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00:00:00 --> 00:00:05 Welcome to Your Morning Boost, your daily leadership advice to help you lead your school community.
00:00:05 --> 00:00:09 Brought to you by AWB Education and sponsored by Grundmeyer Leader Services,
00:00:10 --> 00:00:14 where together we are transforming education, one leader at a time.
00:00:15 --> 00:00:18 Good morning and welcome to Your Morning Boost. My name is Melissa Grinstead
00:00:18 --> 00:00:21 and I am the lead ESOL contributor at AWB Education.
00:00:21 --> 00:00:26 I'm back as your host today and I'm looking forward to providing you with a
00:00:26 --> 00:00:29 tip or trick to help you with your mission of serving EL-identified students.
00:00:30 --> 00:00:36 So today's topic is providing effective feedback from a principal to an ESOL teacher.
00:00:36 --> 00:00:40 This is one that, when I'm working with ESOL teachers, gets brought up a lot.
00:00:40 --> 00:00:46 They sort of feel like they are an island in a sea of general education teachers,
00:00:46 --> 00:00:51 and often I hear, yeah, I had my evaluation and it went okay.
00:00:51 --> 00:00:54 And when I probe it, I'm like, well, you know, what did you hear?
00:00:54 --> 00:00:57 And they're like, well, I don't know. I mean, the feedback I got was just kind
00:00:57 --> 00:01:01 of generic, and it didn't seem to really match what I do for my job.
00:01:01 --> 00:01:04 And I think that's a valid statement when we think about.
00:01:05 --> 00:01:09 The nuances of being an ESOL teacher, and I think that it is really important
00:01:09 --> 00:01:14 that our administrators are intentional about providing feedback that's really
00:01:14 --> 00:01:17 specific to what the unique job of an ESOL teacher looks like.
00:01:17 --> 00:01:21 When ESOL teachers are teaching, they're not just teaching content,
00:01:21 --> 00:01:24 they're teaching language and culture simultaneously.
00:01:24 --> 00:01:28 And so I think our feedback has to be sensitive to that. And we need to consider
00:01:28 --> 00:01:34 providing specific observations and feedback around the strategies for language
00:01:34 --> 00:01:38 acquisition that we're noticing or differentiation for varying language proficiency
00:01:38 --> 00:01:42 levels and examples of culturally responsive teaching.
00:01:43 --> 00:01:45 Those are all sort of unique to the role of an ESOL teacher,
00:01:45 --> 00:01:49 and they work so hard to incorporate those elements into their practice.
00:01:49 --> 00:01:52 And I think those are some of the types of things that they're really seeking
00:01:52 --> 00:01:57 feedback on. So, for example, providing feedback to an ESL teacher that says.
00:01:57 --> 00:02:02 Your lesson didn't seem very engaging, might be sort of generic for an ESL teacher.
00:02:03 --> 00:02:07 Instead, maybe they could hear, I noticed that some students seemed a little
00:02:07 --> 00:02:10 hesitant to participate during your speaking activity.
00:02:10 --> 00:02:14 Have you thought about incorporating more peer work or providing some visual
00:02:14 --> 00:02:18 supports to aid that comprehension and encourage their participation?
00:02:18 --> 00:02:22 What other variables have been sort of holding them back? That's going to really
00:02:22 --> 00:02:27 focus on specific observations that are unique to the needs of an English learner
00:02:27 --> 00:02:31 and offer some more concrete suggestions to help improve practice.
00:02:31 --> 00:02:36 I think also a big thing that's important is that we help our ESOL teachers
00:02:36 --> 00:02:41 and really all of our teachers, right, know that their evaluation or their walkthrough
00:02:41 --> 00:02:45 or their observation isn't about just checking a box.
00:02:45 --> 00:02:50 I think our teachers are really seeking that we focus on the impact of their
00:02:50 --> 00:02:51 instruction on student learning.
00:02:51 --> 00:02:56 Anytime that we can anchor our feedback and statements about the progress that
00:02:56 --> 00:03:00 students are making in their language development, their ability to access the
00:03:00 --> 00:03:03 content because of some of the scaffolds and supports that we've put into place.
00:03:03 --> 00:03:07 Those kinds of things are going to be really powerful for the ESOL teachers to hear.
00:03:08 --> 00:03:12 I think it's also important to be mindful of the ESOL teacher's workload and
00:03:12 --> 00:03:16 keep it in mind as we are formulating our feedback,
00:03:16 --> 00:03:20 because sometimes it feels good for our ESOL teachers to know that it's recognized
00:03:20 --> 00:03:24 that they sometimes have additional responsibilities outside of maybe a typical
00:03:24 --> 00:03:26 general education teacher.
00:03:26 --> 00:03:29 That could be some of their language assessments that they have to do,
00:03:29 --> 00:03:31 the amount of staff that they need
00:03:31 --> 00:03:34 to collaborate with because of shared students, those types of things.
00:03:34 --> 00:03:37 It's important to remember that our feedback, of course,
00:03:37 --> 00:03:42 is going to center around classroom instruction, but it could also have a wider
00:03:42 --> 00:03:47 reaching net and talk about that collaboration with other students or what communication
00:03:47 --> 00:03:51 with parents looks like or what we've noticed about teachers seeking out their
00:03:51 --> 00:03:56 own professional development related to their pedagogy specific to being an ESOL teacher.
00:03:56 --> 00:04:00 We could talk about how we're noticing that they are collaborating with both
00:04:00 --> 00:04:04 general education and special education teachers in order to really understand
00:04:04 --> 00:04:09 and collaborate around a student's whole day and make sure that we're not duplicating
00:04:09 --> 00:04:13 services or missing services and that we are using common terminology to help
00:04:13 --> 00:04:15 avoid any confusion with students.
00:04:15 --> 00:04:19 Things like that are going to be very powerful for ESOL teachers to hear.
00:04:19 --> 00:04:25 I think it's important, too, as administrators to do our own learning around
00:04:25 --> 00:04:28 what is best practice in ESL instruction. How does that look different than
00:04:28 --> 00:04:30 maybe instruction in a general education classroom?
00:04:31 --> 00:04:34 Some of us need some learning on that, right? We might need to seek professional
00:04:34 --> 00:04:37 development ourselves or consult with an ESL specialist.
00:04:37 --> 00:04:41 But until we really get a grasp of that ourselves, it is going to be difficult
00:04:41 --> 00:04:45 for us to provide that really targeted and specific feedback that's going to
00:04:45 --> 00:04:48 help improve our practice of our ESL teachers.
00:04:49 --> 00:04:53 Conversely, we also need to provide our feedback to teachers around encouraging
00:04:53 --> 00:04:58 them to continue to seek out professional learning and connect and network with
00:04:58 --> 00:05:00 communities that are going to be specific to ESL.
00:05:00 --> 00:05:04 A lot of the professional development that tends to happen from a district level
00:05:04 --> 00:05:08 is more specific to general education content areas.
00:05:08 --> 00:05:11 And sometimes we need to be creative in the ways that we support our teachers
00:05:11 --> 00:05:15 and getting the unique professional learning they need to support them within
00:05:15 --> 00:05:17 their specific content area.
00:05:18 --> 00:05:21 With feedback and just providing that to our ESOL teachers.
00:05:22 --> 00:05:26 It's not a one-time event. We need to make sure that we're visible in those
00:05:26 --> 00:05:30 ESOL classrooms, providing those regular check-ins to make sure that our teachers
00:05:30 --> 00:05:33 are feeling supported, whether those are formal or informal,
00:05:33 --> 00:05:37 and just being intentional about celebrating the successes that we're seeing
00:05:37 --> 00:05:41 are going to be hugely powerful in helping our teachers feel efficacious and
00:05:41 --> 00:05:44 supported. That is your Morning Boost for today.
00:05:44 --> 00:05:47 Thanks for listening, and we will talk with you again soon. You have been listening
00:05:47 --> 00:05:52 to your Morning Boost by AWB Education in partnership with Grundmeyer Leader Services.
00:05:53 --> 00:05:57 You can find out more about our services by clicking on the links in the description.
00:05:58 --> 00:06:02 Remember, you are doing this vital job that only a few can do.
00:06:03 --> 00:06:06 So until next time, thank you for your service to your community.