Who me From teacher to administratorFinding your voice

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Who me?From teacher to administratorFinding
your voice

• with Suzanne Panferov

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•  
• Last spring when the dean asked an ESL teacher to
  be the new director of an Intensive English
  program,
• she replied

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 Last spring when the dean asked an ESL teacher
to be the new director of an Intensive English
program, she repliedBut Ive never held a
position of such responsibility beforeIve
nevereven been a mom!  (A. Roemer)
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Who are Language Program Administrators?
?
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Who me?

• Are you
• Organized
• Collaborative
• Professional
• Good with people
• Possibly good with budgets?

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Who me?

• Are you
• Organized
• Collaborative
• Professional
• Good with people
• Possibly good with budgets?

Then you are a candidate for administration!
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What does an administrator do?
N106
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What does an administrator do?

• Top 5 responsibilities
• Personnel Issues
• Curriculum
• Marketing
• Budgeting
• Staff Evaluation

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The Challenge

• Many English Language Program (ELP)
  administrators have not had
• administrative training

Did you have formal training specific to program
administration prior to beginning your first
language program administrator position?   Yes
14.1 No 86.9
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What level of degrees do we get?
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What degree areas do we study in?
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Have you had training specific to program
budgeting?

•  
• Yes 25.8
• No 74.2

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Have you had training specific to marketing?

•  
• Yes 34.8
• No 65.2

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Which topic areas do administrators want more
training in?
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Which topic areas do administrators want more
training in?

• Top 5 areas
• Marketing
• Budgeting
• Personnel Issues
• Staff Evaluation
• Customized program development

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What are the issues?What do you wish you had
known..
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On Personnel Matters

• Dealing with disgruntled teachers
• How much time is spent handling HR issues.
• How to work with random office personnel (not
  teachers, students, administrators, etc)
• How to deal with problem employees.
• How to motivate and keep teachers
• How much of my time would be spent sorting out
  personnel issues!

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On Budgeting

• I wish I had had more knowledge about school
  budgets and projections.
• Budgeting constraints/issues
• I would have liked to have known more about
  budgeting
• I wish I had known more about the budget and
  financial system of the university.

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On university culture/politics

• I wish I had a better understanding of larger
  university environment and culture.
• how to negotiate with upper administration
• navigating an institution politically
• How to work with and thru people to achieve goals
  
• Lack of support from campus community in general
• more about this university's policies

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So

• If an administrative opportunity arises (or you
  are already in such a position)
• Be willing to learn
• Recognize your own needs for training (you are
  not alone!!!!)
• Seek out and advocate for this training
• Be a teacher--view administration as an
  opportunity to teach(about big picture issues,
  policies, etc.)

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Opportunities for training

• Train to specific needs
• For example
• University course in budgeting
• Marketing workshop
• Conference presentation on administration

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Opportunities for training

• Professional associations (UCIEP, AAIEP, NAFSA,
  TESOL, IATEFL, etc.)
• Attend meetings
• Volunteer at a conference
• Serve on a committee
• Utilize knowledge in SIG listservs/blogs

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Opportunities for training

• Seek out general leadership training
• University Human Resources departments
• Attend university leadership workshops
• Study biographies of great leaders

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Opportunities for training

• Networkcultivate professional mentors
• Seek out administrators in-house in other
  departments
• Find similar administrators in other schools
• Cultivate relationship with supervisor

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Opportunities for reading

• Leadership in English Language Teaching and
  Learning (2008) Coombe, McCloskey, Stephenson,
  and Anderson
• Christison, M.A. and F. L. Stoller (1997) A
  Handbook for Language Program Administrators.
  United States Alta Book Center Publishers.
• Pennington, M. C. (1991), Building Better English
  Language Programs. Washington D.C. NAFSA.
• White, R., Martin, M., Stimson, M., Hodge, R.
  (1991). Management in English Language Teaching
  Cambridge Cambridge, UK Cambridge University
  Press.

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Where do we go from here?

• As a profession--an area wide open for research
• Further exploration of needs of the profession
  and in-service administrators
• Review of current training
• Advocacy for further training as needed

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Where do we go from here?

• As an individual
• Be open and willing to learn.
• Listen to those around you.

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Advice from an administrator

• I listened to you, and
• in the process
• I found my own voice---Hillary Clinton, US
  Democratic Presidential Candidate after New
  Hampshire Primary win

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THANK YOU!Id love to hear more from you all!

• Suzanne Panferov, Ph.D.
• University of Arizona
• Panferov_at_email.arizona.edu
• A copy of these slides available online at
  www.cesl.arizona.edu/TeacherTraining.htm