iatefl - Liverpool 2019

The 53 International IATEFL Conference 

 IATEFL conference is one of the main events in the English language teaching worldwide. Attending it once is enough to make this event an addiction.. This year it was attended by around 3000 professionals in the English language teaching and included about 500 talks, workshops and forums.  

Conference Venue - ACC

I had the opportunity to present this year in one of the conference's special interest groups: Leadership and Management SIG. My presentation, titled "Transforming a School into a Learning Community through Distributing Leadership" was placed in the SIG's showcased papers. 

Abstract

This presentation outlines the journey taken by an educational consultant in a school to distribute leadership among teachers so that each has a leadership role. This model can inspire similar professional development plans that can be tailored to the needs of different schools where everyone is empowered and the school culture is transformed into a culture of co-learning.

Summary:

This presentation shows how one small private school implemented a professional development program that involved its teachers in school leadership tasks, each based on his/her strengths, skills, certification and/or desire. This has been going on for the third consecutive academic year.

Implementation started with meetings with the administration and the subject coordinators to make an inventory of the professional needs of the teachers. This was coupled with eliciting teachers’ opinions on what they believed they needed assistance with through a Google Form questionnaire. Then the school launched a professional development center to cater for the logistics of training and professional development events. Themes to be worked on were

decided on and teachers from the school and experts from outside the school were contacted to carry out facilitation sessions for the different themes.

Themes included: basic theories and concepts in teaching, technology literacy, interactive technology, methods of teaching, classroom management, engaging activities, lesson planning, school publications, … For each theme, the teachers were grouped and each group had a coach. Groups met periodically to review the new concepts they learned and to discuss the challenges and merits of

their newly acquired skills. They also reflected on their practices and how they changed.

Tools used to ensure the sustainability of the new learnings: meetings, facilitating training

sessions, classroom observations, peer visits, checklists, reflection, on-going assessment, mentoring …

Finally, the presentation will show sample of outcome of the professional development program

as shown by observations, reflections and testimonies of teachers and coaches.

___________________________________________

It was a great opportunity to meet with writers, theorists, exhibitors and professionals in ELT.

With author of books on methodology and coursebooks, Lindsay Clandfield

With Scott Thornbury, an internationally recognized linguist, academic and author

With the internationally recognized linguist, author and academic David Crystal

Although attending the conference is enriching and allows for keeping up-to-date on what's new in ELT worldwide, it is great friends who make this event special and enjoyable.  

Great friends who also presented important papers: Rasha (learner autonomy) and Maysaa (integrating technology into writing)

Using EduLead Practices to Implement FIRST Framework

Published in EduLead Newsletter - May 2019

     The FIRST framework by SEGA Group is “designed on the basis of renown models and theories, such as experiential learning; gamification and game-based learning; facilitate learning, 6Ds model, positive psychology, experience economy and neuroscience” (Bahgat, Said, Elsafty, & Shaarawy, 2018, p. 123). These models and theories are framed into five domains and 15 principles. In implementing FIRST in Rawafid School*, we integrated it into a leadership framework, in which many of the concepts and practices are derived from the EduLead program, by Rite Education.

     Implementation went as follows: Each month one of the five domains with its three principles were introduced to the teachers via two of the school teachers who had been trained and certified by the founders of the FIRST Framework. This training session was followed by classroom implementation on the part of the teachers. It is important to note here that teachers were grouped into 5 groups, each led by a coach. Coaches were assigned this role based on the delegation matrix  (RITE International Inc., 2018), where teachers who portray skill and experience on one axis and independence and ability to drive-self on the second axis, were selected to coach groups.

      During implementation, learning walks were conducted by peers (a group member and the coach) focusing on the principles that were the subject of the training sessions. Learning walks observation forms were tailored to include the principles of the domain teachers were trained on. Those observation forms were accumulating with new principles as we proceeded in the program throughout the school year.

     After the implementation and learning walks, the groups of teachers and their coaches conducted PLC meetings where they reviewed the principles and the activities that would serve each of the principles and discussed their practices: what went well, what challenges they faced and how they would overcome them.

     This cycle was repeated 5 times, once for each of the FIRST domains. During this implementation, teachers kept learning portfolios to document their practices and their learnings. The portfolios included lesson plans, reflection logs, evidence of implementation, and checklists for self-evaluation.

     In addition, there was an online quiz that served to motivate teachers to review the principles and to monitor where teachers still needed help.

     Finally, summative evaluation was conducted where whole classroom observations were done; each teacher was observed by one of the coaches and another peer. Observation notes were compared and discussed by the observers. Then they were discussed with the teacher whose classroom was observed. In addition, teachers planned whole lessons integrating the FIRST domains. Lessons were uploaded to Google Drive, reviewed by the coaches, including the trainers and the educational supervisor at the school. Detailed feedback was provided to the teachers.

     All in all, implementation of FIRST Framework within a Leadership framework enhanced implementation and allowed for continuous reflection on practice and planning for action. Further, it has been a great stepping stone to transfer the whole school into a professional learning community where all learn from one another. In this leadership framework, different responsibilities such as training, coaching and peer visits, were delegated to different teachers. This helped distribute leadership among different teachers; a practice that makes them more engaged in their learning and more accountable for the program success. In addition, it makes the teachers the owners of the process of their growth and development.

*located in Bekaa, Lebanon

References

Bahgat, M., Said, T., Elsafty, A., & Shaarawy, A. (2018, August). FIRST Framework Design and Facilitate Active Deep Learner eXperience. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 6(8). doi:10.11114/jets.v6i8.3337

RITE International Inc. (2018). Kuala Lumpur: NAMA Foundation.

تجربة الروافد في برامج الدعم المدرسي + التعلم بالمشاريع

 الروافد في مؤتمر تربوي بألانيا التركية

Alanya Aladdin Keykubat University - 

شارك مدير مدرسة الروافد الأستاذ سامي الخطيب ترافقه المشرفة التربوية الدكتورة آمال فرحات في المؤتمر العلمي الدولي الأول للعلوم الإنسانية "نظرة نحو المستقبل" الذي نظمته على مدى ثلاثة أيام (13و14و15 نيسان 2018) مؤسسة بابير بالتعاون مع جامعة ألانيا علاء الدين كيكوبات الحكومية في مدينة ألانيا التركية بمشاركة خمسمائة باحث وباحثة من ثمانٍ وعشرين دولة عربية وغربية.

وقد قدَّم الأستاذ سامي الخطيب ورقة بعنوان: "برامج الدعم المدرسي ودورها في ردم الهوَّة بين متطلبات المنهج وواقع التلميذ: قراءة في تجربة مدرسة الروافد".

كما قدمت المشرفة التربوية في مدرسة الروافد الدكتورة آمال فرحات ورقة تربوية حول التعلم بالمشاريع بعنوان: "Bridging the Gap in the Curriculum Through Project-Based Learning

وقد كان المؤتمر فرصة لإطلاع المشاركين على تجارب مدرستنا، وللتعرُّف إلى الكثير من التجارب المدرسية الغنية وبناء العلاقات التربوية المفيدة.

وفي نهاية المؤتمر قدَّم مدير جامعة ألانيا الدكتور أحمد بينار باشي درعاً تكريمياً لمدير الروافد تقديراً لدوره في إنجاح المؤتم

Strive, Inspire, Achieve..

My opening message for Al Mada yearbook  - Summer 2018

This year, I watched with great joy our students enjoying their achievements and their ever-growing skills. I could feel that everyone else at Rawafid shared the same joy; teachers, administrators and staff. Rawafid students demonstrated advancement in their leadership skills, critical thinking abilities, autonomy and communication skills. These were evident in the many curricular and extra-curricular activities that took place during the academic year. The Rawafid Science Fair, student elections, charity campaigns, and the many competitions whether in school or among other schools were some of the events where students exercised their higher-order thinking skills and their leadership and communication skills.

All this would not have been possible and successful if Rawafid did not function as a community of professionals. Everyone at Rawafid was actively engaged in making the school a community of growth and progress, a community when all are supportive of one another. In our community, teachers are continuously thriving to improve their skills and increase their knowledge. This has been evident in the professional development program which focused this year on interactive learning. Teachers showed perseverance and passion to improve their skills which highly reflected on the classroom dynamics. In addition, students reported that they enjoyed learning more and the achievement of many increased.

Part of the professional development this year was the participation of two English language teachers in seven-day rigorous professional training program in Malaysia followed by one-year on-going online training. The teachers had to pass on their training to the Rawafid teachers through workshops facilitated at school.

The achievements of one at Rawafid become the achievements of all and the joy of the whole school. These achievements do not come without planning and hard work.

So go ahead, Rawafid staff and students, enjoy your achievements and your plans,

keep striving for the heights

and stay inspired and inspire those in your life.

June 2018 

iatefl 2017 Glasgow - Higlights

This year's Iatefl is held in Glasgow. So many things to do at the conference; plenary sessions, almost 22 parallel sessions at all times, poster sessions, two interactive language fairs, evening events, special interest group sessions, and the exhibition. With all of these going on, I definitely had to select carefully what to attend since you cannot do all. My Iatefl 2017 journey began when I prepared a proposal for presentation and having it accepted. The title of my presentation was: Planning Electronic Units by Students of Education. It was presented at the Interactive Language Fair. 

University of Glasgow 

April 3, 2017: The pre-conference event PCE I selected was titled Teacher Professional Development. It was led by 5 exemplary presenters namely Silvana Richardosn who is an advocate of developing professional development frameworks that are teacher-led and lead to teacher autonomy. She emphasizes action research in the classroom that is conducted by the teacher. 

April 4 - 7, 2017: The conference sessions took place including talks, seminars, Special Interest Groups SIGs, plenary sessions, interactive language fairs, language exhibitions ...

with Dr. Carol Griffiths from Fatih University
The first time I met Dr. Griffiths was around 7 years ago where she headed a workshop I attended at an ELT conference in Tehran and gave a keynote speech. It was great seeing her again in Iatefl for the 2nd year in a row. 

Conference Mates Rasha and Noha. This year we met Samah Sabbagh again at iatefl.

Carol Reads headed a Pre-conference event PCE and gave a talk about moral values in teaching 

Great people from Tunisia and Morocco 

iatefl 2016 - Birmingham

This is one conference that brought back my energy as a teacher of English language. The wealth of ideas presented from so many speakers and presenters from around the world was a very enriching experience. I sure plan to visit coming iatefl conferences. It was an opportunity to meet in person the very light-hearted linguist David Crystal, who gave a rich plenary about how the English language has ever been changing and he provided examples from the language of the queen when she first ascended the throne and her language now to show how it has become less commanding and less authoritative.
Aside from that, Crystal with his also light-hearted wife,

David and Hillary Crystal performing modern Shakespeare

Hilary Crystal, lead a few events to celebrate Shakespeare. Iatefl 2016 coincided with the 300th anniversary of Shakespeare's death and that is why Shakespeare was present all throughout the conference especially in the evening entertaining sessions. 

River Avon

Stratford-upon-Avon

Shakespeare's Birthplace

Jan Blake telling her stories of life

Among the plenary speakers who I enjoyed was Jan Blake. I had presented her to my Advanced Speaking class to give them a model of how to tell a story. I think knowing that Blake would be in the conference was an incentive for me to attend it. She definitely held her audience and trasported them into places they would not think of they could go to. Her stories of life, love and man were very genuine and full of wisdom and ethics.

Amal, Jan Blake and Rasha
It is obvious that I am not good at taking selfies :(

Pete Sharma, Coauthor of 400 Ideas for Interactive Whiteboard one of the many books I bought

And of course I couldn't but buy a whole bunch of books from the conference exhibition most of which I still have not had the chance to check out.

Being with great company was the best part of the conference and gave a special dimension to my stay in Birmingham.

Rasha Halat (to my right) and Noha Borhot (to my left)

And just as good was meeting people who I haven't for quiet a long time.  

A special person I had met in 2010 in an ELT conference, Sanaa Abudl Hadi

Another special PCELT trainer I met in a PCELT course in Beirut 2014, Samah Sabbagh. I hadn't seen her since because she moved to Algeria. 

Together We Can

My opening message for Al Mada yearbook - Summer 2016

Our mission at Rawafid School is the success of everyone. Success and achievement of our students are a priority. That is why many programs were embedded in the school agenda to help students extend their knowledge and skills to new levels. Intervention programs for students struggling with reading and mathematics helped them recover whatever skills they were lacking. Student life at Rawafid is highly planned for through ongoing projects at the levels of the subject, grade and/or learning cycle. Real life activities also contribute a great deal to the student life at school. Student Elections, Compassion Campaign and Young School Principal were among the school-wide projects that help create life-like experiences at school and encourage student participation where they learn life skills and become productive and successful citizens applying leadership skills learned at school.

“You can never understand one language until you understand at least two.” To promote the use of Arabic and English as languages of communication, two separate weeks were dedicated for them where students participated in various activities that enhance language skills and communication in real life situations.

The agenda of our school activities included many competitions and contests that aimed at integrating what is learned in class in an exciting and engaging manner where the whole school took part. Such activities help to bring students from different classes, teachers of all subjects and administrators together to strengthen the bonds of the school community and boost up the overall morale.

Improving school life not only focuses on student achievement but also on professional development. To ensure better academic results, teachers have to be up to date on the new trends in education. The on-going professional development program, with its six modules, has been sustained for the third year in a row. In this program, best practices are always shared among teachers and administrators and are backed up by theories in the literature on education.  Moreover, each teacher is a learner who continues to grow and is an educator who contributes to the whole school environment assisting fellow educators and students. This all is what makes Rawafid a community of learners, and that is how “together we can”.

June 2016