Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit VI

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Teaching-Learning Collaborative (TLC)

• Transforming professional development for
  teacher preparation faculty and classroom
  teachers through collaboration and inquiry
• Antioch University Los Angeles

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This project was implemented in Los Angeles
schools where the needs of English learners are
arguably the greatest in the nation.
California schools are, by law, limited to
English only instruction.
44 of CA students are English learners compared
to national school average of 16.
The Los Angeles Unified School District enrolls
three quarters of a million students.
73 of are of Latino heritage
41 are English learners

• 94 of English learners speak Spanish.

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Teachers Voices

• Theres a lot of fear. With my kids, many of
  their parents have immigrated from Mexico and
  Oaxaca and theres a lot of fear that they will
  be sent back.

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English Learner Academic Achievement in LAUSD

• Levels of learning among English learners
  continue to be 1-3 years below grade level (K-8)
• High school graduation rates for Latinos enrolled
  in LAUSD hover around 61

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The LAUSD also has a Serious Teacher Retention
Problem

• 10 leave district before end of first year.
• 20 leave within three years.
• Over 50 of the teachers in low socio-economic
  urban schools leave within five years.

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Teachers Voices

• The biggest challenge for me has been teaching
  the way that I want to teach. Open Court
  district mandated, scripted language arts
  curriculum is not the way I believe children,
  especially second language learners, should be
  taught... The biggest frustration is that
  teaching is being treated like a job, and were
  just being trained to do our job. Its not
  considered an intimate endeavor where teachers
  can create a curriculum or a classroom in which
  children can thrive.

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TLC Guiding Principles
1. Collaborative rather than directive
2. Constructed rather than scripted
3. Getting to know students
4. Inquiry-based teaching and learning

• 5. Working with current theory and research in
  English language development, instructional
  strategies, and existing programs for English
  learners.

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Collaborative and Constructivist

• Engaging learners at their levels of experience
  and knowledge (Piaget)
• Sharing authority of knowledge and expertise
  (Freire)
• Demonstrating mutual respect (Rawls)
• Acting on, working with, reflecting upon,
  mentoring. (Vygotsky)

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Getting to Know Students

• Assessing prior knowledge is essential to the
  ability to build future learning.
• Students interests must also be taken into
  account (Dewey)
• Respectful, meaningful relationships are
  essential.

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Inquiry-based Teaching and Learning

• Learning takes place in response to questions.
  Put otherwise, developing questions leads to
  knowledge-seeking.

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Working with current theory and research in
English language development, instructional
strategies, and existing programs for English
learners.
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We Focused our Work on Three Populations
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Faculty Development ProjectAntioch University
Los Angeles

• Objective Improve preparation of new teachers to
  provide effective instruction to English learners
• One year project
• 70 of the faculty are part-time
• Seven workshops
• Individualized sessions with smaller groups

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Faculty Development Project Modeling
Collaborative Trust-building

• Getting to know students
• -modeling trust building and mutual respect,
  facilitators worked with instructors using
  methods that allowed them to get to know each
  other in ways unlikely in regular day-to-day work
  situations.

Faculty
Authentic relationships
TE candidates
El students
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Faculty Development Project Modeling
Collaborative Trust-building

• After each exercise, instructors discussed how
  the same activity could be used in their courses,
  which would then model for TE candidates what
  they could do with their students.

Faculty
Authentic relationships
TE candidates
El students
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Faculty Development ProjectCollaborative and
Constructivist

• Together, instructors read material on
  participatory and liberatory education,
  connecting those ideas to authentic work with
  their students.
• Discussions generated a framework for change that
  focused on deep knowledge, individualized
  instruction, and authentic relationships among
  faculty and project staff.

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Faculty evaluated the community building highly

• Best parts of the workshop
• The activities that helped us engage in dialogue
  because it helped me build community and feel
  connected.
• Talking to each other. I can work better when I
  know someones stories (even personal stories).
  We need to develop the community of faculty.
• Working in small groups, sharing and listening
  to each others stories. Getting to know other
  staff.
• The team building and sharing portion. It
  creates a connection with the other people
  involved in the program.
• Enjoyed the community building activities and
  the threads of life activities.

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Faculty Development ProjectLearning About
StudentsFaculty examined assumptions about
English learners.
85 are at or below poverty level.
Very respectful. They rarely doubt a teacher.
Student skills differ depending on their histories
Are they from rural or urban areas?
Economic status?
Attitudes towards teachers?
Virtually all English learners are Spanish
speakers.
Family is very important.
Many families risked their lives so their
children could get a better education.
Family attitudes about education?
Interests and values?
Household arrangements?
Many large families live in one bedroom
apartments.
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Faculty Development ProjectInquiry Led to
Working with Theory, Research, and Strategies

• In a trusting atmosphere, faculty could question
  what they really knew about ELD, strategies for
  teaching English learners, and what was
  significant for their candidates to learn.
• They moved beyond, It is just good teaching.

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Mini-universities
In some instances, the mini-university allowed

• faculty to teach each other.

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Faculty Development ProjectDifferentiated
Instruction for Faculty

• Faculty with less knowledge of English learners
  were given individualized, hands-on workshops
  with an ELD expert to build their knowledge.

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Faculty Development ProjectWorkshop Outcomes

• Participating instructors modified their course
  syllabi in collaboration with others.
• Some instructors met with ELD expert and project
  staff to support syllabus work.
• Collectively, instructors made curricular
  recommendations to administrators.

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Teaching Learning CollaborativeKeys to Make
Professional Development Meaningful in Any Group

• Demonstrate mutual respect by engaging
  participants in the planning
• Build trust by getting to know one another
• Find out what participants know, need to know,
  and want to know
• Make opportunities for creative, collaborative
  work
• Provide consistent follow up

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We invite you to view our companion presentation,
TLC for K-5 teachers, which can be downloaded
from our website www.tlc.antioch.edu. For more
information on the TLC project, please contact
Dr. Cheryl Armon, at cheryl_armon_at_antiochla.edu