Teacher decision-making skills

The foundation for improving teacher decision-making skills involves an understanding of teaching as an interactive process. In general, teachers comprehend new events by reflecting on their own personal experiences: " . . . the literature suggests effective teachers develop a personal and individual method based on perceptions of themselves, of their students, and of their work" (Martinez, 1992, p. 165). The interactive process between student and teacher is facilitated by mutual understanding, lack of ambiguity, and negotiation: in other words, it is important for the teacher to understand the child's perspective. The shared background and culture between language minority teachers and LEP students facilitates this interaction. Mainstream teachers

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es. Language minority teachers are more effective than their mainstream counterparts in instructing LEP students for several reasons. First, students who are instructed in their native languages encounter less difficulty in attaining second language competency than students who do not have the benefit of bilingual instruction. Second, language minority teachers provide positive role models for their LEP students. Third, language minority teachers are more likely to provide an environment that is supportive of the student's home culture. Bilingual para-educators, having already demonsrated their desire to instruct LEP students, would be ideal candidates for future teachers: "As native speakers of the students' languages, para-educators, in many cases, have the experience of acquiring English as a second language themselves, and they are sensitive to differing cultural values and attitudes" (Genzuk, Lavadenz, and Krashen, 1994, p. 219). Estimates of the para-educator population who would like to become credentialed teachers varies from 25 percent to 50 percent. Even using the more conservative estimate, within five years an additional 6,000 bilingual teachers could be added in California alone. The addition of these new tea
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1694
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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