How Does Play Help Children's Development?

In addition to its benefits as a planning tool, ESL and general education teachers can collaborate in order to meet the specific needs of their struggling English language learners.

In a collaborative context, teachers realize the benefits of working together. Collaboration saves time and maximizes curriculum. Further, teachers spend less time working in isolation. Since school districts do not provide teachers with specific guidelines on how to collaborate, teachersneed to develop their own guidelines for collaboration which reflect their experience and goals. As part of our collaborative plan, we started out creating a working definition of our struggling ELLs. We wanted to create a possible model for implementing collaboration techniques. Of course, teachers will also need to monitor themselves on implementing the guidelines. They will also need to document the progress of their students and then plan as a whole to ensure ongoing success.

When teachers successfully develop a plan for their own collaboration, they ensure that their instructional goals and objectives will be met. It makes sense then to learn what works for other teachers so they can meet the needs of their own struggling ELLs.

We started our journey as two teachers, one general education and one ESL, who each knew very little about how the other classroom was structured. We also knew that there was a common "thread" that linked our work as teachers instructing struggling ELLs in our classrooms. In Tracie's general education class there were several ELLs. Meeting the diverse needs of her ELLs meant constantly finding interesting and successful ways to keep them on task. In Dorit's ESL class the emphasis was on learning the language. Dorit needed to ensure that her struggling ELLs were also acquiring word-text based skills.

One of the assumed goals of collaboration is that teachers can work together to better meet the needs of their students, particularly struggling ELLs. Dorit comments to Tracie on the issue of meeting student needs.

I've noticed that throughout our conversations, you ask me to clarify how the needs of struggling ELLs fit into the general education classroom. Many general education teachers face the reality that there is no obvious relationship or connection between ESL and general education teachers. By asking questions, it is becoming clearer to you how a needs analysis of struggling ELLs has a direct implication on collaborative strategies between general education and ESL teachers. - Dorit

The Benefits of Using Collaboration to Support Struggling ELLs

Collaboration at the critical level of K-2 serves a purpose when teachers are able to support their ELLs' decoding with deeper understanding. Many general education teachers realize that their struggling ELLs need more than just reading support. A focus only on reading support can cause them to struggle and become at risk. These students may not acquire the decoding, fluency, and other reading skills they will need to succeed in subsequent grades. At the critical stages of K-2 instruction, teachers need to make sure that struggling ELLs can make connections between oral and written forms of words. Before addressing the details, however, teachers will need to consider a collaborative plan.

Creating a Supportive Learning Environment (moved this from a later section)

Collaboration creates a supportive learning environment for teachers and for students. When teachers collaborate frequently and consistently, they are able to optimize the learning environments. They can provide more scaffolding strategies to meet all levels of struggling ELLs in both ESL and general education groups. Collaboration helps relieve stress. Effective collaboration is built on common goals and expectations. Teachers can be more organized and structured in their lesson planning, conducting and evaluating learning activities, and assessing student progress. Such structure is necessary for struggling ELLs because they often get lost in following directions, cues, and prompts. Knowing what to teach and how to use procedures help with the overall flow and classroom organization.

As we conducted our research, we learned that schools use a variety of configurations for ESL and ELL/general education classrooms. Regardless of how ESL and general education classes are set up, collaboration can result in a supportive learning environment for teachers as well as students.

Initially, the relationship between ESL and general education teachers may not lend itself to support and collaboration. For instance, the ESL teacher might come into the general education classroom to help, but may be made to feel like a teacher's aide. Or, the ELLs students might be separate in another classroom where they may or may not be learning the same curriculum as their native peers. J. Pierce shared her experience. "When I taught we had an in class model where the ELL aides came in and supported my kids in any way I needed. We gave out monthly vocabulary lists ahead of time to help them know what kinds of lessons were coming up. Each teacher used the aide time as they saw fit."

One possible model for implementing collaboration within the local school setting is shown in Issues to be decided between ELL General Education teachers and ESL teachers. This chart presents the ideal collaborative efforts on classroom issues that should be decided between ELL general education teachers and ESL teachers for each student including those in question for being at-risk before the onset of reading instruction begins. Teachers will need resources and support from administration and colleagues to successfully use such collaborative models to create supportive environments for struggling ELLs.

Make Your Teaching Sparkle. Teach for Success. Make a difference in the classroom.

Subscribe to receive your FREE e-zine and e-book, "Taking Charge in the Classroom" when you visit the New Teacher Resource Center at http://www.newteachersignup.com. By : Dorit Sasson

How Construction Safety Education Can Give Workers The Advantage

It's up to every single person to keep each other safe on the construction site. Even though there is someone in charge of making sure everyone is working safely and wearing a safety vest, it takes a team effort to have as least-dangerous a site as possible.

Regulations

Safety is a huge concern in the construction business, and there are some eye-opening facts and figures to prove this. Handfuls of laws have been passed and there's legislation to prevent injury, but nothing can match the personal responsibility of the workers themselves. Having said this, construction safety training is a necessary part of being a responsible part of the team. Workers are required by law to be notified of any hazardous materials or conditions they might be working with, and this is an important part of the safety routine.

Team Work

When all the separate components work together, construction becomes a finely tuned machine. One part of this infrastructure is the expertise of an engineer or engineers. One of their jobs is to ensure scaffolding and other temporary structures are sturdy and safe to work on. Another part of the team are certified safety trainers, people who have professional knowledge of construction safety. By learning everything about the ins and outs of the construction site, workers gain the upper hand in safety. Wearing a safety vest is a huge part of on-site precautions. They are actually required by law and give workers an advantage: visibility.

Safety Education

One very important thing is being certified to operate the machinery on site. Many will blow this thought off and say they learned everything they need to know from experience, but knowing how to operate something and knowing how to operate something correctly are two very different things. Official certification is required and criteria need to be met for the both the OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) and the MSHA Mine Safety and Health Administration, as well as the Tort Law, which is a type of private law that covers personal liability. If these requirements aren't met, the construction company could get into trouble with the law. The training to operate machinery often comes along with the purchase of the machine, but if not, it's important that the training comes from somewhere else. This training often entails work in a workbook, watching videos, and taking a final quiz in order to acquire the Certificate of Completion.

This seems like a given, since who would want to work on a site where people operated machinery they never learned how to handle? Not only are the machines quite deadly in themselves, but if you put an inexperienced operator behind the controls, things could get even worse. Avoid issues with the law and unnecessary injury by letting untrained workers operate machinery.

When it comes right down to it, everyone on the site is responsible for enforcing the ANSI reflective vest rules. It's easy to understand how after hours and hours of repetition, it can get easy to get lazy about some safety measures, but practicing good safety and being mindful of the laws is never. A great place to start with safety is by making sure everyone has a proper construction safety vest. By: Joseph Troyer