Reflections: Professional Development Using a Gradual Release Model to Facilitate Culturally Responsive Strategies in a Rural Secondary School Curriculum in Malawi

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-252
Author(s):  
Novea A. McIntosh ◽  
Connie L. Bowman
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Culturally Responsive ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Decentralized System ◽  
Underserved Students ◽  
Educator Preparation Program ◽  
Release Model ◽  
Gradual Release

This self-reflection article explores the collaboration with a nongovernmental organization serving underserved students in Malawi and a private Midwestern university educator preparation program which provided research-based pedagogical culturally responsive practices to teachers. Through strong partnerships, education programs can combine their academic and activist voices to prepare teachers as change agents. This article examines the Malawian education system that is gradually shifting from a decentralized system. The authors provided professional development focused on a framework of gradual release model of culturally responsive strategies to be employed in a rural secondary school in Malawi. Finally, the article concludes by sharing lessons learned.

Being Culturally Responsive in a Formative Evaluation of a Professional Development School: Successes and Missed Opportunities of an Educative, Values-Engaged Evaluation

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 384-403
Author(s):  
Jori N. Hall ◽  
Melissa Freeman ◽  
Soria E. Colomer
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Culturally Responsive ◽  
Formative Evaluation ◽  
Professional Development School ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
First Year ◽  
Cultural Characteristics ◽  
Missed Opportunities ◽  
Responsive Evaluation ◽  
University Partnership

While evaluators have explored the implementation of culturally responsive evaluation (CRE), the failures of applying CRE are less often told. In this article, we use a reflective case narrative to explore our successes and failures in implementing our CRE approach, including an educative stance. We draw on a formative evaluation of a district–university partnership during its first year. Our analysis of the reflective case narrative makes transparent how our culturally responsive, educative approach was sufficient to employ culturally responsive methods. Yet, our culturally responsive, educative stance failed to provide critical midcourse feedback, which worked against the development of the district–university partnership. The lessons learned from the formative evaluation are important to draw attention to the intersections between the cultural characteristics of the evaluand and how the evaluation contributes to educative insights.

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy in Mathematics

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 145-158
Author(s):  
Kenta Nagasawa
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Teacher Education ◽  
Culturally Responsive ◽  
Latino Students ◽  
Culturally Responsive Pedagogy ◽  
Mathematics Teacher Education ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Current State ◽  
Responsive Pedagogy ◽  
State Of Research

Purpose: This paper is a thematic literature review to examine the current state of research about Culturally Responsive Pedagogy in mathematics. The main themes are students’ perception, teacher education for pre-service teacher and professional development for teachers. Research methods/ approach: Literature was collected from Eric, which is a research engine of the education field. Also, Google Scholar is used to find articles of major scholars introduced by Dr. Rich Milner, who is the instructor of this course. Findings: Students faced microaggressions in mathematics class, which discouraged them to learn mathematics. The effect of teacher education was inconsistent in terms of the awareness of culturally responsive pedagogy and lesson plans. Research of professional development mentioned that mathematics was cultural. Implications for research and practice: It is more interesting to conduct long term or follow-up research to find the teacher’s practice after a taking professional development program. Also, it is critical to expand research scope besides African American and Latino students. Finally, evidence-based research is needed to change the political situation. Keywords: culturally responsive teaching, mathematics, teacher education, professional development, student’s perception

Classroom Observation for the Professional Development of Myanmar University Lecturers in a Singapore Cross-Cultural Context: Perception of Abilities and Learning Based on ‘Nine Events of Instruction’

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 40-49
Author(s):  
Siew Hong Lam
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Classroom Observation ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Educational Background ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Potential Applicability ◽  
Pedagogical Framework ◽  
Events Of Instruction

Abstract Continuing professional development is important for improving and reforming teaching.Classroom observation of others’ teaching has been used for the professional development of eight lecturers from three Myanmar universities who visited the Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore over a period of three weeks.To bridge the socio-cultural and educational background differences, Gagné’s ‘Nine events of instruction’ was used as a pedagogical framework to guide and evaluate the classroom observation and learning as it is well-established for instructional design and resonate well with educators.This study aimed to evaluate the participants’ abilities and their learning through classroom observation based on their perceptions of the ‘nine events of instruction’.The study found that most of the participants have positive views of their abilities in relation to the ‘nine events’, especially in practicing the early events of instruction. The classroom observation has benefitted them with respect to the ‘nine events’, particularly ‘Informing the Students of the Objective/Outcome’, ‘Stimulating Recall of the Prior Knowledge’ and ‘Presenting Information/Content/Stimulus’.Notably, ‘Assessing Performance’ was the most perceived ‘event of instruction’ that the participants wanted to improve on and that the participants perceived will benefit Myanmar lecturers the most.Qualitative feedbacks by the participants revealed lessons learned, their potential applicability and desires to reform and share.The study further demonstrated that the ‘nine events of instruction’ is a useful pedagogical framework for guiding and evaluating perception of abilities and learning in classroom instruction and observation for continuing professional development in a cross-cultural context.

scholarly journals Medical Student Leadership Development through a Business School Partnership Model: A Case Study and Implementation Strategy

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 238212052110104
Author(s):  
Timothy P Daaleman ◽  
Mindy Storrie ◽  
Gary Beck Dallaghan ◽  
Sarah Smithson ◽  
Kurt O Gilliland ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Development ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Business School ◽  
Medical Curriculum ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Learning Model ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Program Outcomes

Background: There is an ongoing call for leadership development in academic health care and medical students desire more training in this area. Although many schools offer combined MD/MBA programs or leadership training in targeted areas, these programs do not often align with medical school leadership competencies and are limited in reaching a large number of students. Methods: The Leadership Initiative (LI) was a program created by a partnership between a School of Medicine (SOM) and Business School with a learning model that emphasized the progression from principles to practice, and the competencies of self-awareness, communication, and collaboration/teamwork. Through offerings across a medical school curriculum, the LI introduced leadership principles and provided an opportunity to apply them in an interactive activity or simulation. We utilized the existing SOM evaluation platform to collect data on program outcomes that included satisfaction, fidelity to the learning model, and impact. Results: From 2017 to 2020, over 70% of first-year medical students participated in LI course offerings while a smaller percentage of fourth-year students engaged in the curriculum. Most students had no prior awareness of LI course material and were equivocal about their ability to apply lessons learned to their medical school experience. Students reported that the LI offerings provided opportunities to practice the skills and competencies of self-awareness, communication, and collaboration/teamwork. Discussion: Adding new activities to an already crowded medical curriculum was the greatest logistical challenge. The LI was successful in introducing leadership principles but faced obstacles in having participants apply and practice these principles. Most students reported that the LI offerings were aligned with the foundational competencies.

Lessons Learned from NASA STEM Workshops for High-Impact Professional Development

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Keliann LaConte ◽  
Brooks Mitchell ◽  
Christine Shupla ◽  
Carrie Liston ◽  
Ginger Fitzhugh
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
High Impact ◽  
Lessons Learned

Beginning a journey of knowledge management in a secondary school

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 364-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Wing Chu
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Knowledge Base ◽  
Lesson Study ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Digital Archive ◽  
Case Study Methodology ◽  
Content Type

Purpose Despite the fact that schools should be places where learning occurs, most schools have overlooked the importance of knowledge. In contrast, commercial firms have recognized knowledge as a strategic intangible asset and a key resource of the enterprises. Therefore, enterprises have already harnessed knowledge to a great extent with wide practice of knowledge management (KM). The purpose of this paper is to show that KM could be applied to the education sector similar to the practice in the business world for leveraging intellectual assets. This paper examines how schools can kick off the process of KM implementation. This paper also reports what have been done and what should be done in KM implementation better in a school. This can give insights for schools which will try KM in near future. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses a case study in a secondary school to explore how KM can be kicked off and sustained in a school setting. A KM system called knowledge base and a document management system called Digital Archive were developed to serve as the infrastructure for knowledge sharing. Lesson study and communities of practice (CoPs) were adopted to be the platforms for knowledge sharing among teachers in the school. A case study of the processes and lesson learned was done in this paper. Multiple sources of data, including observations, questionnaires and interviews, have been collected for evaluation. Findings In this paper, KM implementation was found to be effective through dual approaches: information-based and people-/interaction-based approaches. A knowledge base and a Digital Archive as knowledge repositories and lesson study and CoPs as platforms for knowledge sharing have been successfully established to facilitate sharing information/knowledge and nurturing a sharing culture and trust. Challenges faced and the related coping strategies during the process of implementation were shared and reflected. It was also found that building sharing culture is the critical turning point of the process of KM implementation. Breaking through the barrier of sharing was found to be very essential to KM implementation. Research limitations/implications This paper adopts case study methodology to report the process of KM implementation in a school. Although these results of the study conducted in one school may not be generalized to other school contexts, the lessons learned in the study will be a strong empirical evidence of research of KM implementation, especially in schools. Because of the limited number of prior studies and the importance of the pioneering work of launching KM implementation, this paper tries to address the research gap by using theory building from cases as a research strategy rather than theory testing research, especially in “how”and“why” in the steps of kicking off KM implementation in an unexplored research area. Practical implications This paper shows a case of KM implementation in a school with thoughtful procedures of implementing information-based and people-/interaction-based approaches. The paper is a showcase that will shed light on the processes and lessons learned and also helps to provide a model for schools who are interested in applying KM in their schools. Social implications Most people might think that KM can be applied only in commercial sector. This paper shows that KM can also be adopted in schools as well as other sectors. Originality/value This paper represents one of the pioneering work of implementing KM in a school. It hopes to make contributions for KM implementation also in the public sector within which are non-profit-making organizations.

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