This blog post is co-written by Aleksandra Đurić and Marcie Erickson, participants in this year’s TED Alumni program. Aleksandra teaches history, social studies, languages, music and art in Hessen, Germany. Marcie is a middle school library media specialist in Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Teacher Collaboration and Support without Borders in the TED Alumni Program (Feb. – May 2020)
By Aleksandra Đurić
Teachers are always a bridge between students and knowledge. They are the most directly responsible people in a learning process. Because of that, they are always expected to be competent and professional in their fields and to possess a great deal of knowledge and skills. Furthermore, teachers are expected to meet high demands and standards of quality education. Teachers and the quality of their teaching are always under discussion. So, to achieve demands, they have to be involved, among other things, in teacher training programs. Besides education, can teacher training programs protect educators’ well-being?
Over the past 15 years I participated and led many teacher training programs. My goal was to give and receive new knowledge. Some of them were very useful, some even boring, but I gained something from every training and used it to evolve as a teacher.
When I joined TED for the first time, I got insight into teachers' practices all over the world. This year I was in the TED Alumni programme, and that was a new experience for me. I had an opportunity to learn, share, and connect. I believe the most interesting aspect is sharing with people from different contexts: there were course participants from Europe and the U.S. We had time to work in groups and prepare our projects and receive feedback from other participants. Since we were all affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, we shared our experiences with online teaching, supported each other on that unknown path, and learned how to carry on with our projects despite school lockdowns and the need to provide a large amount of online materials for our students.
As a result, talking about coronavirus and providing each other with support was a part of the TED Alumni programme as well. Why? Now, especially in these pandemic times, teachers' well-being is very important since most or all of us are experiencing stress and burnout more than ever before. It is a good thing that this teacher training programme did not overlook that.
I would recommend the TED program at the European Union Center to any teacher who is interested in training. The programme offers education that we need as teachers, support, and confirmation that we as teachers are doing our best during these COVID-19 times. The TED Alumni programme showed that Robert John Meehanwas right when he statedthat “the most valuable resource that all teachers have is each other. Without collaboration our growth is limited to our own perspectives.”
Why TED?
By Marcie Erickson
When I first applied to the Transatlantic Educators Dialogue (TED) program in 2018, I was searching for an opportunity to engage in a multicultural platform that would provide new insights and understandings that I could transfer to my teaching. Today’s students are savvy and informed, and they want to be taught in relevant and meaningful ways; therefore, by participating in TED, I could continue to develop and attain skills that would allow me to adeptly serve my students.
Each week online, both synchronously and asynchronously, TED participants addressed a relevant and timely topic attuned to current global issues and trends that were mostly cultural or pedagogical. In addition, a nurturing and safe community was created through expert moderation, and as a result, the readings, dialogue, sharing of ideas and resources, and reflection were robust and catalyzed successful collaboration between the participants and the marshalling of initiatives in their home schools.
For example, during the spring of 2018, I was asked to teach an introductory mythology elective for the 2018-2019 school year, but before doing so, I had to write the curriculum, and it had to be presented to the school board for approval. Because of TED, as I was writing the material, I had the unique opportunity to reach out to a fellow member from Greece to seek advisement and feedback which positively contributed to the curriculum’s fruition.
The following year, in 2019, I excitedly participated in the first TED Alumni program, which brought together TED participants from its preceding years. The experience further allowed members to learn from and learn with each other on a global scale, and, again, in a nurturing environment. The small group project I participated in required us to utilize videography skills that neither myself or my students were proficient, but the challenge to stretch beyond our comfort zone was a relaxed experience that modeled authentic learning.
After teaching predominantly world history and several electives for over twenty-five years, I decided to move from the classroom to our building’s library and television production position. Initially, I hesitated to apply to TED because I was unsure of how I would be able to contribute to the program while maneuvering the learning curve of a new position, but after careful reflection, I decided the 2020 TED Alumni program would be the perfect conduit to seek knowledge and support.
And, as it turns out, did it ever when the COVID-19 pandemic enveloped the world’s countries and challenged its educators to deliver curricula online with very little time to initially prepare. The TED Alumni program not only provided a channel for its members to dialogue about the educational and social uncertainties caused by the pandemic, but it also acted as an emotional salve. Each Sunday, I left the meetings assured that the challenges and perplexities that may arise the following week could be managed, if not immediately, then eventually, and that provided a calm that carried over into my online teaching. In addition, my small group’s focus was literacy, and at the conclusion of the program, I acquired multiple ideas and resources that will assist in my planning for next school year.
So, if you’re contemplating the TED program or the TED Alumni program, be assured that the collaborative and supportive nature of the TED model provides unique opportunities for discourse, knowledge acquisition, idea exchange, and the development of sustainable classroom projects, in addition to the formation of memorable professional relationships.
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