Recently in a facebook group, the question was asked:
There is alot to dive into with this question. The argument for push-in and/or pulling students out of class is seriously complicated and contains years of research and practice to develop a true understanding. It also really depends on the student and their langauge proficency. And the planning of 6 different grade levels is a whole other issue but I'll speak from experience and try and provide resources as I attempt an answer. Here we go:
I would argue that true push in is always the best option for students above the newcomer stage. There is no possible way for an ELD educator to possibly be able to cover grade level content and supports for elementary if they are responsible for more than one or two grade levels. In this question, it is understood that this person is responsible for K-5, therefore it would really be difficult. However, it can work - specifically if you can schedule around the literacy blocks of instruction and push in during station time, and group students in one or two classrooms per grade level. You become an additional station and allow students to interact with their peers while also supporting their language needs. For planning purposes, focusing on their gaps to acclerate their learning is important.
As for grouping and pulling students out of the classroom (if that was the only thing that worked for scheduling), I usually grouped based on whether the grade level was learning to read or reading to learn. So I would group 1st and 2nd grade and 3rd and 4th grades together. I would push in to 5th grade I would push into Kindergarten once a week (as they should be in a language rich environment already) to help booster their language and skills and prepare them for the Kindergarten ACCESS test. None of this was finite and I was always working with my groups to ensure students were getting access to their mainstream content.
This was mostly about time, the number of students, and my availability. Obviously, in a perfect world we would have an ELD specialist for each grade who could focus on supporting teachers, supporting students, and working with parents. But - we don't live in a perfect world and when districts are struggling to find teachers, and fund teachers (depending on your budget etc) asking for three or four ELD specialists per building is a difficult ask.
For planning - I usually focused on a literacy component and used a lesson plan similar to one provided by this blog: Science of Reading Lesson Plan or something like this: Science of Reading Lesson binder. This allowed me to plan by group and focus on commonalities of student needs. This also allowed for documentation and RTI supports should there be a concern for the student in reading. I would help with Kindergarten on Friday's and if students needed additonal support (1-5th grade) I would often have my afternoons open to allow for that support (and for paperwork catch up).
For the research - Here are some links to sources that might help you further dive into which model best supports your students, because again, it is so dependant on their language needs and your availability.
Disclaimer: All of my opinions are based on necessity and how I could support students doing the best I could with what I had. I am always advocating for mainstream content teachers being certified in ESOL (the certification for ELD in my state) and advocating for students to STAY IN THE CLASSROOM as much as possible - as they are given authenticate communication oppurtunities and mainstream content instruction. But I also highly value the support given by an ELD specialist so in my plans I usually tried to find a balance between these two models with a focus on what was best for EACH student.
Hope this helps!
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