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COLLABORATIVE TEACHER TRAINING
PROGRAMS:
TRAINING TEACHERS TO MORE EFFECTIVELY
TEACH ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS (ELL) STUDENTS
Kennesaw State University, in collaboration with the Cobb County
School District, proposed to develop and implement training
programs for 2,100 mainstream teachers, or one-third of the
district's total teaching force. These programs are needed to
respond to the need to effectively educate the growing number
of ELL students in the district. Cobb is one of the fastest
growing districts in Georgia, adding an average of 2,700 students
a year. Significantly, nearly a third of these new students
are ELL students. In addition, Cobb suffers from a serious shortage
of experienced teachers in general and of ESOL teachers in particular.
Hence, teachers least prepared to instruct students at risk
of academic failure find themselves responsible for both language
acquisition and content mastery.
The proposed program will provide
two types of training. The first will be an intensive 16 week,
90 hour on-site, on-line course, titled Training
the Trainer. This course will offered five times during
the three-year grant period. Each course will train 20 teachers
per session, thus impacting a total of 100 Cobb County teachers.
Teachers successfully completing all requirements of the Training
the Trainer course will receive six hours graduate
credit from Kennesaw State University, credit that fulfills
six hours of the nine-hour credit ESOL program required by
the state of Georgia for ESOL certification.
A second training opportunity
will be conducted through a Mentoring/Resource
program with an introductory workshop.
Teachers who successfully complete the proposed Training the
Trainer course will conduct a two year Mentoring/Resource
program for 20 colleagues at their home school. During the
three-year grant period, 2000 Cobb County mainstream teachers
will participate in this program. This training will focus
on the overall instruction of ELL students by mainstream teachers
using reading comprehension and cultural understanding as
a means toward improving academic achievement.
Project activities include
development and delivery of the Training
the Trainer program, development and delivery of the
Mentoring/Resource program,
and collection and dissemination of strategies/activities
evaluated as successful for working with ELL students. This
information will be posted on an ESOL link on the Kennesaw
State Department of Foreign Languages website so that all
teachers in the county may have access to useful information
for improving instruction to ELL students.
Consultants well known in the
ESOL field will evaluate materials and training of the program.
Revisions responding to the evaluations will be on-going throughout
the life of the program.
Project Goal, Objectives, and Activities
Project Goal: The goal of the program is to prepare
mainstream teachers to more effectively educate English Language
Learners (ELL) students.
Project Objectives:
- To intensively train 100
teachers in methods, materials, and culture essential for
working effectively with ELL students
- To equip these 100 teachers
to be clearly identified resource personnel and mentors
dedicated to helping their colleagues meet ELL needs
- To extend training to 2000
teachers through county-wide mentoring/resource programs
Project Activities:
The following activities are linked to the objectives previously
discussed.
- Development and delivery
of intensive training program for 100 Cobb County teachers
with appropriate activities, strategies and feedback. Teachers
successfully completing the training course will serve as
trainers for mentoring/resource programs conducted at their
home school. All teachers successfully completing this course
will earn six hours graduate credit for ESOL certification
in the state of Georgia.
- Development and delivery
of county-wide mentoring/resource programs for 2000 teachers
- Collection and dissemination
of information gathered during the project regarding "best
practices" of mainstream teachers for improving reading
skills of ELL students
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The following charts clearly
delineate the management of activities for the proposed three-year
program.
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Year
1
Fall 2002/Spring Semester 2003
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Objective |
Activity |
Management |
| 1)
Train 100 teachers with appropriate strategies for working
effectively with ELL students |
Material
Development for Training the Trainer |
Two
KSU professors, Dr. Barker |
| |
Determination of Specific Criteria for Selection of Participants
for Training |
Professors, Dr. Barker, Cobb County principals and KSU
Admissions |
| |
Recruitment
for Training |
Professors,
Dr. Barker, Cobb County principals |
| |
Creation
of evaluation tool for Training |
Professors, Dr. Barker, consultants |
| 3)
Extend training to 2000 teachers county-wide though Mentoring
Programs |
Creation
of evaluation tool for Recruiting for Mentoring Programs,
and Implementation / Quality of Mentoring Programs |
Same |
| |
Creation
of Pre-Middle-Post Survey |
Professors and Survey Consultant |
| |
Criteria
for Selection of Student Assistants |
Professors
and Dr. Barker |
| |
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Year
2
Fall Semester 2003
|
|
Objective |
Activity |
Management |
| 1)
Train 100 teachers with appropriate strategies for working
effectively with ELL students |
Training
the Trainer (20) |
Two
KSU professors |
| |
Evaluate
Training Completion |
Two
KSU professors |
| |
Evaluate
Training Participant Performance and Feedback (pre-middle-post
survey) |
Two
KSU professors, consultants and Dr. Barker |
| 3)
Extend training to 2000 teachers county-wide though Mentoring
Programs |
Determination
of Specific Criteria for selection of Participants for
1st 40 Mentoring Programs |
Professors,
Dr. Barker, Cobb County principals, participants successfully
completing Training the Trainer |
| |
Develop
and evaluate materials for Mentoring Programs |
same |
| |
Develop
evaluation tool for Mentoring Programs |
Professors, Dr. Barker and student assistants |
| |
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Spring
Semester 2004
During this semester, the Mentoring Programs are
conducted and evaluated for the first time, so the following
activities are in addition to the activities included
in the prior semester. The remaining three semesters
of the program (Fall 2004, Spring 2005 and Fall 2005)
follow the same outline of activities and management.
Fall 2005 will be devoted to the final class delivery
and concurrent evaluation of the last 40 Mentoring Programs
and the program overall.
|
|
Objective |
Activity |
Management |
| 3)
Extend training to 2000 teachers county-wide though Mentoring
Programs |
Delivery
of Mentoring Programs |
Participants
successfully completing Training the Trainer |
| |
Evaluate
Mentoring Programs and participant feedback |
Two
KSU professors, Dr. Barker, consultants and student assistants |
| |
Collect
and Evaluate Mentoring Program Pre-Post surveys |
Two
KSU professors, student assistants and consultants |
| 2)
Equip teachers to be clearly identified resource personnel
/ mentors dedicated to helping their colleagues meet ELL
needs |
Collect
"best practices" of mainstream teachers |
Mentors
at individual schools |
| |
Post
and categorize strategies and activities considered "best
practices" on the Web |
Student
assistants |
| |
Mentoring mainstream teachers in Cobb County |
Participants successfully completing Training the Trainer
course, in communication with KSU and ESOL personnel |
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