Coaching Teachers in Bilingual and Dual-Language Classrooms. Alexandra Guilamo
other means of staffing these programs. Strategies to encourage bilingual and dual-language teaching careers include “creating alternative certification pathways, establishing partnerships with other countries to identify teachers with appropriate partner language skills, [and] increasing recruitment efforts” (López, 2014). These strategies have helped get bilingual and dual-language instructors into schools. However, because they lack the preservice education provided through more traditional certification paths, they need intensive support through classroom observation and coaching to help them be effective in the classroom.
These teachers—often the youngest and least experienced ones to enter the field—need guidance and support to continually build their capacity. As new teachers, they actively want to be part of an education community that learns and grows together in meaningful ways. In order to provide that, education leaders must be well-versed in the benefits and advantages of quality programs. They must also accept and be prepared to leverage the opportunity to observe and coach teachers who arguably need support the most, regardless of whether they speak the language of instruction (Harris & Sandoval-Gonzalez, 2017).
The Definition of a Coach
In this book, I use the term coach broadly to identify people who might wear a number of hats, which is often the case in education. Most important, a coach is not defined by a title. A coach can be a principal, an instructional or a dual-language specialist, a grade-level leader, or a coordinator. More than an official job title, it is what educators practice—how they leverage knowledge, skills, modes of communication, and so on—during their interactions with each teacher that helps us understand who the coach should be. This book gives coaches and prospective coaches the information and tools they need to enter classrooms and improve teacher practice, which in turn leads to higher student achievement.
By providing critical tools for coaching, this book develops coaches’ ability to build relationships defined by open communication, so the coach and teacher can work to improve the most high-leverage skills, strategies, and practices. It provides coaches with a process they can use to help improve the confidence of the teachers they work with, helping them use objective evidence they receive from observation to more accurately determine their own strengths and opportunities to improve their practice. Finally, guiding questions and tools will help coaches build confidence in their own abilities to fairly and consistently consider what is unique and different about bilingual and dual-language classrooms and work with teachers to implement effective strategies.
In This Book
I used a number of contexts as guides in developing this book. The work I have done with hundreds of coaches, building administrators, district leaders, and educators in a range of program models helped me shape the challenges and needed supports into a schema. In addition, I referenced theoretical frameworks from dual-language education, bilingual education, various evaluation instruments, various coaching models, and several change models in developing the observation and feedback cycle and the action-planning templates embedded in every chapter.
Part 1 includes chapters 1–3 and answers the question, What essential skills or perspectives do coaches need to focus the observation and feedback cycle into continuous opportunities to transform bilingual and dual-language instruction? Chapter 1 introduces the goals, challenges, and keys for creating a fair observation and feedback cycle when observing instruction that leverages another language. It also provides an overview of the unique stages and steps included in the observation and feedback cycle. Chapter 2 explores the eight goals of the observation and feedback cycle and theoretical frameworks coaches need to identify effective practices within the context of the program and school mission and vision. Finally, chapter 3 helps coaches distinguish what effective feedback looks, sounds, and feels like when it leads to action and improved student outcomes.
Part 2 includes chapters 4–7 and answers the question, What are the four stages of the observation and feedback cycle, and how can teachers consistently and correctly engage in this cycle if they don’t speak the language of instruction? Chapter 4 describes the changes in mindset teachers and coaches must establish to lay the foundation for the observation and feedback cycle. Chapter 5 describes the actions that both teacher and coach need to take prior to the observation to minimize the impact of language on the quality of evidence the observer is able to collect. Chapter 6 explains the observation process for coaches. This process is the heart of the book because it encompasses the most important and difficult work that a coach must do. Bilingual and dual-language classrooms are dynamic environments. They require the coach to think creatively, recognize creativity, and be able to trust his or her own judgment, yet remain open to new ideas and other perspectives. In order to generate value from this process, coaches must be able to articulate what they observe and share their insights about complex behaviors and interactions. Chapter 7 describes the post-observation conference, offering a clear model for coaches that connects the act of gathering accurate evidence from a variety of sources with identifying high-leverage feedback.
The book concludes with two appendices, which take a more detailed look at various program models and offer answers to the most frequently asked questions by coaches and teachers.
When coaches understand the complexities of these classrooms and have the tools to overcome the language barrier, they realize how much they can contribute to teacher and student success. Bilingual and dual-language teachers serve the fastest-growing student demographic in the United States, and they deserve and require these supports. That is the goal of this book—to provide the tools that coaches need to level the playing field in schools. In the end, structuring schools to provide equal access to instructional supports is the only way to make it work for all teachers and transform outcomes for students.
Part 1
Essential Skills for Implementing the Observation and Feedback Cycle
CHAPTER 1
Fair Observations in Bilingual and Dual-Language Classrooms
Many coaches have asked me about the need for a new set of tools that ensures a fair observation and feedback cycle for bilingual and dual-language classrooms. They want to trust the efficacy of the tools at their immediate disposal. Their questions usually sound something like this: “Aren’t the district-adopted observation and evaluation frameworks designed for just that? Don’t they ensure quality of instruction that leads to student achievement? If so, how could using anything else be considered fairer?” When it comes to language learners, the answer is both yes and no. It is not a question of what these frameworks were designed to do. Teacher evaluation frameworks are used by every school to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of teachers against a common definition of good teaching. These frameworks are used by building administrators and coaches not only for evaluating teacher quality, but to guide coaches in the capacity-building efforts with teachers, as well.
Instead, it is more a question of how to get the right evidence during an observation. The important point to understand is that if we are to have fair observations in bilingual and dual-language classrooms, we must have clear practices in place for observing effectively and accurately, regardless