Katy Padilla

ESOL Teacher | Annandale, VA

Katy Padilla is a fifth-grade ESOL specialist at Mason Crest Elementary School in Annandale, Virginia, a school with a high percentage of ELLs. Mason Crest is a school built upon the foundation of collaboration — among classroom teachers, specialists, and administrators.  Working with the rest of the fifth-grade team, Katy uses a number of strategies to support ELLs and other students, including co-planning, co-teaching, and reviewing classroom materials from an ELL perspective.

In this interview, Katy talks about the steps she has taken to make collaboration effective, shares a special pre-teaching strategy she uses with ELLs, and talks about basic reading instruction for older students.

Video bonus: You can see Katy in action in these videos, filmed in collaboration with the NEA: