Team Up, Speak Up, Fire Up!: Educators, Students, and the Community Working Together to Support English Learners

Cohan, Honigsfeld, and Dove bring together current research, authentic examples of best practices, and voices from the field to champion the power of purposeful collaboration and provide educators with resources that will empower them to support English learners (ELs) and their families. Guided by four core principles (common purpose, shared mindset, diverse team membership, supportive environment), the authors explain how to meet the challenges of collaborating with ELs and help all stakeholders—administrators, teachers, students, parents, community leaders—develop new and effective ways of working together for the success of each learner.

Audrey Cohan, EdD, is senior dean for research and scholarship at Molloy College, Rockville Centre, New York. During her 25-year tenure at Molloy College, she has served as professor, chair of the Education Department, and interim dean for the Division of Natural Sciences. Cohan has taught in the undergraduate and graduate programs and is currently teaching critical issues at the doctoral level for the EdD Program. She began her career as a special education teacher in New York City, working with students with special needs in both self-contained and resource-room settings. As a New York State-certified special education and TESOL instructor, she has published numerous peer-reviewed articles about English language learners, including Differentiating Between Learning Disabilities and Typical Second Language Acquisition: A Case Study and Piloting a Pre-referral Data Collection Tool: A Documentary Account. The textbook Serving English Language Learners, published in 2016, earned the Textbook & Academic Authors Association (TAA) Most Promising New Textbook Award. Her other book publications include Beyond Core Expectations: A Schoolwide Framework for Serving the Not-So-Common Learner (2014) and John Dewey: America's Peace-Minded Educator (2016). While at Molloy College, Cohan has received the Faculty Leadership Award, the Faculty Recognition Award, the Molloy College Research Award, and the Distinguished Service Award.

Andrea Honigsfeld, EdD, is associate dean and professor in the School of Education and Human Services at Molloy College, Rockville Centre, New York. She directs a doctoral program in Educational Leadership for Diverse Learning Communities. Before entering the field of teacher education, she was an English-as-a-foreign-language teacher in Hungary (grades 5-8 and adult) and an English-as-a-second-language teacher in New York City (grades K-3 and adult). Honigsfeld received a doctoral fellowship at St. John's University, New York, where she conducted research on individualized instruction and learning styles. She co-edited the five-volume Breaking the Mold of Education series (2010-2013) with Audrey Cohan. She is also the coauthor of Core Instructional Routines: Go-To Structures for Effective Literacy Teaching, K-5 and 6-12 (2014). Honigsfeld, with Maria G. Dove, co-edited Co-teaching and Other Collaborative Practices in the EFL/ESL Classroom: Rationale, Research, Reflections, and Recommendations (2012) and among the books she coauthored are Co-Teaching for English Learners: A Guide to Collaborative Planning, Instruction, Assessment, and Reflection (2018) and Collaborating for English Learners: Foundational Guide to Integrated Practices (2019). With Audrey Cohan and Maria G. Dove, she coauthored Beyond Core Expectations: A Schoolwide Framework for Serving the Not-So-Common Learner (2014).

Maria G. Dove, EdD, is professor in the School of Education and Human Services at Molloy College, Rockville Centre, New York, where she teaches preservice and in-service teachers about the research and best practices for developing effective programs and school policies for English learners. Before entering the field of higher education, she worked for more than 30 years as an English-as-a-second language teacher in public school settings (grades K-12) and in adult English language programs in Nassau County, New York. In 2010, Dove received the Outstanding ESOL Educator Award from New York State Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (NYS TESOL). Dove frequently provides professional development for educators throughout the United States on the teaching of diverse students. She also serves as a mentor for new ESOL teachers, as well as an instructional coach for general education teachers and literacy specialists. Among the books she coauthored with Andrea Honigsfeld are Co-Teaching for English Learners: A Guide to Collaborative Planning, Instruction, Assessment, and Reflection (2018) and Collaborating for English Learners: Foundational Guide to Integrated Practices (2019). With Andrea Honigsfeld and Audrey Cohan, she coauthored Beyond Core Expectations: A Schoolwide Framework for Serving the Not-So-Common Learner (2014).