Last year I was able to attend a Pro-D Zoom session with Diane Staehr Fenner through the BCTESOL. The topic was “Culturally Responsive Teaching for Multilingual Learners”, which echoes her book Advocating for English Learners. Staehr Fenner has built her work around creating and championing “equitable and excellent education” for all, especially those new to learning English.
As Specialists, we are sometimes the resource person, professional learning facilitator, committee member, cultural broker, instructional coach, mentor, and/or department head. I would caution against using language like being an advocate “gives a voice to those who have not yet developed a strong voice of their own” or that we should be “stepping in to take appropriate actions on their behalf.” Much like the ultimate goal of language support is for the students to take the learning and tools into their own lives, I think that our role requires a gradual release of responsibility and we need to tap into the voices and strengths that our Emerging Bilingual families and Newcomers are already bringing to the table.
Many of the prominent voices in this profession are still overwhelmingly white and English-first speaking, so I think that there is still much work to do so that the voices and stories that we are championing are from those with lived experience. Kimberlé Crenshaw’s theory of Intersectionality is an analytical framework that I have been reading about for a little while now and I think that ELL Specialist teacher training is well on the way to opening up pedagogy to and recognizing how a “person's social and political identities combine to create different modes of discrimination and privilege.” Included in all the roles I mentioned above, we should also be “passing the mic” and connecting ELL families to the resources already in place by them and for them, as well as championing for more/better access within the systems currently in place.
This is where the idea of “Specialist as Ambassador” comes into play, for me. In the document How Educators Can Advocate for English Language Learners (2015) from the American National Education Association, they outline that ELLs are not at a deficit, but intentionally underserved, as “the number of programs and dollars spent per ELL student are in decline, even as the number of ELL students has skyrocketed.” I have personally experienced this here this year in SD63, as one of my students is the literal poster child for their new 5 year strategic plan, yet jobs were cut from the ELL and Learning Support programs to cover the addition of 5 paid sick days for TTOCs.
As Specialists, we are sometimes the resource person, professional learning facilitator, committee member, cultural broker, instructional coach, mentor, and/or department head. I would caution against using language like being an advocate “gives a voice to those who have not yet developed a strong voice of their own” or that we should be “stepping in to take appropriate actions on their behalf.” Much like the ultimate goal of language support is for the students to take the learning and tools into their own lives, I think that our role requires a gradual release of responsibility and we need to tap into the voices and strengths that our Emerging Bilingual families and Newcomers are already bringing to the table.
Many of the prominent voices in this profession are still overwhelmingly white and English-first speaking, so I think that there is still much work to do so that the voices and stories that we are championing are from those with lived experience. Kimberlé Crenshaw’s theory of Intersectionality is an analytical framework that I have been reading about for a little while now and I think that ELL Specialist teacher training is well on the way to opening up pedagogy to and recognizing how a “person's social and political identities combine to create different modes of discrimination and privilege.” Included in all the roles I mentioned above, we should also be “passing the mic” and connecting ELL families to the resources already in place by them and for them, as well as championing for more/better access within the systems currently in place.
This is where the idea of “Specialist as Ambassador” comes into play, for me. In the document How Educators Can Advocate for English Language Learners (2015) from the American National Education Association, they outline that ELLs are not at a deficit, but intentionally underserved, as “the number of programs and dollars spent per ELL student are in decline, even as the number of ELL students has skyrocketed.” I have personally experienced this here this year in SD63, as one of my students is the literal poster child for their new 5 year strategic plan, yet jobs were cut from the ELL and Learning Support programs to cover the addition of 5 paid sick days for TTOCs.
“These bright young people have so much to offer their schools and communities, yet all too often they’re seen through a deficit lens. Too many are struggling in school when they should be soaring.” (p.4)
“English Language Learners deserve the same right to a great public-school
education as their English-speaking peers. They deserve access to a rich curriculum and validation of their home language and culture. They deserve educators
who are trained to teach them, schools that welcome their families, and fair funding. They deserve an education community that shares a sense of urgency and
responsibility for their well-being. They deserve the best we have to give them.”
(p. 5)
Here in BC, our ELL Standards and best practices are outlined in specific Ministry documents. To be an Ambassador for these practices is to link teachers and administrators to the already-in-place, and mandatory, ways of teaching and learning.
SD8 (Kootenay Lake) has an excellent summary page of resources and documents HERE.
Do you have experience with being an Advocate or Ambassador?
SD8 (Kootenay Lake) has an excellent summary page of resources and documents HERE.
Do you have experience with being an Advocate or Ambassador?