Topic 2: Professional development
Teachers in immersion schools have unique staff development needs
that a district may have difficulty meeting either because there
is little district level experience with immersion or because immersion
teachers make up such a small percentage of the district’s
instructional staff.
Practitioner Perspectives
Practitioner Perspectives
What challenges surface in providing
relevant, immersion-specific professional development experiences?
Because immersion teachers often come into immersion teaching from
other disciplines, professional development needs are varied and
inconsistent. If teachers have come from traditional foreign language
education backgrounds, they may need training in elementary pedagogy
or in a discipline, such as science or math, for secondary immersion
teaching. It can be assumed that teachers without immersion experience
will need, at the very least, an introduction to the principles
of content-based language learning and teaching. Teachers who already
have elementary certification or licensure in a secondary subject
area may need opportunities to improve their language proficiency
although it is assumed that the hiring district has established
an accepted level of proficiency that is required to be considered
for an immersion teaching position.
What are the most effective means for
meeting the professional development needs of immersion teachers
within a program or school?
- Have teachers share their best practices on a regular
basis
One way to provide structured, quality staff development for teachers
is to arrange for time, preferably on a monthly basis, to share
resources, activities, strategies, and ideas. For example, a mini-conference
can be organized where a small number of teachers each prepare
a short presentation that colleagues can choose to attend. If
the presentations are repeated twice in an afternoon, each person
can hear two. The following month another group of teachers can
present on something they are doing successfully or can present
a challenge they’d like help addressing.
- Have experienced teachers mentor new teachers
Mentoring relationships between new and experienced teachers are
sometimes part of formal staff development plans, but even informal
arrangements should be encouraged where novice teachers can observe
experienced teachers in the classroom. Both parties can benefit
from discussions about best practices in second language learning
and instruction; lesson planning, curriculum development, and
assessment; expectations for student behavior and parental involvement.
Recently licensed teachers have probably studied some of the most
current research in immersion pedagogy and can reciprocate in
the mentoring dyad by sharing their views and understandings.
Teachers new to the country, especially, will benefit from the
cultural orientation they can receive from a mentor, but even
American-born and -educated teachers new to a community will appreciate
the help a mentor teacher will provide adjusting to the school
and new location.
- Include non-immersion staff in selected training
Immersion programs that are a strand within a school would do
well to offer staff development to the whole school on topics
such as second language acquisition, the goals and objectives
of immersion/dual language programs, and other issues that may
help create community and dispel myths and misunderstandings.
- Involve parents in a school improvement plan that raises
money for staff development activities
Since some of the staff development needs of immersion programs
cannot be provided by routine district plans, there may be additional
expenses that immersion schools incur to address those immersion-specific
needs. Parent-teacher organizations which can be extremely adept
at raising funds for immersion programs can be asked to divert
some discretionary funds for staff development: registration fees
for CARLA institutes (see question regarding out of district staff
development) or an institutional membership to the American Council
on Immersion education. One school that participated in our focus
groups even partially funded a librarian’s and teacher’s
attendance at a book fair in a South American country.
What are the most effective means for
meeting the professional development needs of immersion teachers
within a district?
- Cultivate a relationship with the district staff development
supervisor
As immersion schools, it is important cultivate a close and amicable
relationship with the district staff development director. When
that person understands the unique needs of immersion teachers,
it is easier to get permission to do something different, yet
parallel, to what other schools are doing during district-wide
staff development time. Having a person on staff, other than the
principal, who is dedicated to planning staff development and
is available to attend district meetings concerning staff development
is a wise use of staffing dollars and scheduling. If your district
has multiple dual language programs or schools (including one-way
and two-way immersion programs and/or developmental bilingual
programs), your district may consider providing some in-house
staff development.
What are the most effective means for meeting the professional
development needs of immersion teachers outside of a district?
- Keep abreast of offerings by universities, National
Language Resource Centers, professional organizations, and other
districts
The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA)
at the University of Minnesota offers week-long summer institutes
for new immersion teachers (with a 2-day strand for administrators),
Immersion 101, and one for veteran immersion teachers, Challenges
in Immersion, which focuses on a specific topic. These are
intensive staff development opportunities that introduce teachers
and principals from around the country to current immersion research,
methodologies, and best practices. Institute attendees have also
consistently expressed their enthusiasm for the opportunity to
share experiences with and learn from one another.
The CARLA institutes cannot, however, take the place of regularly
scheduled professional development activities at the school or
district level. Administrators and school districts would do well
to plan follow-ups to the institutes during the school year when
teachers are immersed in their teaching and can benefit from workshops
and meetings that provide immediate and relevant information and
feedback (see question about in school staff development).
CARLA also offers a Dual Language Immersion conference once every
four years hosted by the University of Minnesota. Information
concerning the most recent conference can be found at CARLA conferences/.
- Consider collaborating with other districts that have
immersion programs
Collaboration among districts, either within a metropolitan area
that may have several school districts or across a whole state,
allows schools to pool resources and share expertise. As an example,
the metro area of Minneapolis-St. Paul is home to 21 immersion
schools in 8 districts (including 1 private school and 3 charter
schools). Even the large urban districts do not offer immersion
specific staff development to their immersion employees so the
immersion schools across the metro area collaborate annually with
teacher educators from the University of Minnesota to provide
a half-day (late afternoon or evening) professional development
meeting. One of the schools plans and hosts the event based on
input from teachers and administrators at previous monthly meetings.
A boxed meal from a local restaurant is served for dinner. Panel
discussions, grade level sharing, presentations from researchers
– these have been some of the programs that have occurred
in recent years.
What are the most effective means for
meeting the professional development needs of immersion teachers
on-line?
Using current internet technology allows teachers to plan and carry
out their own professional development based on individualized needs.
The archived articles from the American
Council on Immersion Newsletter is a good place to begin. The
Language Immersion in the Americas (LIM-A)
list-serv, maintained by CARLA, is another resource for sharing
ideas among colleagues and posing questions to other immersion educators.
Readings from the ACIE archives:
ACIE
Articles Make Versatile Training Aids - Aoki, ACIE, November
2005
Standards
for School Leaders: Implications for Leadership in Foreign Language
Immersion Programs - Locke, ACIE Bridge, February 2004
Immersion
Teacher Education through Audiographics - Erben, ACIE, May 2002
Immersion
Teachers in CoBaLTT - Miller, ACIE, February 2001
Immersion
Teaching Strategies Observation Checklist - Fortune, ACIE Bridge,
November 2000
Content-Based
Language Teaching Through Technology - Zachmeier-Ruh, November
2000
Peer
Coaching: A Partnership for Professional Practitioners - Belisle,
ACIE, May 1999 Saving
What? – Gerard, ACIE, February 1998
Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA)
