Kent Buckley, ESS, MA

Kent has worked with Second Language Learners, from Early Childhood through Adult Learners, for more than 30 years. With a Masters in Bilingual Education and additional state certifications in Pre-School, Elementary, and ESOL (K-12), he has taught in classroom, pullout, co-teaching, language immersion and resource support settings. As a National Board Certified teacher, he has focused on working with students, teachers, administrators and families on a myriad of issues related to English Language Learners. Kent has also worked with teachers and administrators as a mentor and coach as they worked to provide the most appropriate instructional support for their English Language Learners. His work as a mentor/coach involved instructional conversations, classroom visits, modeling lessons, reflection discussions and debriefings as well as planning sessions. As a mentor/coach, he has worked with teachers at the pre-school, elementary, middle and high school levels. As an adjunct professor at George Mason University, Kent has taught courses on: Second Language Acquisition, Reading & Writing for Second Language Learners; Assessment of English Language Learners and Instructional Practices for Second Language Learners. With the Director of ESOL Programs in the Fairfax County Public School System (VA), Kent developed and conducted a Model Classroom program that invited teachers and administrators to observe classroom instruction focused on Best Practices for English Language Learners. Visitors spent the afternoon debriefing the morning sessions and planning for improved instruction for ELs at their schools. Observers came from local, regional, national and overseas school systems. Combining professional expertise, interactive sessions and humor, Kent has provided PD on many aspects of Second Language Learning: Differentiation, Second Language Acquisition, Scaffolding; Lesson Planning, Team Teaching Coordination; Assessment, Family/School Connections, among others. He has worked with educators in a variety of school settings around the country, Puerto Rico and overseas.