As an educator whose role is to support English language learners and the teachers who serve them, I provide professional development and consultation on content and pedagogy for teachers, as well as academic and linguistic scaffolding for high school ESL students. Face-to-face contact in supporting the academic success and socio-emotional well-being of ELLs is essential. In-building, in-district, and state-level advocacy demanding we serve immigrant students and their families more equitably takes on a completely different form during distance schooling. This is uncharted territory. We had enough inequities to contend with prior to COVID. With the pandemic-related school closures and instruction, as well as all communication, turning virtual, many ESL students became disengaged with teachers and school. With the constantly-changing, inconsistent expectations that varied from district to district and building to building on top of the technological and language barriers ESL students were already facing, it became increasingly difficult to find ways to collaborate with content teachers as well as a gauge which students needed which type of support, and to know how to provide it. Many of us were challenged by the new platforms we had to navigate and by simultaneously caring for our own families and children participating in distance learning themselves. Very little was in place to systemically and meaningfully communicate with the most impacted families and tap schools and educator (hu)manpower as resources, and to create true partnerships between caregivers and teachers in the distance learning module. My assessment of the last three months of school was that it was an epic fail for most students, especially the traditionally underserved.

 

My support for the push-back against police in the past month has consisted of signing online petitions to defund the police and spreading the word on social media, pitching in with material support for mutual aid efforts, and providing professional development opportunities to groups of educators focused on anti-racist and abolitionist pedagogies.

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Tereza T. Bottman Portland Parent Union Board Member