers are required by federal law to make their curriculum accessible to ELLs. How do you do that with Common Core?
- Refugee kids who have had little or no education at all and don’t know the most basic beginning math, yet are placed in Algebra.
- Teaching Common Core to students instead of what they really need: numbers, the calendar, verbs, American culture, keyboarding skills. We have one keyboarding class per year in a school with 1500 students. Last year, we were forced to use the 3rd grade CC notebook. Our beginners didn’t understand a word of the stories; it was a complete disaster.
- Watching kids cry when told how many tests they need to pass in order to graduate. Seeing that look of despair on their faces because they know they can’t pass them. They’ve already tried, and are taking makeup tests in addition to another try at them in the spring.
- Hearing kids’ stories of hardship and not bursting into tears in front of them. Harrowing stories of dangerous voyages to avoid being killed, of leaving mothers, fathers and other family members, friends, and all personal belongings behind. Of feeling so scared and lonely.
- Always being forgotten. First and foremost, ELLs are the invisible ones. Even just this week, I found out that all other students received a PSAT preparation guide weeks before the all school testing day. I accidentally stumbled upon one in a Language Arts teacher’s room. So I asked for them and had just two days to show it to my students, instead of two weeks. Every time we have any event that requires a visit to all Language Arts classrooms, ELLs are forgotten.
- Watching kids lose that spark of enthusiasm when the elective they really wanted to take is taken away from them so they can be put in another LAP or Title 1 remedial math or English class. So then they have four math and English classes, plus science and social studies year after year.
- Not being our own department. Our district will not grant us department status because we have only one ELL teacher in each school. Never mind that we need more teachers, that our classes are too big to give kids the attention they need, that we are overwhelmed by state and federally mandated paperwork not imposed on mainstream classes. Special Education is a separate department. They have class size limits. They have extra time or stipends for their paperwork, but not ELL, even though we make up a greater proportion of the student body.
- Being totally stressed out at the beginning of the year to properly place newcomers, investigating ELL status for incoming students from our state, placement tests for those out of state/ country. Notifying parents of ELL status in multiple languages.
- Having to address disciplinary difficulties because ELLs have had no American school experience and don’t know how to behave. Dealing with students who are disrespectful because women have no status where they come from. Trying to show them that I care even though I’m giving another detention.
- Asking a mainstream teacher how I can help an ELL with her homework and being told, “It’s on the website.” The student doesn’t have a computer at home, and doesn’t know how to access the website at school. Even if I help her find it, she doesn’t understand the shorthand used to describe the assignment and, most of the time, neither do I.
- Having to go to all the other department Planning Learning Communities and ask teachers why the ELLs are failing and what they are doing to differentiate learning. I have to put teachers on the spot (I’m just a teacher myself!) so I can include it in my state compliance binder. The form says that I am responsible for developing the curriculum (Biology, PreCalculus, Sports Med, etc.) and the mainstream teacher for delivering it. Like I know anything about their courses!
Like Nancy, I could go on, but it’s depressing. We know what our students need. They are vulnerable human beings, not Common Core cookie cutter robots.
So come visit me Bill and Melinda Gates. We live in the same region near Seattle. Come hang out with us and tell me how you would reform ELL.
Or maybe, just maybe, you might listen Or maybe, just maybe, you might leave education to educators. We can only hope.
Linda Chantal Sullivan is a high school ELL teacher with a classroom near Seattle, Washington.
teaching children how to behave ? i think perhaps the children should be allowed to move around and not have to sit at a desk, stand in line and be quiet for over 6 hours a day. These are children and should be allowed to be so as far as I am concerned. The system is outdated and set up for indoctrination. Why people find it normal to hand over their children to strangers everyday is beyond me. Also it is not normal to expect them to learn how to behave from one adult supervising 24+ children all day that is insane. You surely wouldnt be open to doing so with 24+ neighborhood children in your own home now would you ? It is crazy.
Free yourself and your children they do not belong in a cold dirty building it is jail !
Schools can be lovely places where children come together and learn beautiful things. Linda is describing her difficult situation with the hope that it will improve and benefit children who are learning how to speak English. But you are right that they are children and should be treated like children. Today’s reforms make it difficult to do that.
Schools are nothing like jail; they are miraculous places! They are communities where children are cared for, fed, encouraged,, taught to think critically, given the tools to pursue a career, given opportunities to excel at academics, sports, arts, leadership, the trades, etc. Perhaps instead of writing that some students don’t know how to behave, I should have written that they come from a different culture and some don’t respect the expectations their teachers have of them. Teachers offer plenty of time for interaction, but students must also learn to listen to the teacher and to other students. It’s what we expect from them as adults. Nobody expects kids to sit still and be silent for six hours a day except the people crafting the high-stakes tests we teachers are forced to subject them to! Then our hearts break for them!
This is not my definition of a miraculous place for children:
Lets take a walk through the hallways of a pre-k through elementary public school today:
– wow not a peep can be heard in the hallways. children are told to constantly be quite and stand in line all day.
– no more tag or running on the playgrounds.
– lets just allow a 15 daily recess period
– lets plop them in front of electronics
– lets ask them to use critical thinking when their brains have not been developed for it
– lets extend the school day and year.
– lets take away birthday and holiday celebrations
No, I am sorry I disagree that forcing children to only interact with children the same group of children in a class of the same age group. Not to mention that they learn behaviors no necessarily good from these peers.
I think I speak for Linda when I say that neither of us want those things you list for students in school. If you look throughout my website you will find blog posts galore arguing against the things you mention. School reform or as some call it “deform” has done much damage to schools.
As far as age group, I suppose there is a discussion there, but there’s such a focus on high-stakes testing that few of talking about smaller classes.
On behalf of my colleagues who have commented on this article on Facebook, I must add that another problem for the teachers of ELLs is that when we are placed in an inclusive (“push-in”) mainstream classroom situation, they are expected to ‘co-teach’. This is virtually impossible given that there is rarely time to do any co-planning. 1) Teachers have different planning periods. 2) Many subject area teachers to not want to give up any control of what they are teaching, as they are usually the ones ultimately responsible for the success/failure of ALL their students. 3) As an ESOL teacher myself, it’s tough to “co-teach” in an area that is not my specialty (in my case, that would be math and science).
I totally agree with you, Ann. I have not had to co-teach for many years now, but I remember being a bit “in-the-way.” We simply haven’t had the personnel to continue this, anyway. One ELL teacher per high school and that’s it! And no paras – none. What I have learned over the years watching mainstream teachers is that ELL is a highly specialized skill. One can always be better at teaching ELLs and all children with GLAD or SIOP training, but I’ve come to see how important our skills are to the success of ELLs. I do not mean to sound arrogant. On the contrary; I would be the first to admit that I couldn’t teach any math or science course.
In my district, at the elementary level, we don’t have any teachers. Only Paras like me. And we are asked to do everything described in the article.
I love the idea of co-teaching. Co-teaching the way it’s supposed to be done. We aren’t forced to co-teach in my district because there aren’t enough of the ESL teachers to go around!! I am thankful for administration that understands we can’t truly co-teach when we have to switch classes every 30 minutes!
Is cost-cutting the goal, Ann? I think so–to the detriment of the student. Thank you for bringing this up. Resource and self-contained classes have gotten a bad name,
Amazing post! I shared this with all of my colleagues who teach ELLs in Chicago. Here are some more:
1) Being held responsible for completing English proficiency testing all on your own and literally giving up prep periods and lunch to get ACCESS testing done
2) Giving an English proficiency exam that native English speakers wouldn’t pass
3) Teaching in a bilingual classroom with no resources or books and staying up past midnight every day to create engaging activities
4) Having no translators for students who speak languages other than Spanish
5) Being beaten down by state and federal regulators for meager state and Title III funds and receiving very little funding in return
6) Administrators and politicians who tell families not to value their native languages and cultures
I’m sure there’s more!
Thank you, Ajay, for your additions! I agree!, especially with your first point! That is a huge issue in Auburn, WA schools! I was trying not to complain about the situation for ELL teachers per se, but more for the students. I am lucky to have a wonderful principal who celebrates diversity. We have a giant Multicultural Fair twice a year during our two lunches where students set up booths and show off their culture with food and artifacts.. Students are encouraged to sing/dance and our audience is always enthralled. But as far as my workload goes? It looks like a bomb went off in my classroom and my ELL Compliance Binder for the State of Washington has papers thrown all around it on the floor. The auditor’s going to love that come January!!
Imagine being a para and asked to do that. This is my situation in WA state. Illegal? Yes, but our district gets away with it year after year.
I teach second grade, bilingual students and it breaks my heart to see these children being compared to other mainstream students with regard to having to meet the same benchmark scores throughout the year. Last year my students showed amazing growth, however as they progressed, so did the benchmark expectations, therefore making it impossible for ell students to demonstrate their progress. My students are hard workers and eager to please, however we cannot fill in the gaps that they bring with them through the common core. Common core assumes that children bring rich background knowledge…which we ell teachers all know is untrue.
Enl students deserve the equity and Respect that is given to all students regardless of background. The time is now to make ell reforms and créate a currículum that makes sense For our students with little command Of the english language.
These have been my sentiments for years. Thank you for stating it again! As a high school ELL teacher for the past 17 years (near Seattle), it is extremely frustrating to be forgotten when ELA information comes into the building. I was never given information with the English Department, it was always “an afterthought”. Newcomers were told they’d be excellent candidates for AP courses, and then I’d be the “bad buy” who said now wasn’t the right time. Bill Gates would be welcome in my classroom, too. How does he expect a student with a 5th grade level of schooling (at best) to be successful in Algebra 1 (the lowest level of math in high school)?
I see that we are in neighboring districts, Barbara! Kindred spirits in our struggle! How about that one section of the Compliance Binder where you have to list every ELL, how many minutes of sheltered instruction with they are receiving per week with you or another teacher (making sure you know who is SIOP trained!) listing YOU as the one who designs their curriculum? We should meet for coffee sometime near the Muckleshoot Casino.!
I am a para in WA state up near Canada. We have zero ELL teachers over the program but have to run ELL programs on our own. We schedule, lesson plan and do all the testing and test scheduling. All for 20 grand per year. How the district has been getting away with this for over a decade is beyond me.
Yana, you have an incredibly tough job. I was a high school, special education teacher outside of Chicago in a community that was 70% Latino. My classes were mostly Latino kids some with genuine special ed needs, some who needed ELL. Fortunately I taught self contained classes of limited size and I had good paras; my last one is now a teacher. I know how hard I worked: 70 hour weeks were not at all uncommon, so I can imagine what you face completely on your own without full teacher training. Special ed required us to write IEPs and sign legal documents of various kinds. I do not know what the requirements are for ESL; just don’t let them put you in a position where you could be held legally responsible.
Linda’s blog post was published in Valerie Strauss’s The Answer Sheet.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/11/06/why-its-hard-to-be-a-teacher-of-english-language-learners-by-an-ell-teacher/