Inclusive and Supportive Education Congress International Special Education Conference Inclusion: Celebrating Diversity? 1st - 4th August 2005. Glasgow, Scotland

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Preparing the inclusive teacher:
Teaching ESOL students in inclusive settings

Dr. Michele C. Gerent
St. Petersburg College, St. Petersburg, FL, USA
gerentm@spcollege.edu

            There has been much discussion regarding the changing school population in the United States.    Traditional “minority” groups will soon be the majority in many states like Florida, California, and Texas (Anderson, Beard, Delgado, Kea, Raymond, Singh, Sugai, Townsend, Voltz, & Webb-Johnson, 2003). As we seek to educate all students to reach their full potential, it is critical that we ensure that sound pedagogy is driving the content of out teacher education programs.    To be an effective teacher of all learners, preservice teachers must be exposed to a curriculum that prepares them to value diversity and to reach and teach all students.   A further challenge for the schools of today is teaching English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) learners (Diaz-Rico & Weed, 2002).   These students represent a tremendous challenge as each one has his or her individual talents, cultural background, and experiences waiting to be addressed during the teaching-learning process.    Teacher education programs in the United States that are preparing preservice teachers to teach all learners in inclusive settings are charged with providing those experiences and skills that will ensure high quality teaching professionals in all classrooms.

              Inclusion (defined as providing a comprehensive education with accommodations for all students with special needs in general education settings) continues to be a major challenge for most schools across the country.   The difficulty for schools came about for several reasons.   One reason is that the current classroom teachers were trained to either work in general education classrooms or in special education settings.   Few general education teachers have had any coursework in special education and few special educators have had any training in teaching in large group settings or have expertise in content areas normally taught by general educators (Burstein & Sears, 1998; Foley & Mundschenk, 1997).   Neither group has been adequately trained to work collaboratively, to teach in co-teaching situations ( Pugach & Johnson, 2002; Ferguson, 1998 ) or to work with linguistically and culturally diverse students (Baca & Cervantes, 2004).

             The major reason for these occurrences is that teacher training programs in colleges and universities are not emphasizing course work that prepares new teachers to work in inclusive settings   (Pugach & Johnson, 2002; Reinhiller, N., 1996;   Ysseldyke, Algozzine, & Thurlow, 2000) or to work with students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (Gallegos & McCarty 2000).   Further, many school administrators have not been trained in inclusive practices and are unable to create inclusive schools or to support teachers who are trying to create inclusive classrooms (Tiegerman-Farber & Radziewicz, 1998 ).   Many school administrators know little beyond the legal aspects of educating children with disabilities and have extremely limited or no experience with children who are linguistically and culturally diverse and have disabilities.

            This paper looks at how St. Petersburg College of Education, a public teacher preparation program which is part of St. Petersburg College (St. Petersburg, Florida, USA), is preparing preservice Exceptional Student Education majors to teach all learners.   The state of Florida requires that all special education and elementary education preservice teachers have an ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) endorsement.   The College of Education developed an integrated Exceptional Student Education (ESE)/ESOL preservice teacher education program designed to prepare teachers to teach both ESE and ESE/ESOL students in K-12 inclusion and special education settings.   Because the preservice teachers complete the program prepared to teach academic content, use learning strategies, foster positive behavior, assess students in a variety of authentic ways and work collaboratively with other professionals they are able to go into schools and effectively teach all learners.

            The program is an infused ESE/ESOL preservice teacher education program. The strength of the program lies in the curriculum taught to the preservice teachers.   The preservice teachers take two stand-alone ESOL courses. Additionally, ESOL objectives are integrated throughout all the coursework taken by the Exceptional Student Education majors.   Particular emphasize is then focused on four pivotal courses: Behavior Management of Exceptional Students; Assessment of Exceptional Students; Curriculum and Instructional Strategies for Students with Learning and Behavior Disorders;Diagnosis and Intervention in Reading.   Completing these courses insures that the ESE majors are prepared to teach diverse learners with disabilities.   The curriculum is based on sound pedagogy for preparing preservice teachers to work with diverse learners (Neuharth-Pritchett & Reiff, 2000; Solorzano & Yosso, 2002).   The emphasis is on training in crosscultural skills, language characteristics of ESOL learners, assessment issues, behavior management issues and the teaching of academic content. The preservice teachers are also provided opportunities for discussion and debate around the issues of education for ESE/ESOL learners as well as field experiences in sites where they interact with teachers and students in inclusive and ESOL classrooms.

            Two stand alone ESOL courses cover principles and practices of teaching English to speakers of other languages.   The first course covers the foundation of knowledge necessary to the meet the instructional needs of linguistically and culturally diverse learners.   The second course covers second language acquisition theories and methods for teaching learners with limited English proficiency (LEP).   Both courses require that the preservice teacher spend 15 hours (for a total of 30 hours) in classrooms with ESOL students observing, assessing, and tutoring them.   In the final ESOL course the preservice teachers modify a unit plan and a classroom management plan that they have developed in other courses to include ESOL student needs and requirements.

            While ESOL issues are infused in the all the coursework for the preservice teachers, four Exceptional Student Education courses especially prepare the preservice teachers to understand and teach the linguistically and culturally diverse learner with disabilities.   The first course is Behavior Management of Exceptional Students.   This course focuses on behavior management and consultation skills.   Preservice teachers gain a basic knowledge of how to create and maintain positive environments for all learners.   The concept of Worldview is introduced and examined (Zirpoli, 2004). Time is spent on understanding the child whose language and/or culture may be different from the majority culture and the preservice teachers are challenged to recognize the distinction between maladaptive behavior and “culturally different behavior”.  

             A second course is Educational Assessment of Exceptional Students.   This course includes the study of the theory and practice of informal and formal assessment of learning and behavior problems.   Issues in the over identification of students from culturally diverse backgrounds are examined. Preservice teachers learn to analyze the potential bias in assessment instruments. Issues regarding high-stakes testing and the impact on school progress are explored. Case studies based on diverse populations are used to practice writing Individual Education Plans (IEP’s) that meet the needs of learners with disabilities from linguistically and culturally different backgrounds.

            The third course is Curriculum and Instructional Strategies for Students with Learning and Behavior Disorders.   This course addresses curriculum, materials, effective strategies and technologies available to students with a variety of special needs.   Emphasis is placed on the importance of maintaining students in the general education curricula through variety of supports (Cartledge, Kea, & Ida, 2000).   Concerns regarding ESOL students’ access to core curriculum are explored.   Students complete units of study and lesson plans that include accommodations for students who are ESOL and have disabilities.

            The fourth course is Diagnosis and Intervention in Reading.   This course is taken by both elementary and exceptional education majors.   The emphasis of the course is on understanding and diagnosing reading difficulties. Language differences and their effect on literacy are explored (Peregoy & Boyle, 2005). Special education majors have the opportunity to team with elementary education majors to develop interventions for struggling readers.   Literacy assessments, both informal and formal are studied in regard to diverse learners.

The changing population statistics demand that preservice teachers be prepared to teach diverse students in inclusive settings so that these students can meet the demands of high stakes testing and increasing demands for higher learning standards.   Special Education teachers are especially in need of the skills that will allow them to assess and instruct students who qualify for both special education services and ESOL services. These students have unique needs that must be addressed on their Individual Education Plans.   Teachers must also understand the issues regarding the over- identification of students from diverse cultural backgrounds in special education and be ready to respond to them.   Further, since many special education teachers are providing support in inclusive classrooms, they must be prepared to collaborate with general educators to teach ESOL students who are not in special education but will be in need of support as they struggle in general education settings.   A “high quality” teacher should be able to help these students reach their full potential so that they can take their place in society as fully productive members.   This paper described one model of preparing preservice ESE teachers who were also receiving ESOL endorsement to meet these demands.
 

References

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Baca, L. & Cervantes, H.   (2004).   The bilingual special education interface, 4 th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ:   Pearson/Merrill/Prentice Hall.

Burstein & Sears   (1998).   Preparing On-the-job teachers for urban schools:   Implications for teacher training.   Teacher Education and Special Education, 21(1),   47-62.

Cartledge, G., Kea, C., & Ida, D.   (2000).   Anticipating difference-celebrating strengths. Teaching Exceptional Children, 32(3), 30-37.

Diaz-Rico, L. & Weed, K.   (2002).    The crosscultural, language, and academic development handbook, 2 nd ed.   Boston, MA:   Allyn & Bacon.

Ferguson, D. (1998).   Changing tactics:   Embedding inclusion reforms within general education restructuring efforts.   In S. Vitello & D. Mithaug (Eds.), Inclusive schooling:   National and international perspectives (pp. 35-53).   Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Foley, R. & Mundschenk, N.   (1997).   Collaborative activities and competencies of secondary school special educators:   A national survey.   Teacher Education and Special Education, 20 ( 1), 47-60.

Gallegos, A. & McCarty, L.   (2000).   Bilingual multicultural special education:   An integrated personal preparation program.   Teacher Education and Special Education , 23(4),   264-270.

Ishi-Jordan, S. (2000).   Behavioral interventions used with diverse students. Behavioral Interventions, 25 (4), 299-309.

Neuharth-Pritchett, S. & Reiff, J.   (2000).   Teachers leading teachers.   Childhood Education, 76 (5), 303-307.

Peregoy, S. & Boyle, O.   (2005).   Reading, writing, and learning in esl, 4 th ed.   Boston, MA:   Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

Pugach, M. C.   &   Johnson, L. J. (2002).   Collaborative practitioners collaborative schools, 2 nd ed.   Denver, CO:   Love Publishing.

Reinhiller, N.   (1996).   Co-Teaching:   New variations on a not-so new practice.   Teacher Education and Special Education, 19(1), 34-48.

Tiegerman-Farber, E. & Radziewicz, C.   (1998).   Collaborative decision-making:   The pathway to inclusion.   Upper Saddle River, NJ:   Prentice Hall, Inc.

Solorzano & Yosso, (2002).   A critical race counterstory of race, racism, and affirmative action.   Equity and Excellence in Education, 35(2), 155-169.

Ysseldyke, J.E., Algozzine, B., Thurlow, M. L.   (2000).   Critical issues in special education, 3 rd Ed .   Boston, MA:   Houghton Mifflin Company.

Zirpoli, T.   (2005).   Behavior management, 4 th ed.   Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.

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