Professional Development Workshop - Coursework Example

Professional Development Workshop on the Historical, Political, Social, Cultural and Education Concepts that Impact Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Students People Eligible for the Workshop The people eligible for this workshop are those working and teaching in South Korea. These people must be teaching English at the level of middle school to the Korean students. The Goals of the Workshop Bilingual education involves teaching academic material in two different languages. This type of education has brought a lot of controversy in the education sector worldwide. There are a section of people that have been supporting the use of bilingual education in schools and have totally declined its usage in schools. There are several goals that the workshop will seek to fulfill. Among the goals of the workshop is to reach the teachers of English in South Korea. Culture varies from one society to another and this makes it very unique and distinct from the rest of the culture. The workshop will seek to shed on more light on the importance of culture and how it affects the students that are of different cultures. The use of language is very vital and it is one of the key components of culture. The workshop will elaborate on that issue and try to shed more light on the same. The workshop will also discuss on the impact of culture and linguistics on the historical, political, social and cultural education concepts. By the end of the workshop, it is expected that all the goals would have been discussed and their applicability in the real world. Things to Be Shared Bilingual Education Over the past years, the policy on bilingual education has been associated with continued controversy over the goals and effectiveness of such policy. The major points of controversy and divisions have been on the ethnicity, national identity and pedagogy (Reyes, 2006). The proponents of bilingual education view the bilingual education system as a means of educating language-minority students using the pedagogical approach that respects their culture and linguistic diversity. The opponents of the bilingual system of education see the system as a means of segregating and undermining the social integration of the people. The opponents describe bilingual education as the Americanization process. The conflicts have been featured in the newspaper (public press) and in the legal and legislative battles (Reyes, 2006). Cultural practices vary widely among the communities and this can be well explained by the achievement and out-of-school activities among the middle school students of South Korea and the United States. Playing sports and reading books was a common positive indicator in the United States while in South Korea, reading books, using internet, playing games and doing homework was a common positive indicator (Han and Won, 2010). The Importance of Bilingual Education The culturally responsive standards-based (CRBS) teaching can be of great importance in the collection of diverse school communities and thus making learning to be meaningful. The understanding and learning is widened when the culture of the students and their families is recognized or acknowledged. The Implementation of CRSB Implementation of CRSB (culturally responsive standards-based) 1. The first step involves and makes sure that the administrators and teachers understand that each and every one of us views the world in a different perspective. The biggest question is whether the staff member’s cultural perspective has affected the mode in which he or she perceives the students and family business (Barton and Saifer, 2007). 2. There is more additional information that the administrator and the teacher must learn from the students; this information include cultural backgrounds, cultural perspectives, family and personal values. They must ensure must ensure that they tap in the cultural strengths of the student and make sure that stereotypes do not emerge in them. 3. The staff members can start by building the community and relationships in the class setting through activities that help both the students and the staff to understand each other better and get to learn from each other (Barton and Saifer, 2007). CRSB can be put into practice through the following ways; molecules with a twist of culture, building relationship through writing, and sharing family stories (Barton and Saifer, 2007). Legislation and Bilingual Education NCLB (No Child Left Behind) legislation is one of the legislations that have had a negative impact on the bilingual education in the United States. The legislation and its reduced support are likely to decline and move towards English use alone and thus have an effect on the number of bilingual teachers in the United States. The legislation takes way all the gains brought about bilingualism. It is predicted that the United States will face serious shortage of bilingual teachers if the situation is not corrected (Katz, 2004). The Application of the Presentation by the Teachers The presentation gives a guideline on how the issue of bilingual education can be approached. Some of the processes mentioned are very crucial before the start of any action or activity. The application of these processes may take longer than usual and thus, the implementers should find ways in case a disruption occurs. Modules giving more details of what was covered today shall be provided for during the workshop and this will assist in the implementation of the appropriate process. The Agenda Professional Development Title: Historical, Political, Social, Cultural and Education Concepts that Impact Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Students Date: 3 March 2010 Time: 8am - 6pm Location: Chicago Time for Each Activity Activity Title/Description Presenter 9am – 10:30am Bilingual Education Michael Lee 11am – 12pm The Importance of Bilingual Education Rosewell Parker 2pm – 4pm The Implementation of CRSB Richard Martin 4:30pm – 5:30pm Legislation and Bilingual Education John Claywood Warm-Up Activity A warm up activity for the professional development session can be a singing competition or a tug of war. Both activities will engage the minds of the participants and unity is core thing if any of the group has to win. Introductory Remarks and Visual Aids Each person will be welcomed to the workshop and formal introductions by each participant will be required for familiarization purposes. The introduction will highlight all the activities that will take place during the workshop and the presenters of the activity. A number of visual aids will be used and all statistics will be presented in forms of tables, graphs or pie charts. For easy maneuver and presentation of the work, a projector will be used to project the activities. The topic is very important and relevant to the teachers. The topic will mainly touch on the bilingual education. Bilingual education as discussed in the paper has a great impact on both the performance of the student and the teacher. Teacher-Engaged Activity and Materials Needed The teacher engaged activities include the following; (a) adhering to a set schedule, (b) announcing any changes in advance, (c) having the materials ready before the transition period begins and, (d) establishing routines. To engage the student fully, the following materials are needed; response cards, lecture bingo, red rubber ball, pick your post, carousel brainstorming, think pair share, dominoes, word find, KWL, conversation buddies, concentric circles, and brainstorming (CREducation.org, n.d.). Describe How You Will Have Teachers Reflect On the Professional Development Session After each activity there will be questions and a quote that will assist the teachers in reflecting what was taught. There will be time for the teachers to ask questions or even give a comment. Some of the activities will require them to be split into groups and each group will be required to discuss a particular issue. After discussion, one member of the group has to present their findings. With such a program, the teachers will be fully engaged in the professional development session. Describe How You Will Have Teachers Evaluate the Session The sessions will be evaluated at the end of each activity and this will be based on the number of questions and/or the number comments presented by the teachers. An alternative can be, filling of questionnaires which will contain what was taught by the presenters and the mode of presentation and evaluate their level of understanding. Describe How You Will Use the Evaluation Data The data will be used to do several things such as: (a) improve on the mode of presentation by the presenters, (b) inclusion of missing links in the whole work, (c) and the data will be used to gauge the effectiveness of the whole session that is to know how much the teachers have grasped. Describe How You Will Know If Teachers Are Applying What They Have Learned After session follow-up will be done and a number of questions will be asked randomly in the classrooms. This will give a hint to know whether the teachers are utilizing what they were taught. References Barton, R. & Saifer, S. (2007). Promoting culturally responsive standards-based teaching. Principal Leadership, 8(1), 24-29. CREducation.org. (n.d.). Teacher’s engagement toolkit. Retrieved from http://www.creducation.org/resources/cre_infusion/teachers_engagement_toolkit.html Han, S. & Won, S. J. (2010). Out-of-school activities and achievement among middle school students in the U.S. and South Korea, Journal of Advanced Academics, 21(4), 628-664. Katz, S. R. (2004). Does NCLB leave the U.S. behind in bilingual teacher education? English Education, 36(2), 141-153. Reyes, L. O. (2006). The Aspira Decree. Harvard Educational Review Fall 2006, 76(3), 369-402. Read More