scholarly journals Strengthening dialogic argument: What teachers can learn from authentic examples of student dialogue

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Sowey
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Classroom Dialogue ◽  
Student Dialogue ◽  
Learning Programs ◽  
Primary Means ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Thinking Tools ◽  
Professional Learning Programs

This paper is inspired by Philip Cam’s book Twenty Thinking Tools. Cam recommends classroom dialogue as the primary means for students to achieve conscious, strategic, and eventually habitual command of the intellectual moves needed for building and evaluating arguments. Classroom dialogue has indeed been found to be effective for developing students’ higher-order thinking skills, but only when students are engaged in dialogic argument. This paper addresses the dual concerns that dialogue is not widespread in classrooms, and that even where it is practised, it rarely involves argument. To address these concerns, an enhancement to teacher professional learning programs is proposed: the use of authentic examples, i.e. examples drawn from students’ real-life dialogic argument. Reflecting on numerous examples of this kind is likely to boost teachers’ confidence and competence as facilitators, with the consequent benefits of broadening the use of dialogue in classrooms and enhancing the rigour of students’ dialogic argument. Authentic examples of dialogic argument are surprisingly scarce in the relevant published literature. This paper provides several such examples, together with suggestions for how they may be constructively embedded in professional learning programs.

scholarly journals Tolerance in the UAE Islamic Education Curriculum

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
High Schools ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Islamic Education ◽  
Societal Challenges ◽  
Learning Programs ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
International Climate ◽  
The Subject

Promoting the values of peace and tolerance within an international climate of turbulence and instability is an essential responsibility for governments and schools. Threats to tolerance include the circumstances of societal challenges, instabilities in the region, and the increasing risks of social media. Ways to nurture and instill tolerance through the subject of Islamic education in UAE high schools is a key concern. Through a case study of the written, taught, and learnt curriculum of UAE Islamic education, this paper investigates the teaching and learning of tolerance in UAE high schools. It provides recommendations on how Islamic education classes, built on an awareness of the Islamic value of tolerance as a foundational component, can be utilized for shaping educational experiences that promote open mindedness. Curriculum-aligned Islamic education resources need to be further developed and teacher professional learning programs should be launched to empower teachers to achieve this intended aim.

Tolerance in the UAE Islamic Education Curriculum

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariam Alhashmi ◽  
Naved Bakali
Keyword(s):  
High Schools ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Islamic Education ◽  
Societal Challenges ◽  
Learning Programs ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
International Climate ◽  
The Subject

Promoting the values of peace and tolerance within an international climate of turbulence and instability is an essential responsibility for governments and schools. Threats to tolerance include the circumstances of societal challenges, instabilities in the region, and the increasing risks of social media. Ways to nurture and instill tolerance through the subject of Islamic education in UAE high schools is a key concern. Through a case study of the written, taught, and learnt curriculum of UAE Islamic education, this paper investigates the teaching and learning of tolerance in UAE high schools. It provides recommendations on how Islamic education classes, built on an awareness of the Islamic value of tolerance as a foundational component, can be utilized for shaping educational experiences that promote open mindedness. Curriculum-aligned Islamic education resources need to be further developed and teacher professional learning programs should be launched to empower teachers to achieve this intended aim.

scholarly journals Teachers’ Perception of Their Code-Switching Practices in English as a Foreign Language Classes: The Results of Stimulated Recall Interview and Conversation Analysis

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 215824402110138
Author(s):  
Yetti Zainil ◽  
Safnil Arsyad
Keyword(s):  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Video Recording ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Stimulated Recall ◽  
West Sumatra ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Stimulated Recall Interviews

Teachers often code-switch in the EFL classroom, but the question of whether or not they are aware of their code-switching has not been satisfactorily answered. This article presents the study on teachers’ understandings and beliefs about their code-switching practices in EFL classrooms as well as effective language teaching and learning. The participants of this study came from four junior high schools in Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia: five teachers with their respective classes. This research used the conversation analysis and stimulated recall interviews to analyze the data which came from the video recording of classroom observations and the audio recording of stimulated recall interviews with teachers. The results revealed the pedagogical functions and affective functions of teacher’s code-switching. The data also showed that the use of stimulated recall interviews helped teachers to be consciously aware of their code-switching as well as of their other pedagogical practices in the language classroom. Therefore, stimulated recall interviews can be a useful tool for teacher self-reflection that they were not aware of their code switch. This awareness could be incorporated into language teacher professional development and in-service teacher professional learning.

scholarly journals Online Professional Learning in Response to COVID-19—Towards Robust Evaluation

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 56
Author(s):  
Alireza Ahadi ◽  
Matt Bower ◽  
Abhay Singh ◽  
Michael Garrett
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Teacher Perceptions ◽  
Teacher Professional Development ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Evaluation Approach ◽  
Online Mode ◽  
Evaluation Models ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Workshop Evaluation

As COVID-19 continues to impact upon education worldwide, systems and organizations are rapidly transiting their professional learning to online mode. This raises concerns, not simply about whether online professional learning can result in equivalent outcomes to face-to-face learning, but more importantly about how to best evaluate online professional learning so we can iteratively improve our approaches. This case study analyses the evaluation of an online teacher professional development workshop for the purpose of critically reflecting upon the efficacy of workshop evaluation techniques. The evaluation approach was theoretically based in a synthesis of six seminal workshop evaluation models, and structured around eight critical dimensions of educational technology evaluation. The approach involving collection of pre-workshop participant background information, pre-/post-teacher perceptions data, and post-workshop focus group perceptions, enabled the changes in teacher knowledge, skills, and beliefs to be objectively evaluated, at the same time as providing qualitative information to effectively improve future iterations of the workshops along a broad range of dimensions. The evaluation approach demonstrated that the professional learning that was shifted into online mode in response to COVID-19 could unequivocally result in significant improvements to professional learning outcomes. More importantly, the evaluation approach is critically contrasted with previous evaluation models, and a series of recommendations for the evaluation of technology-enhanced teacher professional development workshops are proposed.

scholarly journals Integrated STEM for Teacher Professional Learning and Development: “I Need Time for Practice”

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Andrea C. Burrows ◽  
Mike Borowczak ◽  
Adam Myers ◽  
Andria C. Schwortz ◽  
Courtney McKim
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning ◽  
Social Constructionism ◽  
Teacher Professional Learning ◽  
Authentic Science ◽  
Learning And Development ◽  
Integrated Stem ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
K 12

This study compares three pre-collegiate teacher professional learning and development (PLD) integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) experiences framed in astronomy. The study is set in the western United States (USA) and involves 60 pre-collegiate teachers (in the USA these are K-12 teachers) over the course of three years (June 2014–May 2017). During the PLDs, astronomy acted as a vehicle for pre-collegiate STEM teachers to increase their STEM content knowledge as well as create and implement integrated STEM classroom lessons. The authors collected quantitative and qualitative data to address five research questions and embraced social constructionism as the theoretical framework. Findings show that STEM pre-collegiate teachers are largely engaged with integrated STEM PLD content and embrace astronomy content and authentic science. Importantly, they need time to practice, interpret, translate, and use the integrated STEM content in classroom lessons. Recommendations for PLD STEM teacher support are provided. Implications of this study are vast, as gaps in authentic science, utilizing astronomy, PLD structure, and STEM integration are ripe for exploration.

A Community Pediatric Camp Escape Room: An Interactive Approach to Applying Real-Life Critical Thinking Skills

2020 ◽  
pp. 104687812097274
Author(s):  
Syretta Spears ◽  
Gabriel M. Díaz ◽  
Desiree A. Diaz
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Nursing Students ◽  
Clinical Care ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Learning Activity ◽  
After School ◽  
Communication Policy ◽  
Interactive Approach ◽  
Legal Implications

Background. Escape rooms have been utilized to incorporate teamwork, communication, policy, and procedures reinforcement, as well as clinical care. Often themed, escape rooms challenge a team of players to discover clues and sequentially solve puzzles with the ultimate task of accomplishing a specific goal in a limited time frame, fostering critical thinking. Method. This learning activity incorporates legal implications for prelicensure nursing students in a pediatric community summer camp/after school care environment. Care and legal implications for a minor experiencing respiratory distress was the premise of this escape room. Outcomes. While this was not a research study, surveys were distributed for quality improvement and a deeper needs assessment related to the content and delivery of an escape room. Learners discussed the positive aspects of this activity through journal entries and a survey, noting the need for increased content related to legal implications for the medical team. This room engaged the learner in the forward-thinking that is needed related to emergency care, Good Samaritan Act, liability for cost, and permission to treat in a time-pressured environment. Future Plans. Testing the knowledge pre-post survey related to legal implications with implied care will be explored.

Enhancing EFL Teachers’ Pronunciation Pedagogy Through Professional Learning: A Vietnamese Case Study

RELC Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 003368822095247
Author(s):  
Loc Tan Nguyen ◽  
Jonathan Newton
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Teaching Skills ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Teachers Professional Development ◽  
The Impact

The role of teacher professional learning (TPL) in assisting teachers to teach pronunciation in English as a second/foreign language (ESL/EFL) contexts has received little attention. The study reported in this paper extends this line of research by investigating how six EFL teachers at a Vietnamese university transform and integrate the pronunciation pedagogical knowledge they received from a TPL workshop into teaching practice. It then examines the teachers’ perceptions of the impact of the workshop on their knowledge gains and pronunciation teaching skills. Data were collected from seven lesson plans designed by the teachers, video recordings of 24 subsequent classroom observations, and six individual semi-structured interviews. The study adopted a content-based approach to qualitative data analysis. The findings show that the teachers were all able to translate TPL into classroom practice of pronunciation teaching. The findings further show that workshops designed and implemented in accordance with research-based TPL principles can be effective for promoting teachers’ knowledge of pronunciation pedagogy and refining their pronunciation teaching skills. The study has implications for ESL/EFL teachers’ professional development in pronunciation teaching.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document