Building (Online) Communities of Practice with Chinese Teachers

Sherry L. Steeley, Ph.D.

March 27, 2010

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Goals of the Online Course

Build on the intensive summer camp and workshops, both theoretically and in terms of teaching skills

Develop communities that would sustain pre- and in-service teachers as they progressed in their teacher preparation and practice

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Context of the Online Course

Post summer institute One week of intensive online interaction and

assignments

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Online structure

In order to both build community and develop teaching skills, daily online modules focused on both Discussion Group fora for instructional issues and Working Groups for the development of instructional strategies.

While the course was asynchronous, general guidelines recommended morning Discussion Group work as a precursor to afternoon/evening Working Group exchanges on instructional strategies and plans.

Discussion Group Work – Year 1

Key Discussion Topics: Professional Development Community: What

does it mean for us? Learner centered lessons and use of technology Adaptations for Multiple Intelligences in

language skill areas Differentiation of instructional materials and

plans, scaffolding, assessment

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Discussion Group Results – Year 1

Extensive sharing of websites, lesson plans, concrete ideas, links to standards

Emerging awareness of the power of professional community through Discussion and the smaller Working Groups, which daily created lesson plans in language skill areas incorporating new concepts in MI, differentiation, standards, scaffolding, and assessment.

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Working Groups – Year 1

Each student created a daily lesson plan using key concepts from discussion and the previous week’s Institute.

In small groups (4 groups of 6), participants conducted peer review and feedback.

At the conclusion of the week, all participants assembled activities packets ready to use in the classroom upon return to school/class.

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Discussion Group Work – Year 2

Whole group Discussion Group focused on culture, identity, and teaching.

Cultural differences: The role of the Teacher Cultural differences: U.S. student culture Cultural differences: U.S. parent culture Managing differences for an effective

classroom

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Discussion Group Results– Year 2

Community developed quickly through shared experiences of the differences between Chinese schools and U.S. schools

Shared frustrations with parents and students who were more outspoken than expected

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Discussion Group Results– Year 2

Discussion of challenges yielded to discussion of classroom management strategies that had worked for participants, ie., taking into account cultural differences.

These included frequent communication with parents, cooperative learning activities in class, a variety of hands on approaches to learning, helping students connect learning to daily life, and giving students more responsibility.

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Working Groups – Year 2

Small groups focused on developing language lessons using cooperative learning structures (the subject of the Week 1 STARTALK Institute)

Each day, participants submitted a lesson with cooperative learning activity for peer feedback

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Working Groups – Year 2

At the end of the week, each participant had compiled a packet of activities using the new structures.

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