Leading PD on how to work with ELLs can be a great opportunity to help others better understand how to serve English learners in schools.

Leading PD can also be a little overwhelming, especially if you’re not sure what to cover.

I’ve got your back!

I’ve included some great ideas below that you can use with your next professional development session.

Let’s jump into it.

Let’s Not Pretend There Aren’t Challenges

I remember doing a PD with new teachers at our school a number of years ago. As I was talking, I noticed one of the teachers off to one side doing a lot of writing in their provided PD packet. I was super pumped and felt like my presentation must be going extremely well for someone to be taking such copious notes.

Turns out…

They were just drawing pictures and practicing signing their name. 😂

Let’s put the niceties aside.

Teachers are busy and they’re not necessarily very interested in your professional development, especially teachers who feel that they know more than you do and have nothing to learn from you.

Ugh. Yes. It would be nice if everyone showed up with an open mind and a little humility, but, alas…humanity.

It does little good to get upset about that. You may still be able to get through to some of these teachers, but just keep the 80/20 rule in mind.

80% of the teachers in your PD will likely get something out of it if it’s well-prepared.
20% will likely not, regardless of what you do.

We can increase the percentage of people who walk away with some helpful takeaways if we keep a few things in mind:

Stay on Topic! I like to have a solid outline of what I plan on covering and then practice going through it a bunch of times in my head before the presentation.
Choose 2-3 main takeaways – Don’t try to cover everything and the school lunchroom sink.
Focus on actionable behaviors. Example: Here are 3 things you can do today to help your English learners succeed in your classroom.
Use stories from your own experience to illustrate – especially those that show some humility of your own so that you don’t come off as a pompous as…terisk.

Just to Reiterate – Teachers Are Going to Forget 90% of What You Say

I used to spend a lot of time writing feedback for teachers after observing their classes. I’d sit down with them afterward and go through all of the feedback with them.

Later, I would check in again on their classes and notice that they had implemented exactly 0% of what I had recommended.

When I asked for feedback on how I could better help support them, most of them came up with 1 or 2 things that I had said that they had found helpful.

1 or 2 things out of 50. 😭

Most everything you say is going to be forgotten. Focus on 1-3 things and get teachers practicing implementing those things, experiencing those things, talking about those things. It’s what we aim to do with our English learners; we should not aim lower when we are leading professional development.

List of PD Ideas from EL Teachers – Organized by Category

– Creating Understanding & Empathy

Empathy. I taught a lesson in a foreign language without modifications first, then with mods. Teachers liked it! Some even said they were changing their way of teaching! – Rosa B.
I did one and focused on strategies and tools to help them in the gen-ed setting. I also focused on reminding them how these students feel. Giving them materials in other languages and expecting them to know the material. We also discussed the emotional trauma they experience as a immigrant, refugee, or other newcomer status. – Jennifer S.
SEL and understanding it is more than just language instruction. – Liz K.
I did a PowerPoint that emphasized what they need to understand about our ELL’s. We take things like that for granted that they should know. – Della G.
Cultural sensitivity for students and their families – Cheryl L.

– Teaching Teachers Content in another Language

One of the most impactful lessons for me in grad school was being taught the water cycle in Spanish…but with lots of scaffolds and strategies to support me.
This year I facilitated a PD in which I taught a 2-step math problem…in Vietnamese! First I taught as “coldly”as possible, and most teachers shared they were confused, frustrated, or just guesses and hoped for the best. Then I taught the lesson again, this time with picture and gesture support, word banks, sentence stems, partner work, and a few key vocabulary provided in English, etc., and all teachers were able to be more successful. Some even wrote their responses in Vietnamese correctly, using the stems! The feedback I received was positive, with teachers sharing how it felt to hear a different language for extended time and how difficult that was, or how successful/defeated they felt based on what supports I provided each time. – Annie N.
Examples of what comprehensible input looks like (and sharing Valentina Gonzalez’s brilliant video showing what instruction looking like without and with CI) and how to adjust assignments to allow comprehensible output. – Krysten K.

– Specific Strategies You Can Cover

Glad Strategies – Guided Language Acquisition Design – it’s basically a collection of research based strategies that help all learners, but especially ELL students. I took a week long training years ago. Look into it & see if it’s offered in your area. Powerful strategies! – Lisa C.
SWIRL Strategies – we use the acronym SWIRL (speaking, writing, interacting, reading, and listening) and that through the week, each subject should be swirling the domains throughout lessons. – Sarah M.
Teaching the basics of SIOP is good for content area teachers. Or just presenting about how to teach vocab and build background knowledge. – Maureen R.
I focus on helping them increase student to student interactions and reducing the linguistic burden of their content. Also accommodated objectives. If you overload them, they tune out – Eleni P.
Academic Conversations – Jodie M.

– How to Modify Content

Understanding the basics: what does it mean to achieve language proficiency, what it means to modify assignments and assessments, what WIDA standards mean in lesson planning. I save strategies for last. – Mon W.
Scaffolding based on student ELP level and explicit vocab support. – Kacie A.
Subtitles: One thing we always include is to show them how to put Spanish subtitles on Youtube vids and set the speed at .75. – Paula M.
How to make their content comprehensible and how to get students at different proficiency levels to comprehend the basic content objective and then demonstrate through application their understanding – Lynda F.
Coteaching and accommodations – Francys M.
Demonstration on how to modify assignments & homework for different Proficiency Levels. – Juliette G.

– Understanding Student Data

Asked teachers at end to write down greatest challenge teaching ELs, how ELs are a positive asset in class, and ELs greatest need. Since we’re a WIDA state, I go over how to analyze ACCESS scores and use WIDA and TESOL resources to help know to support learning and combine content goals with language goals. I provide some models then ask teachers in small groups to use anonymous students scores to provide built in supports for lessons they usually teach. I provide a list of resources such as texts in native languages, EL support materials and online resources (Ex. Brainpop has lesson plans aligned with curriculum and EL accommodations, Read/Write Google app also very helpful.) – Georgia M.
We spend a lot of time looking over our Access scores and focusing our PD on the areas of concern. It’s generally speaking, writing, and vocabulary. We’ve done a lot on comprehensible input as well. – Tamara D.
I show teachers proficiency scores, share background information on each student, and give examples of ways to accommodate. – Heather L.
The legal obligations of meeting the language level, and translation for families. – Cheryl L.
Our ELD team focused on 1) legal responsibilities and 2) how to modify and accommodate appropriately for ELs based upon their current English proficiency level. We also have done a simulator where content teachers feel what it’s like to be an EL. During the simulator we implement common strategies and ask the audience how they felt with each one (which were most effective). – Tracy R.
How are EL students identified and what that means.