ELLs are all our kids

Post date: Feb 28, 2018 6:25:27 PM

I was recently in a meeting discussing how our district meets the needs of ELL students. In my comments I kept referring to "them" as a group separate from other students. While language is an imprecise medium and I am a very imperfect communicator, I had a colleague speak to me about how this type of description can be taken the wrong way. They were right! Nearly 4 decades into my career I recognize that the students of today are, in some ways, very different from those I first stepped in front of. Valhalla has become an increasingly diverse community in our increasingly diverse nation. That said, at their core, they are the same. Some are strongly driven to succeed, others need a little more prodding. When we are presented with a new ELL student in our class I hope we get past the label and focus on our actions as educators. We should constantly seek to improve our instruction and work with our colleagues to make sure each of our students has the absolute best chance of success.