Return-Path: <nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id i5AGj2925347; Thu, 10 Jun 2004 12:45:02 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2004 12:45:02 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <40DAE916@webmail.utk.edu> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: gcope <gcope@utk.edu> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-4EFF:2772] FWD: [NIFL-AALPD:1494] RE: Teacher change to what, for what, according to teachers and learners X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Mailer: Infinite Mobile Delivery (Hydra) SMTP v3.62.01 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Status: O Content-Length: 13194 Lines: 302 Hi Meta and others - below is a copy of a message I posted on the NIFL-AALPD discussion concerning teacher change. This may be of interest to others. Thanks, Gail Cope UT Center for Literacy Studies >===== Original Message From nifl-aalpd@nifl.gov ===== Hello everyone – I have worked as the PD program coordinator for EFF in Tennessee for several years and have had the opportunity to see AE teachers and supervisors learn and grow by participating in a variety of events including workshops and most recently an online course. At the end of the PD activities for each year, I ask supervisors for feedback concerning their experience as a result of working with EFF with their teachers and programs. Specifically, the questions I pose of them include: What changes in practice have you observed as a result of participating in this PD series? What changes in students have you observed as a result of participating in this PD series? What was most helpful in using EFF concepts and materials? What were your biggest challenges in using EFF? How do teachers plan to use and integrate EFF into their practice? How do you as a supervisor plan to use and integrate EFF into your practice? To continue with David Rosen's thread on this discussion, I’ll summarize what I learned from adult education supervisors by focusing on the “changes in practice” and add the “changes in students” category. In summary, supervisors responded that the biggest changes in practice included encouraging more student involvement in “what was being taught” and more teaching in a contextualized framework. Another common theme was that teachers became more aware of their underlying philosophies and assumptions about teaching and learning. They also became more reflective and conscious of their classroom practice and as a result, became more intentional and purposeful in planning. Many supervisors mentioned a “mindset” change of encouraging students to look beyond attainment of a GED and think about the role learning plays in their daily lives – in one supervisor’s words: “EFF helps us realize there’s more to GED preparation than just subject knowledge: that the students need a whole-life approach and need to see how to integrate the knowledge they have obtained through life’s experiences and apply that knowledge in their everyday lives”. Teachers and supervisors also documented changes they observed in their students. They observed changes in classroom group dynamics (i.e.,students became more responsive and participated more in class, more student-to-student and more student-to-teacher interaction, more attentive in group discussions, etc.). They also mentioned psychological aspects of change they noticed with students including including greater self-awareness of their strengths and weaknesses, more interest and motivation, and greater confidence. I was fortunate to get a variety of thoughtful and rich responses to the above questions. I’ll close with a quote from a teacher as a result of participating in the EFF professional development: “This professional development helped us recognize the need for sensible lesson plans and common sense instruction for GED students since our adult learners bring so much experience and knowledge into the classroom……Rather than our students asking us why they need to learn some particular subject in order to pass the GED, we are expanding their innate abilities by helping them think on their feet, take responsibility for their own learning, and helping them develop common sense thinking skills to apply to real life rather than rote memorization in order to simply pass a test. I could write volumes, but in the interest of time I’d better close. Gail Cope UT Center for Literacy Studies >===== Original Message From nifl-aalpd@nifl.gov ===== >Eileen, and others, > >Pratt's categories provide some useful ways of looking at _ teachers'_ >perspectives of what they are trying to do. That is one valid way to >look at teacher change. But suppose we start from students' >perspectives, what _they_ say they want to learn, what they want >teachers to help them know and do. > >For example, we have Equipped For the Future, a set of curriculum >standards built on a careful analysis of what adult learners say they >want to know and be able to do. We also have teachers across the >country who think these standards make sense, some of whom have >participated in professional development activities to be able to use >these standards well in their teaching. > >I wonder if there are teachers reading this message who use EFF >standards, who have participated in formal or informal professional >development to learn to use them better, and who feel that this has >resulted in change in their teaching. If so, please share an example >or two of how this has changed your teaching. Possibly EFF PD folks >have examples from their experiences of how teachers have changed. >Let's hear those, too. > >So far, one might conclude from the lack of concrete examples offered >in this discussion that teachers _don't_ change or that no one knows if >they do. > >Or is it that teachers don't have the time to reflect on their change? >Or that they don't have time to write about how they have changed? Or >that there are very few actual classroom teachers or tutors >participating in this discussion? Or that researchers haven't studied >this? > >Has adult education teacher change been written about elsewhere? Are >there good narratives by adult education teachers of how they have >changed? Is there teacher research on how teachers have changed? If >you know of some good examples, please post the references to the AALPD >list, and maybe we can discuss them in the future. I think this is an >important PD research question: what do we know about how teachers >change, from their own reports of this process? Would others be >interested in this as a future topic? > >David J. Rosen > > >On Thursday, June 10, 2004, at 08:59 AM, Eileen Eckert wrote: > >> In response, in a roundabout way, to Marilyn's message on the reason >> and >> direction of teacher change: I think the most important thing I've been >> learning the past few years is how to integrate what I have learned. >> Background: Daniel Pratt distinguishes among 5 perspectives on >> teaching. He >> says teachers generally use more than one, but they primarily identify >> with >> one of the following views of the teacher's purpose and role: >> >> Transmission--the teacher's role is to transmit knowledge to the >> student, in >> keeping with the traditional lecture format (lots of research shows >> many/most teachers still operate from this perspective, or drift >> toward it >> even if they start with one of the others) >> >> Development--the teacher's role is to help the student construct >> knowledge >> and meaning, and to develop as a learner/knower >> >> Apprentice--the teacher's role is to model and help students develop >> the >> worldviews and ways of thinking and acting associated with a group or >> profession >> >> Nurturing--the teacher's role is to help the student grow as a person, >> in >> self-esteem and self-knowledge and well as content knowledge >> >> Social Change--the teacher's role is to help the student critique and >> transform the social and economic systems in which they live. >> >> It seems to me that Marilyn's question really gets at the unspoken >> assumption among professional development systems (though not >> necessarily >> every individual who works in them) that the first two perspectives >> are the >> only ones. The most important learning for me over the last few years >> has >> probably been in how to develop the ability to integrate all of >> them--especially the last 3--and focus on the one(s) that are most >> pertinent >> to individual learners. That means really listening to students and >> figuring >> out how their concerns can be addressed in the teaching-learning >> interaction, not how to get over, around, or past students' >> preoccupying >> concerns in order to get to the "real" subject--how to turn barriers to >> learning into the content or subject for learning. I'm still working on >> this, and getting help and support from an informal co-teaching >> relationship, but I've never experienced this as part of formal pd. >> >> Eileen >> >> >> From: jataylor <jataylor@utk.edu> >> Reply-To: nifl-aalpd@nifl.gov >> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov> >> Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:1488] teacher changeto what and for what? >> Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2004 15:01:14 -0400 (EDT) >> >> (The following post is from Marilyn Gillespie. I'd like to know what >> others >> think on this matter. See below! ~ Jackie) >> >> >From Marilyn... >> >> Hello Everyone, >> >> As Ive followed the thread of the discussion on teacher change over the >> past >> few days, the question I keep coming back to is: teacher change for >> what and >> to what? Given the slippery notions of what constitutes content in our >> field, how can we help teachers to acquire the knowledge, skills and >> strategies they need to meet learners needs in the classroom? >> >> In the NCSALL study we defined change as differences in thinking and >> acting, >> on and off the topic. Change on the topic included increased knowledge >> about >> the topic (learner motivation, retention and persistence) and reported >> action >> taken to address learner persistence in the classroom, in the program, >> or in >> the field. We defined learner motivation as learners being engaged in >> learning while in class. Retention referred to learners attending class >> regularly and staying enrolled in the program until they reached their >> goals. >> Persistence was defined as learners seeing themselves as successful, >> lifelong learners. >> >> In this case NCSALL (wisely, I think) selected a topic that was backed >> up by >> research (e.g. the NCSALL study of persistence) as well as teacher >> wisdom >> and >> just plain old common sense. However, when we begin to think about the >> other >> kinds of knowledge, skills and strategies we consider to be part of the >> content domain of adult literacy education (such as reading, writing, >> listening, speaking and workplace-related skills) the issues become >> more >> complex. >> >> Several of the teachers who have joined this discussion have talked >> about >> the >> importance of asking students what they need to know and be able to >> do. Lisa >> Mullins writes anything I can do that will improve my ability to know >> the >> students needs and increase the effectiveness of my teaching is >> important >> and >> necessary. Eileen Eckert provides a fascinating discussion of how >> farmers >> develop and change their mental models through implicit and explicit >> learning as they develop proficiency in farming. So one aspect of what >> teachers need to know and be able to do relates to making the classroom >> community-centered and learner-centered. However, teachers also, at >> the same >> time, need to be knowledge-centered; that is to know how to help >> learners >> acquire new knowledge and skills in content areas related to their >> needs. >> >> In the NCSALL study we found that the teachers we interviewed had a >> wide >> range >> of mental models of what the content of adult education should be. For >> many >> teachers the content was just teaching them what they need to learn to >> pass >> the test. This meant teaching basic skills mostly stripped of its >> content. >> The assumption was that somehow in real life learners would be able to >> transfer what they had learned to meet their goals. A few others who >> came to >> the training were at the time experiencing a dissonance between what >> they >> thought the field believed to be the content of adult education the >> teaching of basic skillsand what they had learned, through practicethat >> the >> topic of adult education was broader and involved helping learners to >> acquire skills and strategies in the context of real world goals and >> purposes >> they defined. For these teachers, reading the literature on >> goal-setting and >> persistence validated what they had learned through experience. >> Although >> this was not a focus of our research, reading between the lines led me >> to >> believe that many teachers were not sure about how to integrate (or >> assess) >> content knowledge with an approach that was learner centered and >> community >> centered as well. >> >> So, back to teacher changeto what and for what. Given the current >> focus of >> funded research on the effectiveness of basic skills approaches >> (especially >> in reading but in other skills as well) it seems more important than >> ever >> for >> us to explicitly examine our mental models of what content means in >> adult >> education as part of our dialog on professional development. >> >> So I would like to add to the questions Jackie has posed about how >> teachers >> change the question of how your views on the content of what a good >> adult >> literacy instructor needs to know and be able to teach have evolved and >> changed. >> >> Marilyn Gillespie >>
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