E-Teacher Professional Development Workshop University of Maryland, Baltimore County and University of Oregon, Summer 2012

Transcription

1 Hicham Mahda Rabat, Morocco E-Teacher Professional Development Workshop University of Maryland, Baltimore County and University of Oregon, Summer 2012 Workshop on Effective Classroom Management for Moroccan High-school EFL Teachers Hicham Mahda, Morocco The present workshop project plan illustrates a one day professional development workshop which will take place at the Faculty of Education, Ecole Normal Superieur, and the British Council in Morocco on the 20, 21 and 23 of March, 2013, during the national holiday. The publication of the workshop dates will be through Facebook and the British Council, Morocco division. Participants will be selected on a first come, first served basis as the places are very limited. All teachers from all parts of the country will be welcome to apply to attend the workshop. The workshop will be about classroom management. The content of this workshop will be based on Methods Course I: Survey of Best Practices in Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages, an online course developed by the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) in the U.S. Department of State E-Teacher Scholarship Program as well as the E-Teacher Professional Development Summer Program at UMBC, July At the end of this workshop project, participants will have the chance to enhance their knowledge about best practices to manage their classrooms and therefore empower their students' English proficiency in a healthy and more secure classroom environment. The workshop participants will be encouraged to spread what they learned for others to benefit from: Sharing is Caring. Host: Participants: Program: Faculty of Education, Ecole Normal Superieur and the British Council Morocco 100 EFL teachers 1-day professional development workshop Schedule: 20, 21 and 23 March 2013 Goals: The goals of this workshop are to: Introduce participants to the best classroom management practices; Improve participants' ability to develop and practice classroom management strategies; and Enable participants to apply classroom management techniques to their large classes. The E-Teacher Scholarship Program was a cooperative grant agreement between the U.S. Department of State ECA/A/L; the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; and the University of Oregon,

2 Problem Identification If educators fail to realize the importance of creating an environment where students feel that they belong, where they are safe, where their voice is respected and where they are encouraged to learn, then little else is of value-the educator will struggle to actively and meaningfully engage students in the process of learning. When students are not involved and believe the educator doesnʼt care, they are more likely to misbehave. - Bennett Smilanich In Morocco, most of Moroccan EFL high school teachers find difficulties to manage their classes since they are too large. Each classroom includes about 45 students, which make it difficult for them to work effectively (lack of materials, space, administrative support, etc). This creates problems at the classroom management level, especially for novice teachers. These problems hinder the effectiveness of such teachers and lowers their willingness to work; therefore classroom interaction is minimized vis-à-vis the students' misbehavior. Training EFL teachers on how to manage their classes effectively, and therefore achieve their teaching goals, is the ultimate purpose of this workshop training. Contextual Analysis The Ministry of Education is the governmental institution which sets the Moroccan national curriculum in all subject areas including English. The Ministry of National Education decentralized its functions to regional levels created in 1999 when 72 provinces were subsumed into 16 regional administrative units. Then the responsibility of the provision of education services has been slowly devolving to the regional level. This decentralization process is expected to ensure that education programs are responsive to regional needs and the budget is administered locally. These regional divisions have a few teacher trainers who cover larger areas (one inspector/supervisor for each delegation). Their main function is to observe teachers and supervise the national examination process. They conduct approximately 2 to 3 training sessions per year. Most of the mentioned teacher training sessions are conducted in other high schools within a specific region or delegation called Regional Education Delegation. These classrooms do not have enough space to host larger audiences. For this reason, the present project is going to take place at the Ecole Normale Superieur (National Training Institution, the Faculty of Education) and the British Council in Rabat, Morocco. The training sessions and workshops will concern novice teachers (in-service and pre-service teachers) and then appeal to others, having a multiplier effect. Learner Analysis Novice teachers start their first teaching contact with higher expectations for themselves and for their students. However, we know that the first teaching experience is very difficult for most new teachers. The early years of teaching are often characterized by "survival of the fittest" because most of the current training programs do not provide practical solutions for Moroccan EFL teachers at the level of classroom management. In-service and pre-service teachers still pursuing their training at the Faculty of Education, Ecole Superieur Normal (National Teaching Training Center) in Morocco are traditionally assigned the most difficult students, those that the most experienced teachers do not want to teach. Novice teachers need to be ready and trained to manage their large classes effectively. This fact is based on a short survey conducted on a number of teachers, who are members of different interest Facebook groups related to teaching. For the mentioned reasons the training workshop is going to target mainly novice and in-service Moroccan EFL teachers. Analysis The present workshop will include activities inspired by courses taken during the U.S. Department of State E-Teacher Scholarship Program Methods I: Survey of Best TESOL Practices online course 2012, mainly classroom management and classroom interaction, and the E-teacher Professional Development Workshop sessions at University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), Summer Moroccan EFL Madha, Page 2

3 teachers will be provided with practical ways to enhance their classroom management and therefore increase their students' classroom interaction in a safer and more secure environment. Delivery Analysis The handouts and materials for the professional workshop will be comprised of materials taken from the E-Teacher Methods I: Survey of Best TESOL Practices online course as well as the E-Teacher Professional Development Workshop (Summer 2012) at UMBC. These documents and materials provided for the participants to use in their instruction will guarantee maximum classroom interaction and classroom management control. In addition to this, participants will have the chance to have worksheets and activities to use to assess their classroom interaction and management. On the whole these materials will include a PowerPoint presentation, handouts, guidelines, and references for personal readings. Project Plan The workshop project is planned to be implemented in the next school year, 20, 21 and 23 March, 2013.The rationale behind this date is that most of the participants will be free to attend the workshop sessions without any constraints. This will give room for the initial preparatory stage, such as administrative support from the Faculty of Education, Ecole Superieur Normal and the British Council in Morocco for the implementation of the two-day workshop. After the initial preparatory stage invitations will be published via Facebook and through the British Council. To ensure a large coverage and reach larger audiences, the workshops will be extended to other regions of the country and will tackle other issues related to EFL teaching. Design Pre-Service vice teachers must gain knowledge on how to manage their classrooms and increase their students' classroom interaction. The main goal of this workshop is to provide participants with practical techniques and tools on how to manage and increase classroom participation in their classrooms. Participants will be engaged in various activities on how to develop a good controllable learning environment where students are engaged in meaningful learning. Eventually, participants will have the chance to apply what they will learn in their real teaching settings to maximize the use of English as well as manage their classes effectively. Objective 1. By the end of the first activity, participants should be able to adequately differentiate between classroom management and classroom discipline. Workshop participants should be able to practice classroom language and classroom management techniques for teaching EFL learners. Power point presentation including: o Classroom o Management Class Management vs. Class discipline Setting Up Your Classroom handout, retrieved from Method's I online Course on Classroom Management, UMBC To introduce classroom management through a warm up activity (comment on the picture) followed by a Case Study 1 and 2 and to elicit the traineesʼ reaction and activate their prior knowledge they might have. After the warm up, participants brainstorm the meaning of classroom management using think-pair-share. The presenter will:use questions to find out what the participants know, understand and can do. Questions will be: What is the difference between classroom discipline & classroom management to check if the participants were able to make the difference between the two, followed by the KWL chart to fill the third column: What I have learned Madha, Page 3

4 Objective 2. By the end of this activity, participants will be able to clearly identify different possible time and seating arrangements. 3. By the end of this section, participants will be able to clearly identify the best ways to identify and score and control disruptive behavior inside the classroom. Power point slide: Tips on time and seating management as well as the role and the importance of the affective filter in relation to Classroom Management. Theoretical framework: Disruptive behavior Holistic Rubric for Scoring Class Participation and Behavior-Ron Schwartz UMBC Then, the presenter provides the trainees with a definition of ʻClassroom Managementʼ to compare it with ideas that had been brainstormed. Before providing Time and Seating Management Tips, participants will share their views (through Stand-up, Hands up, Pair up technique) on how they manage their time and if they change the seating for each activity they do in class, what grouping, seating, and standing arrangements are most appropriate. Participants will discuss how to arrange their classrooms and manage their classroom time. Talk about seating conditions and their relation to classroom management and learning outcomes. The presenter provides the trainees with Holistic Rubric for Scoring Class Participation and Behavior -Ron Schwartz UMBC in small groups In groups, participants do a matching activity. They match the seating arrangement terms with their correct corresponding picture. Participants are able to identify / control disruptive behavior through a role play activity to identify and address disruptive behavior in groups. How itʼs done: This activity uses a 10 minute fish bowl role play. The presenter introduces the role play by explaining that we are going to observe a role play of a facilitation session. The observers are to identify disruptive behaviors and the Madha, Page 4

5 Objective 4. By the end of this section, participants will be able to develop effective techniques on how to teach large classes. Teaching large classes Discussion/ brainstorming best practices on teaching large classes, followed by tips on how to teach large classes. To show the building blocks of Class Management and provide the trainees with the Setting Up Your Classroom handout. The presenter goes over the document quickly and explains its main functions/ points. responses of the facilitator. Role play participants need to be briefed on the behaviors they are to exhibit either by a verbal briefing or by been given a printed slip of paper with the details. In a larger group, the facilitator can create additional challenging behaviors to assign to other role play participants. The role players, with false name tags (invented names), sit in a small circle the fish bowl. The observers sit in a larger circle surrounding them. The role play commences with the facilitator guiding a discussion on the role of action groups in achieving change. The group manifests the various disruptive behaviours and the observers sit quietly. The co-facilitator announces time at the end of 10 minutes. Participants think about a large airport or train station or public market area as a large classroom. They can even draw a rough diagram of the layout of such a place. Many people come through such centers every day. Have participants form groups and Madha, Page 5

6 Objective discuss the following questions, writing down their ideas. How such places are physically organized? In your experience, are they effective at moving large numbers of people quickly? Do they encourage people to communicate with each other? How is information about navigating through these places communicated, both at the group and at the individual level? Is there a set of logistics that are common to such situations? If so, list some. If not, list some that you think might be useful. Is there an airport or railway station or marketplace culture? If so, what are some characteristics of it that contribute to successful travel? If not, is there a way such a thing could be established to facilitate travel? What would be its characteristics? What are some typical traveler behaviors that facilitate travel or working/shopping in a market-place? What are some problematic behaviors (e.g. navigation, disturbing others, etc.)? What are some of the consequences of Madha, Page 6

7 Objective 5. By the end of this section, participants will be able to accurately adopt best ways on how to teach multiple-proficiency classes. 6. By the end of this section, participants will be able to clearly recognize best ways on how to compromise with the institutions where Differentiated instruction Discussion/ brainstorming (thinkpair-share) Discussion through which the trainer elicits the major problems that the participants face in their institutions (Round Robin). Then Introduce Differentiated Instruction for address multiple proficiency levels in the same class Provide participants with six strategies on how to improve the classroom situation and engage diverse studentsʼ learners The presenter provide participants with some lesson plans in which the above-mentioned six strategies can be applied to facilitate the teacher in a multi-level ESL Class. To demonstrate how teachers should compromise with the institutions where they are going to work/ where they actually work. each of these types of behaviors? And how can we manage these large spaces? Second phase, participants try to imagine a classroom of students. Do you think some of the answers to the above questions might apply to that situation? Explain your answer. Try to use specific examples using what you have learned Source: Managing Large Classes, University of Oregon u/shaping_read.html Participants by giving them a reading text and asks them to prepare a lesson plan for a multiple level class Participants make negotiation with reference to given samples of conflicts in order to show how proficient they are in conflict resolution Madha, Page 7

8 Objective they work. followed by "Compromising with The Institution tips. A guideline Classroom management- Guidelines for Success on how do the most effective teachers: manage behavior in their multi-ethnic, multi-cultural classrooms? develop and use classroom rules and routines? use classroom consequences that work? design positive behavioral supports for challenging behaviors? avoid career- and health-threatening frustration and burnout? Retrieved from UMBC online course Rationale for Sequence The sequence for this training workshop is to introduce the basics of classroom management for novice teachers as they start their first classroom contacts. Participants will have the chance to discover issues related to seating, disruptive behavior, compromising with the institution, and so on for them to be wellequipped to control their classes and maximize the learning process in their own teaching context. Development (Training plan based on Gagneʼs Nine Events of Instruction) 1. Gain attention Participants will be asked to react to a picture based on what they see and understand. This stimulates and draws the participants' attention to the workshop topic. Madha, Page 8

9 2. Inform learners of objectives 3. Stimulate recall of prior learning The presenter will provide participants with the main objectives of each section of the workshop in order for them to keep track of the workshop sequences. In other words, they will know what they are going to learn, the objective of each activity (if available) and the presenter's expectations. To stimulate the short term memory, participants will be given Case Studies and asked to identify and reflect upon the nature of the problems in each of the two case studies. 4. Present the content The workshop will emphasize classroom management techniques and how teachers take advantage of best classroom management practices to control their classrooms. The presenter will present the content in different sections complied in a power-point or Prezi presentation in such a way to catch the participantsʼ attention and maximize their understanding. Use of humor will be also integrated to lower the participants' affective filter for better retention. 5. Guide learning The presenter will have multiple roles: Information provider, Moderator, Facilitator and Assessor. He/she will guide the learning process through group activities, role plays, and modeling throughout the workshop time frame. 6. Elicit performance (practice) The presenter will ask questions following Ron Schwartzʼs (UMBC MA TESOL Program) 'How we are doing' model. An observer will be present during the workshop presentation to observe if the presenter successfully applied effective questioning to stimulate the participantsʼ understanding. Moreover, various activities will be given after each section for participants to apply what they had learned. These activities might be modeled by the presenter to carry out by the participants themselves. 7. Provide feedback Feedback will be provided through comments during and after each activity by the instructor There will be a reflective moment on certain group work activities where the presenter and participants share their opinions, views and challenges to enhance the learning process. 8. Assess performance As the presenter finishes presenting a given section, participants are going to be assessed to make sure that the objective of each section is successfully achieved. A final evaluation will be conducted at the end of the workshop. The final evaluation is going to be micro-teaching activities where participants simulate a mini lesson with peers taking on the role of students, to apply one of the many aspects to classroom management taught in the workshop. Following the micro-teaching activity, the presenter will run an informal 4-5 minute discussion about each activity. 9. Enhance retention and transfer During the whole workshop process, participants will be given the chance to work on classroom situations to apply what they have learned. This will help them reflect and apply the learned materials in future classroom situations. Madha, Page 9

10 Implementation Checklist: Items o Refreshments o Handouts o Overhead projector o Laptop o Whiteboard o Pens/pencils o Notebooks/ white papers o Flipcharts Tasks o Copying handouts o A variety of seating armaments: Enemy corners, opposing teams, wheels (the outer wheel can move round, changing pairings) o February 01, 2013: sending s and personally contact officials in the Faculty of Education, The British council, and Ecole Supérieur Normal o February 29, 2013: publishing invitations on Facebook and in the mentioned institutions to invite teachers to attend the workshop Evaluation In addition to micro-teaching activities that will be used to assess the participants' performance, another evaluation is going to take place by the trainer after the implementation of each workshop in each institution. The final evaluation report for each session is going to be sent to all the institutions involved in the organization of the workshop. The evaluation will be based on an online questionnaire using statistical software named "Le Sphinx V 5". The online questionnaire link is going to be sent to participants after the end of each workshop session, to check their overall satisfaction with the workshop content and delivery, the gained knowledge acquired through the training, and how this knowledge is going to affect their teaching in their schools as well as the participants feedback and suggestions to improve the training workshop in the future. Madha, Page 10