Term

Fall 2025

Capstone

Capstone Project

Degree Name

MAT

Facilitator(s)

Betsy Parrish

Content Expert

Kristina Robertson

Abstract

As the number of English Language Learners continues to increase, the need for successful co-teaching practices between English as a Second Language (ESL) and mainstream teachers has become a necessity. Yet, despite this high demand, there continues to be a lack of training around co-teaching, and inadequate consideration and support in creating and fostering strong co-teaching partnerships. Aside from the challenges of co-teaching, such as compatibility and power dynamics, the partnership with ESL teachers adds another dimension to the challenge of co-teaching: that being, the misconception that ESL as strategies based rather than a content, and insufficient training around explicit teaching of academic language. This project aims to address the gap between mainstream and ESL teachers, while also providing a framework for building strong collaboration. This three day professional development series provides co-teaching partners with exercises to address key barriers of collaboration such as compatibility, communicate effectively on difficult subjects such as power dynamics, and create academic language objectives to better support all students. The goal of the professional development is to create solid co-teaching foundations built on open communication, respect, and a shared responsibility of language learning.

Project Type

Professional Development

Keywords

ESL/ ELLs, Interdisciplinary Teaching, Teachers/ Teaching, Co-Teaching

dc_type

text

dc_publisher

DigitalCommons@Hamline

dc_format

application/pdf

dc_source

School of Education Student Capstone Projects

Included in

Education Commons

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