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Dr. Andrea Honigsfeld and Dr. Maria Dove are renowned experts on the topics of collaborating and co-teaching on behalf of English language learners (ELLs).

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, they have been working with numerous schools and districts; we wanted to find out what's working and what advice they have to offer their colleagues in the ELL field who are juggling so many complex challenges, responsibilities, and schedules this year.

Special thanks to Dr. Honigsfeld and Dr. Dove for taking time to share their insights and all of the educators who have shared their questions about these important topics!

Q&A with Dr. Andrea Honigsfeld & Dr. Maria Dove

Why are collaboration and co-teaching so critical right now?

The pandemic created a new-found urgency to collaborate and seek, as well as offer, support to each other. Generally speaking, navigating the fundamentals of quality in-class and remote learning has generated a considerable group of teachers who feel more like novices than experienced professionals.

Meanwhile, the pressures and expectations for successful instructional delivery are coming from all sides - administrators, parents, students, and most certainly, our own selves, too. It is no wonder why collaboration is essential at this time to not only incorporate the knowledge that we have already developed, but also to have opportunities to problem-solve issues that arise and have yet to be determined.

What might some goals of collaboration and co-teaching on behalf of ELLs look like currently?

Setting ridiculously small goals

Someone very recently shared with us the idea of starting with ridiculously small goals in any endeavor to greatly increase the likelihood that something positive will be accomplished. Considering the laundry list of possible goals that need to be negotiated for collaboration and co-teaching to take place - co-planning time, identifying content and language learning targets, instructional materials and strategies, developing appropriate assessments, grouping students for instruction, and so on - collaboration and co-teaching might seem like daunting tasks when you also consider the various levels of anxiety that our new normal has placed us all in.

In order to alleviate some of the worry and tension, we ask you to consider the strategy of ridiculously small goals and think about the following question: What possible objectives for collaboration and co-teaching might be set that can be readily accomplished? As you consider what goals might be met, we suggest you start with that one or two burning questions such as:

What technology can we try with remote learning?

How might we experiment with teaching multiple groups of students in a remote setting?

How can we incorporate Google Forms to gather assessment data?

What evidence-based, best practices can we transfer into the online or hybrid environment?

Targeting one specific topic is a good place to begin. In the above examples, the questions and topics to be explored are clear-cut and the solutions are achievable. We propose that you keep it simple this academic year, taking small steps at first, and build your collaborative conversations as questions naturally evolve, remembering to select only those burning questions that truly need to be addressed so that you don't become even more overwhelmed.

What are the benefits of master/flexible schedules this year?

Teachers and parents alike have been sharing their apprehension with us about class schedules for this academic year. Entire school communities seem to have one concern or another about schedules for in-class attendance and online learning. Some schools have devised a hybrid schedule of instruction consisting of a combination of online learning and face-to-face instruction for all students. Other districts are either opening schools for in-person, daily instruction or have chosen to present all learning online. Yet some schools only open their doors to the most vulnerable learners, with multilingual learners and students with disabilities among them.

Parents are further concerned that some remote learning schedules require students to sit for hours on end in front of some online device while others are worried that their children do not have access to the needed technology. To alleviate some of the anxiety, flexible schedules coupled with appropriate teaching and communication routines allows students ways to adapt their learning situations to meet with better remote-learning success.

Here are some ideas for establishing flexible schedules:

Consider how much time should be spent for students to receive full-class, direct instruction and how to arrange for flexible groupings for small groups of students based on their needs.

Examine the reason for all students to attend live class sessions or if recorded sessions and assigned tasks might work best for others.

Utilize technology such as Flipgrid that provides students a way to post videos of themselves responding to questions or prompts asynchronously.

Invite students, via Zoom or other similar platform, to some downtime sessions in which they are able to communicate freely with one another.

Consider screen-free activities, the use of print-resources, and authentic learning opportunities. (These offline learning ideas for ELLs are helpful both for students with and without access to technology.)

Identify regular contact times when teachers can be reached by phone, FaceTime, or Zoom meetings.

Learn more about how some teachers are navigating hybrid and in-person teaching at the same time.

What are some examples of what flexible scheduling could look like in the following models?

Here are some examples of what flexible scheduling could look like for ELL instruction:

Co-teaching ELLs
Designate Mondays-Wednesdays and Fridays as synchronous co-teaching times in support of your ELLs at the entering through developing levels.

On your face-to-face days, use two key approaches (whole group, vs. small group instruction).

During the at-home learning days, set up individual conferencing times and/or independent tasks for asynchronous learning

Co-plan/co-develop integrated tasks that support content and language development via asynchronous learning for Tuesday and Thursday.

For a more advanced group, reverse the schedule: co-teach synchronously on Tuesdays and Thursdays and set up asynchronous tasks for 3 days.

Collaboration on behalf of ELLs
Regardless of the medium of instruction, make every effort and advocate for two common planning periods per week; this may seem out of reach right now, but it's something to strive for. One collaboration time could be devoted to reviewing the upcoming core content that ELLs need support with; the second planning period will allow for discussing individual students and instructional strategies you will be using.

Individual check-ins with ELLs
Utilize the days/times when students are scheduled to work asynchronously for individual check-in.

Utilize the days when students are scheduled to learn from home for individual check-in.

What are some small steps individual teachers of ELLs can take towards:

Co-teaching ELLs

1. Start small - co-teach with 1 or 2 colleagues at first and focus on building trusting, supportive professional relationships.

2. Establish a predictable weekly routine by deciding whether you are going to have (a) all students in one group or (b) use flexible groupings strategies.

Collaboration on behalf of ELLs

1. Meet with your colleagues once or twice a week to establish priorities, attainable goals, and clarity around what ELLs can do.

2. Share! Share your lesson ideas and resources, stories and background information about your ELLs, your trials and tribulations, and so on!

Advocating for more collaboration time

1. Emphasize the importance of collaborative teacher expertise and collective teacher efficacy (two concepts highly regarded by John Hattie and many others).

2. Examine the new master schedule that came out as a result of the COVID-19 conditions and look for new opportunities for collaboration.

Advocacy for flexible schedules

1. Put students first by creating learner portraits and student clusters indicating which ELLs might have similar needs.

2. Develop a schedule that identifies which students will benefit from more synchronous (or face-to-face time) with you and which students may be able to work more independently, asynchronously or using non-technology-based tools with success.

Helping colleagues/administrators understand their expertise

1. Create a (simple) weekly digital newsletter with a "Tip of the Week" and offer a virtual "open house" or "office hours" inviting colleagues and admins to stop by and chat with you.

2. Showcase what works for you and what your students can do. Share their success stories by shining the spotlight on them. And don't forget to share successful stories of collaboration and co-teaching as well!

What are some strategies ELL educators can use to manage and organize their schedules in this environment?

As we enter the 2020-21 school year, many districts are utilizing the multi-phase reopening plan. Some districts are starting the new school year fully online, and incrementally phasing in face-to-face learning for their students. Others prioritize in-school learning for some of the most vulnerable students, including ELLs. Regardless of your context, this is the school year we all need a lot more flexibility than ever before.

Teachers of ELLs (both elementary classroom teachers and secondary core content teachers as well as designated ELD/ELL specialists) will need to create digitally accessible, shared documents, routines and structures including, but not limited to, the following:

1. Co-develop student portraits that allow all teachers to get to know their ELLs better and to document their progress. You can see these WIDA posts for suggestions on how to develop a Can Do portrait and this sample portrait.

2. Work with week-at-a-glance or unit-at-a-glance planning templates that indicate the learning targets for both content and language or literacy development as well as the success criteria.

3. Make sure you indicate the supports and scaffolds that will be in place for ELLs on various language proficiency level to meet the targets successfully.

4. Create learning choice boards for each unit of the study that embody multi-lingual, multi-cultural, multi-level, multi-sensory, multi-modal learning opportunities.

5. Align digital tasks and tools to ensure students SWIRL (speak, write, interact, read and write). Set up small group projects or station rotations.

6. Consider the benefits of flipped learning and adapt this approach to your unique context. See more here at FLIP Learning.

7. Have ELLs contribute select work samples (both written work and oral recordings) to digital student portfolios that allows them to set goals, monitor their own progress, reflect on their learning, and engage in periodic self-assessment.

How can ELL educators use social media to network online?

There are various forms of teacher collaboration, yet one of the simplest ways to work with other educators and get answers to burning questions is, believe it or not, through the use of social media. Facebook and Twitter both serve as virtual platforms where teachers knowledgeable in the area of working with ELLs seek out and offer direct, positive, and authentic advice. These social media groups are an outstanding resource for dealing with the most current issues with remote and in-class learning that is happening in real time.

For example, on Facebook, there are a few groups we subscribe to where educators engage in discussions and share ideas and resources for the benefit of teachers working with ELLs. These are forums where co-teaching, one of our recommended methods of instruction to ensure ELLs maintain their connection to core curricula while developing their English language skills, is also examined and discussed as teachers most often try to negotiate how this practice is delivered remotely. You may also be able to find (or start!) groups for educators in your school, district, region, or state.

Some of the largest ELL Facebook groups include:

On Twitter, you can follow:

We also post a number of resources related to collaboration and co-teaching for ELLs on Twitter at @AndreaHonigsfel and @MariaGDove .

Do you have any closing thoughts?

Remember "ridiculously small steps!" We earnestly hope that you resist the temptation to do it all, and you find every way possible to be as kind and understanding to each other and to yourselves as we continue the process of figuring out how to support our ELLs in the best way possible during this challenging year.

Recommended Resources

Dr. Honigsfeld, Dr. Dove, and a number of their colleagues have been hard at work creating new resources during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are some of those resources for further exploration!

Articles

Podcast episodes: Empowering ELLs with Tan Huynh

Webinars: Collaboration & co-teaching during COVID-19 (External links)

Books

Many books by Dr. Honigsfeld and Dr. Dove are featured on our Collaboration and ELLs booklist.

For additional books and materials on collaboration and using technology in ELL instruction, see Dr. Honigsfeld's website.

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How ELL Educators Can Collaborate and Co-Teach During COVID-19

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Dr. Andrea Honigsfeld and Dr. Maria Dove are renowned experts on the topics of collaborating and co-teaching on behalf of English language learners (ELLs). Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, they have been working with numerous schools and districts; we wanted to find out what's working and what advice they have to offer their colleagues in the ELL field who are juggling so many complex challenges, responsibilities, and schedules this year.

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Weekly Planning Template 2

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This article on indicators of effective co-teaching is Part 11 of the Collaborating for ELLs Series .

Lately, I've noticed an increasing number of people using wearable technology such as the iWatch. People who own iWatches talk about how it measures key health indicators: heart rate, steps walked, and hours slept. These indicators help us determine if we've been too stationary or haven't slept enough. We can then take actions to change our behaviors so that we can become healthy again.

This analogy also works for co-teaching. Unfortunately, there's no wearable device to monitor how well you're co-teaching, but there are clear indicators of effective co-teaching between the content teacher and the English language teacher(ELT). We can use these indicators to measure the degree to which the co-teaching is asset-based, meaning that the expertise of both teachers are being capitalized.

Indicators of Effective Co-Teaching

I organized these indicators into three groups: student-facing, content-facing, and classroom-facing. Student-facing means how teachers work with students. Content-facing indicators are ones that address how teachers led instruction. Finally, classroom-facing means how both teachers use the physical space they share.

Student-facing

Both teachers are expected to work with all students.

Students seek help from both teachers based on content or language needs.

Students respect both teachers equally and follow the instructions of both educators.

When Ms. C, a science teacher is absent, we've agreed that she doesn't need to call a substitute. Because we've already planned our lessons together, she sees me as truly another teacher and has me lead instruction instead. Because of her attitude, students are used to this arrangement and also see me simply as one of their teachers, not strictly a remedial one.

Content-facing

Both educators led instruction. The content educator teaches nuances of the content; the ELT teaches strategies to access the content.

Both educators assess students and provide feedback. The content teacher assesses content knowledge; the ELT assesses use of academic language.

Both educators differentiate content, process, and product based on students' needs and interests.

In Mr. Arno's science class, students often come and ask me for help writing their lab reports because I've led several sessions on writing like a scientist. Though I am officially responsible for the ELs, I make myself available to support everyone through the writing process.

Resource-facing

Both educators share the same space and resources.

Both schedules are aligned to allow time for co-planning and co-teaching.

Both teachers can arrange the class into small groups, stations, or whole class.

In one example, Mr. Duncan wanted students to present one-by-one. This was a time-consuming structure, so I recommended that we have students simultaneously present in small groups. Mr. Duncan gave me full control of how I wanted to arrange the students around the classroom. He didn't feel like I was invading his space because we were co-teaching using the same classroom.

Takeaways

The running theme in these indicators of co-teaching is collaboration. When students see that the content teacher and the ELT are working in tandem, they begin to see that both teachers are valuable and both play a distinctive role in students' development based on the teacher's area of expertise.

We could also substitute the word "equality" for "inclusion" when thinking about co-teaching. The content teachers need to be included as a positive contributor to class and allowed to assume an expanding role in leading instruction.
Next Post
Now that we have a list of indicators of effective co-teaching, we can extend these indicators into evaluation of our collaboration in terms of co-teaching and co-planning. In next's week post, I'll share ways to evaluate one's collaboration formally or informally through self-evaluation.

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#54. Evaluating Co-Teaching: 3 Indicators of Effective Co-Teaching - ELL Strategies | TanKHuynh

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This article on indicators of effective co-teaching is Part 11 of the Collaborating for ELLs Series . Lately, I've noticed an increasing number of people using wearable technology such as the iWatch. People who own iWatches talk about how it measures key health indicators: heart rate, steps walked, and hours slept.

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Co-Planning: Five Essential Practices to Integrate Curriculum and Instruction for English Learners

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Welcome to the companion website for Co-Planning.Please use the chapter links on the left to download resources from the book.

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Daily Planning Template

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Assessing an Integrated Collaborative Model

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Assessing an Integrated Collaborative Model

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Co-Teaching for English Learners: A Guide to Collaborative Planning, Instruction, Assessment, and Reflection

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Chapter 1Figure 1.1 - Cultural, Linguistic, and Academic Profile for... (blank version)Figure 1.2 - An EL Profile-at-a-Glance (blank version)Video 1.1 - Student Benefits

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Interview in Edweek based on 2022 WIDA presentation

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Interview in Edweek based on 2022 WIDA presentation

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When it comes to providing English learners with an equitable education, some researchers point to the need for more-strategic collaboration between general classroom and content teachers and multilingual specialists.

About 10 percent of all public school students were classified as English learners in 2019. While only 2 percent of all public school teachers teach English as a Second Language as their main assignment, 64 percent of all public school teachers have at least one English learner in their class, according to the latest federal data available, which is from the 2017-18 school year.

At the Sept. 28 to 30 conference of the WIDA consortium-which offers language assessments for English learners in 36 states, several U.S. territories, and federal agencies such as the Bureau of Indian Education-tips and tricks were shared on how to best meet the needs of this growing student population, including the call for collaboration among educators.

Andrea Honigsfeld, a professor of teacher education for teachers of English to speakers of other languages, or TESOL, at Molloy University in New York, and Valentina Gonzalez, an educational consultant and author for Seidlitz Education, a consulting group for those working with multilingual learners, presented actionable practices that teachers can use when working with English learners and multilingual specialists in their districts.

The hope is that if all educators in a district view multilingual learners as their students, rather than just the responsibility of specialists or an add-on to their already packed workload, it prevents marginalization of these students and benefits teachers as well.

"When we collaborate with one another, we're reducing the workload we have," Gonzalez said.

The co-presenters shared the following five key strategies to bring about effective collaboration.

Collaborative planning

Collaboration starts at planning meetings. Schools should create opportunities for at least a weekly common planning time where grade-level teams at the elementary level, or content-area specialists at the secondary level, can work together with the English language development team or specialists. They would examine the curriculum and plan out how they will scaffold and differentiate instruction for multilingual learners and others who need the extra support, Honigsfeld said.

In an ideal world, she added, administrators would set up two of these weekly planning periods so that one could be a larger group or team meeting to focus on questions such as what are the curricular goals and grade-level standards. The second meeting would dive deeper into students' individual and group needs.

Questions in these collaborative planning meetings should also consider: what type of academic language and literacy opportunities are embedded in the lesson; how can teachers ensure all students can be successful and participate fully; and how to use scaffolding to ensure students understand the content while being appropriately challenged.

Intentional partnership building

At some point during the school week there may be teachers who are doing exemplary work when it comes to supporting multilingual learners alongside their peers and others who are still learning what strategies work best. This is where educators can intentionally build bridges by, for example, inviting colleagues to visit during certain class periods to either observe or offer feedback, Honigsfeld said.

"Many seasoned teachers might have started out their careers with the notion of 'my classroom, my kids, I close the door and behind the door it's my way of reaching these students,' " Honigsfeld said. "And with the best of intentions, we're creating silos or pockets of excellence."

In cases of resistance to such partnerships or to partnerships with a specialist within the classroom, finding ways to build trust among colleagues is key, Gonzalez said.

"Sometimes just talking less and listening more offers the other partner space to contribute, aiming for parity in the lesson, aiming for parity in the classroom, or in planning, and sharing the spotlight with one another," she added.

Content and language integration

The ability to incorporate academic language lessons into a multitude of subjects is key for supporting multilingual learners and their peers.

For instance, in math class, teachers can think about typical sentence structures that the students use in a math lesson, such as the comparative forms of "less than" or "greater than." Within the math lesson, teachers can explore these language forms and other nuances of academic language (such as using "than" rather than "then") as part of the content area, Honigsfeld said.

Integrating content and language also means coming up with creative opportunities for class participation like a talking activity where students articulate the thinking that goes beyond solving a math problem.

And teachers must remember that "every student, even your highly gifted monolingual, English-speaking student will be an academic language learner," Honigsfeld added. "It's not an add on, it is not something that now we're taking away time from all the other students. Instead, we're supporting all students in their academic language development."

Technology integration

Honigsfeld and Gonzalez advocate for teachers to use technology as a tool both for collaborating with fellow colleagues (such as sharing resources on Padlet), and for better engaging all students, and particularly English learners.

Multilingual learners, for instance, can benefit from watching prerecorded lectures they can pause and rewind and then dig deeper into with the teacher in class. This is something that can benefit their monolingual peers as well, Honigsfeld said.

Tools like Flipgrid can also allow students to record themselves, so they respond orally rather than in writing and practice that aspect of language acquisition.

Coaching and consultation

Recognizing that there are school districts that struggle to recruit and retain enough specialists to support their English learners and the heavy workloads teachers already have, coaching and consultation among educators in a school is helpful, Honigsfeld said.

This can look like teachers across class periods sharing materials and strategies to support multilingual learners since they each only get about 15 or 30 minutes to work directly with these students, she added.

It goes back to the importance of all educators thinking of themselves as the teachers of multilingual learners even when that student population isn't as sizable in their school as other groups. And district and school administrators play their own role by giving teachers the time and resources needed to make all five of these strategies work, Honigsfeld said.

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5 Ways Teachers Can Collaborate to Support English Learners

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To achieve equitable outcomes for English learners, all educators must work together, say researchers.

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Weekly Planning Template

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Videos and templates for teacher collaboration

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Videos and templates for teacher collaboration

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Collaborating for English Learners: A Foundational Guide to Integrated Practices

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Welcome to the Companion Website to Andrea Honigsfeld and Maria Dove's Collaborating for ELs, 2E!Chapter 1:Video 1.1- IntroductionVideo 1.2- The Collaborative Instructional Cycle

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Collaborative Planning in Language Magazine

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Collaborative Planning in Language Magazine

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Collaboration Menu

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Collaboration and Co-Teaching Evaluation Survey

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Collaboration and Co-Teaching Evaluation Survey

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Unit Planning Template

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Deliver Tool

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Co-Planning

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Observation of ELLs

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Collaboration to Support English Learners

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NTA -- 2-page article on coteaching models 

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NTA -- 2-page article on coteaching models 

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English Learner Tool Kit Updated with ESSA references. OELA's EL Tool Kit was published in 2015 as a companion to support the 2015 Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) produced by the Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, and the Department of Justice, outlining legal obligations for ELs. Some chapters of the tool kit have been updated related to the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA).

The English Learner Tool Kit helps state and local education agencies help English Learners (ELs) by fulfilling these obligations.

The Toolkit has 10 chapters (one for each section of the DCL), and contains an overview, sample tools, and resources.

New Download the entire English Learner Tool Kit (PDF, 9MB)

Introduction

Chapters

To request the tool kit in an alternate format as a reasonable accommodation, i.e. Braille, large print, CD Rom or audio, please contact Melissa Escalante by phone, 202-401-1407 or via email at: Melissa.Escalante@ed.gov.

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bilingual education; school reform; language proficiency; english (second language); multicultural education;

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The Office of English Language Acquisition's English Learner Tool Kit.

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One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful (5 Piano Guys, 1 piano) - The Piano Guys

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Cooperation vs Collaboration: When To Use Each Approach

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The Principles | TESOL | The 6 Principles

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One of the most prevailing and destructive patterns in our culture is the obsessive need to be right. It's one of those essential ubiquitous repetitions that we take for granted. It is so deeply rooted in our belief system and in the collective psyche that we rarely pause to consider it. We wander blind and thoughtless, wrapped up in the clutches of defense as we protect what has become an obsessive and distorted fear of being wrong. With the insidiousness of this pattern and the contamination it creates in our lives, it's shocking that we don't inquire or reflect on its impact. The range of this dynamic from the personal and mundane battles over who said what in an argument, to the larger issues of politics, religion, healthcare or climate change; being right is a mandate. It elevates our blood pressure, short circuits our brains-reducing critical and conceptual thinking and executive reasoning to reactive and concrete-literal thinking and sometimes irrational thinking-causing us to yell and become aggressive. It damages and frequently severs relationships.

Inside organizations, flawed, destructive and costly decisions are pushed through because someone/s would rather avoid being wrong than correct a decision or alter a direction.

It is the reason-to-be for acts of prejudice, hatred, violence and warfare. Much of the thesis in our approach to education is rooted in the construct of binary thinking-right or wrong, so learning gets shortchanged with the need to get the right answer, rather than digging for deeper truths, context and paradox.

At any given moment, we are functioning out of one of two postures: Either we are in a posture of trying to be right, or we are in a posture of trying to understand. When we try to be right, we start from a place of resistance. We've already formulated a perception, opinion, or judgment, which informs a position and or decision. For one to hold that position firmly, it generally requires resistance, rigidity, control, defensiveness, and frequently self-righteousness. When we are trying to be right,we invite reciprocating resistance and defensiveness from others as we trigger their fear. Our rigid position, also known as defensiveness, typically stems from a stupefying fear of being wrong.

When we try to understand, we suspend judgment, assumptions, perceptions, and defense, and simply focus on comprehension and integration of meaning. This level of intention to understand comes from a posture of openness, curiosity, and exploration. When we try to understand, we operate from a place of centeredness, confidence and calm, which enables us to suspend reaction and get clarity. When we are in a posture of understanding, we are not caught in fear or lost in the pain of a perceived injustice. We will be aware of anxiety or fear, but it does not dictate or control our capacity for choice and our ability to be fully present.

When we are in a posture of wanting to be right, we are plugged into our fear which activates the reactive part of our brain that sees only threat (the amygdala). It causes us to make assumptions and judgments, cling to prejudice and distorted beliefs, and become reactive and defensive.

The problem with trying to be right is that we create resistance, defensiveness, and conflict. In effect we end up being wrong because we lose our connection with others and our effectiveness at eliciting trust, cooperation, and commitment-our ability to be influential. We sit in a distorted sense of our self as powerful and smart and in fact we are neither. We have lost real power and our intelligence has been reduced to reactive, defensive thinking. So, we actually gain nothing, yet we walk away from these interactions lost in the fantasy that we're powerful because we're not wrong. But oh, so wrong and so lost we are!

The desire to be right is a source of significant conflict and suffering. Most people instinctively recognize the motive and attitude of needing to be right in others but struggle to recognize it in themselves. That's because it comes from that unconscious, reactive and patterned behavior.

When we are in a posture of wanting to be right, we cause others to constrict their thinking and therefore their ability to understand us. It also constricts their emotions and willingness to be generous with us. In other words, when I come at you in a posture of needing to be right-no matter how subtle I am-I automatically make you wrong, and it causes you to feel resistant and defensive. You-the other party then has the need to defend or justify your position, so rather than feeling open, generous, and engaging toward me, you feel closed off, guarded and defensive. Trying to be right pushes people away from us instead of drawing them toward us. It gets us the exact opposite of what we really desire, which is another's confidence, connection, cooperation, commitment. And trust.

When we are trying to be right, we withdraw to protect ourselves rather than come together to do what needs to be done. It happens every day in every organization. It happens every day in personal relationships. It happens every day between parents and children. It happens every day among people who encounter one another on the street. When we try to be right with one another, we get stuck, defensive, pitted, and not committed to anything except the need to be right.
Examples of when we are trying to be right:

Plan our defense while others are talking

Wear others down in an argument to prove our point

Stay tough and angry rather than attempting to resolve

Attempt to make others feel guilty and obligated as a way to get our way

Use force, threats, or intimidation to get others to do what we want

Use one's authority and position to overpower the situation

Use deception or fear to manipulate others

Keep score of who did what/when, to justify taking advantage & deceiving others

Shift the blame and finger point

Refuse to examine one's bias or long standing (potentially outdated beliefs)

Refuse to be accountable for the impact of our behavior on other

Use logical persuasion to convince others of something

Overwhelm others with data and facts

Become self-righteous and moralistic

Claim to have someone else in authority on our side. God!

Become judgmental and critical

Become superior and dismissive

Do it ourselves to prove to others that we are better than they thought

Do not believe that we can afford to listen

It is important that you recognize the unique behavioral patterns you display when you are trying to be right, which will offer important insights to help you shift your intention and position in those moments. These behavioral patterns usually live in the areas you feel most defended, reactive, anxious or fearful. Learning to shift in the moment from an unconscious, reactive position to a conscious one is powerful, and it is the first step toward being present and choiceful.

Recognizing your own patterns is not about judging what you see in yourself; rather, it's about using insight, some compassion, a bit of humor, and healthy doses of courage and integrity to shift and step into the posture of understanding. In this uncomfortable yet fantastic moment, pause to ask yourself: What is the fear or insecurity that drives my need to be right in this moment? This fear is usually tied to the fear of being wrong. The fear of judgment, criticism, rejection and loss of esteem.

When you try tounderstand, you produce the opposite outcome from what happens when you try to be right. Others feel expansive around you-in their thinking as well as their emotions-and their ability to understand you increases. They are also more willing to be open and engaging to a different point of view or direction.

When you try to understand, others feel safe and are more likely to take responsibility for their share of what needs to be done as well as for what does not work. Everyone becomes more willing to connect, trust, and commit. It builds capacity in others where they are open to taking risks and doing something different from what they might have imagined before. You open up a place of possibility that could not be imagined previously. You literally alter the psychology of the dynamic-expanding people's critical and reflective thinking and their emotional levels become more expansive and confident.

The word understand has a depth of meaning beyond the definition most frequently used in our day-to-day exchange. When I say, "I understand," I could mean that I hear what you are saying literally and yet have no idea what it really means to you. To understand can be superficial and meaningless, or it can be relevant and life changing.
My definition of the word understand is the experience of being in a mental and emotional posture of curiosity to comprehend, discern, empathize, and grasp meaning.
To really understand causes a shift. It is different from just hearing the words spoken or sensing the emotions of another person. The ability to move into a posture of understanding means I am open and willing: I have the intention to suspend judgment or prejudice so I can hear, grasp, and discern what is happening around me or you. I am willing to push the pause button on my own mental chatter and really hear and really comprehend what you are saying or doing. When I step into this level of intention, I shift from not being aware and having a fear of being out of control to a place of expansion, clarity, confidence and calm. In this space I can connect and move things forward in a completely different way.

Control Is a Fallacy. When we let go of our fear and insecurity, as well as our projected stories and judgments, we can experience a brilliant point of awareness and courage. We begin to know with confidence that we give up nothing if we suspend our reactions and move into a posture of trying to understand. It becomes compellingly clear we gain a great deal and lose nothing-except perhaps some of our ego struggle and fear.

We have become so conditioned to the fallacy, the belief that someone is always right, and someone is always wrong.

It's incredible how much time and energy we spend judging circumstances and making sure "I am right" or at least "It's not me that's wrong." Breaking through this fallacy helps us let go of our need to control, which is brought on by the fear of losing power and the fear that somehow someone will take advantage of us or get the upper hand if we are not right. The overwhelming fear is of losing something, whatever it is (fill in the blanks) or, maybe worse, of being wrong. We carry a deep, unconscious, distorted defensiveness against being wrong. If we are right, we win; and if we are wrong, we lose. It becomes an all-or-nothing proposition.

Much of the restrictive, fear-based, controlling and even punitive religious doctrine that many of us grew up with, encodes a black-and-white concept of being right or wrong. This creates distortion around right and wrong and pits people in a polarized world of either/or rather than a world that promotes understanding, new truths, paradox, connection, resolution, and new beginnings. At the core of this distortion is the fear of being out of control, being judged and rejected-being wrong.

The polarization makes us want to protect and defend our position. We feel a need to judge, assign blame, separate, punish, and ultimately reject others. In this space we are unaware of context and meaning, and we are disconnected from our humanity and our deeper intelligence.

Pivoting with awareness in the face of fear and our projections to proceed with courage and a desire for clarity creates a new level of possibility and choice. The choice, in that moment, is how we will show up and engage. When our intention is to try to understand, we come with awareness of our own presence, our thinking, our emotions, and what we are bringing or not to the dynamic. The term projection is a slippery defense response. It's when we attribute to other people our own unacceptable emotions, thoughts or patterns. For example, I might say, "He is angry with me" when in fact I'm angry with him.

Fear can create an interesting power play. When we act defensive and take on a posture of blaming others, we irrationally think we have scared away whatever it was that we feared, which then gives us a false and distorted sense of power. As an example, there is an attempt to give me some performance feedback, and it triggers fear in me-fear of criticism, judgment or rejection-so I immediately shift the focus off me and start blaming a member of the team whom I feel is not supportive of me. That team member is neither part of the topic nor relevant to my performance issues.
Do You Feel the Tension?
About now, you might be saying, "Thom, some people really are wrong, and certain things are wrong too. How can you say that it's not about right and wrong?"

When I talk about the difference between trying to understand and being right, I'm not talking about the atrocities committed against individuals and humanity or the hubris brought about by corruption. Acts of violence, cowardice, and greed are deep moral offenses and create great outrage to our sense of ethical and moral behavior. I'm talking instead about 90 percent of the experiences we have in life through our interactions with family members, colleagues, direct reports, bosses, clients, customers, and the person standing in line ahead of us. I am talking about the dynamics and interactions that make up most of our daily lives.

Your partner or spouse forgot to pick up the cleaning or was late to your child's soccer game. Your colleague forgot to include you in the meeting to prep for the client presentation. The client didn't give you credit in front of his boss for the work you did on the marketing plan. You show up on the wrong date for an appointment and are convinced the scheduler wrote the wrong date. A stranger cut in front of you at the barista counter. All these scenarios, these interactions trigger us. They can feel like assaults to our values and our sense of self-respect. Rather than petty inconveniences, they become moral offenses that make us begin to feel indignant or defensive.

I also understand that other debate going on in your head right now: "But sometimes I am right, Sometimes my spouse/partner/colleague/boss is wrong." Yes, you might be technically correct in the facts. You might feel like you have the moral edge in your rightness because of poor judgment, disorganization, or lack of insight on someone else's part. Yes, someone may have engaged you in a way that felt disrespectful to you. Someone may have misunderstood you and jumped to inaccurate conclusions. Someone might have forgotten you.

The moment that the feeling of "rightness" comes over you, you may be technically correct in your data or in terms of the experience you had. However, rarely will you be recognized for your rightness. What's at stake here is not the accuracy of your data or your judgments or your perceptions. What's at stake is your ego (that unconscious part of you) getting bruised and needing to defend and justify. It's that part of us that fears we are not seen or validated, where we turn it into a case of being disrespected, then we build our moral platform in which to go to battle.
Our ego is fragile territory, where fears of being taken advantage of are activated and over dramatized, and the only way we know to soothe this is to feed the craving for recognition related to a perceived offense.
The fear or anxiety present in these moments is what I call an inflection point, a moment that provides an opportunity to pivot into awareness and shift from the old narrative of perceived powerlessness to a new narrative of authentic power. Real power. That moment is where we consciously step into choice: I can choose to react and defend or choose to reflect and engage. I can choose to be right or choose to create understanding.

Let's pause for a moment.

Take a deep breath. I mean a really deep breath.

What I've been talking about is loaded with creative tension-or the not-so-subtle point of clarity when profound learning can occur. These moments give each of us an opportunity to move from being unconscious about something to being conscious. We begin to see clearly and can connect the dots that create the larger picture. We grasp the consequences of patterned behavior, and we sense the power of intention. In these moments we can pivot in that clarity and shift to a place of awake-ness versus a place of reaction. This is one of those moments where you can choose to engage in old patterns of reactive behavior or to take a developmental step and build new muscle in your awareness and discernment to be powerfully influential.

It can be challenging to get the rational, literal part of our brain around this principle. It is hard to look beyond the defense that keeps us from seeing our behavior patterns and the fallacy of needing to be right.

When I first learned about this principle, I was twenty-nine. I understood the basic premise intellectually, but then the ego battle started-in other words, my fear and insecurity of being exposed and not being right reared its head. I was deeply afraid of the idea that "being right" could be insignificant. My sense of self-righteousness flared up, and I started a mental and emotional thrash that lasted for many weeks as I came to terms with the intensity of not wanting to be wrong. In full disclosure, I had, like most people, patterned ways of being right; and as I started to recognize them and not run from them, I felt an initial discomfort and embarrassment as I let the truth surface.

My finely tuned patterns of being righthad served me well-so, I liked to think. I was prone to overwhelming people with intellectual data, trying to outsmart people. I was skilled at being tough and independent: "I can do this on my own." Around the same time, I received painful and overwhelming feedback from several colleagues and two close friends about how critical, dismissive, and faintly judgmental I could be. When people didn't quite measure up, I could let them know it in subtly critical ways or overwhelm them with my insights on how to do it better, which meant my way.

I remember the day my resistance lifted, the thrashing started to calm, and the embarrassment turned to laughter. I felt this curiosity and awareness come over me. I suddenly got it! I felt like I had just been given a huge gift. I was like an excited kid as I talked with my mentor about the insight and power of this principle of understanding. "This will change my life," I said. He smiled, and I could see the recognition in his eyes when he said, "Now you will spend the rest of your life fine-tuning it."

This principle creates tension in many people's minds and emotions as they start to grapple with their own patterns of needing to be right and how they go about making others wrong.

Let's take another moment so you can explore what it means to take on a posture of understanding.

What is percolating in you right now? What are you saying to yourself about what you just read, about your own patterns? Shift your thoughts and feelings away from judgments about the behavior patterns you may identify within yourself. What are you protecting, and what is your biggest fear? Is it that I'm not smart enough, creative enough, good enough, strong enough, or any other enough?

What would happen if you let yourself off the hook and found some humor in your old patterns of wanting tobe right?

If you are experiencing resistance, answer one question: What is the fear behind the resistance? What feels scary about acknowledging my patterns or in finding a bit of humor in the discovery? Most of us are afraid of being broken. If we acknowledge our patterns of needing to be right,then somehow we automatically admit to being wrong about that one thing. And being wrong has a broken quality to it. The simple truth is it's time to let go of being right and enjoy the reality that you are neither broken nor fixed. You are in the process of becoming more of who you are-more deeply powerful, more deeply awake, more deeply courageous and more depth to your humanity.

An important step to take as you develop the capacity for shifting into understanding is to identify and practice it with yourself. If you can't be open with yourself, it will be extremely difficult to be open with the world around you. I use curiosity and humor to do this with myself. Curiosity and humor are open emotional spaces and allow you to play or explore something, which means to take the test out of it: "Am I going to do it right or wrong?" This shifts the tone of the internal voice and opens up a level of mental clarity and emotional confidence that actually provides me with beneficial insight. And this insight usually inspires me to do something different from what I had previously been doing. I use this in every aspect of my life: professionally with clients, with personal and family relationships, and the brief encounter with a stranger.

Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. (Martin Luther King Jr.)
How to Make It Safe for Others by Shifting Your Posture to Understanding
An amazing aspect of our humanness is our ability to take risk, open ourselves, and connect when we feel safe. When I use the word safe, I don't mean physical safety but rather emotional safety-when we trust, we will not be taken advantage of or be inappropriately vulnerable. It's when you feel like you can do anything. You don't feel limitations, and you don't hold back. You step forward and embrace the moment.

Approaching a situation in a way that makes it safe for others fosters awareness in oneself in the moment. It enables us to shift our position away from being right and become centered in our true intentions for how we'd like an interaction to go with another person or group. For example, "I would like to make it easy for this person to trust me, take risk, collaborate with me, have fun, and be accountable, generous, and honest."
Create an environment of safety for others:

Listen and try to understand. *

Don't plan your defense or response while another person is talking.

Consider whether the other person needs to look good for some reason or to some other person. Send him or her home a hero.

Don't ask rhetorical questions that make others feel the need to justify themselves. Rhetorical questions usually begin with why and have an implied stupid at the end. "Why did you do that...stupid?" Ask questions of genuine curiosity: "Can you explain that to me so I can connect the dots? Help me understand how that came about-I'm confused."

Begin the conversation trusting.

Listen and try to understand.*

Don't argue about who did what in the past or who's at fault. Instead focus on whether there is a reason to have a future relationship, what characteristics you both would like that relationship to have, and what you are willing to commit in order to make it happen.

Explore with the other person the possibility of a more respectful and open dialogue between the two of you.

Focus on analyzing the problem and understanding and accepting everyone's underlying needs and objectives.

Listen and try to understand.*

Engage by advocating and partnering rather than passively observing and critiquing.

Choose to be appropriately vulnerable. Tell others what you know. Tell them what you think and assume. Tell them how their behavior impacts your relationship. Tell them what you need.

Listen and try to understand.*

Surprise others by not living up to their worst expectations of you. If they expect you to be loud, be quiet. If they expect you to bully them, be gentle. If they expect you to be dramatic, be low-key. If they expect you to storm out, stay put. If they expect you to not say anything, talk. You may surprise yourself as well as others. When one person shifts, so will the others, in most cases.

Listen and try to understand.*

Be generous. Generosity begets generosity.

Be aware and accountable for the conversations happening in your own head.

*A not-so-subtle reminder!
It is powerful to witness the generosity, confidence, openness, and integrity of another person when they are trying to understand. It is a humbling and enriching experience to be on the receiving end of an individual who is genuinely interested in understanding where you are coming from, interested in understanding your experience or your issue, interested in your opinion, and basically interested in creating connection, clarity, new options, or resolution. I have seen a room filled with tension, anxiety, and conflict completely decompress and level out when it is met with this presence and authenticity in action. When someone is not interested in being right but rather in elevating the conversation or interaction to a place of understanding, that is real power-the power of influence. This type of influence leaves a situation changed, people more aware and connected, and the moment remembered.

You can tell how this level of presence and influence from another person affects a room by the number of energized conversations about respect and admiration that bubble up afterward.

If you take away nothing else from all of your learnings but the principle of understanding versus being right, it will change many aspects of your life in profoundly amazing ways. This principle has been around for thousands of years and has been taught and written about philosophically, academically and spiritually.

I've never met anyone who has described wanting to go through life feeling anxious and defensive and missing out on opportunities to connect, thrive, collaborate, innovate, and create. I have met people who want things to be easier, less stressful and more fun-people who want to feel more confident, have more support, and be included in ways that allow them to shine. Awakening to and aligning yourself with an intention of understanding is how the shift can occur.

No law or ordinance is mightier than understanding. (Plato)
Tips for Your Development

This exercise helps create the awareness and clarity needed to more easily recognize your own patterns of needing to be right. Spend the next few days observing and listening to the interactions of the people around you. Take note of how much energy is spent on defending, justifying, criticizing, and blaming. After observing and listening, assess how much energy, resources, inspiration, collaboration, innovation, real problem-solving, commitment, and connection is lost as a result. Simultaneously try to notice interactions in which people operate from a position of generosity, understanding, and confidence. What dynamics are fostered there?

Identify your three favorite-yes, favorite-ways of being right. Don't judge them, just identify them (If you need a mental nudge, revisit bulleted examples earlier in this chapter). Then make a conscious commitment to specifically watch for these patterns over the next four weeks. When you observe them, use your awareness to shift your intentions and make a different choice in that moment. Working to shift your most common behavioral patterns will stimulate awareness in other areas of your life that are less patterned.

Identify a recent situation that left you feeling disconnected and polarized. Circle back and clean up the situation by acknowledging and owning how you contributed to the lack of understanding or disconnect. I'm not suggesting that you return to the situation to accept that you were wrong but that you reclaim an opportunity to understandand connect with the other person or group. This level of honesty and accountability displays profound personal courage and integrity and will build trust and confidence with others. It will also accelerate your own clarity and confidence exponentially.

While you are awakening and developing the ability to recognize your blind spots and see dynamics around you with awareness and meaning, having a system of feedback can be a powerful tool to support and promote the awareness. Ask several people you trust to give you feedback when they witness or experience you slipping into patterns of needing to be right, as well as when they experience you developing patterns of trying to understand. This exercise is more powerful once you are aware and can acknowledge your patterns of needing to be right.

Have Fun!

Thom Walters 2021

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One of the most prevailing and destructive patterns in our culture is the obsessive need to be right. It's one of those essential ubiquitous repetitions that we take for granted.

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When I began my teaching career in 2007, more than a quarter of the students at my Queens elementary school were English language learners. Each year, our school seemed to shift its strategy for English as a New Language instruction in a fresh attempt to best serve those students.

Sometimes our ENL teachers "pushed in" to classrooms during subjects like science and social studies, which were likely to have unfamiliar vocabulary. Sometimes they "pulled out" students in small groups. And sometimes they provided parallel instruction alongside the classroom teacher, usually in reading or writing.

Since 2015, when amendments to Part 154 of the Commissioner's Regulations concerning ENL instruction went into effect, integrated co-teaching has become standard. In theory, integrated co-teaching allows English language learners to experience grade-level content instruction and language support in the same class.

But in practice, the educators in a joint working group formed by the UFT and the city Department of Education's Division of Multilingual Learners say the integrated ENL model needs "the logistical structures to program co-teaching pairs appropriately and effectively [including] dedicated common and consistent co-planning time for strong classroom implementation."

"I have seven different co-teachers," says Jerry Stephens, an ENL teacher at Queens Vocational HS in Long Island City and a 26-year veteran teacher. "I can't plan with seven people. It's unattainable and unrealistic."

That's why the working group recently issued a set of recommendations regarding programming, co-planning and professional learning for ENL instruction. They discussed the possibility of setting a cap on the number of co-teaching partnerships any one ENL instructor can have and of programming dedicated co-planning time for each partnership.

Stephens notes that ENL teachers bring important expertise to classrooms.

"English language learners need a lot of hands-on work with language that really requires them to have a productive struggle with it, a lot of preloading and backtracking over text," says Stephens.

To support that work with language, Stephens creates glossaries and vocabulary exercises for students. He also provides audio readings of written text because English language learners "need to hear and see language at the same time," he says. He encourages students to double space when writing so he - and they - can make notes and revise their language several times.

The UFT has advocated for years for thoughtful guidelines governing ENL instruction. To that end, the New York State Education Department's Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages recently released new guidance on ENL instruction in a series of topic briefs. The second brief draws important distinctions for teachers about what integrated ENL co-teaching is ("instruction with the intention of meeting both content and English language and literacy development goals simultaneously") and is not ("an opportunity for a grade-level or content-area teacher to have a teaching assistant or helper in the class," among other things).

"We're not just people who come in and help out," says Christine Passarelli, an ENL teacher at PS 22 on Staten Island. "We're experts in our field."

But Passarelli supports the ICT model for English language learners. "We have to remember that our ENL students are trying to learn another language and also learn the content for their grade," she said. "If they're constantly being separated from their class, they're doing double catchup."

Passarelli co-teaches with 4th- and 5th-grade teachers at her school. Because she's able to plan lessons with her co-teachers during common planning periods, she's familiar with the curriculum and is able to anticipate how she'll support English language learners.

"I'll look at the lesson plan and think, what scaffolds are we going to bring in?" she says. "Language frames? More visuals? A word bank?"

On a recent morning, Passarelli joined 4th-grade teacher Elissa Ventura for a literacy lesson on the Declaration of Independence. Each teacher worked with a small group of students that included both English language learners and native English speakers. Passarelli and Ventura confer frequently to ensure their groups are fluid and reflect students' current needs.

Both teachers taught the same content with subtle differences. Passarelli spent more time reviewing the vocabulary in the word bank before reading the text, encouraging students to mimic a hand gesture for the word "abolish." She also provided students with sentence starters and frames to help them answer the question, "Why was the Declaration of Independence written?"

"Before you write, I want you to orally tell me what you plan to write," Passarelli told her students. "It's important to say it in your own words."

Passarelli is hopeful that the working group's recommendations will help more teachers and administrators understand what true ENL integrated co-teaching can achieve.

"Once we started doing more true co-teaching, keeping English language learners in their classrooms with access to two teachers who can support them alongside their native English-speaking peers, we've seen their enthusiasm for learning is heightened and they acquire more knowledge," she says.

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When I began my teaching career in 2007, more than a quarter of the students at my Queens elementary school were English language learners. Each year, our school seemed to shift its strategy for English as a New Language instruction in a fresh attempt to best serve those students.

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Important consequences play out in the day-to-day social exchanges within a school community. Recent research shows that social trust among teachers, parents, and school leaders improves much of the routine work of schools and is a key resource for reform.

For example, Comer's School Development Project demonstrates that strengthening the connections between urban school professionals and parents of low socioeconomic status can improve their children's academic achievement (Comer, Haynes, Joyner, &amp; Ben-Avie, 1996). Meier (1995) argues persuasively that building trust among teachers, school leaders, students, and parents was a key component of the success of the middle school that she created in Harlem. The efforts of Alvarado and his colleagues to build learning communities in Community School District 2 in Manhattan also support the importance of the social dimension of school change (Malloy, 1998). And a longitudinal analysis of successfully restructuring schools concluded thathuman resources-such as openness to improvement, trust and respect, teachers having knowledge and skills, supportive leadership, and socialization-are more critical to the development of professional community than structural conditions. . . . The need to improve the culture, climate, and interpersonal relationships in schools has received too little attention. (Kruse, Louis, &amp; Bryk, 1994, p. 8; see also Louis &amp; Kruse, 1995; Newmann &amp; Associates, 1996)

In short, a growing body of case studies and clinical narratives directs our attention to the engaging but elusive idea of social trust as essential for meaningful school improvement. But what is social trust? What factors help to shape it? And what benefits does it produce?

To answer these and related questions, we conducted almost a decade of intensive case study research and longitudinal statistical analyses from more than 400 Chicago elementary schools. We spent approximately four years in 12 different school communities observing school meetings and events; conducting interviews and focus groups with principals, teachers, parents, and community leaders; observing classroom instruction; and talking to teachers about the progress and problems in their reform efforts. Differences between two of these cases, Holiday and Ridgeway Elementary Schools,help illustrate how the dynamics of relational trust across a school community influence its reform efforts.

Combined with this field study, we analyzed periodic surveys of teachers, principals, and students collected by the Consortium on Chicago School Research to examine the changing quality of relational dynamics in all Chicago elementary schools over a six-year period. We also analyzed trends in individual student reading and mathematics achievement during this same time period to assess the value that each school was adding to student learning and the extent to which this "value-added" measure was improving over time. This improvement in a school's contribution to student learning is a direct measure of its changing academic productivity. By linking evidence on the schools' changing academic productivity with survey results on school trust over a long period of time, we were able to document the powerful influence that such trust plays as a resource for reform.

Distinct role relationships characterize the social exchanges of schooling: teachers with students, teachers with other teachers, teachers with parents, and all groups with the school principal. Each party in a relationship maintains an understanding of his or her role's obligations and holds some expectations about the obligations of the other parties. For a school community to work well, it must achieve agreement in each role relationship in terms of the understandings held about these personal obligations and expectations of others.

An interrelated set of mutual dependencies are embedded within the social exchanges in any school community. Regardless of how much formal power any given role has in a school community, all participants remain dependent on others to achieve desired outcomes and feel empowered by their efforts.

The principal, for example, needs faculty support to maintain a cohesive professional community that productively engages parents and students. Teachers' work, in turn, depends on decisions that the principal makes about the allocation of resources to their classrooms. Parents depend on both teachers and the principal to create an environment that keeps their children safe and helps them learn. Such dependencies create a sense of mutual vulnerability for all individuals involved. Consequently, deliberate action taken by any party to reduce this sense of vulnerability in others-to make them feel safe and secure-builds trust across the community.

As individuals interact with one another around the work of schooling, they are constantly discerning the intentions embedded in the actions of others. They consider how others' efforts advance their own interests or impinge on their own self-esteem. They ask whether others' behavior reflects appropriately on their moral obligations to educate children well. These discernments take into account the history of previous interactions. In the absence of prior contact, participants may rely on the general reputation of the other and also on commonalities of race, gender, age, religion, or upbringing. These discernments tend to organize around four specific considerations: respect, personal regard, competence in core role responsibilities, and personal integrity.

Relational trust is grounded in the social respect that comes from the kinds of social discourse that take place across the school community. Respectful exchanges are marked by genuinely listening to what each person has to say and by taking these views into account in subsequent actions. Even when people disagree, individuals can still feel valued if others respect their opinions.

Without interpersonal respect, social exchanges may cease. People typically avoid demeaning situations if they can. When they don't have this option, sustained conflict may erupt. Such a situation existed at Ridgeway Elementary School, where interactions among parent leaders and professional staff got in the way of needed reforms. For example, parent and community leaders pressed school staff to implement a "respect program toward students," which included written standards for how adults should talk to students, guidelines to encourage increased sensitivity on the part of school professionals to the ethnic and cultural backgrounds of students, and procedures for handling student misconduct that refrained from punitive and demeaning adult behavior. But little of this same respect was evident in the social interactions among the adults. Parent and community leaders offered rude personal criticism of school staff with little recognition that their behavior was the exact opposite of the behavior that they desired to foster in the students.

Personal regard represents another important criterion in determining how individuals discern trust. Such regard springs from the willingness of participants to extend themselves beyond the formal requirements of a job definition or a union contract. The actions of the principal at another of our case study sites, Holiday Elementary School, offer strong testimony. Almost every parent and teacher we spoke with at this school commented effusively about the principal's personal style, his openness to others, and his willingness to reach out to parents, teachers, and students. His efforts helped cultivate a climate in which such regard became the norm across the school community. This climate, in turn, was a major factor in the high level of relational trust found in this most unexpected place-a 100 percent low-income, African American population in a school serving a public housing project, with a white, male principal.

School community members also want their interactions with others to produce desired outcomes. This attainment depends, in large measure, on others' role competence. For example, parents depend on the professional ethics and skills of school staff for their children's welfare and learning. Teachers want supportive work conditions for their practice, which depends on the capacity of the school principal to fairly, effectively, and efficiently manage basic school operations. School administrators value good community relations, but achieving this objective requires concerted effort from all school staff. Instances of negligence or incompetence, if allowed to persist, undermine trust. This was a major factor in the negative parent-school relations at Ridgeway, where some clearly incompetent and uncaring teachers were nonetheless allowed to continue to practice.

Perceptions about personal integrity also shape individuals' discernment that trust exists. The first question that we ask is whether we can trust others to keep their word. Integrity also demands that a moral-ethical perspective guides one's work. Although conflicts frequently arise among competing individual interests within a school community, a commitment to the education and welfare of children must remain the primary concern.

The principal's actions at Ridgeway offer a compelling example of how a perceived lack of commitment to students' welfare can undermine trust. Although members of the school community viewed this principal as a caring person, no one was sure where he stood on a number of internal school conflicts. When concerns surfaced about problematic teachers, he chose an approach sensitive to the particular adults involved. He visited their classrooms and demonstrated lessons, hoping that the teachers would adopt new techniques. When the teachers did not improve, however, he dropped the initiative and did not change the situation. In the end, no one interpreted his action as directed toward the best interests of the students, and these events further exacerbated the distrust across the school community.

The myriad social exchanges that make up daily life in a school community fuse into distinct social patterns that can generate organization-wide resources. Collective decision making with broad teacher buy-in, a crucial ingredient for reform, occurs more readily in schools with strong relational trust. In contrast, the absence of trust, as witnessed at Ridgeway School, provoked sustained controversy around resolving even such relatively simple problems as the arrangements for a kindergarten graduation ceremony.

Strong relational trust also makes it more likely that reform initiatives will diffuse broadly across the school because trust reduces the sense of risk associated with change. When school professionals trust one another and sense support from parents, they feel safe to experiment with new practices. Similarly, relational trust fosters the necessary social exchanges among school professionals as they learn from one another. Talking honestly with colleagues about what's working and what's not means exposing your own ignorance and making yourself vulnerable. Without trust, genuine conversations of this sort remain unlikely.

Further, relational trust supports a moral imperative to take on the difficult work of school improvement. Most teachers work hard at their teaching. When implementing "reform," they must assume risks, deal with organizational conflict, attempt new practices, and take on extra work, such as engaging with colleagues in planning, implementing, and evaluating improvement initiatives. Teachers quite reasonably ask, "Why should we do this?" A context characterized by high relational trust provides an answer: In the end, reform is the right thing to do.

Our analysis of Holiday School provides strong testimony here, too. Both professionals and parents at Holiday shared a commitment "to go the extra mile for the children." Almost every person we interviewed spoke about the school community in these terms. Our longitudinal survey analyses provide strong evidence on this point as well. In schools in which relational trust was improving over time, teachers increasingly characterized their colleagues as committed and loyal to the school and more eager to engage in new practices that might help students learn better.

Not surprisingly, then, we found that elementary schools with high relational trust were much more likely to demonstrate marked improvements in student learning. Our overall measure of school trust, on the basis of approximately two dozen survey items addressing teachers' attitudes toward their colleagues, principals, and parents, proved a powerful discriminator between improving and nonimproving schools. A school with a low score on relational trust at the end of our study had only a one-in-seven chance of demonstrating improved academic productivity. In contrast, half of the schools that scored high on relational trust were in the improved group. On average, these improving schools recorded increases in student learning of 8 percent in reading and 20 percent in mathematics in a five-year period. The schools in the nonimproving group lost ground in reading and stayed about the same in mathematics. Most significant was the finding that schools with chronically weak trust reports throughout the period of the study had virtually no chance of improving in either reading or mathematics.

Relational trust entails much more than just making school staff feel good about their work environment and colleagues. A school cannot achieve relational trust simply through some workshop, retreat, or form of sensitivity training, although all of these activities can help. Rather, schools build relational trust in day-to-day social exchanges.

Through their words and actions, school participants show their sense of their obligations toward others, and others discern these intentions. Trust grows through exchanges in which actions validate these expectations. Even simple interactions, if successful, can enhance collective capacities for more complex subsequent actions. In this respect, increasing trust and deepening organizational change support each other.

Principals' actions play a key role in developing and sustaining relational trust. Principals establish both respect and personal regard when they acknowledge the vulnerabilities of others, actively listen to their concerns, and eschew arbitrary actions. Effective principals couple these behaviors with a compelling school vision and behavior that clearly seeks to advance the vision. This consistency between words and actions affirms their personal integrity. Then, if the principal competently manages basic day-to-day school affairs, an overall ethos conducive to the formation of trust will emerge.

In a troubled school community, attaining relational trust may require the principal to jump-start change. Typically, the principal may need to reshape the composition of the school staff by hiring strong people into staff vacancies and, where necessary, counseling out those whose practice remains inconsistent with the school's mission and values.

The principal at Holiday, for example, skillfully used his expanded authority under Chicago's school reform to hire new teachers of his own choosing without regard to seniority or bumping rights. This reshaping of his faculty was a key element in building relational trust. In contrast, the inability of Ridgeway's principal to remove a few problematic teachers undermined trust. Although other teachers were reluctant to directly confront their offending colleagues, the faculty generally did not participate in collaborative activities. Similarly, parents and community leaders became more distrustful because they could not understand how the professional staff could tolerate such behavior. The end result was a school community that was unlikely to garner the adult effort required to initiate and sustain reform.

Parents in most urban school communities remain highly dependent on the good intentions of teachers. To promote relational trust, teachers need to recognize these parents' vulnerabilities and reach out actively to moderate them. Unfortunately, many schools do not acknowledge this responsibility as a crucial aspect of teachers' roles.

Elementary school teachers spend most of their time engaged with students. Little in their professional training prepares them for working with parents and other adults in the community. Moreover, because of the class and race differences between school professionals and parents in most urban areas, conditions can be ripe for misunderstanding and distrust. Effective urban schools need teachers who not only know their students well but also have an empathetic understanding of their parents' situations and the interpersonal skills needed to engage adults effectively.

A number of structural conditions facilitate the creation of relational trust in a school community. Although their existence does not ensure relational trust, the presence of these conditions makes it easier for school leaders to build and sustain trust.

Small school size. We found that relational trust is more likely to flourish in small elementary schools with 350 or fewer students. Larger schools tend to have more limited face-to-face interactions and more bureaucratic relations across the organization. Individuals often define their affiliations in terms of some subgroup and have weaker ties to the larger organization. In contrast, the work structures of a small school are less complex and its social networks are typically fewer in number. As a result, relational trust is likely to be sustained more easily.

A stable school community. The stability of the student body directly affects teacher-parent trust. Building and maintaining trust depends on repeated social exchanges. Teachers find it hard to develop and sustain direct positive engagement with all parents when the student population changes frequently. Moreover, in transient neighborhoods, parents find it difficult to share reassuring information with one another about their good experiences with teachers; lacking such personal communication, parents who are new to a school community may fall back on predispositions to distrust, especially if many of their social encounters outside of the school tend to reinforce this worldview.

Voluntary association. Relational trust is also more likely to arise in schools where at least a modicum of choice exists for both staff and students. Because participants have deliberately chosen to affiliate with the school, relations among all parties are pre-conditioned toward trust. If subsequent actions reinforce the wisdom of this choice, relational trust will deepen. In contrast, the forced assignment of individuals to schools fosters uncertainty and suspicion about the motivations and commitments of others and may create a formidable barrier to promoting trust.

Good schools depend heavily on cooperative endeavors. Relational trust is the connective tissue that binds individuals together to advance the education and welfare of students. Improving schools requires us to think harder about how best to organize the work of adults and students so that this connective tissue remains healthy and strong.

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Trust in Schools: A Core Resource for School Reform

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A longitudinal study of 400 Chicago elementary schools shows the central role of relational trust in building effective education communities.

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Brene Brown estuda a conexão humana, nossa habilidade de sentir empatia, pertencer, amar. Em uma palestra comovente e divertida no TEDxHouston, ela compartilha uma percepção profunda de sua pesquisa, que a levou a uma busca pessoal para conhecer a si mesma e entender a humanidade. Uma palestra para compartilhar.

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NYSUT White Paper on NYS Policy to Offer Integrated Services -- MUST READ for all admins -- lessons learned from initial missteps of program implementation 

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NYSUT White Paper on NYS Policy to Offer Integrated Services -- MUST READ for all admins -- lessons learned from initial missteps of program implementation 

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Newcomer resources from EdWeek (via Larry Ferlazzo) 

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Newcomer resources from EdWeek (via Larry Ferlazzo) 

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Obviously, a ton of other "Best" lists are useful to teachers of ELL Newcomers, including:

The Best Online Resources For Teachers of Pre-Literate ELL's & Those Not Literate In Their Home Language (which also includes SLIFE resources).
"Best" Lists Of The Week: Thematic Lists For Beginner ELLs "Best" Lists Of The Week: Teaching ELLs THE BEST WAYS TO WELCOME NEW ELL NEWCOMER STUDENTS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR
But I thought teachers might also find it useful to have a specific list dedicated to ELL Newcomers - in other words, students who have just arrived in this country..

This is just a beginning list, and I invite readers to offer suggestions of others.

Here is what I have so far:
Ways A Mainstream Teacher Can Support An ELL Newcomer In Class
Newcomer Toolkit is from the Minneapolis Public Schools.

A similarly named Newcomer Toolkit from the Clark County School District.

SIFE Manual is from New York State.

The next two resources are from Carol Salva:
Newcomer Teachers' Guide to a Strong Start

{New Episode} Content Teacher Receives a #Newcomer Mid Year. What Can They Do? https://t.co/jbMqgE5cUg 🎧
This was a LIVE show that addressed an authentic question from a Tchr in@DerekRhodenizer's school. Thx Derek & @Stephen_Hurley! #ells #ellchat #ellchat_bkclub pic.twitter.com/3cd5ZjplIN

- Carol Salva (@MsSalvac) January 16, 2020

Newcomer parent resources available in 14 languages from CMAS Canada. ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️ https://t.co/jG7DzBB1So

- Carrie Mage🇨🇦 (@highlandmom) May 19, 2020

Guide Helps Newcomer Students' Families Navigate the U.S. School System is from REL Northwest.

Here's a math diagnostic for Newcomers:

Thank you!
Just uploaded the files. 5 page PDF is the main. LaTeX is the original. https://t.co/YYQP4wszkj - click on the "diagnostic tools" link or the direct link.

- Chris Spackman / スパックマン クリス (@OsugiSakae) May 18, 2021

#BacktoSchool season is here! The "Welcoming, Registering & Supporting #NewcomerStudents" toolkit from @relnw can help educators & other stakeholders identify & use research-based practices & policies for supporting immigrant & refugee students in schools: https://t.co/XWlepwq90Q pic.twitter.com/XYjdXlj0qX

- ASKNCELA1 (@ASKNCELA1) August 3, 2022

Helping Newcomer Immigrant and Refugee Students Register for Secondary School
4 Effective Strategies for Supporting Newcomer English Learners is from Edutopia.

Families getting settled in the U.S. may have a lot of questions about the school system. Thankfully, @relnw has a guide just for that, and it's available in Arabic, English, Somali, and Spanish!

Review it here: https://t.co/xvgmuTi3oS #EL #K12 #newcomers pic.twitter.com/OK9ZCODKtA

- ASKNCELA1 (@ASKNCELA1) August 24, 2022

Newcomer #immigrant & #refugee students bring real benefits for schools, such as emerging #bilingualism, but many obstacles exist. Schools can uplift strengths & remove systemic barriers through thorough, culturally-sensitive registration processes. https://t.co/utAFquPjgn @relnw pic.twitter.com/g86vrS2nBm

- ASKNCELA1 (@ASKNCELA1) August 25, 2022

The English Hub For Refugees has some great lessons for Newcomers.
THE "STUDENT PERSONAL REPORTS" I'M CO-CREATING WITH MY ELL NEWCOMER STUDENTS & WHAT WE'RE DOING WITH THEM Downloadable Forms My ELL Newcomers Use To Write About Books, Pictures & Movies
Newcomer Students' English Language Development is a research brief from PACE.
What Happens In A Typical Day During My ELL Newcomers Class

I second these recommendations for Newcomers, though I also supplement them A LOT https://t.co/MVLlyTVqhS

- Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) April 1, 2023

Welcoming Newly Arrived High School ELLs is from Edutopia.
Thematic Schedule For My Newcomer & Intermediate ELL Classes 9 THINGS I WANT TO DO DIFFERENTLY IN MY ELL NEWCOMERS CLASS NEXT YEAR Six Classroom Management Changes I'm Planning To Make In My Newcomers Class Next Year

The updated Newcomer Toolkit is available NOW!! https://t.co/XWY9JBXXvw @NCELA pic.twitter.com/m93Asivvtk

- Altagracia H Delgado (@delgadong94) June 23, 2023

MY TENTATIVE PLANS FOR A TWO-PERIOD ELL NEWCOMERS CLASS NEXT SCHOOL YEAR
Leadership For Welcoming Newcomer Students is from The Internationals Network.
EIGHT WAYS WE ARE "ACCELERATING LEARNING" FOR OUR ELL NEWCOMERS THIS YEAR THE BEST MOVIES TO SHOW ELL NEWCOMERS - CONTRIBUTE YOUR OWN SUGGESTIONS!
NEWCOMER WELCOME KIT is from The Internationals Network.

What are your other recommendations?

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The Best Resources To Help Educators Teach ELL Newcomers

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Thirteen Instructional Strategies for Supporting ELL Newcomers is the headline of one of my Education Week columns. Obviously, a ton of other "Best" lists are useful to teachers of ELL ...

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Most co-teachers do not have the same planning period or enough time to manage independent planning tasks. Thankfully, co-teachers can allot common time to tasks that require synchronous planning and devote asynchronous time to independent tasks.

Not Recommended: Co-teachers might write collaborative lesson plans asynchronously. Use synchronous time to make adjustments.

Recommended: Co-teachers might use synchronous time to develop lesson plans. Use asynchronous time to provide feedback on assessments

As a result of maximizing their planning time, co-teachers can also better execute their responsibilities.

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Co-Teaching in a Virtual Classroom - MindWorks Collaborative

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Tips on learning management systems, planning time, and teamwork for co-teaching in a virtual classroom.

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A MUST-SEE RESOURCE: It will answer just about any question you have:) 

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A MUST-SEE RESOURCE: It will answer just about any question you have:) 

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A bilingual site for educators and families of English language learners

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I’m looking for the printable copy of this- do you know where I can find it?

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Does anyone have a template students can use to make a portrait?  Maybe a Google Slide?

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Does anyone have a template students can use to make a portrait?  Maybe a Google Slide?