Job Discussion Forums

[Middle East Beast]

An expected response from someone hell-bent on creating this monster.

I won't sink to your level--name calling. What are you trying to do, lock the thread? WOW, you're defensive about your pending empire. I guess you're qualified to lead a PD empire.

May God have mercy on those teachers.

Signing off from you forever,

MEB

[helenl]

Perhaps I need to clarify, the teachers who will be the recipients/participants in this PD program need the time - it's great you will have the time and resources to develop the program - but it will all be window dressing if the teachers themselves aren't provided with similar resources and time to make use of it in the classroom.

In another GCC country there is an institution with a dedicated PD centre with similar full time staff - and it operates on the above premise, go to the PD session but we won't give teachers the time and resources needed to actualize it. You can imagine how the teachers view another 3 days of in house PD (when they could be preparing lessons etc. which would be of value in the classroom)

[lcanupp1964]

Fire bad!

[PC Parrot]

[lcanupp1964]

Fire bad!

[veiledsentiments]

[johnslat]

Dear icanupp1964,

Perhaps you should think of this thread as a kind of "dress rehearsal" because all the responses you're getting - ranging from mildly encouraging to extremely skeptical - are almost certainly the same sort of responses you'll be receiving when you get your PD program up and running.

And so, your responses to posters who were, shall we say, less than encouraging does not, in my opinion, bode well for the success of any program that you develop.

"Most of the time, ESL teachers in the Middle East work much less (sic) hours per week than people with �real� jobs in their home counties. I don�t want to mess-up a good thing. I like that fact that I can work three or four hours a day and go home. That�s one of the reasons I�m on longer in corporate America. I have spent eleven years in the ESL world and I have taught in seven different counties."

You're a lucky guy - and I don't know how you arrived at this opinion:

"Most of the time, ESL teachers in the Middle East work much less (sic) hours per week than people with �real� jobs in their home counties."

I and all my colleagues in Saudi worked at least 22 to 24 classroom hours a week (and occasionally there was evening overtime - on a "voluntary" basis.)
And, of course, then there was also the prep and correction. In fact, until very recently - when I worked 26 classroom hours a week here in the States and also tutored three students in Slovenia by Skype for an hour apiece a week - my job in Saudi was the most demanding teaching job I've had in my thirty-three year career (twenty of which were spent in the Middle East.)

I hope you don't consider this post to be "preaching" - but I'd say that the way you're taking many of the posts here doesn't make me very optimistic about how well your PD program will fare.

Regards,
John

[desertdawg]

Don't know if this is relevant icanupp1964, but when involved in voluntary PD which was for the benefit of someone else to gain from my undoubted skill (bows in modesty) I found the following resource invaluable.

http://www.leedsmet.ac.uk/090505-36477_PeerObsTeaching_LoRes.pdf

I was working on a short term contract at quite a prestigious UK university. The colleague who observed me was keen to secure a more permanent job there. For whatever reason the bosses thought the teacher would benefit from seeing me in action. I hate being observed and initially was very reluctant. But I think if things are done to suit everyone then why can it not be a win win situation?

It gave me another thing to write on one of these long applications and I gained from the experience as I stated in my previous post. I understand why people are so anti PD. But please give it a chance a new environment where you have no knowledge.

I will continue to follow this thread and as is so common, sort the wheat from the chaff.

Again good luck!

[johnslat]

Dear desertdawg,

Thanks for the link - very useful.

Do you think icanupp1964 might find this, taken from the site, helpful?

"Regard any criticism as useful feedback. Avoid the temptations
to become hostile, or to justify your position, or to make excuses
for things that were found to be lacking. When critical feedback
is felt to have been openly received and taken note of, the people
giving such feedback are much more satisfied that their job has
been done effectively, than when they are not at all sure that the
feedback has been listened to and heeded."

Regards,
John

[Middle East Beast]

[lcanupp1964]

Fire bad!

[johnslat]

Dear MEB,

"Signing off from you forever"

Wow - forever flew right by If there's an afterlife (and I get to go to the "good place") I hope it lasts a little longer. On the other hand, if it's the "bad place," I suppose I'll be very grateful - forever .

Regards,
John

[Middle East Beast]

[johnslat]

Dear MEB,

Hmm, I see - I think. But how does one sign off from a poster rather than from a thread - would it be by refusing to respond to any more of HIS/HER posts?

Regards,
John

[Middle East Beast]

You got it, John. Initiated by lcanupp and followed up by me.

I'm very interested in the topic, though.

I was never enthusiastic about formal PD, but I can thank HCT for souring me to the whole idea of it. Sounds to me like a similar situation is going to develop at yet another "university" in the M.E.

It's spreading like a cancer.

MEB