I would like to thank Jackie Taylor, Marilyn Gillespie
and Cristina Smith for giving administrators,
researchers and instructors the information and
opportunity to participate in the discussion regarding
professional development, and its implications for
practice and research.

As I was reading "Research on Professional Development
and Teacher Change: Implications for Adult Basic
Education" I kept wondering exactly what "change"
meant.   The type of change expected should determine
professional development approaches.

The working conditions of adult educators, as Cristina
Smith and Marilyn Gillespie suggest, are a salient
factor in the limited resources that instructors have.

Lack of solid knowledge of cognitive processes seems
to be also common among adult educators.  This and
overall working conditions are significantly tied to
the situation of our students themselves.  Financial
resources and cultural capital are unevenly
distributed.

So when I think of teacher change and professional
development as a tool to learn teaching strategies,
say to help students write a simple paragraph, I
wonder what kind of paragraph I would want my students
to write about.

Intuitively, I think that both, study groups and 
descriptive review approaches, lend themselves to the
type of reflection that can promote teacher "change". 
The participatory approach and follow up elements are
helpful.  However, I have attended one session
workshops highly participatory and useful in the
classroom.

Gong back to the term change.  It is not defined in
the study.  One of the contributors to this list,
Laurie Ketzenberg, wrote the following lines:

"Last but not least, hopefully it's appropriate on
this listserv to raise the white elephant: how the
Bush administration's ideology prioritizes the
military at the expense of the work we do to meet the
needs of immigrants" (I would add under served
individuals in general).

Maybe this is related to teacher "change". Sylvia
Schmelkes states that ethical and moral judgment
approaches in education depart basically from Piaget. 
She elaborates on the situation of human rights
education in Latin America and proposes the following
"...in Latin America's case...despite the existence of
diverging currents in matters concerning value
oriented education and, specifically, human rights
education, there is an overall predominating trend,
known as the holistic paradigm.  The term holistic
means that every dimension of the man or child is
taken into account, and that value oriented education
is considered not a single subject matter, but an
integral part of the curriculum -both hidden and
explicit- as well as a social organization both within
the classroom and the school" (Sylvia Schmelkes in
"THE MAJOR PROJECT OF EDUCATION IN LATIN AMERICA AND
THE CARIBBEAN" Bulletin 47, Santiago, Chile, December
1998).

a) How does professional development approach teacher
change factoring in the potential similarities between
adult educators and their students?

b) Are the limitations among adult educators and
students connected in ways which demand that
professional development delves into more than
strategies and techniques?

c)How do Cristine Smith and Marilyn Gillespie define
teacher change and why?

Thank you in advance for your response.

Nadia Quiroz-Colby  


  

   


--- "Taylor, Jackie" <jataylor at utk.edu> wrote:


> PD List Colleagues:

> 

> As I re-read Marilyn's and Cris' chapter on

> professional development

> research and implications for adult basic education,

> several questions

> jumped out at me.

> 

>  

> 

> I find myself still wondering about the need for

> research and the extent

> of research in adult literacy professional

> development. If teachers are

> indeed the number one resource for student learning,

> then why is there

> so little research in adult literacy teacher

> professional development?

> What are the differences in K-12 and adult literacy

> PD research needs?

> What kinds of research in adult literacy

> professional development are

> most needed?  How can the Association of Adult

> Literacy Professional

> Developers (www.aalpd.org <http://www.aalpd.org/> )

> support the field in

> furthering PD research?

> 

>  

> 

> -- Secondly, in what additional ways are

> implications from PD research

> being translated into practice? For example:

> 

> *	How is the role of the program administrator

> changing to better

> support teacher change? What kinds of offerings do

> administrators have

> available to them in professional development? How

> do you see PD for

> administrators changing?

> *	Are we seeing a shift at all in terms of the

> extent to which

> single-sessions are offered to practitioners? Do

> others agree that

> single-sessions should be the exception rather than

> the norm? What

> efforts in your area (in addition to site-based PD)

> are facilitating

> that shift?

> *	What are states and programs doing (what current

> efforts are

> under way) to improve teacher working conditions?

> How can AALPD help?  

> *	What is the extent to which research-based

> professional

> development should be invested, and at what cost?

> 

>  

> 

> I look forward to your thoughts on any of these

> questions or others that

> you may have.

> 

>  

> 

> Best, Jackie

> 

>  

> 

> Jackie Taylor, Adult Literacy Professional

> Development List Moderator,

> jataylor at utk.edu 

> 

> >

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>

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