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Frameworks Shaping an Online Professional Development Program for K–12 Teachers of ELLs: Toward Supporting the Sharing of Ideas for Empowering Classroom Teachers Online
Author(s) -
Smith Sedef Uzuner
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
tesol journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.468
H-Index - 14
eISSN - 1949-3533
pISSN - 1056-7941
DOI - 10.1002/tesj.154
Subject(s) - ell , professional development , faculty development , framing (construction) , pedagogy , mathematics education , psychology , english language , sociology , teaching method , engineering , vocabulary development , structural engineering
In efforts to maintain America's global competitiveness in the knowledge‐based economy, teacher professional development has moved to center stage. With increasing numbers of English language learners (ELLs) in U.S. schools, several states have adopted mandatory professional development for classroom teachers to equip them with the knowledge and skills they need to shape these students' future capacity to contribute to the well‐being of the country. This article starts by addressing the question of whether using online delivery for teachers' professional development is a more viable option than using school‐ or site‐based programs. It then describes the frameworks that guided the design and organizational structures of an online teacher development program for K–12 teachers of ELLs. Insights shared in this article might serve as guidelines for framing the implementation of similar programs that aim to create empowered teachers who know how to work with ELLs.