Page 22 - ELG2207 Jul Issue 481

TEACHERS’ TIPS .

Professional

development

It’s as easy as ABC, says Abeer Okaz

What is meant by professional 9. Ask staff to start their own profile/portfolio
development? to highlight their credentials.
Professional development (PD) is any
form by which teachers seek to increase Why do teachers need to work on
understanding of their teaching and students, their profile/portfolio?
and to expand and/or deepen their skills Teachers’ profile/portfolio is one way teachers
and knowledge. PD comes in different forms can get all their credentials in one place. When
and teachers have a wide range of options starting that, teachers will:
to choose from. The focus of this piece is to 1. better understand their potential.
highlight the challenges that some managers 2. highlight their experience and skills.
face when they propose and/or impose PD 3. be seen for the right reasons.
opportunities on their staff, to list different 4. may get new opportunities.
ways to get staff to believe in PD and include 5. connect with people from inside and
a variety of PD for teachers. outside their community.
6. continually develop as a teacher.
What are some challenges that
stop PD from happening? What are some ideas to help teachers
1. Time: it is on the teacher’s wish list, create their own profile/portfolio?
especially during their busy periods. House, ELT Footprint and BC teacher
2. Finance: sometimes PD is above the I am strong at community, Electronic Village Online,
teacher’s budget. Besides, not all Pearson/OUP/Macmillan, etc.
institutions reward teachers who work on communicating • Engage in discussions, ask questions,
their PD with an increase in salary. broaden your knowledge and exchange
3. Motivation: an important factor, as many with people strategies. This can be easily done via
teachers do not see the rationale behind any of the social media platforms. I
PD opportunities. Teachers need to go through three steps in personally find Twitter and LinkedIn
4. Relevance: teachers may not find PD order to create a professional profile/portfolio beneficial for being up to date and
sessions relevant to their teaching contexts that best describes them: engaged with others in the ELT field.
and the challenges that they face in their 1. Know yourself. One way to help teachers • Identify groups outside your immediate
classrooms. know themselves is to use the SWOT circle. Sometimes you learn best from
analysis, which focuses on the teacher’s those who are outside your comfort
How can you convince your team to self-reflection of their strengths, zone. I have found relevant ideas for
pursue professional development? weaknesses, opportunities and threats. teaching in The Economist, Dare to Lead,
1. Personalise and tailor sessions to the It can be as simple as “I am strong at Digital Leaders, Harvard Business Review,
teachers’ needs and teaching context, communicating with people, but I need to etc.
and make them practical with a little work on managing time and stress”. Try it 3. Take action. Now it’s time to find out how
background theory. yourself and see how it works for you. For you can put all these ideas into effect. I’ve
2. Support the idea that continuous PD more ideas visit https://www.mindtools. come up with five action plans that staff
improves students’ learning. com/pages/article/newTMC_05.htm can choose from, which are as follows.
3. Highlight the skills and updates teachers 2. Expand your network. There are several
receive when attending PD sessions. ways for teachers to grow their networks Share. One of the first steps of PD is to share
4. Help teachers see the value behind what and community. Personally, I have and exchange what you already know with other
they are doing. found the below suggestions helpful teachers, including your experiences and material.
5. Provide PD options so teachers can choose in expanding my network for the past There are several ways to share your work with
whichever of them they feel is the most 20-plus years: others and particularly those who might not be
relevant. • Become a member of an association as privileged as you and/or who work in a low-
6. Put into consideration time conflicts and which you find beneficial to your resource context.
outside school commitments. teaching context. Examples of these The below list is just an example, but I am sure
7. Ensure there is follow-up support so are: IATEFL, ELT Ireland (your country there is a lot more out there.
teachers can relate what they have been TESOL – in my case NileTESOL), a. Video-based lessons: choose/collect
trained to do to with what they actually Eaquals, Africa ELTA, IATLA, etc. videos your students are interested in
face daily. • Join groups/pages which are active and and create your lesson. For an example of
8. Show appreciation for prior experience and engaging so that you learn from other this, take a look at: https://ed.ted.com/on/
encourage trainees to pair up and share teachers’ experiences and get access WWHYc6hE
ideas and experiences. to material. For example, Teaching b. Ideas/photos: email a lesson idea or
22 July 2022