From Isolation to Partnership: ESL co-teaching leads to teacher leadership

With classrooms tucked away in the basement or makeshift spaces in auditoriums or lunchrooms, many English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teachers experience a sense of isolation that mirrors the stand-alone nature of the work they do with students. Often, English Language Learners (ELLs) are pulled from their classrooms at the elementary level to receive English language instruction in 40- to 80-minute periods. In secondary schools, ELLs are scheduled for up to three periods of ESL classes per day, and the curriculum taught in these classes is rarely aligned to content courses. ESL teachers are also isolated from their colleagues: they rarely join grade-level or team meetings and are often not invited to child study or instructional support meetings. In addition, what ESL teachers accomplish in their sessions with ELLs is often a mystery to many mainstream teachers.