BRIGHT PERSPECTIVES ON TEACHER EDUCATION

COTESOL 2015

PRESENTERS

Olivia Conner

Virginia Nicolai

Ruth Moore

Dieter Bruhn

PRESENTATION FORMAT

• Goal of Presentation: This session will focus on different perspectives/experiences with teacher training

• 3 presentations total • Olivia’s presentation postponed until next year

• Virginia Nicolai 25 minutes• A collaborative ABEA Training Program

• Ruth Moore 25 minutes• Practice oriented reading groups

• Break + talk to presenters • Dieter Bruhn 40 minutes• Teaching teachers to create and adapt material

A COLLABORATIVE ABEA TRAINING PROGRAM

VIRGINIA NICOLAI

COLLABORATIVE ABEA

•Adult Basic Education Authorization• Created by the Colorado Department of

Education in 2004• Required of paid instructors who teach adult

learners in AEFLA grant-funded programs• “Those employed on or before July 1, 2012

who have never received PD support for authorization courses must obtain the ABE Authorization by June 30, 2015.” (Colorado Department of Education, 2015)

COLLABORATIVE ABEA

•ABEA Options:• Portfolio• Evaluation of Equivalent Coursework• 4 required 3-credit courses• EDU 131: Introduction to Adult Education• EDU 132: Planning and Delivering Instruction to Adult

Learners• EDU 133: Teaching Adult Basic Education (ABE) and Adult

Secondary Education (ASE/GED) • EDU 134: Teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) to

Adults

COLLABORATIVE ABEA

• Target audience: ESL faculty at Colorado Mountain College, June 2013 – 2015

COLLABORATIVE ABEA

•PROBLEM: How to get 19 adjunct ESL faculty from diverse backgrounds to obtain the ABEA?

•SOLUTION: Create a cohort and offer the courses at convenient times

COLLABORATIVE ABEA

• Cohort Rationale:• Clair & Adger (1999)

recommend fostering “meaningful collaboration”• Young (2009)

recommends organizing a cohort of teachers into a “professional learning community” with administrative support

COLLABORATIVE ABEA

•Offer courses at convenient times:

Faculty Survey

Saturdays &

Summer

3-week intensive hybrid courses

COLLABORATIVE ABEA

•PROBLEM: Adjunct faculty at other campuses also needed to obtain certification

•SOLUTION: Allow them to attend face-to-face class meetings remotely

COLLABORATIVE ABEA• Effective professional

development incorporates:

• research on how adults learn (Center for Applied Linguistics, 2010)

• principles of adult learning and effective teaching (Clair & Adger, 1999)

COLLABORATIVE ABEA

Knowles’ Principles of Adult Learning (1998)

Need to Know

Self-Concept

Experience

Readiness to

Learn

Orientation to

Learning

Motivation

COLLABORATIVE ABEA• Center for Adult English

Language Acquisition (2007) recommends using:

• task-based teaching techniques so that training participants can relate new information to their experiences

• a variety of presentation styles, including small-group interaction

COLLABORATIVE ABEA

•Course Design:•Online articles instead of textbooks•Presentations•New experiences•Peer observation•Application to our ESL program

COLLABORATIVE ABEA

•“Ninja Teaching” Considerations:• Technical support• Handouts available online before class meeting• How to design pairwork/groupwork activities

COLLABORATIVE ABEA

•Positive Outcomes:• Increased collaboration•Trust & respect•Success!•15 teachers took 2 or more courses•7 teachers completed all 4 courses•2 teachers have received ABEA

REFERENCES• Center for Adult English Language Acquisition. (2007). The CAELA guide for

adult ESL trainers. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics. • Center for Applied Linguistics. (2010). Framework for quality professional

development for practitioners working with adult English language learners. Washington, DC: Author.

• Clair, N. & Adger, C.T. (1999). Professional development for teachers in culturally diverse schools. Retrieved from http://www.cal.org/resource-center/briefs-digests/digests.

• Colorado Department of Education. (2015). Adult Basic Education Authorization. Retrieved from http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdeadult/liaindex.

• Knowles, M. S., Holton, E.F. & Swanson, R.A. (1998). The adult learner: The definitive classic in adult education and human resources development (5th ed.). Houston: Gulf.

• Young, S. (2009). Supporting and supervising teachers working with adults learning English. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics. Retrieved from http://www.cal.org/caelanetwork/resources/supporting.html.

PRACTICE-ORIENTED READING GROUPS

RUTH MOORE

PRACTICE-ORIENTED READING GROUPS

Rationale:• Teachers value professional development when it has a

direct and immediate impact in their classroom (Mercado, 2012).

 • Teachers are more likely to learn from self-reflection

and colleagues than from institutional authorities (Oprandy, 2009).

• Collaborative learning models lead to higher degrees of critical thinking and longer retention of concepts (Tottel, Sills, Digby, & Russ, 1991).

ALTERNATIVE MODEL OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

 

• Delivers professional development for faculty in busy environments

• Promotes growth in understanding of teaching practices

• Incorporates self-reflection to build expertise  • Builds community and morale 

FOUNDATIONS FOR A COLLABORATIVE LEARNING COMMUNITY

• Department & Director Support

• Faculty buy-in through voluntary participation

• Incentives:• Credit for professional development• Lunch• Faculty leadership opportunities

ORGANIZATION & LOGISTICS: AN IEP MODEL

CHOOSING READING SELECTIONS

Identifying Student and Faculty Needs:

• Consider students’ academic readiness and learning gaps

• Use classroom observations to identify faculty teaching needs

• Honor faculty text recommendations

READING CLUB TOPICS

• Classroom assessment – best practices• Teaching reading skills• Teaching pronunciation• Task-based teaching & learning• Improving critical thinking by asking better questions

• Creating a strong classroom culture• Engaging students in your lessons

• The science of learning• Moving beyond the plateau: From intermediate to

advanced levels in language learning

FACILITATING DISCUSSIONS

• Write guided questions for each meeting

• Discuss texts in both large and small groups

• Include hands-on practice activities related to the text

• Practice collaborative approach of sharing insight and experience

• Use established protocols and etiquette for a book/reading club

FACULTY FEEDBACK

WELCOME BACK

• Overview of previous presentations • Virginia Nicolai’s Presentation• Collaborative ABEA training program

• Ruth Moore’s Presentation• Practice oriented reading groups

• Overview of Next Presentation• Dieter Bruhn • Teaching teachers to create and adapt

materials

TEACHING TEACHERS TO CREATE AND ADAPT MATERIALS

DIETER BRUHN

TEACHER TRAINING ABROAD

OBJECTIVE

CREATING INFORMATION GAPS

• Cut an article or reading from a book into several parts• Create a chart of information you want the

students to find • Put students into groups• Have them make predictions if appropriate• Then, give each student one section of the reading• Have students fill out their part of the chart• Finally, have students ask each other questions to

complete their chart• At the end, they’ll have all of the information

READING RELAY

• Competitive Game• Predicting• Scanning Skills• Reading Comprehension• Vocabulary

READING RELAY• Start with a discussion and vocabulary exercises to build

context• Have students make predictions if appropriate• Put students into teams• Model how to do a relay race• Have one student from each team run to the wall to find the

answer to Question 1• When they have found the answer, everyone needs to circle it• Then, the second student runs to the wall to find the answer

to Question 2• Teams continue until they have answered all of the questions• Go over the answers to make sure everyone has the correct

ones• Then, have students read the whole article

READING RELAY - PREDICTIONS

• 1. How many different kinds of sharks are there?a. 25b. 100c. 350

READING RELAY - PREDICTIONS

• 2. What is the largest shark?a. Whale sharkb. Great white sharkc. Tiger shark

READING RELAY - PREDICTIONS

• 3. How fast can a Mako shark swim?a. 50 kilometers per hourb. 60 kilometers per hourc. 70 kilometers per hour

READING RELAY - PREDICTIONS

• 4. What is the most dangerous shark?a. Great white sharkb. Leopard sharkc. Tiger shark

READING RELAY - PREDICTIONS

• 5. How long have sharks been around?a. 100,000 yearsb. 10 million yearsc. 400 million years

READING RELAY - PREDICTIONS

• 6. What is interesting about hammerhead sharks?a. They are the strongest sharkb. Their head looks like a hammerc. They are very fast swimmers

READING RELAY - PREDICTIONS

• 7. Up to how many teeth can a shark grow in its lifetime?

a. 500b. 5,000c. 20,000

READING RELAY - PREDICTIONS

• 8. What is the smallest shark?a. Spined pigmy sharkb. Burmese bamboo sharkc. Nurse shark

READING RELAY - PREDICTIONS

• 9. What do whale sharks eat?a. Fish, seals, dolphins and sea lionsb. Plankton, shrimp and very small fishc. Other sharks

PERSONALIZING MATERIALS

• Create an interview chart related to the lesson• Have students go around and ask each other

questions to complete the chart• Finally, have them write sentences about their

classmates based on the information they found

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE?

NAME JOB

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE?

NAME JOBJose Police Officer

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE?

NAME JOBJose Police OfficerMaria Teacher

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE?

NAME JOBJose Police OfficerMaria TeacherYuko Doctor

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE?

NAME JOBJose Police OfficerMaria TeacherYuko DoctorLuis Firefighter

WRITING

• Jose wants to be a police officer.• Maria wants to be a teacher.• Yuko wants to be a doctor.• Luis wants to be a firefighter.