Teacher In-Service

Wells Thong Lo — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 07:20:33 +0000

An in-service on September 28, intended to provide ongoing professional development for Wells instructors, attracted 40 teachers from all three Wells campuses. The learning experience involved creative thinking in the classroom, a workshop that kicked off with examples of how such strategies could be applied at all grade and ability levels. Boisterous but cooperative, the teachers experienced kinesthetic learning themselves before learning how to integrate those methods in the classroom setting. This included a practicum in which teachers examined their most recent lesson plans in an effort to apply the lesson immediately.
The second portion of the workshop dealt with grouping, including management strategies when addressing classrooms composed of varying sizes, ethnicities and genders. Active participation and prioritization ensured that all of the instructors received an opportunity to apply the material, and while many divergent views were expressed and considered, the in-service ultimately proved to be a very successful endeavour.

Lawrie Shier – Headmaster, Wells Thong Lor

The post Teacher In-Service first appeared on �ۿ۴�ý | American International School - Wells.

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On-going Professional Development

Webmaster — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 07:26:33 +0000

On-going professional development through the Learning First Wednesday (LFW) session for the 2009-2010 academic year began on September 2, 2009. LFW sessions at �ۿ۴�ý are special occasions allocated for teachers to come together and learn about improving teaching practices (mini workshops). The topic discussed at the session was “diversifying teaching techniques.” This topic was chosen because in any given class teachers face students with diverse needs, behavioral patterns, learning styles and achievement levels. Apart from being sensitive and perceptive to different needs of students, teachers at �ۿ۴�ý are encouraged to use differentiated instruction in creative ways. This ensures that every student in the class learns at his/her own pace. Mr. Lawrie, the Academic Director of the primary section instructed teachers to be open, flexible, and creative in the way they deliver lessons. He also emphasized that the use of appropriate anticipatory sets or introductory materials/activities sets the tone for effective learning and sustained attention toward lessons.

Teachers were shown how to teach a single concept using multiple teaching approaches such as engaging lecture, visual, rote, sequential, color, modeling, chain, and cooperative techniques. Ways to combine and use techniques were also demonstrated at the session.

Discussion about meeting individual student needs led teachers into thinking and talking about students who are at risk. Often, students suffer not because of what they do or do not do; but rather because of what a teacher does or does not do. For example, if a teacher writes extremely small characters on the board, some students will be at risk of being visually challenged when it comes to copying down notes from the board. However, if the teacher was perceptive, he/she would prevent difficulty in viewing the board by writing big enough characters – this benefits every student alike. Hence, it is highly possible that many negative experiences of students at school is not solely because they are not ready to learn but also because teachers do not differentiate instruction. Success in learning comes from both student characteristics and teacher efficacy. One variable alone will not be sufficient to define the quality of education. By default, the two variables are interdependent.

The conclusion of the matter: “The focus of our efforts, therefore should be on enriching our institutional and professional capacity and responsiveness, rather than categorizing and penalizing students for simply being who they are.” (taken from The 1983 publication of A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform – The National Commission on Excellence in Education)

On-going teacher training at �ۿ۴�ý led by Mr. Lawrie Shier, the Academic Director of Primary section

Teachers need time to learn too…

Demonstration of the use of Anticipatory Set

Learning through modeling

Teachers demonstrating learning

Counselor helping teachers to understand the concept of “at risk”

The post On-going Professional Development first appeared on �ۿ۴�ý | American International School - Wells.

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differentiated instruction | �ۿ۴�ý | American International School - Wells

Teacher In-Service

On-going Professional Development