adult education program administration: resources and challenges cotesol convention 2008 virginia...
TRANSCRIPT
ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION: RESOURCES AND CHALLENGES
CoTESOL Convention 2008
Virginia Nicolai, Community ESL Program CoordinatorCommunity College of Aurora
Objectives
Think about the qualities of an effective administrator
Learn about a leadership training opportunity offered by TESOL
Reflect on your experience as an administrator
Share ideas, brainstorm, problem-solve View some resources I’ve created
What position do you currently hold?What program do you work for?
Question
How did you become a program administrator?
Question
How have your past experiences prepared you to be an administrator?
Question
How is administration different from teaching?
Question
TESOL Leadership Development Certificate Program
Resource:
What is the TESOL LDCP?
From the TESOL website:“The Leadership Development Certificate
Program (LDCP) is designed to meet specific needs of TESOL members who have asked for opportunities to learn more about the association and to develop their skills as leaders of the association and its affiliates.”
http://www.tesol.org/s_tesol/sec_document.asp?CID=1443&DID=2903
How does it work?
Open to all TESOL members 2 strands of 12 workshops offered at the
TESOL convention Participants must complete a total of 9 hours
of coursework to receive certificate – 4 required workshops and 2 optional
Coursework can be completed over 2 conventions
$90 for two years Limited to 35 participants, first-come first-
served
TESOL LDCP Strands
Learn more about TESOL
Develop skills as leaders of the association and affiliates (CoTESOL)
Build leadership & supervisory skills needed in the ESL workplace
Leadership in Professional Organizations
Leadership Development for Professional Growth
Required workshops
About TESOL Dynamic Grassroots
Advocacy TESOL Policy and
Governance Issues Perspectives on
Leadership for TESOL
Qualities of Effective Leadership
Financial Planning: Budgets and Course Costing
Leadership for Teacher Change: Supervision
Strategic Planning
Leadership in Professional Organizations
Leadership Development for Professional Growth
Examples of optional workshops Time Management Strategies for ELT
Professionals Presentation Skills for Emergent ELT
Leaders How to Run Effective Meetings
How do you rank these factors that contribute to success as a leader? Being in the right place at the right time Experience in the front lines of service Formal education Individual competence Respect of colleagues Respect of students or customers Support from the boss – director, chair,
dean Support from the organization Support from loved ones
What are the qualities of an effective administrator?
Question
What challenges have you encountered as a program administrator?
Discussion
Administrative challenges
Finding good teachers Providing professional development Teacher supervision and evaluation Communication/paperwork Time management
Resource: Interview questions Tell us a little about yourself.
What experiences in your past have prepared you to teach ESL to adult immigrants?
What nationalities have you worked with?
How do you feel about L1 use in the classroom?
Tell us about a difficult situation you encountered in the classroom and how the conflict was resolved.
We use the CASAS Listening test to place students and we separate classes by level. However, often students in the same class have different levels of English ability, varying levels of education, or even different levels of literacy. How will you deal with a multi-level class?
Retention is a problem we deal with in adult education classes. How will you build community in your classroom?
How will you deal with students who miss class/having different students each class?
Our goal is to help students transition into GED and college classes. How will you encourage students to continue their education?
Teachers are required to administer post-tests and submit paperwork such as monthly attendance hours for their students and bi-weekly timesheets. On a scale of 1 to 10, how do you rate your organizational skills?
Our instructors are expected to participate in professional development. What are your professional goals in ESOL/Adult Ed?
PROGRAM INFO (i.e. schedule, curriculum, facilities, salary)
When are you available to teach? Are you available as a substitute teacher?
Do you have any questions for us?
Resource: Teacher evaluationTeaching and classroom environment Is the teacher well prepared? Were objectives/expectations made clear? Is the classroom environment positive and
conducive to language acquisition? Are a variety of activities being used and
are all of the students involved? Is teacher talk clear and level appropriate? Is the teacher responsive to student
questions? Which of the CASAS life skills competencies
were evident during instruction?
Resource: Staff wiki
Wikis are free and easy to create They allow your staff to access program
information, paperwork, and procedures from any computer
Staff can also communicate on the wiki and share teaching ideas/materials
Example: http://alcteachers.pbwiki.com
Online resources
CAELA Practitioner Toolkithttp://www.cal.org/caela/tools/program_development/prac_toolkit.html
NCSALL Program Administrators’ Sourcebookhttp://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/
teach/PASourcebook.pdf
