PROFESSIONAL TEACHERS DEVELOPMENT.Desarrollo profesional docente

TEACHER´S IDENTITYFIRST SECTION

Is it easy for you to say what is your identity? Video: Octavio Paz According to the video´s definition of human

being Why is so difficult to interact in our classes? Do you know who is the other? What do authors

mean by otherness? Read the article: What is my background? What is my identity? Write down your biography: a) Personal b) Academic

My identity

Do you consider yourself a transcultural

person? Why? Learning to Teach: The Construction of Teacher

Identity in the Context of Schools:Margaret Walshaw/Jan Savell (Massey University)

Teacher´s identity

Professional development is related to: How do you improve your teaching? How do you learn yourself as a teacher? How are you able to manage changes? How can I related with my colleagues (team-

teaching)? Can I trust on them? How can I mange my group? So on…Now, work in pairs and before reading about teachers development, try to define it.

Why brother with professional development?

Dale Lange: “Teachers development is a term used in literature to describe a process of continual intellectual, experiential, and attitudinal growth of teachers” (1990).

“The intent here is to suggest that teachers continue to evolve in the use, adaptation, and application of their art and craft” (Lange)

TASK: Work in groups of four and answer the following questions:1. What factors promote professional development as a lifelong process? 2. What elements are necessary for it to occur? Make a list of the factors you think must be present for professional development to take place.

Defining

Professional development happens if only if, we

choose to. The motives may differ from teacher to teacher, but this we have in common: no choice, no way.

Trust is another important issue for me, which goes hand in hand with openness and honesty.

Some sense of mutuality or reciprocity is also important for me. No mater how much older, wiser, more published, more securely tenured the teachers may be who are helping me, I think they should be able to identify what they have learned from me too.

Compare your answers

with Andy´s ideas

Knowing that changes need to be made in

order to bring about “better” and “more” learning (my own as well as my students´) is not the same as making those changes. For example: I might realize that I need to increase my student´s motivation, but not know how to do this!

Be aware of what is evaluation-driven and teacher development

“ I decide if, when, why and how I develop, contract renewal or no contract renewal”. (Andy Curtis)

Video: Why professional development…? http://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH6BpP21Cuc

REASONS FOR PURSUING PD.1. To acquire new knowledge and skills2. Change (we need to be ready to cope with new changes – governmental regulations or policies)3. Increase in income or prestige4. Empowerment (working out our won way forward, based on our own understanding – Edge, 1992--)

What is teachers development?

Teacher´s burnout

Talk to your partner and discuss what do you think is to be burnout?

When could this happen? Now read the article about burn out. “Talking

about frustration” (pages 8-10) Were your ideas right? The Maslach Burnout Inventory uses a three

dimensional description of exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy.

Have you ever felt burnout?

Concept from the early 70´s Final flickering flame, of a charred empty shell, of

dying embers and cold, gray ashes Emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and

reduce personal accomplishment that can occur among individuals who do “people work”

A function of the many stress felt by individuals in both their social life and their work experience.

Powerlessness Lack of enthusiasm to prepare lessons/lack of

interest in the subject Loss of energy, loss of memory

Important concepts and ideas.

In general, resting proves to be very effective. This

may include a temporary reduction of working hours, slowly rebuilding the endurance of the individual. In his book, Managing stress: Emotion and power at work (1995), Newton argues that many of the remedies related to burnout are motivated not from an employee's perspective, but from the organization's perspective. Despite that, if there are benefits to coping strategies, then it would follow that both organizations and individuals should attempt to adopt some burnout coping strategies.

How to manage Burnout?

Employee assistance programs (EAP)Stemming from Mayo's Hawthorne Studies, Employee Assistance Programs were designed to assist employees in dealing with the primary causes of stress. Some programs included counseling and psychological services for employees. There are organizations that still utilize EAPs today, but the popularity has diminished substantially because of the advent of stress management training (SMT). Stress management trainingStress Management Training (SMT) is employed by many organizations today as a way to get employees to either work through stress or to manage their stress levels; to maintain stress levels below that which might lead to higher instances of burnout. Stress interventionsResearch has been conducted that links certain interventions, such as narrative writing or topic-specific training to reductions in physiological and psychological stress. Individual aspects Problem-based copingOn an individual basis, employees can cope with the problems related to burnout and stress by focusing on the causes of their stress. Various therapies, such as Neurofeedback therapy, claim to assist in cases of burnout. This type of coping has successfully been linked to reductions in individual stress. Appraisal-based copingAppraisal-based coping strategies deal with individual interpretations of what is and is not a stress inducing activity. There have been mixed findings related to the effectiveness of appraisal-based coping strategies. Social supportSocial support has been seen as one of the largest predictors toward a reduction in burnout and stress for workers. Creating an organizationally-supportive environment as well as ensuring that employees have supportive work environments do mediate the negative aspects of burnout and stress.

12 Strategies

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