Our school district has students that speak many different languages. Isn’t that a hurdle teacher effectiveness can’t address?
Effective teachers are effective for all students, including using techniques to communicate with students whose first language is not English. The growing diversity of our schools is a fact and an opportunity—it allows us to engage in the increasingly global village that our communities have become. Just as the new Asian, African and Latin restaurants down the block add variety to our weekly meat-and-potatoes menu, the children of those immigrants offer their teachers and fellow students the opportunity to try something new, gain a new competency and embrace diversity. Such familiarity will serve students well in their global economic and cultural future.
