From Egg Crate to Omelet: Energizing Teacher Development

1
From Egg Crate to OmeletEnergizing
TeacherDevelopment

• Neil J. Anderson, Ph.D.
• Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA
• neil_anderson_at_byu.edu
• http//linguistics.byu.edu/andersonn.php

2
From Egg Crate to OmeletEnergizing Teacher
Development

• This PowerPoint presentation and an accompanying
  handout will be available next week from the
  MEXTESOL website.
• www.mextesol.org.mx

3
How to cite this presentation

• Anderson, N. J. (2007, November). From Egg Crate
  to Omelet Energizing Teacher Development.
  Plenary address at the MEXTESOL conference, Boca
  del Rio, Veracruz, Mexico.

4
From Egg Crate to OmeletEnergizing Teacher
Development

• Goals for this plenary session
• To establish the value of professional
  development.
• To share resources to assist you in your own
  professional development.
• To share a teachers dozen of tools for
  improving your teaching.

5
Professional Development?But what works?

• One-shot workshops and prepackaged seminars,
  although potentially effective for creating
  awareness and building discrete skills, are
  insufficient for facilitating teacher
  collaboration and change (Claire, 1998, p. 466,
  TESOL Quarterly, 32).

6
From Egg Crate to OmeletEnergizing Teacher
Development

• The conference theme Where to from here?
• We have an individual and collective
  responsibility to challenge ourselves to improve
  our skills as teachers and leaders through
  professional development so that we know where we
  are going from here.

7
The egg crate mentality

• Don Lortie (1975) has compared schools and
  teaching to egg crates in which individual
  teachers work largely in isolation within their
  separate rooms with different groups of students,
  like eggs in the separate sections of their
  carton.

8
Our challenge . . .

• to create an omelet.

9
Question . . . how will we do that?

• by establishing a community of practice where
  talking about our teaching is a daily event.
• by making our teaching and our thinking about our
  teaching open to public inspection (Shulman).

10
The egg crate mentality

• From To

11
Resource

• Dietrich, S. E. (2007). Professional development
  and English language teaching in Tamaulipas
  Describing the training and challenges of two
  groups of teachers. MEXTESOL Journal, 31 (2),
  31-36.

12
Resource

• Briggs, S. (2007). Being an ELT professional in
  the 21st Century. Plenary address at the 34th
  MEXTESOL conference. Boca del Rio, Veracruz,
  Mexico.

13
What makes an ELT professional? Sandy Briggs
Initial Training
The Individual Educator
Teaching Experience
Professional Development
14
Resource

• Bailey, Curtis, and Nunan (2001)
• Pursuing Professional Development The Self as
  Source
• Teacher development is a term used in the
  literature to describe a process of continual
  intellectual, experiential, and attitudinal
  growth of teachers. . . . The intent here is to
  suggest that teachers continue to evolve in the
  use, adaptation, and application of their art and
  craft. (Lange, 1990, p. 250, cited in Bailey,
  Curtis, Nunan, p. 4)

15
Four Quadrants of the Teachers Choice Framework

• Diaz-Maggioli, 2004, p. 15
• Updated Knowledge
• Level 1 Level 2
• Awareness Lack of
• Awareness
• Level 3 Level 4
• Lack of Knowledge

16
The Need for Professional Development

• It is always the most effective teachers who
  have told us that they have much more to learn.
  They are always the ones seeking the professional
  development. The weaker teachers are often very
  confident that they already teach well. So, I
  think that rather than simply providing
  professional development, it may be necessary to
  select teachers who know they need to get better
  and are open to getting better, actively seeking
  ways to do so.
• (Pressley, 2006, p. 6)

17
The Need for Professional Development

• Ancora Imparo (Latin)
• I am still learning

18
A Teachers Dozen Tools for Energizing Personal
Professional Development

• Tool 1 Minute Paper
• Please answer each question in one or two
  sentences
• What is the most useful, meaningful, or
  intriguing thing you learned from today's class
  discussion?
• What questions do you have about today's
  discussion that you would like answered before we
  move on?
• Reference Angelo, T. A. Cross, K. P. (1993).
  Classroom Assessment Techniques A Handbook for
  College Teachers, 2nd edition, (pp. 148-153).
  San Francisco Jossey-Bass.

19
A Teachers Dozen 23-2-1 Summary

• What are three ideas that have captured your
  attention from today's class?
• What are two questions that you are still
  thinking about related to these topics?
• What is one thing that you will remember long
  after this class is over?

20
A Teachers Dozen 3 Groupwork Evaluation Form

• Overall, how effectively did your group work
  together on this assignment? (circle the
  appropriate response)
• How many of the five group members participated
  actively most of the time? (circle the
  appropriate number)
• How many of you were fully prepared for the
  groupwork most of the time? (circle the
  appropriate number)

21
A Teachers Dozen 3 Groupwork Evaluation Form
(continued)

• Give one specific example of something you
  learned from the group that you probably wouldn't
  have learned on your own.
• Give one specific example of something the other
  group members learned from you that they probably
  wouldn't have learned without you.
• Suggest one specific, practical change the group
  could make that would help improve everyone's
  learning.
• Reference Angelo, T .A. Cross, K. P. (1993).
  Classroom Assessment Techniques A Handbook for
  College Teachers, 2nd edition, (pp. 349-351).
  San Francisco Jossey-Bass.

22
A Teachers Dozen 4 Teaching Journals/Diaries

• The diarist provides an account of his/her
  personal language learning or teaching history.
• The diarist systematically records events,
  details, and feelings about the current language
  experience in the diary.
• The diarist revises the journal entries for the
  public version of the diary, if any, clarifying
  meaning in the process.

23
A Teachers Dozen 4 Teaching Journals/Diaries
(continued)

• The diarist studies the journal entries, looking
  for patterns and significant events. (Also, other
  researchers may analyze the diary entries).
• The factors identified as being important to the
  language learning or teaching experience are
  interpreted and discussed in the final diary
  study. Ideas form the pedagogy literature may be
  added at this stage.
• Reference Bailey, K. M., Curtis, A., Nunan, D.
  (2001). Pursuing professional development The
  self as source (p. 50). Boston Heinle Publishers

24
A Teachers Dozen 5 Teacher Study Groups

• "TSGs are sustained opportunities for teachers to
  explore together issues and challenges that have
  a direct impact on their lives and the lives of
  their students. There is no set format for TSGs
  both the content and the process of the groups
  are designed and driven by the teachers
  themselves" (Clair, 1998, p. 469).
• Reference Clair, N. (1998). Teacher study
  groups Persistent questions in a promising
  approach. TESOL Quarterly, 32, 465-492.

25
A Teachers Dozen 6 Email Peer Mentoring Groups

• E-Mail support group for teachers. This structure
  could involve teacher learners who are in the
  same location or in different locations around
  the world. The function of the peer mentoring is
  for a teacher to pose a question of problem found
  in his/her language teaching and to then solicit
  input from peers.
• Reference Bowman, I, Boyle, B. A., Greenstone,
  K. A., Herndon, L. D., Valente, A. (2000).
  Connecting teachers across continents through
  on-line reflection and sharing. TESOL Journal,
  9(3), 15-18

26
A Teachers Dozen 7 Web-Based Bulletin Board
Discussions

• Working in dyads or small groups, you will take
  turns on a weekly basis (a) identifying a
  question based on the readings for that week, (b)
  posting the question on the WebCT BB system by a
  specific date and time, and (c) summarizing and
  presenting your peers' responses at the beginning
  of each class meeting. The remaining students in
  the class will answer the question by a specific
  date and time. Sample postings will be
  distributed and analyzed in class.
• Reference Kamhi-Stein, L. D. (2000). Looking to
  the future of TESOL teacher education Web-based
  bulletin board discussions in a methods course.
  TESOL Quarterly, 34, 423-456.

27
A Teachers Dozen 8 Videotaping for Self
Improvement

• Video recording has been used in teacher
  education for nearly 30 years, with teachers
  watching themselves (Paulston, 1974) and other
  teachers on video (Borg, Kelley, Langer, and
  Ball, 1970). However, apart from some more recent
  examples (e.g., Tsui, 1996), videotaping is still
  often used as a preservice assignment (e.g., in a
  practicum setting), rather than in self-initiated
  professional development contexts. When video is
  used in this way, the results can be quite
  dramatic.
• Reference Bailey, Curtis, Nunan, 2001, Video
  Seeing ourselves as others see us. In Pursuing
  professional development The self as source (pp.
  117-118). Boston Heinle Publishers.

28
A Teachers Dozen 9 Collaborative Research on
Teaching

• Use the following steps to conduct collaborative
  research to improve your teaching
• 1. With a peer or a small group of peers,
  identify a classroom problem that you all
  share.
• 2. Search the research literature to learn how
  other teachers have solved the challenge.
• 3. Determine together how you can structure your
  classes in order to find an answer to the
  challenge.
• Discuss regularly what is happening in your
  classes and what changes you need to make in
  order to improve student learning and solve the
  challenge.
• Plan to share your findings at a future MEXTESOL
  conference.

29
A Teachers Dozen 10 Review of Class Syllabi

• Share a copy of your course syllabus with a
  colleague. Ask your colleague to review the
  syllabus by specifically looking at the following
  areas
• Statement of the objectives.
• Statement of the grading policy.
• Sequencing of topics/events

30
A Teachers Dozen 11 Review of Class Quizzes

• Share a copy of your class quiz with a colleague.
  Ask your colleague to review the quiz by
  specifically answering the following questions
• 1. Is the quiz consistent with lesson
  objectives?
• 2. Is the quiz appropriate for the level of
  learner proficiency?
• 3. What changes could be made to improve the
  quiz?

31
A Teachers Dozen 11 Review of Class Quizzes
(continued)

• After administering the quiz, share the results
  with your colleague. The following questions are
  suggestions for your discussion
• Did the students perform as expected on the
  quiz?
• Did any of the best students miss an item that
  was considered easy?
• Did any of the weak students miss an item that
  was considered difficult?
• What evidence does the quiz give you that your
  students are making improvements in learning
  English?

32
A Teachers Dozen 12 Review of Class Lesson
Plans

• Share a copy of a lesson plan with a colleague.
  Ask your colleague to review the lesson plan by
  specifically answering the following questions
• Are the lesson objectives clear?
• Are the lesson activities sequenced
  appropriately?
• Are activity instructions clear?
• What evidence will allow you to know if the
  objectives have been met?
• What suggestions do you have for improving the
  lesson plan?

33
A Teachers Dozen 13 Peer Observation

• Ask a colleague to observe your class. Peer
  observations are most effective when the
  following four phases are implemented
• Phase 1 Pre-observation discussion
• Phase 2 The observation
• Phase 3 Post-observation discussion
• Phase 4 Follow-up discussion

34
My challenge . . .

• Choose one of the 13 tools reviewed in this
  session and apply it in your teaching within the
  next two weeks.
• Report on what you learned with a colleague.
• Continue energizing of your own professional
  development and improving your teaching.

35
From Egg Crate to OmeletEnergizing
TeacherDevelopment

• Neil J. Anderson, Ph.D.
• Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA
• neil_anderson_at_byu.edu
• http//linguistics.byu.edu/andersonn.php