Prof Arnetha F. Ball
Professor of Education
Stanford University

Using Sociocultural Theory To Transform The Practice of Teaching

Building on sociocultural theory and the work of Vygotsky and Bakhtin, Professor Ball will present her research on preparing teachers to work with diverse populations and her Model of Generative Change.  She will also present on how this model is being used in cross-national contexts to transform the practice of teaching.  The talk will conclude with a discussion of her current work that is empowering urban educators to enhance teaching practices in their own classrooms.

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Arnetha F. Ball is a Professor of Education at Stanford University in the Curriculum Studies, Teacher Education, and Educational Linguistics Programs.  She is the President of the American Educational Research Association, Director of the Program in African and African American Studies at Stanford University, and Consultant to the Sizemore Initiative in Urban Education at Duquesne University.  Before entering the professorate, she taught in pre-school, elementary, and secondary classrooms for over 25 years and was the founder and Executive Director of "Children’s Creative Workshop," an early education center that specialized in providing premiere educational experiences for students from diverse backgrounds.  Her research is designed to advance sociocultural theory through studiesthat integrate sociolinguistic, discourse analytic and ethnographic approaches to investigate ways in which semiotic systems in general, and oral and written language in particular, serve as a means for mediating teaching and learning in linguistically diverse settings. Her interdisciplinary program of research is conducted in learning environments that are faced with the challenge of improving education for urban populations in three intersecting contexts: U.S. schools where predominantly poor African American, Latino, and Pacific Islander students are underachieving; community-based organizations that provide alternative education opportunities for academic and/or economic success; and teacher education programs that prepare teachers to teach students in culturally and linguistically complex classrooms. Winner of the 2009 AERA Palmer O. Johnson Award and author/co-editor of six books and numerous articles and chapters, Ball is a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association and has served as a trustee of the Research Foundation of the National Council of Teachers of English.  She holds a B.A. and M.S. from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Prof Ball’s Keynote Presentation

Dr Tine Sloan
Director
Teacher Education Progam, Gevirtz School
University of California, Santa Barbara

Collaborative Practice for 21st Century Educators: The Case of Co-Teaching
There are ever more forums available for teachers to collaboratively discuss, plan, and inquire into their classroom practice (e.g., PLCs, Lesson Study, Learning Circles). Most of this collaboration takes place outside of a teacher’s classroom providing space for teachers to reflect, analyze problems of practice, co-plan curriculum, etc – which they then bring into their classroom work at a later point in time. What happens when collaboration is ongoing, immediate, and occurs inside the classroom? This talk will outline specific “co-teaching” strategies that are gaining traction in multiple classrooms in the U.S. – strategies developed for the purpose of differentiating instruction and engaging more students in classroom activity. And while the focus of co-teaching has been to provide enhanced learning opportunities for students, it does so in part by enhancing opportunities for teachers to develop knowledge in* practice and of* practice. Rooted in “inclusion” models of special education, co-teaching has recently been adapted to models for preparing new teachers in general education settings, and it is finding its way into classrooms where two certified teachers co-teach (perhaps with a larger group of students). Focusing on these latter adaptations, this talk will illustrate co-teaching strategies, pinpoint pitfalls and success, and explore both teacher and student learning.
* Knowledge distinctions developed in Cochran-Smith & Lytle (1999)
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Dr. Sloan is currently Director of the Teacher Education Program in the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She also represents the University of California on the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, the body responsible for setting certification policy in the state. She served on the development team for the Performance Assessment for California Teachers (PACT), a version of which is undergoing adoption in over 20 states in the U.S.. Her courses focus on issues in human development, educational psychology, teacher education, and assessment. Her primary research interests revolve around teacher education, particularly with respect to the use of performance assessment in candidate and faculty learning, and the use of performance data for program improvement. All of her work is framed by her primary interest in understanding and advocating for the well being of children in educational contexts. Dr. Sloan completed her teacher certification at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in 1988, and her master’s and doctoral work at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1996. Dr. Sloan lived in Singapore for three years, and during that time served on the faculty in the National Institute of Education at the Nanyang Technological University.

Dr Sloan’s Keynote Presentation

Professor Jane Huffman
Professor of Educational Administration
College of Education
University of North Texas

Professional Learning Communities: Teacher and Administrator Shared Leadership Practices in Schools
School, district and state leaders are all searching for effective and immediate strategies to address the urgent needs in school reform. Addressing student achievement issues as well as providing healthy cultures for students and adults, pose serious and systemic concerns that must be confronted. The professional learning community (PLC) process in the United States is defined as “Professional educators working collectively and purposefully to create and sustain a culture of learning for all students and adults.” Research in the 1990’s (Hord, 1997; Louis & Kruse, 1995; Newman & Wehlage, 1995;  Rosenholtz, 1989) revealed common practices associated with continuous learning  in schools. These practices evolved in five dimensions (Hord, 1997; Huffman & Hipp, 2003). These dimensions include: shared and supportive leadership, shared values and vision, collective learning and application, shared personal practice, and supportive conditions. Within the shared and supportive leadership there are three critical attributes: a) information sharing and decision making, b) authority and responsibility, and c) commitment and accountability. Principals in mature PLC schools are adept in these three critical areas and especially in building leadership capacity within their schools. These principals disperse power, gather input from many to create decisions, and encourage staff to develop a common vision and school goals based on shared values.
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Dr. Jane B. Huffman, Associate Professor of Educational Administration, teaches master’s and doctoral courses, using traditional and online strategies, at the University of North Texas. Dr. Huffman is the past Educational Administration Program Coordinator and currently serves as the Lead Doctoral Advisor. She also serves the Teacher Education and Administration Department as the Assistant Chair for Graduate Programs. Dr. Huffman received her Bachelors, Master’s, and Doctoral degrees from the University of Oklahoma. Her research areas include change management, leadership, parent involvement, and professional learning communities. In 2009 Dr. Huffman was invited as a Visiting Scholar to National Taiwan Normal University. Also, in 2009, she received the University of North Texas Outstanding Doctoral Mentoring Award. Dr. Huffman advises doctoral students each semester, and has served as major professor for 32 graduated doctoral candidates. Dr. Huffman has published 14 nationally refereed articles and 10 book chapters. She is a co-author of a 2003 book entitled Reculturing Schools as Professional Learning Communities (which is translated into Chinese), and a 2010 book titled Demystifying Professional Learning Communities: Leadership at It’s Best. She has also presented 44 international and national refereed presentations.

Prof Huffman’s Keynote Presentation

Prof Kwak Byong-Sun
Immediate Former President
Korean Educational Research Association

Teaching Toward Free Being: A Biographical Insight Concerning What Education Is For
In retrospect of speaker’s own life having observed Korean society since the early 1950s from one of the poorest country in the world into an affluent one called the Korean miracle, and considering the stern reality that the people in the North and the South Korea, even they have shared the same flesh and blood, language and cultural root, are living in completely different worlds each other today, what the education is for has been a striking question to speaker’s mind from time to time not only for the maximum development of human potential but also for the quality of collective human life.  It is speaker’s conviction that our education can differ relative to our choice how much we can help people learn to be free being. One of critical traits of free being is the capacity to choose to achieve own human potential toward self-identity in society. The choice will affect our educational process such as goal setting, curriculum structure, selection criteria, etc and finally in its long term consequence related to the social integrity capable of enhancing human dignity. This is evidently related to what value choice teachers should make.
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Dr. Byong-Sun Kwak is the immediate former President of Korean Educational Research Association. He graduated from Seoul National University for BA and MA, and Marquette University, USA for PhD in education. He had devoted his whole career to educational research at the Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI) as a researcher and the President before retiring the Institute in 2002. His interest includes mainly curriculum issues, thinking development, citizenship education and educational reform policies. He had directed many leading research projects in national curriculum development, textbook policy and education reform policy at KEDI. Beyond activities at KEDI, Dr. Kwak has a wide range of experiences such as the President of Women’s College, member of the Presidential Commission on Education Reform, South Korea, Chair of the Pacific Circle Consortium (PCC), consultant of the World Bank and UNESCO for educational reform in Namibia, Indonesia, Pakistan and Azerbaijan. He engaged in academic journals as an international editorial board member such as Studies in Educational Evaluation and Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education and Development. Dr. Kwak is now joining KEDI as a visiting research fellow and as the President of World Education Fellow (WEF) Korea.

Prof Kwak’s Keynote Paper