Return-Path: <nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id i54Dc6925601; Fri, 4 Jun 2004 09:38:17 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2004 09:38:17 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <s0c025e5.099@ontario-mail.tvcc.cc> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "Mona Curtis" <MCurtis@tvcc.cc> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:1476] RE: from Meta, Re: thinking, acting, and X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII X-Mailer: Novell GroupWise Internet Agent 6.5.1 Status: O Content-Length: 7795 Lines: 226 Thank you Lisa for your thoughtful reply. This short message speaks volumes. Mona Curtis ESL Coordinator Treasure Valley Community College 650 College Blvd. Ontario, OR 97914 www.tvcc.cc 541-881-8822 x 316 fax 541-881-2747 >>> lmullins89@yahoo.com 06/03/04 08:15PM >>> Hello Jackie and everyone, I would like to share my thoughts, observations, and experiences with PD. I have participated in several types of professional development including one day workshops, several day workshops, online courses, sessions at conferences,and seminars both onsight and teleconference and many listserves. Also, I have presented my own sessions and co-faciliated several events. When I first came to adult education, I was a part-time teacher with few working hours per week and a scattered few students. At that point I wanted to learn to be a better adult education teacher, but I sometimes felt resentful of the imposition on my time. This was particularly true when the workshop or whatever it was didn't seem helpful to me at the time. As time went on, my working hours increased, our enrollment increased, and my teaching skills improved. My attutude about pd changed when I was given full-time hours on a year round basis with a strong enrollment and an ever increasing success rate. I felt that now the system supported me, the program supported me, the statkeholders supported me, and that isn't taking into account the most important people, the students. All these people are counting on me to be the best adult education teacher possible. The most effective pd I have experienced would be the one with long-term contact. Those with multiple sessions, feedback and support from facilitators, interaction with other participants, and follow-ups over extended time are the best. The activities that involve trying something, evaluating the results, collaborating with others, and reflecting on how to make it better, then implementing the changes have made the greatest difference in my teaching and way of thinking. When these components are in place, it isn't difficult to try new things. I also believe that anything I can do that will improve my ability to know the students' needs and increase the effectiveness of my teaching is important and necessary. Education in all aspects is related to change. It is an avenue to change thinking in our students and ourselves. PD should result in changes in thinking and acting. In my experience, the EFF quality model has created the most change in my teaching because it has made me think in a new and more open way about what my students want and need to learn. It has helped me understand the real concept of student-centered. With a more project-based approach, my lessons are more interesting and sustaining to the students. It has also provided the opportunity and forum for reflection as well as change in my practices. I also have a greater voice in policies within the program. I think that other types of PD have contributed to my changes -online courses, listserves, conferences, - but those types are extensions to the more intense learning atmosphere of the extended pd. Mary and Meta have best described the change in thinking and acting that I am experiencing. I look forward to all pd opportunities, strive to attend and participate actively and try to make the most of each one to get all I can from it. This discussion has caused me to take more time to reflect on what types of changes I am or have experieced and why and this has been valuable to me so far. I'm taking a closer look at what I want to happen and what is really happening. Thanks, Lisa Mullins, ABE/ESOL Instructor Hawkins County Adult Education Rogersville, Tennessee --- jataylor <jataylor@utk.edu> wrote: > Colleagues, > Thanks so much for sharing your thoughtful insights > on change. The role of > reflection in change was mentioned earlier. I want > to encourage us to > continue reflecting upon and sharing our experiences > with change throughout > the discussion; specifically, what are your > experiences of professional > development that you have attended or offered that > led to: > > Changes in thinking? > Changes in acting? > Integrated change? > > Tell us about different types of PD you have > attended or offered where you > discovered later that it led to: > - changes in thinking, but where you or others found > it difficult to implement > or sustain in practice > - changes in acting, but didn't really impact what > you or others thought about > the topic > - led to integrated change of thinking and acting? > > Thanks, > > Jackie > > > > >===== Original Message From nifl-aalpd@nifl.gov > ===== > >(The following post is from Meta Potts - see below > - Jackie) > > > >Colleagues, > > > >My experiences with teacher change focus on three > National Programs: The > >National Writing Project, Even Start and other > Family Literacy Programs, and > >Equipped for the Future. I would like to address > ?how teachers change, > >rather than ?how teachers changed. > > > >I have found that teachers come into the PD > sessions wanting to validate what > >they are already doing or wanting to find a way to > upgrade their skills and > >become better at what they do. It is the former > group that says, ?I'm > already > >doing that,? and the latter group that says, ?I?d > like to try this to see if > >it makes a difference in my teaching and my > student?s learning. > > > >In all three of the programs mentioned, I found > that change occurred over > >time, even though participants often expressed > evangelistic zeal after the > >initial contact: five-weeks required to attend the > NWP, several days with > >follow-up required to become Even Start staff, and > the weeks and months > >involved to become an EFF practitioner, using the > Quality Model. > > > >Lasting change is a process, indeed, project-based > learning, often taking > many > >months to integrate. It begins with thinking about > the need for change and > >making a commitment to attend PD (perhaps many > sessions), to actively > >participate, and then to follow through with field > work, which includes > >experimentation, assessment, and retrial. During > this period, teachers who > >integrated the change did so because they were not > acting alone. They had > >support from colleagues in face-to-face meetings or > via technology, following > >the Vygotskian perspective, which theorizes that > learning occurs through > >social interaction. The teachers who were able to > integrate change had > support > >from their administrators, who recognized that > trial and error does not mean > >failure, and who gave the teachers time to plan, > teach, and assess their own > >learning. > > > >How do I recognize a teacher who has integrated > change? I may observe > quality > >teaching, which incorporates the learned concepts, > but more than that, I see > >Robert, who downloads information to support what > he is learning and sends me > >an e-mail with an outline of a new document; LaDean > has started her own > >portfolio and is recording her growth; Caitlen > makes copies of her teaching > >and learning cycle and shares them with colleagues, > asking for feedback and > >demonstrating a willingness to participate in > discussion groups; John > >continues to experiment with strategies and then to > ply me with questions and > >comments. Sarah is conducting her own workshops. > > > >These are the experiences that keep PD people > excited life-long learners, > >themselves. > > > > > >All the Best, > > > >Meta Potts > > > >FOCUS on Literacy > >Glen Allen, VA > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger. http://messenger.yahoo.com/
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