Teacher Leaders as Professional Development Providers: Factors Driving Teacher Learning Opportunities

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle L. Rosen
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Teacher Learning ◽  
Teacher Leaders ◽  
Learning Opportunities

Changing demographics, changing practices: teacher learning in new immigrant destinations

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Lowenhaupt ◽  
Todd D. Reeves
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
General Education ◽  
Teacher Learning ◽  
Teacher Collaboration ◽  
Immigrant Students ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Content Type ◽  
New Immigrant Destinations ◽  
Immigrant Destinations ◽  
New Immigrant

Purpose Changing immigration patterns in the USA have led to a growing number of “new immigrant destinations.” In these contexts, opportunities for teacher learning are crucial for developing the school capacity to serve the academic, linguistic and socio-cultural needs of immigrant students. In response, the purpose of this paper is to examine how schools in Wisconsin provided both formal and informal teacher learning opportunities to develop the instructional capacity to support recent immigrants, specifically Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs). Design/methodology/approach Using descriptive analyses of teacher and administrator survey and interview data, this study examined the focus and within-school distribution of formal professional development, as well as teacher collaboration as a mechanism for informal learning. Findings Most commonly, professional development focused on concrete strategies teachers might enact in their classrooms, rather than developing broader understandings of the needs of immigrant students. In addition, formal professional development commonly targeted particular groups of teachers, rather than faculty as a whole. Finally, general education-ELL teacher collaboration was most often deployed “as needed” and focused on particular student needs, rather than systematically. Research limitations/implications Future work might address the limitations of this study by examining teacher learning opportunities in new immigrant destinations in other locales, the quality and effectiveness of such opportunities, and other mechanisms for the distribution of expertise. Originality/value Findings suggest the need for more systematic and integrated approaches to teacher learning in new immigrant destinations, with an emphasis on pushing beyond the short-term need for instructional strategies to develop more holistic, collaborative approaches to integrating ELLs into schools and classrooms.

Teacher leaders’ brokerage practice in China: Impact on teacher learning in a school–university partnership

2021 ◽  
pp. 174114322110099
Author(s):  
Xiaofang Wang ◽  
Jocelyn LN Wong
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Learning ◽  
Teacher Leaders ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
University Partnerships ◽  
Unequal Distribution ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Important Approach ◽  
University Partnership ◽  
Support Teacher

School–university partnerships bring meaningful learning opportunities for teachers, and empowering teachers with leadership roles has become an important approach for teacher learning. This study shows how teacher leaders exercised brokerage practice to support teacher learning in one small-scale school–university partnership in China based on interview data from a university expert, three school management team members, eight master teachers and backbone teachers as teacher leaders, and nine teachers. The study discusses the significance of expanding the forms of teacher leadership with brokerage practices, examines the combination of professional and managerial roles embedded within teacher leaders’ brokerage, and addresses the issue of unequal distribution of learning opportunities. Implications are also discussed.

scholarly journals Cooperative Learning to Enhance Horticulture Skills and Raise Funds for Professional Development

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 455-457
Author(s):  
Brian J. Pearson ◽  
Kimberly Moore ◽  
James Barrett
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Cooperative Learning ◽  
College Graduates ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Academic Departments ◽  
Learning Program ◽  
Employment Opportunities ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Learning Programs ◽  
Critical Skills

Increased global trade coupled with diversified employment opportunities have generated demand for college graduates to possess enhanced interpersonal and foreign communication skills and a well-developed understanding of foreign culture. Horticultural employment opportunities also require students to possess a mastery of horticultural theory with an established record of direct, hands-on experience. Despite these needs, financial limitations of students and academic departments coupled with a lack of available opportunities may restrict students from developing these critical skills. Through development of cooperative learning programs, students have an opportunity to master and refine their horticultural skills while simultaneously raising funds, which are allocated for professional development including an international learning program. This article provides a successful overview of a student-based cooperative learning program that enhances student learning opportunities.

scholarly journals Teacher Learning Community and EFL Teacher Professional Development

2021 ◽  
pp. 54-58
Author(s):  
Hongmei Han ◽  
◽  
Jinghua Wang
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Teacher Learning ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Teachers Professional Development ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Teacher Learning Community

This study explores the impact of teacher learning community on EFL teachers’ professional development. The participants are 17 EFL teachers from Hebei University in China. A year-long study was conducted on these teachers' group leaning activities through participatory observation and in-depth interviews. The preliminary results are as follows: 1) Generally speaking, through conversation, interaction and online peer evaluation in learning community, participant teachers have improved professionally in terms of critical thinking, academic writing, reflective thinking and research awareness; 2) In learning activities of the community, the experienced teachers focused more on the construction of knowledge regarding research methodology, through interaction with others and participation in teaching-based research activities, to reconstruct their knowledge about teaching and research; while the novice teachers placed more emphasis on the reconstruction of knowledge regarding pedagogical theories and the way these theories are applied in teaching practice, through social interaction with other teachers.

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