Term

Spring 2019

Capstone

Capstone Project

Degree Name

MAT

Facilitator(s)

Trish Harvey

Content Expert

Emily Curtis

Abstract

As the population of the United States continues to grow more and more diverse, schools are adapting to meet the needs of their changing student populations. A common program model for educating English language learners is co-teaching between an ESL teacher and a general education teacher. This paper seeks to answer the questions How can teachers be prepared to successfully co-teach for English language learners on the first day of school? This paper begins by discussing the author’s experience that led to the research question, while also situating the topic in the context of today’s public education system. In order to answer the research question, this paper dives into the the history of co-teaching, co-teaching design, case studies, and research on adult education. The culmination of this research is a five-part series of professional development designed to prepare teachers to effectively co-teach English language learners on the first day of school. The project is rooted in Malcolm Knowles’ theories of adult education that advocate for more choice and agency over learning. The project is also rooted in anecdotal data that has been harvested by a number of case studies. Finally, the paper concludes by reflecting on the process and looking toward the future.

Project Type

Professional Development

Keywords

Adult Education, ESL/ ELLs

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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