Resources

Instructional coaches from outside a school offer fresh eyes and needed expertise to school improvement efforts. But to be effective change agents, they must build a genuine partnership with each teacher they coach. 

The WestEd Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL) approach defines three stages in a classroom lesson:

• Preparing students for the topic

• Guiding students to interact with new concepts and skills

• Extending their understanding by having them apply what they’ve learned to new and more challenging problems.

Because QTEL is aimed at English language learners, each stage involves carefully structured interactive tasks that require students to problem solve with others and to support their ideas with language. In doing so, students are repeatedly practicing the vocabulary and conventions of academic language, which is essential to mastering rigorous academic content.