SEMINAR with DR. KATHLEEN GRAVES

*only for guests

 July, 26th (Monday)

14h – 16h                   The courage to reflect, the power of reflection

16h15 – 18h15          Using theory as a tool to renew practice

 July, 27th (Tuesday)

14h – 16h                    Understanding curriculum development

16h15 – 18h15          Creating collaborative teacher communities

 July, 28th (Wednesday)      

08h15 – 10h15          Integrating the four skills in low-level classes

10h30 – 12h30          Developing thematic integrated-skills units

The courage to reflect, the power of reflection in this talk we will explore the process and skill of reflection. Reflection is not simply a matter of thinking about one´s teaching, it is a complex skill that is learned over time through disciplined practice. The experiences of teachers learning to reflect will be used throughout the talk to illustrate what it means to reflect, why it takes courage, and how it empowers teachers.

Using theory as a tool to renew practice theories often seem remote from the reality of classroom practice and thus not useful to teachers. The aim of the workshop is not to teach reading theory, but to examine the ways in which theory can be a powerful tool to help teachers understand and renew their practice.

Understanding curriculum development this workshop introduces teachers to the processes of curriculum development and how they can direct those processes in their teaching. The processes include needs assessment, formulating goals and objectives, planning a syllabus, choosing or adapting materials and designing an assessment plan.

Creating collaborative teacher communities teaching is a learning profession in which each new group of learners and each lesson provide the opportunity to continually renew one´s practice. Just as student learning becomes more powerful when students can learn with and from each other in a learning community, so does teacher learning. However, teachers often experience isolation in their work as they struggle to make sense of and improve their practice. Communities of teachers-as-learners are not widespread. In this workshop we will explore one approach to teacher communities, the inquiry approach. Participants will identify an area of their practice they wish to explore. Together with others, they will work through a disciplined process of description and interpretation to help each other gain a fuller picture of their teaching so that they can identify a range of effective responses. We will also explore ways to develop and continue the inquiry approach once participants return to their workplace.

Integrating the four skills in low-level classes in this workshop participants experience two approaches to integrating the four skills for low-level learners. The first is the Language Experience Approach, in which learners create a text based on a shared experience and then work with the text as listeners, readers, speakers and writers. The second is the Curriculum Cycle approach, which focuses on a specific text such as a recipe or a social conversation. Learners deconstruct the text, reconstruct a similar one together and then construct their own independently.

Developing thematic integrated-skills units in this workshop participants experience and analyze a thematic unit that integrates development of speaking, listening, reading and writing and incorporates a variety of authentic and pedagogically prepared material.

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Kathleen Graves is Associate Professor of Education Practice at the School of Education, University of Michigan. Previously she was a professor of second language teacher education at the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont, USA. Dr. Graves has worked on curriculum renewal and language teacher education in Algeria, Bahrain, Brazil, Japan, Korea and the US. She is the editor/author of two books on course design, Teachers as Course Developers and Designing language courses and is the Series Editor of TESOL´s Language Curriculum Development series. She has also developed student materials, most recently the ICON series (with Linda Lee and Donald Freeman) for McGraw-Hill.