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Advocating for English Learners:  K-12 Teachers and Teacher Educators Working Together (B-4)

Home> Attend & <br> Learn > Academies, Conferences & Symposiums > Upcoming TESOL Academies > Advocating for English Learners: K-12 Teachers and Teacher Educators Working Together (B-4)

Overview

This interactive workshop focuses on three major themes of English learner (EL) advocacy:
  1. the research-based need for EL advocacy
  2. how teacher preparation programs are working to develop teachers’ EL advocacy skills
  3. how actual ESOL/bilingual teachers are advocating in their classrooms.
Practical examples of how to advocate for ELs at the classroom, school, and district level will be shared.  

Who Should Attend?

  • K–12 educators and administrators
  • Also applicable to higher education

What Will I Learn?

In this workshop, participants will

  • take a self-assessment to gauge the ways in which they currently advocate for ELs in their setting
  • discuss the areas in which advocacy is needed in their contexts
  • react to the research presented on EL advocacy via small-group discussions
  • share their preparation to serve as EL advocates
  • adapt the EL advocacy strategies presented to their particular contexts, populations of ELs, and settings
  • develop an EL advocacy action plan to take back to their contexts

About the Workshop Leaders

Diane Staehr Fenner, PhD, is president of DSF Consulting, a small business that provides EL professional development, research, and technical assistance to districts, states, universities, and organizations. She has been an ESOL teacher and assessment specialist.  Her book on advocacy for ELs will be published by Corwin Press in 2013.

Luciana de Oliveria, PhD, is associate professor of literacy and language education and director of the English language learning licensure program at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Her work has appeared in Teachers College Record, Journal of Teacher Education, Journal of English for Specific Purposes, English Education, History Teacher, and other books and journals.

Heather A. Linville is on the faculty in the MA TESOL program at American University in Washington, DC, holds a Master’s degree in TESOL, and is a doctoral candidate in the language, literacy, and culture program at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Her main research interest is advocacy for English language learners.