Graduate Students Teach English Language Learners
As part of Missouri State University’s ongoing commitment to the Public Affairs pillars of Cultural Competence and Community Engagement, graduate students in the English department have the option of earning a certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages or TESOL. The iELT-Ozarks Project supports in-service teachers working to complete this certificate and earn their licensure for teaching K-12 English learners. The project is funded by a National Professional Development grant seeking to improve engagement with the families of English learners. This outreach is part of educators’ compliance with the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, a federal law mandating programs and activities be provided to involve families in a student’s education. Graduate students in this program must already have a Missouri teaching certificate and complete 30 credit hours, 21 of which are in the English department, concluding with an in-service practicum. Each member of the three iELT-funded cohorts must create a family engagement project designed to fill any gaps in their school’s program and to include the English-learning students’ family. Project proposals are developed over multiple semesters by collecting and analyzing data within the school to find weak points in student’s education. Educators aim to build into the existing culture of the school materials or activities that include many different home languages and cultures.
Fostering a Classroom Community
Cohort members use outreach projects as a way to form partnerships with families to improve the achievements of their students. They strive to create sustainable activities on a variety of topics for students and families, such as volunteering, collaborating with the community, and learning at home. Past projects include translating basic documents like the school handbook or website into the students’ native languages. Others included an in-person event with translated flyers and interpreters. One member of Cohort 2, Miranda Hagin-Schaefer hosted a coffee house themed event for her family engagement project where students shared their preparation for the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) testing. Families recorded encouraging video messages in their native language for students to watch before testing, and students chose from a variety of multilingual books to take home. Hagin-Schaefer wrote in reflection of the event “The family engagement project allowed me to look at the needs within our school from a different lens. We have school-wide events, but how many times were our English Learners neglected in the planning?”
Due to COVID-19, cohort members have shifted focus to accommodate for the challenges of remote learning. Some teachers are offering office hours and are available to families electronically via translation apps. Families have been provided with numerous resources for troubleshooting programs or wireless network issues, interpreters/translators, and lists of school and community services.
The iELT-Ozarks team is proud of the lasting effect these projects have had and will continue to have on and within schools and districts. The goal of the family engagement project is best summarized by a quote from one teacher’s self-assessment of the project, “I have celebrated so many successes with the students this year. I have learned that every family is created differently. In serving them well, you have to go in, meet them where they are at, and help them grow. Now, more than ever, I believe that every student in my class is a learner and a leader.”