Theme: TD Success Stories from Around the World
What does effective and successful teacher development look like? Sound like? Feel like? Maybe we know it when we see it. Our 3rd Annual TDSIG Web Carnival aims to stitch together an informative and inspiring “tapestry of TD”: stories of success from teachers around the world which will weave a picture of how teacher development is often personalized, always empowering, and never exactly the same in different times and places. Our #tdsigcarnival consists of:
- A live online event with 4 talks + panel discussion on 24 February
- Blog post contributions from you!
- Short 30-60 videos from you!
- Tweets from you!
1. Live event programme RECORDINGS HERE
Check out the sessions we’re offering at the live event.
Session A: Marc Jones, Self-catering to others: how beating my own path helped me help my learners
Some teachers feel restricted by one-size-fits-all syllabi and materials. These are frequently comfortable for learners but less so for developing teachers. In this session I shall talk about examining my beliefs about teaching and learning and have participants examine their own in order to cater to their teaching and learning interests and aid their learners in a more rewarding way.
Session B: Pawel Matuszczyk, Implementing Successful Teacher Development Initiatives
The University of Sheffield’s English Language Teaching Centre (ELTC) encourages participation in a wide range of activities for staff to engage with teacher development. The Centre has a teacher development development policy, coordination staff and time allocated for development activities. Teacher development at ELTC has been acknowledged for its success by several external accreditations and inspections. I will present how and why the following initiatives, ‘Scholarship Circles’, ‘Peer Development Scheme’ and ‘Online Bulletin’, were successful in promoting teacher development at ELTC. I would like to inspire and encourage them to be implemented at your own institutions and in your contexts.
Session C: Alice Kim, Going beyond the classroom: Getting involved with TESL Toronto
After having been to their sessions and conferences in the past, in 2016 I decided to join the board of TESL Toronto and help in creating their programs. Joining the board has changed the way I saw myself as a teaching professional and allowed me to explore a different side to teacher development. Being part of such a board requires you to think about teaching beyond the confines of one’s specific teaching environment and consider other spaces of teaching. It also has allowed me to build relationships with others who share the same goal of providing a service to the teaching community. Finally, being part of such a board has revealed to me the sheer amount of work that goes into a conference or employment event and thus, has given me a new sense of appreciation for such events.
Session D: Patricia Reynolds, What teachers want, what teachers really, really want!
This past summer at the World Congress of Applied Linguistics in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, during a forum of professional development educators of teachers in ESL/EFL contexts questions continued to arise about what were the trends in teacher development we may be missing as opportunities to support the educator in the field. Data from practicing teachers is often ignored as to what their needs may be in the classroom. From this discussion 8 trends were identified as being significant areas for teacher development and support. This presentation will discuss the eight trends and their implications in ESL/EFL contexts.
Session E: Various IATEFL Associates, “TD Success Stories from Around the World” Panel
Discussion: What does successful teacher development look like and what can TAs do to facilitate it?
2 – 4. Call for participation
Our Web Carnival is always a mixture of participants, not only speakers on the day of our live event! This year, we’re looking TD success stories from everywhere! Tweet your video or blog post to us using #tdsigcarnival or link on our FB page, and we’ll add it here. Check out some examples from participants already!
2. Community #tdsigcarnival blog posts
- Fiona Price – Meeting top-down TD halfway – #CELTAchat: an example of a bottom-up initiative
- Matthew Noble – A “TD success story” about slowly but surely developing my post-lesson feedback skills as a CELTA course tutor
- Anthony Schmidt – Professional Development: From Online to Real World
- Kamila Linková – My “TD success story(ies)”
- Kate Martinkevich – Another stitch in the picture
- Giulia Brazzale – My #tdsigcarnival contribution: peer observations
- Jeremy Slagoski – I left my heart in Brazil
3. Community #tdsigcarnival videos
4. Community #tdsigcarnival tweets
This deserved to enter the #tdsigcarnival stream ?@teacherphili https://t.co/RwSghcX1Mv
— Matthew Noble (@tesolmatthew) February 10, 2018
Successful teacher development is about growing in practice together @tdsig #tdsigcarnval pic.twitter.com/4DRlqzdWEC
— Fain75 (@Fain75) February 9, 2018
Good read !)Organised sthg similar during all-tchr training day. 3 topics & pre-reading to suit diff.contexts & interests. Tchrs choose 1, read b4, meet to discuss. Then re-group to share. Feedback pretty good.
Approach, cajole tchrs? SIGs? #tdsigcarnival— Sarah Priestley (@Sarah_TTrainer) February 9, 2018
2/2..me, the 4th in particular. The idea of “assuming responsibility” for it. It’s crucial that schools&orgs invest in teachers & it’s true there are endemic issues in ELT..meanwhile I *must* develop, so it’s “on me” & if the process is rewarding, it’s not a burden #tdsigcarnival
— Matthew Noble (@tesolmatthew) February 15, 2018
I like the 1st and 4th. Teachers’ beliefs are the key to implementing or ignoring pedagogical ideas (evidence-based or not) to meet the needs of their students.
— Jeremy Slagoski, PhD (@jdslagoski) February 15, 2018
#2 & 3. (I couldn’t choose between them, sorry.)
For me, teaching is about human interaction in the first place so yes, I care about classroom atmosphere and rapport the most.
And yes, I’ll never stop learning teaching. It’s a life-long journey.— Lina Gordyshevskaya (@ELTbyLina) February 15, 2018
For me, the 2nd. Key for me is ‘questioning beliefs’- both our own and others but also the need for ‘trust’ to be able to reflect, question and ideally develop.
— Annie Thomson (@anniethomson78) February 15, 2018
No 2 for me: Needless rifts and baseless distrust of other groups involved in, or who impact on, our profession helps no one.
Be we teachers, researchers, managers, materials developers, trainers, we need to listen and discuss, respecting our own expertise as well as others’.
— Robert Taylor (@RobertTaylorELT) February 15, 2018
Reflective Practice (Time to Talk) – I haven’t written a post especially for #tdsigcarnival but this is about cooperative development. I guess my success is learning why things go right and why things go wrong in my career > https://t.co/TGDKP4zdxV
— Phil Longwell (@teacherphili) February 14, 2018
I’m reminded by @ChrisPatrickF‘s recent @ELTI2018 talk that one answer to the #tdsigcarnival Q “what’s TD success?” is simply: the relative absence of TB (teacher burnout)! ? he emphasized that knowledge AND action are required in tandem. I think ELT reading = great for former? pic.twitter.com/WqM62Uwu11
— Matthew Noble (@tesolmatthew) February 19, 2018
Love the idea and propose “TD budget” (can be % of reg. wage) to be spent on T’s choice of TD activities: books, confer trips, subscriptions, non-ELT events attending. Share w/others of course. What do YOU propose? #tdsigcarnival
— Zhenya (@ZhenyaDnipro) February 19, 2018
I think the TD Budget should be a % of school profit, rather than of T wage. Interested Ts can then apply to use some of it to cover costs like above. Not every T wants it, really. #tdsigcarnival
— Tyson Seburn (@seburnt) February 19, 2018
My little contribution to #tdsigcarnival 2018 & a shout out to @EALStories @LINCInstructor @jennifermchow @nathanghall! I think that participating in a twitter chat such as #LINCchat can be a highly engaging and effective form of PD for teachers. https://t.co/ip1dBazJOr @seburnt
— Svetlana Lupasco (@StanzaSL) February 23, 2018
General information
Our first event each year is our TDSIG Web Carnival, which typically occurs at the end of January. Through it, we aim to create a multimodal online sharing experience that curates a mixture of a live event with speakers from our community, related blog posts, Facebook posts, and tweets.
Purpose
Our goals in creating and executing the Web Carnival are to:
- Draw in experiences and stories from our members related to teacher development situations and learnings
- Build on existing knowledge from within our global membership and engage in a multimodal experience