NOW AVAILABLE!
NCTE Pathways for Teaching & Learning
With English Language Learners

English language learners face the challenge of learning academic content while simultaneously being asked to take on English as an additional language.  NCTE is helping teachers address these challenges with NCTE’s Pathways for Supporting English Language Learners, a yearlong professional development experience that focuses on building teacher knowledge to advance student success.   

Learn more about how the experience is organized and the resources and tools you'll find inside!  

Still have questions?  Explore the information below to find answers or contact us at .

How Does NCTE’s Pathways For Supporting English Language Learners Help?

• Integrate language learning into daily activities.
• Cultivate understandings among peers in regard to the complexities of English language learning.
• Create culturally responsive communities by understanding the processes of student engagement within the school and classroom setting.
• Establish more effective learning environments by valuing the students’ home and cultural lives.
• Encourage students to initiate their own learning by closely examining the classroom practices of teachers and how they use students’ language(s), lived experiences, and culture as pedagogical tools to legitimize new social relationships of power.
• Help students access the core curriculum by practicing oral language skills and developing academic vocabulary

How Does It Work? 

Pathways begins with building teacher knowledge around the questions that matter most to you.      

• Examine inquiry questions to determine directions & priorities
• View classroom video footage to launch your study and determine the articles you want to read and discuss
• Use “My Notes” feature to annotate your readings
• Participate in discussion forums with your colleagues and nationally-recognized experts

Then Pathways provides opportunities to extend your knowledge.

• Access “In the Classroom” resources to adapt and try strategies and lessons
• Join on-line discussions about your experiences
• Participate in face-to-face and online discussions with colleagues in your learning team
• Utilize web seminars and NCTE’s audio library from nationally recognized experts
• Access peer-reviewed publications on numerous topics

Throughout the journey, assess your knowledge and reflect on teaching that advances student learning.

• Identify what data you will use to determine directions & priorities
• Identify professional development objectives in your ePortfolio
• Log how you are using new strategies in your ePortfolio
• Upload student artifacts associated with specific professional development goals
• Use the Report features to keep track of your activities & progress

What makes this experience different from other PD experiences?  NCTE’s Pathways is not a one-size-fits-all program and much more dynamic than an online course. There are multiple pathways to pursue based on upon your local needs.  Additionally, the Pathways community features provide continual opportunities to share your thoughts or questions with colleagues and leading literacy scholars via the team and national discussion forums.  All experiences are grounded in NCTE's Principles of Professional Development.

Why have schools chosen to participate in Pathways?  

• Integrates easily into existing professional development structures and priorities  
• Offers sustained professional development that continues beyond the one-day workshop model
• Includes tools to assess teacher and student learning
• Creates a professional community for teachers across the disciplines and a national network of educators who value professional learning and collaboration
• Provides access to a variety of multimodal resources in an online environment

Team or individual?

• The Individual enrollment option is intended for those educators who wish to engage in a deep professional learning experience but do not have such opportunities offered through their school.  
• The Team enrollment option supports the collaborative needs of teams with added features including Site Facilitator training, a team discussion forum, a common location for shared team files, team voucher for supplemental PD resources from NCTE, and a coupon for one web seminar from our ELL series.  Teams might consist of educators from a school or district, state groups such as affiliates or language arts coordinators, or any other group that wishes to engage with professional resources in an online environment that promotes collaboration and communication.    

What level teachers does it support?  Grades 6-12.  Watch for a version for elementary teachers in the future!  

How much does it cost to participate? 

• Individuals: $150 (member)/$190 (non-member)
• Teams:  Team pricing is based on the number of team members.  The cost is $600 plus $150 x the number of team members.  (So if you have 5 team members the price is $600 + $750 = $1350.)  If you have 10 or more team members the per person price is discounted to $135 per person.  (So the cost for a team of 10 is $600 + $1350 = $1950.)  The base price of $600 covers the cost of the site facilitator training, NCTE membership for the site facilitator, one copy of the NCTE book Language Learners in the English Classroom, and team support tools (private team discussion forum and file sharing area).  The team pricing also includes a team voucher valued at $25 x the number of team members, so a team of 10 receives a voucher valued at $250 that can be used toward other NCTE resources or services (such as books, memberships, journals, convention registration, consulting services, etc.) and a coupon for one web seminar from our ELL series.

Do I have to enroll at a certain time of year? 
No!  Because of the self-paced, self-directed format of Pathways, participants can enroll at any time during the year.  You will receive one full year of access from the date that you enroll.

Why choose online professional development vs. face to face?  NCTE’s Pathways supports professional learning communities who operate face-to-face and/or in an online environment.  Local school-based study groups can continue to interact in face-to-face meetings and enhance their learning by expanding their conversations to a national audience of peers.  The online environment also allows schools to engage with a wider range of resources at an affordable price.  For teams such as affiliates of professional organizations that are not centrally located, Pathways offers the ability to communicate and share team files in one central location.  

Who serves as site facilitators?  Typically school districts identify a potential Site Facilitator from within their staff, e.g., reading specialist, literacy coach, curriculum coordinator, instructional resource teacher.  Site Facilitators should demonstrate qualities such as:

• experience in mentoring adults and facilitating professional learning;
• involvement in learning from their own practice and ability to support colleagues in the same process
• knowledge in the field of literacy and literacy research consistent with NCTE and Initiative goals and philosophies;
• knowledge of language development theory, practice, and research;
• ability to work with the educational change process in a skilled and humane way. 

What if we do not have someone who is able to serve in the site facilitator role?
NCTE’s Professional Development Consulting Network offers a range of experienced consultants who can serve as your site facilitator remotely and/or lead on-site professional development experiences in your school/district.  Contact NCTE Professional Development staff to learn more.

What are the minimum technical requirements to participate in Pathways?

• Participants must have internet access. 
• Minimum operating system requirements:  Microsoft Windows 95/98, Windows NT 4.x or Windows 2000, Windows XP, Macintosh System 7 or current version of UNIX/Linux. 
• Web Browser: The preferred web browser is Internet Explorer (available as free download if you don't already have it).  Mac users may also elect to use Firefox as their browser, but if you are not able to view the Pathways videos it is likely that you are operating on an older version of Firefox that doesn’t include a required java plug-in, and you'll need to go to http://sourceforge.net/projects/javaplugin/ to download the plug-in. Pathways is not compatible with Safari. 
• Media Player: The prefered media player is Windows Media Player (available as free download). 
• For full information, visit http://www.ncte.org/profdev/online/adlit/125090.htm.

What research base informs the experiences? 
The Pathways experiences and resources draw on multiple research bases including the social construction of knowledge, funds of knowledge (Moll, ), and the role that oral language development plays on reading and writing.  The contents of this experience are drawn from decades worth of work on effective instruction for English language learners, including differentiated instruction, sheltered instruction, high expectations, clear purpose, and authentic experiences.