shifting paradigms in teacher development for the next generation - tesol 2014

SHIFTING PARADIGMS IN

TEACHER DEVELOPMENTFOR THE NEXT GENERATION

Isabela Villas BoasKátia FalcomerCasa Thomas Jefferson – Brasília - Brazil

Describe a number of projects implemented at a large ELT institute in Brazil aimed at differentiating teachers in their levels of professional development and legitimizing less traditional continuous professional development endeavors.

The Institution – Casa Thomas Jefferson

50-year-old, non-profit English language Teaching Institute in Brasília, Brazil

242 teachers – mostly non-native speakers with a teaching load of between 20 and 36 hours a week

Around 17,000 students of different age and profiiency levels

Students range from Very Young Learners to Post-Advanced

The teachers

# of Years Percentage of CTJ teachers (total: 242)

1 – 5 61.5%6 – 10 09.5%11- 15 12%Over 16 17%

Yearly teacher appraisal system

Planning

Assessing

Investment in academic

development

Professional attitude and commitment

Attention to rules and

procedures

Interpersonal Dynamics

Language, content, culture

and digital literacy

Instructing Learning

Traditional professional

development

Top-down decision-making

A fix-it, prescriptive approach

Lack of ownership

One-size-fits-all techniques

Fixed an untimely delivery methods

Visionary professional

development

Collaborative decision-making

A growth-driven approach

Collective construction

Tailor-made techniques

Varied and timely delivery methods

Diaz-Maggioli, G (2004) Teacher-centered professional development. Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

The innovationsProjects Audience

TEFL Seminar All teachers

Mentoring First-semester teachers; sometimes second-semester ones

Weekly workshops for newly-hired teachers

First-semester teachers

Senior Teacher Project Teachers with over five years in the institution and good evaluation results / trainee teachers

Peer mentoring Senior teachers who successfully completed the Senior Teacher Project / first-semester teachers

Mini-courses led by teachers Senior teachers

Blogging All teachers

A local TEFL Seminar1st TEFL Seminar in 2001

Open to the teaching community

Ts have the chance to select what to focus on; presenters select what to present about

Past - Talks and workshops given mostly by academic coordinators and supervisors and a few senior teachers

Present - Mid-career and even some novice teachers feel encouraged to present

Presenting for the first time at the CTJ seminar served as a springboard to my professional development. After my first experience as a presenter, I became much more confident and got up the courage to develop more projects and share them with other teachers. Since then, I haven’t stopped presenting in local, national as well as international seminars. To my surprise, I ended up developing a taste for delivering presentations and it all started in a CTJ seminar.

I believe the attendees at CTJ Seminars are really demanding. Thus, by presenting in such event, you feel more capable to speak in public and you do have to prepare yourself some time before by reading articles and rehearsing the presentations. Therefore, all the preparation required to develop Seminar presentations had a direct impact on my professional development.

The CTJ Seminar was indeed my first experience as a presenter. I sent a proposal because I felt I had interesting things to share in relation to the interpersonal dynamics between teacher-students. Presenting at the CTJ Seminar contributed to my own reflections about teaching practices, it is always interesting to hear what people have to say about our opinions and experience and reflect upon them.

A mentoring system for newly hired teachers

Newly-hired teachers have very specific needs

How it was in 2003 / How it changed in 2007

The mentors’ role

Differentiation within the mentoring system

Statement Average

The mentoring system was important for my adaptation in the institution.

4.6

The mentoring system was important for my development as a teacher.

4.7

I felt supported by my mentor. 4.8

I learned something new from my mentor. 4.7

15 teachersFully disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Fully agree

It helps with the adaptation into the school, both pedagogically and professionally; it gives a feeling of safety knowing someone’s there for you. It really makes teachers feel supported, since they have a chance to improve before actually being evaluated. Knowing that you’re not being judged or assessed counts a lot to build rapport with coaches and the company team. I can ask for help; dealing with difficult situations gets easier because you know where to find support.

Weekly sessions for first-semester teachers

Created in 2012 to complement the mentoring

More in-depth focus on pedagogical and bureaucratic aspects

Creates a learning community among the teachers hired each semester

How topics are selected

Topics Learning stylesTeaching grammar in a communicative contextTeaching writingTeaching readingPair-workTeaching very young learnersThe brain and language learningSetting clear objectives for your lessonTechnology in the classroomMovie segments to assess grammar goals (based on a coordinator’s internationally acclaimed blog)

The sessions definitely helped us teachers develop a collaboration spirit among ourselves. I felt like we all stuck together in order to overcome the difficulties that each one of us had. Interpersonal relationships were strengthened, which makes it easier to share experiences, both positive and negative. The training helped me have a sense of belonging and become integrated into the school. It created a close-knit group of people who felt they were on the same boat. The teachers were given an environment in which they could know each other better and feel comfortable about clarifying doubts with each other, as well as sharing ideas and solutions for issues.

Senior teacher projectThe 5 phases in T’s professional development (Huberman,1989)

1. Exploration and stabilization2. Commitment3. Diversification4. Serenity or distancing5. Conservatism and regret

“If teachers are able to realize their aspirations, they tend to enter a phase of serenity”

Senior teacher project

An observation waiver for senior teachers with high scores on their yearly evaluations

Options: 1. peer observation with a trainee;2. symetrical peer observation; 3. reflective piece based on class

recording

Agency:

A teacher suggested a fourth activity: to workon his m-learning blog.

Period # of teachers invited

Peer observation

Observing a trainee teacher

Reflective teaching

Total of participants

2/2012

26 3 10 1 14 (54%)

1/2013 24 2 6 1 09 (37.5%)

It was an opportunity to reflect on my own teaching.

I could give something back to the institution.

It would be an opportunity of learning from my peers. I had one of the most interesting challenges of my career. Actually, I believe it is not easy to be in the observer’s shoes because it requires hard work and critical thinking to analyze the positive and negative aspects of a class. In this project, not only have I obtained information about this type of work but also I have seen new perspectives to enrich my own teaching style.

Senior teachers as peer mentors

• Goals

– provide novice Ts with the chance to receive feedback from more experienced collegues rather than only from the official mentors

– Engage senior Ts in a meaningful professional development activity

• Target audience: Teachers who participated in the Senior Teacher project

Statement Average The peer-mentoring system was important for my adaptation in the institution.

4.16

The peer-mentoring system was important for my development as a teacher.

4.04

I felt supported by my peer mentor. 4.16

I learned something new from my peer mentor.

4.25

12 teachersFully disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Fully agree

Mentors can help fine tune your lesson plans; they are aware of current classroom situations. It was really enlightening, hands-on work; assistance for class planning.

A complement, rather than substitution, of the mentoring

I was observed once by the mentor; she never gave suggestions nor sent me a report or something similar. I felt disappointed. I only met with my mentor once and we didn’t have much contact, so the process didn’t actually work as a process. It was not continued. I didn’t think they actually gave me the feedback I was expecting. What they told me wasn’t exactly relevant. The teachers involved should be more understanding, more interested.

Need to create a “mentor mindset”

Millwater & Yarrow, 1997, as cited in Diaz-Maggioli, 2004).

Pros for MentorsNewcomers are welcomed by experienced teachers who are not supposed to evaluate them. There is a lot of sharing and we, hopefully, help them to lower their anxiety.

It gives senior teachers a chance to share what they know; it connects senior teachers and new teachers in a professional way; it places commitment to training on senior teachers’ shoulders; it values the expertise of senior teachers; it gives new teachers the opportunity of bonding with experienced professionals; it gives senior teachers the opportunity of reflecting on their own teaching; it exposes senior teacher to different teaching styles.

I believe this project is really positive to people who want to become teachers here. The mentoring project really enriches people’s teaching and gives them maturity to face challenges regarding their professional life. Therefore, I only see positive aspects in this project and I hope it continues.

Cons for MentorsMaybe mentors could meet their mentees in the end of the term to talk and wrap up the semester with them. It could be a frank talk about how things were along the semester.

Perhaps a clearer idea of what is hoped for from the teacher being observed - what behavior and attitude the institution is looking for from newcomers.

I felt I had to observe the class one more time to see if the suggestions were put into practice... But I don't know how practical this would be due to time constraints.

Mini-courses led by teachersThe first two rounds (how they used to be, why we decided to change)

2013 – we adopted a bottom-up approach

Ts were asked to suggest topics and volunteer to present

Ts were paired up (why)

Classroom management

Mobile learning

Teaching grammar Teaching writing

Learning difficulties

Teaching pronunciation

Teaching teens Task design and digital literacy

Teaching young learners

Online teaching and learning

Blogging

Blogging

Why and how the blog was initiated

How and why it has changed

By November 2013, 40 posts by 24 teachers and a total of 8,418 views

Summing up the projects

Goal of the projects: differentiating CPD

Organic process

The strengths of the projects outweigh the weaknesses

For us to move closer to Visionary Professional Development, Ts need to be even more involved.

Lessons learnt: transferability to other contexts

Teachers at different career levels have distinct needs: novice teachers need more practical, down-to-earth training, mid-career teachers need to be given choices, and senior teachers need new challenges.

One way to challenge senior teachers is to engage them in the development of their novice peers.

Senior teachers feel valued and respected when they are engaged in differentiated professional development activities.

Lessons learnt: transferability to other contexts

New teachers in an institution adapt more easily and perform better when they are part of a learning community. Weekly workshops on topics dealing with these teachers’ immediate needs, combined with mentoring, help build confidence and lower anxiety.

An institutional blog to which any teacher can contribute gives professionals a different type of opportunity to share knowledge and caters to the needs of those who are not inclined to give talks or present workshops but who have relevant ideas to share.

Lessons learnt: transferability to other contexts

Choice is of utmost importance in any continuing professional development endeavour: choice of topics to address, choice of presenters, and even choice of projects in which to engage.

CPD cannot be confined to the institution’s walls; teachers need to be engaged in CPD that connects them with the wider ELT community. Seminars, webinars, and blogs are a means of achieving this goal.

Lessons learnt: transferability to other contexts

Agency is crucial in Visionary Professional Development. Teachers need to be able to propose projects that are in keeping with their goals and interests, rather than merely adhere to pre-established ones.

The institution has to implement a CPD evaluation system, with surveys to assess the programs’ effectiveness and compile suggestions for future projects.

Isabela.villasboas@thomas.org.br

katia.falcomer@thomas.org.br

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