Professional Development
Professional Development
Do it and Remember
“Wherever you want to go, you have no choice but to start from where you are”, (Karl Popper)
Abstract This paper will delve into the process of an already implemented and on-going proposal of teacher development at a private girls’ catholic school in Capital Federal. The introduction will state the nature of the project, the problems dealt with and the objectives, as well as the population involved. The Literature Review will provide the background necessary for its implementation, which includes some bibliographical references that served as backbone to the project. To conclude we will describe the results of the implementation of the proposal , the impact it has had on the subjects involved and its possible future changes, the latter based on a survey attached in the Appendix. Introduction Thirteen years ago I was offered to coordinate the English Department of Primary School at a catholic institution. The population involved in this task were the owners, the authorities of the school, the administrative staff, the teachers, who in the majority had been working at the school for some time, the pupils and, of course, their parents. On first analysing the situation, I set myself two types of objectives: short term objectives and a long term one. The long term objective the authorities commissioned me with, was to improve the level of English of the pupils. This overwhelming task could only be fulfilled if I set myself short term objectives, which would serve as a scaffold to realise such ambitious goal. It entailed thorough work on the teachers’ professional development, as it was my deep belief that the most important asset a school could rely on for its improvement was the teachers. After sitting in during lessons, holding meetings and getting to know the teachers better, I was able to have a clear insight of what the challenges were and, therefore take an appropriate course of action.
2
Literature Review
Do it and Remember
“Wherever you want to go, you have no choice but to start from where you are”, (Karl Popper)
Abstract This paper will delve into the process of an already implemented and on-going proposal of teacher development at a private girls’ catholic school in Capital Federal. The introduction will state the nature of the project, the problems dealt with and the objectives, as well as the population involved. The Literature Review will provide the background necessary for its implementation, which includes some bibliographical references that served as backbone to the project. To conclude we will describe the results of the implementation of the proposal , the impact it has had on the subjects involved and its possible future changes, the latter based on a survey attached in the Appendix. Introduction Thirteen years ago I was offered to coordinate the English Department of Primary School at a catholic institution. The population involved in this task were the owners, the authorities of the school, the administrative staff, the teachers, who in the majority had been working at the school for some time, the pupils and, of course, their parents. On first analysing the situation, I set myself two types of objectives: short term objectives and a long term one. The long term objective the authorities commissioned me with, was to improve the level of English of the pupils. This overwhelming task could only be fulfilled if I set myself short term objectives, which would serve as a scaffold to realise such ambitious goal. It entailed thorough work on the teachers’ professional development, as it was my deep belief that the most important asset a school could rely on for its improvement was the teachers. After sitting in during lessons, holding meetings and getting to know the teachers better, I was able to have a clear insight of what the challenges were and, therefore take an appropriate course of action.
2
Literature Review
References: Head, K. and Taylor P., 1997, Readings in Teacher Development, Heinemann, Oxford Arnold, J., 1999, La dimensión afectiva en el aprendizaje de idiomas, Traducción de Alejandro Valero, CUP, Madrid. Wallace, M. J., 1998, Action Research for Language Teachers, CUP, UK.