Teachers’ conference in Naryn, 18-21 of May 2016

        

Learning support program from netki

   The second Teachers' Conference in 2016 brought together 65 professionals for thought-provoking sessions, networking and plenty of practical new teaching ideas to take back to the classroom.

What do the teachers do at the lessons to motivate students? How can they teach well and use new methods of teaching? How can they give and take a constructive feedback? All of these and many other questions were discussed at the conference in three fully scheduled days of the conference.

 Representatives of Oblast, City, and Regional Departments in Naryn shared their opinion on the importance of this program for supplemental opportunity for students to get extra classes and to improve their knowledge and skills in English language, Math, and IT. Directors, teachers, and some of the students discussed and presented their demo lessons, poster-papers at the educational sessions.  The conference gives us opportunity to stop for a while, reflect on the achievements and evaluate values of the experiences in reaching a better quality of teacher education.  It promotes collaborative excellence between both academics and professionals involved in education.   

The conference was organized by Learning Support Program that is financed from AKES/AKS.  All participants discussed and presented the work that was done in outreach program in Naryn villages.  The aims of this program  are to support the teaching of English, Math and IT  at schools, as well as to encourage students to consider studying these subjects at UCA and other Universities.  This is a professional development program for teachers who want to improve their practice by connecting with experts and each other.  It’s for teachers who love their students and work hard to help them. It’s for hard workers and smart thinkers.  It’s for teachers who believe in inquiry and research and choice in the classroom. They share observations, ideas, and suggestions that they can bring into teaching practice.

Learning English, Math and IT not only requires a deep understanding of content, but also critical thinking, use of technology, and collaboration. It demands to move from a standard way of teaching   toward learner-centered classrooms and personalized instruction.  Learning Support Program promotes communication among teachers in schools in Naryn villages and provides an opportunity for teachers to share curriculum information and best practices. In Learning Support Program teachers get new knowledge and skills through different activities, face-to-face educational meetings, methodological trainings, inter-sessional discussions, feedback after the lesson observations, and a conference. One of the ways in which it promotes communication is to organize a teachers’ conference that will allow evaluating the results of the work in academic year.

15 English language teachers, 14 Math and IT teachers have worked collaboratively in two groups but shared their thoughts and ideas between each other at the reflection sessions. The observation/feedback is a continuous professional learning opportunity that enables them to work on improving their lessons. All of the teachers presented their demo lessons and got feedback from their groups.   Teachers recognized their strengths and areas needing improvement and planned their future work with their pilot groups of students.

SPCE instructors from Naryn, PDT trainers from Osh AKS and Khorog AKL schools, as well as best representatives from Outreach program in Khorog presented their educational sessions and organized short training sessions for teachers of Naryn villages. The work and discussion was productive and beneficial for everyone in the group. These observations can play a key role in gaining teachers’ confidence in sharing and developing practice, so feedback to teachers on what has been observed should help them to decide on their next steps for professional learning and development.

One of the significant moments of the conference was a visit to the construction site of UCA. The staff organized a tour for our teachers and they found out more about wonderfully built classrooms, computer labs, dormitory rooms for staff and students. All of the teachers were happy to be there and to plan that they will share their feelings with their teachers, students, and parents at school after the conference.

What’s more is that 12 teachers- participants of two-year academic program have got certificates of appreciation from Naryn Oblast Educational Department of Kyrgyz Republic and AKES. At the same time at the end of the conference all teachers were awarded by certificates of active participation and delivering of workshop and presentation.

This conference supported our teachers and professionals from both Outreach programs in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to share their working experience and to enrich it in many directions.