Meet the Team Meet the Team

Shannon Smith, MEd, is an ML Coach and Technical Assistance Specialist with SupportEd. Shannon began working with SupportEd because of her passion for supporting all educators in building language and content for their multilingual learners, especially ELs. She has been working with English learners and supporting educators of ELs for over 19 years. Shannon began her career as an English language acquisition teacher in the Reading School District in Pennsylvania, first teaching elementary ELs in a sheltered content classroom. Shannon then transitioned to the School District of Lancaster in Pennsylvania where she became an ESL teacher and taught elementary ELs while also providing professional development for the classroom teachers in her building.

After over a decade in the classroom, Shannon became an ESL instructional coach position supporting ESL and classroom teachers through coaching and professional development on best practices in developing language and scaffolding content. Shannon went on to become the Coordinator of English Language Development and World Languages, K-12, with the School District of Lancaster. In this role, she continued to lead professional development for teachers and instructional leaders on best practices in developing language and scaffolding content and also informed curriculum development and professional development in English language arts and mathematics to embed language and scaffold content for ELs.

Shannon also contributed to the development of a new English language development curriculum aligned to the new WIDA ELD Standards Framework and aligned to newly developed content curriculum. All of these experiences have deepened Shannon’s passion for ensuring all teachers are equipped to support their ELs in meeting grade level content and language expectations through high quality professional development and coaching. She lives in York, Pennsylvania with her husband, two children, and dog. Shannon enjoys being outdoors, running, reading, knitting, and spending time with her family.