Writing a TESOL conference proposal

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Writing a TESOL conference proposal

It wasn't until my first year teaching at the University of Oregon that I felt confident enough to try to write a TESOL proposal.  During grad school, I suspected conferences were better left to the 'experts' and I neglected to consider what or how I could contribute to the field.  If you're in grad school and thinking the same, don't.  Try it out now--you surely have ideas that would benefit others.

Without a buddy I don't know if I would have taken the plunge either.  Danielle Bus and I were working together at the University of Oregon when she suggested that we should try writing something out.  We had some shared experiences over the course of the year that raised questions that we wanted to investigate. We invited some more senior instructors to join us to try to widen our perspective.  

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What motivates students?

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What motivates students?

This past semester, some of my colleagues and I at the Intensive English Institute participated in a book club.  We read a wonderful book---What the Best College Teachers Do by Ken Bain (2004). I had actually started to read this independently, and then I realized how much better it would be if I could relate it to language teaching by discussing it with others in the TESOL field.

Several chapters gave me lots to chew on---but one area that I'm really still puzzled about is student motivation.  Bain points to the research of Deci, Richard, and deCharms that suggests that if students suspect any sort of manipulation due to external reward, they might lose interest. But, at the same time, he mentions that without external motivation, intrinsic fascination might also diminish.  According to Bain, the most successful educators he has worked with aim to avoid extrinsic motivators and instead work to develop intrinsic motivators for students. 

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Documenting student results using pre-tests & post-tests

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ZhaoHong Han, my Second Language Acquisition professor at Teachers College, was the first teacher I ever had that showed data to support her students' progress over the course semester.  It made a lasting impression on me, and since then, I've tried to do the same with my students.

At the beginning of the term in my Reading 100 class, I give pre-tests for both reading and vocabulary.  During the last week of the semester, students take the same test again.  Then, after the results are scored, I give them the results of the whole class and show the students' individual progress (anonymously, of course).  This is pretty easy to set-up in an excel spreadsheet to make a simple graph to display.  Students are always so pleased to see evidence of their learning.  I make a big deal of it and make sure to acknowledge their hard work.  I also emphasize how the small score increases are actually quite significant. (And they are--the test is quite difficult).

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Summer Reading

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If you're like me, you start a vacation with the best of intentions, plans to work on your professional development goals.  But suddenly, rather than curling up in an office, you're on the couch binge-watching a season of something you had no time to watch during the busy school year. (House of Cards, anyone?)

In addition to your plans being thwarted because of Netflix, you might be lacking motivation to get reading because you don't even know what you're teaching next semester.  I hear you.  So, with that in mind, I've thought of three topics that I could learn more about regardless of my upcoming teaching schedule. 

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