“I’m Actually Professionally Developing”: Personalized, Needs-Based Professional Development for Teachers of Emergent Bilinguals

• In Event: Sunday Roundtable Session 1:15 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Teacher Knowledge: Building Classroom Space for Emergent English and Immigrant Teachers and Students (Table 28)

Abstract

As the population of Emergent Bilingual (EB) students grows in U.S. schools, their teachers need better professional development (PD) to address their unique learning needs. This study used Darling Hammond et al.’s (2017) seven features of effective PD to prepare personalized, needs-based professional development (PNPD) that helped teachers meet their instructional goals chosen from the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP). The PNPD led to five facets of progress toward their instructional goals: (i) implementation of new strategies, (ii) recognizing areas to improve, (iii) commitment to sustainability, (iv) developing self-regulated learning strategies, and (v) regulating emotional responses. Teachers also showed gains in self-efficacy, especially in the area of instructional strategies. Implications for more transformative and autonomy-supportive PDs are discussed.

Authors

• Crystal Diane Recknagel, Richardson ISD

• Ji Y. Hong, University of Arizona