Teacher Professional Development

AE will help your organization to build a team of educators who will:

  • Critically reflect on teaching experiences while developing new skills

  • Have the full advantages of collegial learning and support

  • Learn to understand and appreciate the value of student-centered learning

  • Become familiar with research-based best practices

  • Become better selves

  • Become better problem-solvers

  • Become informal yet meaningful teacher-mentors

  • Become educational and social innovators

  • Become a strong asset for students, parents and their school

Pedagogy

  • Experiential and contextualized approach

We are cautious about the grand narratives of “truth” and “liberation”.  We avoid discussing abstract concepts of teaching, but through reflecting on existing knowledge on teaching through experiential and contextualized activities.  We value each educator’s individual knowledge about teaching.  Educators are not the owners of knowledge, but the creators.

  • Story and dialogue-based approach          

Educators are inspired to tell and retell their stories.  We believe teachers and students should not develop an antagonistic relationship, but rather should be allowed to be teachers and students through education.  We create a dialogical space for all participants.  Our knowledge of teaching will be gradually developed through stories and dialogues.

  • Transformation of individual experiences

We create communities of practice for educators to share their lived experiences and provide mutual group support, which are based on respect for individual experiences.  Through narratives, we perceive the social and cultural context of education, which in turn shapes individual perceptions of teaching. 

Method (1): Experiential Workshops

The research-based workshop series is designed from the perspectives of education, sociology, psychology, philosophy and cultural studies.  The “dialogical space” that is created by the workshops allows the teachers to bring in their personal experiences and assists them in reflecting on knowledge of teaching, their roles as teachers, teacher-student relations, and the intersection of school-family-community.  The workshops give teachers permission to trust their intuition and resource through reflecting their teaching experiences, and use it as a legitimate problem-solving tool at work.  We respect ordinary life experiences of teachers and believe their individual narratives will enable us to explore social, cultural, familial, and institutional aspects in a broader context.  In the workshop, teachers participate in experiential activities such as role-play, reflective writing, improvisation, etc.  They revisit the skill set of listening, observation, storytelling, collaboration, reflection, empathy, etc.  

1.     The power of vulnerability: open yourself and embrace uncertainties & opportunities
2.     Teaching students to solve problems
3.     Teacher as emotional laborer and the construction of emotions
4.     Build connections through stories
5.     Relationship- and dialogue-based teaching
6.     From the “cultural deficit model” to respecting cultural diversity
7.     Identify strengths and build purpose

8.     Play as pedagogy: curiosity and learning

For each session, schools can choose themes based on their own needs.  Experiential activities will deepen educators’ understanding of teaching as profession and empower individual educator to value the journey of teaching and become agents of change for social transformation.

Numbers of participating teachers can range from 10 to 30.  Sessions consist of five parts: self-introduction, writing and sharing, improvisation, role-play, and feedback.  We also consider exceptions to the rule on individual basis, as appropriate.

·       Self-introduction from a student’s perspective

·       Writing & sharing about individual stories in small groups

·       Improvisation, making in small groups and performing in class

·       Role-play, usually involving a particular or difficult case in their classroom

·       Teacher feedback regarding what they have learned through the entire activity

Method (2): Teacher Study Group

The Teacher Study Group (TSG) is served as a source of continuing professional development, collegial support, and problem-solving as well as a vehicle for empowering and energizing teachers.  Among topics to be covered will be pedagogy-related issues and educational research methods.  Teachers will visit each other’s classrooms in order to learn from them as well as provide supportive and productive feedback.  As trust among group members increases, teachers will have a place and a small, supportive and empowering community, where they can share problems and receive constructive feedback from their peers.  When the first group is over, a second or third cohort can be formed and supported by interested members of the first group, who will now be serving the school faculty community as role models and mentors.  This pattern will continue so that the faculty is increasing the professional standards of the school from within.

Curriculum Package for Schools

According to the educational studies, it takes about three years for a school to experience its educational developments and changes.  Therefore, we provide a 3-year curriculum package for our partnership schools.  The curriculum package will be tailored to meet the needs of each school we serve.  In the package, each school will be provided:

  • On-site experiential workshops

  • Teaching toolbox

  • Solution-oriented consultation

  • Educational research methodology coaching

  • Add-on services 

  • Become AE Alumni and enjoy selected member benefits 

Progress for the 3-year Model of Solution: