Rural English Learner Education: A Review of Research and Call for a National Agenda

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (7) ◽  
pp. 524-532
Author(s):  
Maria R. Coady
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
English Learner ◽  
Mainstream Teachers ◽  
Rural Settings ◽  
English Speaking

The number of rural English learner (EL) students and families has increased over the past decade, due in part to U.S. immigration and economic policies. Educators in rural schools face challenges associated with EL education, including obtaining resources for language teaching and learning, identifying and retaining specialized teachers, and accessing professional development to support teachers and educational leaders in EL student learning. Other challenges include communicating with non-English-speaking families to support learning. The author reviews research on the intersecting areas of rural education and EL education. The subfield of rural EL education has been underexamined across the research community, and nationally there is need to examine the backgrounds, languages, and learning needs of this group of students. The author highlights five pressing areas: knowledge of the characteristics and demographics of EL students and families across rural designations; language education approaches, models, and practices for EL students; hiring and retaining teachers of ELs in rural settings; and professional development for mainstream teachers and leaders of rural EL students. This review calls for an organized national research agenda that begins to unravel rural EL education and that offers a coherent direction for scholars, teacher-educators, and policymakers.

Translating Professional Development for Teachers Into Professional Development for Instructional Leaders

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Alice Carlson ◽  
Ruth Heaton ◽  
Molly Williams
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Mathematical Thinking ◽  
Instructional Leaders ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Professional Development For Teachers ◽  
Mathematics Teaching And Learning ◽  
Initial Focus

In recent years, teacher noticing of children's mathematical thinking has emerged as an important and generative construct in mathematics education (Sherin, Jacobs, & Philipp, 2011). Less is known about ways instructional leaders notice teachers' learning. Between 2011 and 2015, we facilitated professional development (PD) in which coaches, principals, and teachers studied mathematics teaching and learning together. Our initial focus on teacher decision-making was inadequate in meeting instructional leaders' learning needs. We adapted the PD to focus instructional leaders' attention on the work of learning teaching. Analysis of leaders' discourse revealed shifts from noticing teacher characteristics to noticing dilemmas and decision-making within teaching and coaching. Findings suggest new roles for teacher educators and new forms of PD for instructional leaders.

Equipping Teacher Educators for Digital Teaching and Learning

2019 ◽  
pp. 119-139
Author(s):  
Pradeep Kumar Misra
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Good Teacher ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Good Education ◽  
Innovative Strategies ◽  
The World

Considering that teachers are central to good education and teacher educators are central to good teacher education, it is logical that due care must be taken to equip teacher educators for digital teaching and learning. In fact, continuing professional development of teacher educators in terms of digital teaching and learning is a necessity of our times. Extending these arguments, the chapter, that is mainly based on the review and analysis of policy documents and practices as well as other available literature and statistics related to teacher educators, begins with discussions on role and importance of teacher educators, details the need and promises of preparing teacher educators for digital teaching and learning, delves upon practices of and challenges before teacher educators to master digital teaching and learning, and ends with presenting innovative strategies to empower teacher educators for the world of digital teaching and learning.

Today's Demands on Education

2019 ◽  
pp. 42-68
Author(s):  
Linda M. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Effective Schools ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Quality Teachers ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Instruction And Learning

The concerns are growing when it comes to today's demands on education. This chapter will explain how demands on teachers are critical to student success. It is imperative that teacher preparation programs are preparing quality teachers who will contribute to effective schools and student learning. The scholarship of teaching and learning needs to accompany teacher education so that teacher educators can understand and communicate the complexity of instruction and learning. Teachers as professionals need to be able to make informed and accountable deliberations about how they will engage in their practice to increase student learning. Reflective practice needs to begin early in teacher preparation programs and continue throughout the preserves teachers' programs.

Adding the “Digital Layer”

2013 ◽  
pp. 345-357
Author(s):  
Troy Hicks
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Summer Institute ◽  
Digital Writing ◽  
Subsequent Work ◽  
Pedagogical Content ◽  
Writing Project

Opportunities for teachers to engage in professional development that leads to substantive change in their instructional practice are few, yet the National Writing Project (NWP) provides one such “transformational” experience through their summer institutes (Whitney, 2008). Also, despite recent moves in the field of English education to integrate digital writing into teacher education and K-12 schools (NWP, et al., 2010), professional development models that support teachers’ “technological pedagogical content knowledge” (Mishra & Koehler, 2008) related to teaching digital writing are few. This case study documents the experience of one teacher who participated in an NWP summer institute with the author, himself a teacher educator and site director interested in technology and writing. Relying on evidence from her 2010 summer experience, subsequent work with the writing project, and an interview from the winter of 2013, the author argues that an integrative, immersive model of teaching and learning digital writing in the summer institute led to substantive changes in her classroom practice and work as a teacher leader. Implications for teacher educators, researchers, and educational policy are discussed.

scholarly journals Peningkatan Prestasi Siswa melalui Pengembangan Profesional Guru: Suatu Tinjauan Literatur

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Yuni Kasmawati
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Student Achievement ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
School Quality ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Attitudes And Beliefs ◽  
Teacher Capacity ◽  
Improve Student Achievement ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Improving Student Achievement

<em>Currently, teachers are required to carry out their professional development. Because of professional development is a continuous learning process, so the teacher will learn the best way to adapt their teaching skills to fulfill student learning needs. The method used in this research is a literature review by utilizing reference sources in the form of journals, books, and other forms of publications. This study aims to examine the importance of teacher professional development in an educational environment that is used as a strategy to improve teacher capacity and student achievement. The results of this study indicate that professional development plays an important role in improving student achievement. However, increasing student achievement must be preceded by changes in teacher capacity, such as their knowledge, skills, attitudes, and beliefs that will bring changes in teaching and learning activities. Furthermore, teacher capacity can improve student achievement, so that in turn some improvements for school quality will be achieved in order to achieve overall educational success.</em>

scholarly journals Comprendre les représentations des enseignants de langues à travers des récits visuels

EL LE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Maria Melo Pfeifer
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Prospective Teachers ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Visual Methods ◽  
Before And After

Teachers’ representations are of paramount importance to understand their situated professional action. Following a discussion of the concept of “representation” and its importance in foreign language education, a revision of the use of visual narratives in this disciplinary field will be presented, focusing on: i) (prospective) foreign language teachers’ representations concerning the target language; ii) their representations regarding teaching and learning methods; iii) teachers’ professional development. Afterwards, an empirical study using visual methods in initial teacher education, before and after a school professional internship, will be presented and discussed, illustrating the professional development of prospective teachers of French.

scholarly journals Developing English Speaking Material through Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL) for Beauty Study Program

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
Nilam Ulami Siregar ◽  
I Wayan Dirgeyasa ◽  
Rahmad Husein
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Study Program ◽  
R And D ◽  
Need Analysis ◽  
Creative Learning ◽  
Tenth Grade ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Conducting Research

The research was aimed to identify the target needs and learning needs of the tenth grade student of Beauty Study program at SMK Pariwisata Imelda Medan and to develop English speaking material through CTL for Beauty Study Program. This research was implemented by conducting Research and Development (R n D) study by Borg and Gall. There are four steps were done namely: (1) need analysis; (2) developing material; (3) evaluating and (final revision).  The target clients of this research were 34 people which consisted of (a) 30 students of Tenth grade of Beauty Program chosen by total random sampling technique; (b) English lectures; (c) English teacher; and (d) stakeholder. There were 3 types of technique for collecting the data applied in this research, they were questionnaire which used to gain the need analysis and validate the material, documentation consisted of the existing material, and interview to support the data gained from the previous techniques. The data of the research was analyzed descriptively. The result of this research were (1) the students needed the English speaking material which contains the material relating to their filed expertise and supported by innovative and creative learning process, and (2) the English speaking material developed through CTL is a set of English speaking material which consisted of 6 units.  Keywords: R and D, Speaking Material, Beauty Study, CTL

scholarly journals The Professional Development of Primary School Teachers with Leadership Responsibilities in a New Zealand Context

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Margaret Emily Hesketh
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Job Descriptions ◽  
Senior Leaders ◽  
Leadership Responsibilities ◽  
Middle Leaders

<p>Middle and senior leaders in primary schools have an important role with significant accountability and responsibility. They are teaching practitioners who have a large influence on the quality of learning that takes place within a school. Middle and senior leaders carry out the majority of the significant conversations about teaching and learning within a school with the teachers they lead. In 2012 the New Zealand Ministry of Education produced a publication reiterating the importance of middle and senior leaders within schools. As part of that publication they identified the need for ongoing professional development and learning for middle and senior leaders to strengthen their effectiveness as leaders. However no suggestions were made in this document as to what this may look like. The purposes of this multiple case study were to explore what professional development and learning were provided to senior and middle leaders primary schools within the greater Wellington area, how effective the principals and senior middle leaders considered the professional development and learning to be, and to identify which factors enabled effective professional development and learning within a school. To answer the research questions data was collected through an online survey, focus groups and individual interviews. The findings indicated that there were two categories of organisation of professional development and learning provided within different schools; unsystematic and systematic. The more effective systematic system involved the identification of the learning needs of the middle and senior leaders through discussion or co-construction of their job descriptions, leading to a mixture of professional development and learning structures that combined sharing, collaboration and reflection to enhance leadership capabilities. In addition regular mentoring allowed for more effective leadership learning. An important factor determining the success of the professional development and learning was the deliberate actions that were carried out by the principal.</p>

scholarly journals Effectiveness of TESOL Teachers Continuous Professional Development: Perspectives form Oman

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Khadija Al Balushi
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Teacher Quality ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teaching Profession ◽  
Continuous Professional Development ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Family Responsibilities ◽  
The Impact

Teacher continuous professional development (CPD) is perceived as a significant way of improving schools, increasing teacher quality, and enhancing student learning (Vangrieken et al., 2017; Day, 1999). Therefore, educational scholars and policy makers demand CPD opportunities for teachers to help them enhance their knowledge and develop new instructional practices. However, the effectiveness of CPD initiatives and the impact they have on teaching and learning is questionable as reported by many research studies both locally in Oman and internationally (e.g. Al-Balushi, 2017; Antoniou & Kyriakides, 2013). This paper reports the findings of a study, which critically examined the effectiveness of the CPD activities run by the Ministry of Education-Oman for TESOL teachers and the impact of these activities in improving schools, increasing teacher quality and improving the quality of student learning. Data were collected using questionnaires, observations, semi structured and focus-group interview with EFL teachers in Oman. The findings revealed that a number of factors affect English teachers’ CPD in Oman; some of these factors facilitate teachers access to CPD and its’ success while others inhibit that. The data indicates that CPD timing and location can facilitate teachers’ access to CPD while workload and family responsibilities are key inhibitors to CPD access. The findings further showed that suitability and relevance of CPD activity in terms of the topics presented in it and the ideas discussed was reported as an important factor to effective CPD whereas CPD done by unqualified teacher educators can hinder the success of CPD. The study further indicated that the centralised top-down nature of the current CPD system seems to negatively affect the success of CPD in the in-service TESOL context in Oman. The findings suggest that the role of teachers themselves in the provision of CPD is significant; the way teachers are currently marginalized and seen as grateful recipients of CPD do not provide the conditions for intelligent and responsive teaching profession

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