FBA Section 10

Parent recommendations: It would benefit this school to design specific ways to

establish a supportive home environment. This should allow parents to feel included
and necessary in their childs education. Based on the model program research, one
good model is that of Jasinskys parent program. Parents are given workshops and
materials to reach these goals. Home communication at this school is done, but it might
be of benefit for established methods to be required of all teachers so that
communication is always timely. Some parents might be in contact more or less often
than others, and they might not wish to or know how to ask for more communication or
support.
Administration recommendations: The development of a peer coaching program
would benefit the school enormously. With the pull-out model used only for English
classes, most other content teachers have ELLs in the classroom. The faculty needs
training and above all support to provide the best methods and practices for the ELLs.
The faculty is in a way students themselves and administration needs to provide
continuous support, as opposed to a few in-service hours at the beginning of the school
year. Administration should also hold regular meetings geared specifically for the
purpose of providing aid to teachers. Administration should also consider constructing
double periods for ELL classes. This lab period could be tremendously helpful for ESL
teachers who want to spend more time with demonstrations or hands-on activities,
which sometimes cannot be completed in a single class period.
Teacher recommendations: To help teachers support students, they should be
trained in best practices. All teachers should be familiar with Can-Do descriptors,
scaffolding, and adaptation. Ogle and Correa-Kovtuns Partner Reading and Content,
Too (PRC2) is a specific model that can be used in any classroom for reading.
Teachers would have circulation time to informally assess students on their skills. This
is something that should be done for often at the high school level. Many secondary
teachers provide lecture, and even with anticipation guides or printed notes or visuals,
the lecture is not very helpful to ELLs in either social or academic language acquisition.
Other models such as MMIO and SIOP should be utilized in every content classroom.
Paraprofessional recommendations: This school does not employ any
paraprofessionals expressly for ELLs, but there are substitute teachers, cafeteria staff,
and secretaries. Teachers of ESL and content should be sure to provide explicit written
direction to any substitute who teaches a class with ELLs. The school could also
provide these teachers with a handbook on how best to relate to ELLs and help them.
Dos and Donts, name pronunciation, ELP levels, etc. should be provided. The cafeteria
staff could be responsible for providing daily menus or even an alternate weekly menu
with pictures or graphics. It is likely that the cafeteria will serve food some ELLs may
have never seen before. This is also useful in the case of allergies. The school nurse
and the cafeteria staff can work together to be sure allergens are clearly marked and
the students are aware of their alternatives.
Policy Maker recommendations: Those who can write and enact policy should take
into consideration the time and materials teachers need. The funding should be there
for the best resources, trainings, and continued education. I firmly believe that policy
should exist that requires every teacher to have ESL training, measurable training, so
that ELLs are not ignored or given half-hearted attempts at education. I also believe
policy makers should make available to any school a translator at no cost to the school.
Use of L1 can be extremely helpful with the students and with parents, so each school
should be provided with the services of any L1 speaker the school needs.