Mark S. Algren

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47133/tegc_ch55  

ABSTRACT

You are never too young, too new, or too inexperienced (or too old or too experienced) to engage with your professional community. Upon completing your teacher preparation program, you will be well-versed in the latest literature of our English language teaching field. That will be the ideal time to begin building and engaging with your professional community. In this chapter, you will develop an understanding of what it means to be a professional educator, not just a teacher. You will learn to create a personal development plan that includes both receiving knowledge from colleagues locally, regionally, and internationally as well as contributing knowledge to others. You will also learn to explore multiple avenues of professional engagement. Finally, you will receive ideas on how to develop a network of professional colleagues, both local and distant. 

Keywords: professional community, professional engagement, personal development plan, building networks, colleague network

How to cite this chapter: 

Algren, M. (2023). Building and Engaging with Your Professional Community. In V. Canese & S. Spezzini (Eds.), Teaching English in Global Contexts, Language, Learners and Learning (pp. 669-677). Editorial Facultad de Filosofía, UNA. https://doi.org/10.47133/tegc_ch55

INTRODUCTION

The children’s book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll, 2011) has an amusing conversation about finding direction when you don’t know where you are going. Lost in unfamiliar territory, Alice asks the Cheshire Cat:

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.

“I don’t much care where–” said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

“–so long as I get somewhere.” Alice added as an explanation.

“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.” (p. 74)

As you enter your teaching career, you may feel like Alice. You are in unfamiliar territory where you are now the leader (teacher) and not a follower (student). You may feel overwhelmed by wanting to know more about grammar, vocabulary, writing, reading, listening, pronunciation, pedagogical skills, assessment, lesson planning, classroom discipline, educational technology, materials development, and everything else. Herein lies the role of professional development (PD). I once asked a workshop audience to explain PD. After defining the concept, participants named several activities: attend conferences, read books, join professional associations. Then one person said, “Make a plan for what you need to learn and then find ways to learn it.” That gave everyone new insight into planning their own PD. Now let’s look at how you can develop a plan for yourself, and how you can implement it.  

BACKGROUND

By teaching English, you provide your students with a life-changing and career-enhancing opportunity. Hence, you should never underestimate the value of your work and how you impact students’ lives by enabling them to communicate effectively in another language. When asked “What do you do?”, teachers often denigrate themselves and their career by saying: “I am just a teacher.” We must remove the collocation just + a teacher from our vocabulary. Instead, we must state our profession with pride: “I am a teacher, and I change lives.”

Since the 1960s, our English language teaching (ELT) profession has been supported worldwide by two global professional associations. The TESOL International Association (TESOL, formerly called Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc.) is headquartered in the United States. The International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) is headquartered in the United Kingdom. Both associations provide standards, PD opportunities, and advocacy. Both also foster engagement with a community of scholars through special interest groups and country-based affiliates and chapters. Together, these associations have been eminently instrumental in developing our field. Through advocacy and collective voice, TESOL and IATEFL unify us and provide collective and individual strength. Hence, your engagement in a professional association, either locally or globally, is essential not just for the growth of your own career but also for the health of our profession.

At TESOL’s 2006 convention, Dr. Elliot Judd’s presidential plenary focused on the traits of a profession. Judd (2006) explained how professions (e.g., teachers, lawyers, engineers, pilots, physicians, architects, pharmacists) require specialized preparation and licensing, and how professionals must continually do PD to revalidate their license. As ELT professionals, we are granted authority, power, prestige, and status based on our preparation and the research undergirding this preparation. However, to maintain public trust, we must systematically upgrade our knowledge and skills by participating in PD opportunities and putting new ideas into practice. In other words, each of us must keep building our professional knowledge base so that we can speak with authority.

MAJOR DIMENSIONS

This well-known statement, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail,” means that you are unlikely to succeed unless you have a plan. Although we might enjoy the inefficient serendipity of the unexpected, we usually prefer planning ahead to maximize time and resources. With a plan in mind, you can effectively engage with your professional community and guide your development in a thoughtful manner.

Businesses and organizations create strategic plans, usually three to five years long, to guide their decisions about allocating resources—including money and staff—to achieve goals. Before a strategic plan ends, an organization reviews its successes and shortcomings and then develops a new plan. Individuals can also have a strategic plan called a Personal/Professional Development Plan (PDP). By definition, a PDP is self-centered with the primary purpose of one person identifying new knowledge and skills needed to further develop oneself as an instructor or administrator.

While developing your PDP, you must decide how to reach your goals. Many new professionals start by picking low-hanging fruit (i.e., choosing easy things that are readily available). This could be viewing a professional website or attending a PD event (e.g., webinar, workshop, symposium), either virtually or face-to-face. Other opportunities include choosing conference sessions to attend or books to read. With internet connectivity, most PD opportunities are no longer isolated activities of a single learner focused on a local entity, but rather connected activities of multiple learners engaged in a global community. While still pursuing your college degree, you can begin interacting with a global community of scholars who share your interests.

Engaging with a professional community includes sharing ideas with colleagues. Your unique perspective as an English teacher has been shaped by your teacher preparation program and your life experiences, which include all teachers and classmates throughout your education, as well as by your own students. While ideas and practices that you use may seem commonplace to you, these same ideas can provide important insights to others. Hence, you should not hesitate to share your ideas, experiences, techniques, and observations. You can do this written or orally, such as by writing a newsletter article or giving live or virtual presentations. If you are unsure or fearful about giving a presentation, just think of it as simply sharing your best ideas with some new friends who want to listen to you.

PEDAGOGICAL APPLICATIONS

This well-known statement, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail,” means that you are unlikely to succeed unless you have a plan. Although we might enjoy the inefficient serendipity of the unexpected, we usually prefer planning ahead to maximize time and resources. With a plan in mind, you can effectively engage with your professional community and guide your development in a thoughtful manner.

Businesses and organizations create strategic plans, usually three to five years long, to guide their decisions about allocating resources—including money and staff—to achieve goals. Before a strategic plan ends, an organization reviews its successes and shortcomings and then develops a new plan. Individuals can also have a strategic plan called a Personal/Professional Development Plan (PDP). By definition, a PDP is self-centered with the primary purpose of one person identifying new knowledge and skills needed to further develop oneself as an instructor or administrator.

While developing your PDP, you must decide how to reach your goals. Many new professionals start by picking low-hanging fruit (i.e., choosing easy things that are readily available). This could be viewing a professional website or attending a PD event (e.g., webinar, workshop, symposium), either virtually or face-to-face. Other opportunities include choosing conference sessions to attend or books to read. With internet connectivity, most PD opportunities are no longer isolated activities of a single learner focused on a local entity, but rather connected activities of multiple learners engaged in a global community. While still pursuing your college degree, you can begin interacting with a global community of scholars who share your interests.

Engaging with a professional community includes sharing ideas with colleagues. Your unique perspective as an English teacher has been shaped by your teacher preparation program and your life experiences, which include all teachers and classmates throughout your education, as well as by your own students. While ideas and practices that you use may seem commonplace to you, these same ideas can provide important insights to others. Hence, you should not hesitate to share your ideas, experiences, techniques, and observations. You can do this written or orally, such as by writing a newsletter article or giving live or virtual presentations. If you are unsure or fearful about giving a presentation, just think of it as simply sharing your best ideas with some new friends who want to listen to you.

Pedagogical Applications 

Developing a Professional Development Plan

The first step toward participating in a professional community is developing your PDP. This requires identifying what you want to learn to enhance your career options and deciding how you want to prepare to be ready for these options. The main purpose of a PDP is to do the personal, thoughtful work of reflecting on three aspects: (a) knowledge and skills you want to develop, (b) employment and volunteer positions to prepare for future career opportunities, and

(c) your targeted time frame(s).

For the short term, you probably want to develop pedagogical skills and learn more about the overall ELT field. For the medium to long term, you want to think about where your career is headed, what type of work and volunteer positions you would like, and how you want to participate in the field at large. By making a list, you can convert the PDP from a seemingly unapproachable task into one that is doable and even enjoyable. In fact, your emerging list might become so long that a new difficulty arises—that of narrowing your ideas to fit your time and available resources. The important thing is that you have a PDP, which is a plan for making decisions among the competing opportunities that will soon appear on the horizon.

The first PDP of novice English teachers usually focuses on enhancing teaching skills. This PDP is informed by your interests, personal preferences, teaching journals, and lesson plan reflection notes as well as by ideas from your students and colleagues. However, because this is your plan, you can change it as needed. Sometimes you may need to adjust your PDP to meet employer expectations. For example, when I started teaching at the University of Kansas in 1993, I was excited about enhancing my ability to teach listening and speaking skills. Yet, quite unexpectedly, I was charged with developing and launching a computer lab in time to start the new school year. Although I had some experience with computer-mediated instruction, I urgently needed to learn much more. That challenge caused an overnight shift in my PDP.

Engaging With a Professional Community

Everyone’s PDP needs a section on career development, which includes building and engaging with a professional community. Although some educators might confine their professional engagement to local communities, the venues for virtual engagement have no boundaries. The internet offers endless materials for teacher education, innumerable websites for career development, and myriad opportunities for interaction with colleagues worldwide. By using internet and other digital tools to engage with your professional community, locally or globally, you will be able to

• build community with others who share your interests,

• have access to a community who can answer your questions and provide guidance,

• participate in a community that values your contributions, and

• add your voice to many other voices for advocating your professional interests.

Volunteering With a Professional Association

An easy and fulfilling way to engage with a professional community is by volunteering with a professional association. For example, when I urgently needed to learn about computer labs and was fortunately able to attend the 1994 TESOL convention, I conscientiously spent my time at the conference’s Electronic Village (EV). In this computer-focused community, I was welcomed with open arms although I didn’t yet know any one nor did I have knowledge to share. By the end of that convention, I was volunteering my time to work in the EV alongside new friends and reciprocating their support by welcoming others who, like me, stopped by for help. By the end of those four days, I was asked by EV colleagues, who were members of TESOL’s Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) Interest Section, to serve on CALL’s Steering Committee. Two years later, I co-chaired the EV.

Each of us must decide how much time we are able to give as volunteers in our professional field. However, regardless of the time you spend volunteering with a professional association, your volunteer work will be immensely rewarding. Wherever you are, you can find volunteer opportunities that will enhance your PD while also helping others.

Supporting a Local Association (e.g., Paraguay TESOL)

In whichever country you work, you should join and support your local professional association. For example, Paraguay TESOL (PARATESOL) is the country-based association for ELT educators in Paraguay. Founded in 1989 as an affiliate of the TESOL International Association, PARATESOL serves educators from preschool through university who teach English, teach other subjects in English, or serve as administrators at these institutions. It is also for pre-service teachers pursuing college degrees or certificates at teacher preparation institutes. Like all TESOL affiliates worldwide, PARATESOL has an executive board, several committees, periodic workshops, an annual conference, a website, and social media presence. Its board and committees are comprised of volunteers who understand that “Many hands make the work light” and devote their time and talent to support PARATESOL and the ELT profession in general. PARATESOL volunteers meet regularly with professionals at local language teaching entities and thus become acquainted with ELT leaders. By doing so, they enjoy the gift of regular conversation with colleagues not just about association operations but also about the field’s evolving issues and challenges, both local and global. These connections lead to other connections and open multiple pathways to professional engagement. I sincerely hope you will be inspired to get involved so that you can also enjoy these same benefits. 

Associations like PARATESOL organize PD opportunities for seeking professional growth and for building connections within a community of scholars. This can be especially important for instructors in remote areas who are the only English teacher in their region. Even individual teachers in remote schools can use their phones to access internet-based PD opportunities. Local groups can offer workshops or establish social media presence to discuss issues of concern. A professional community, small or large, can provide much needed support such as ideas and resources. For example, you can easily share documents like lesson plans and worksheets on Facebook with others in your Facebook group.

Establishing Global Connections

The internet has opened a world of opportunities for engaging with a global community of scholars and practitioners. Search engines can generate hundreds of finds for organizations and groups. For example, my recent Facebook search generated 95 groups using <TESOL> and 84 groups using <IATEFL>. Teacher discussion groups abound on social media venues. You can find affiliated groups on the websites of international associations like TESOL. You can also network by attending conferences and workshops (virtually or in person), volunteering to help at these events, and submitting presentation proposals. Another way to meet new colleagues and expand your web of professional connections is through chats/comments of online journals. 

Guided by your PDP and by your engagement with professional colleagues and associations, all of you can accomplish much more than what you may have thought possible. That’s because you are advancing together in your respective careers with reciprocal support, to and from one other. Your future and your students’ future can be summarized in this excerpt from the poem Youth by American poet Langston Hughes (1994), who lived in my hometown of Lawrence, Kansas:

We have tomorrow

Bright before us

Like a flame. (p. 39).

Here are some key concepts about building and engaging with your professional community:

• Keep a journal about your teaching and write what went well and where you think you could improve.

• Develop a PDP that includes plans for developing knowledge and skills, your career path, and your engagement with the profession; include ideas for immediate action (within the next year or two), medium-term goals (3 to 5 years), and long-term goals (more than 5 years).

• Engage with a community of scholars, either through an association or independently, by attending meetings or participating in online activities.

• Contribute your time and talent to an association or group of teaching professionals.

• Expand your technology skills and your knowledge of how technology can benefit student learning. 

Based on what you learned in this chapter, develop meaningful answers to these questions:

1. What are three benefits of developing, reviewing, and revising a PDP?

2. Why is it important for teachers to engage with their professional community of scholars?

3. What value is there for classroom teachers who belong to a professional association?

To practice what you have learned about professional engagement, do the following:

1. Based on what you know about the ELT field, write a one-page PDP as a pre-service teacher, and then make plans to update it during your second year of teaching.

2. Explore the website of an international ELT association (TESOL International Association or IATEFL) and of a professional association in your region or country (e.g., PARATESOL if you teach in Paraguay). Briefly outline PD activities provided by these associations and identify opportunities that help connect members with one another. Describe how you might engage in one or more of these associations.

Websites for worldwide ELT professional associations:

• English Language Testing Society is a membership association that advocates excellence in English language testing worldwide. https://eltsociety.org/ 

• International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) is a membership association based in the United Kingdom. https://www.iatefl.org/ 

• TESOL International Association (formerly Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc.) is a membership association based in the United States. Especially useful is the free TESOL Resource Center for lesson plans, which is located under the “Connect to TESOL” tab. https://www.tesol.org 

Websites with ELT resources provided by governments of Anglophone countries:

• American English from the U.S. Department of State provides a compendium of English teaching resources. https://americanenglish.state.gov/ 

• Discover Mauril is a free resource from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and can be accessed via an app or on a computer. Audio/video materials focus on high-interest current event topics and include comprehension assessment questions. This CBC site starts with a placement test. https://mauril.ca/en/  

• English Online by the New Zealand Ministry of Education provides high-quality resources. https://englishonline.tki.org.nz/ 

• Learn English from the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) offers, among other things, sections on elements of English grammar and materials writing. ABC also provides links to video courses. https://www.abc.net.au/education/learn-english/  

• Teaching English from the British Council offers high-quality resources that can help you in the classroom as well as materials and courses to help you with continuing your PD. https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/ 

Several other websites with ELT resources:

• Dave’s ESL Café is the Internet’s ELT meeting place for ESL/EFL teachers and students from around the world. http://www.eslcafe.com/ 

• ELTWeekly supports the ELT field and features articles, research papers, book reviews, conferences, seminars, webinar information, and much more. http://eltweekly.com/ 

• English Club, the world’s premier FREE website for learners and teachers of English, offers discussion forums to interact and learn from others. https://www.englishclub.com/  

• ESL Made Easy includes tips, tools, and resources for tutoring and classroom teaching. http://www.eslmadeeasy.ca/ 

• Linguistic Funland is a meta-site of links to hundreds and thousands of other sites about language teaching. http://www.linguistic-funland.com/ 

Aspects related to professional engagement are provided in the following chapters of this book: 

Chapter 1 The Teaching of English in Global Contexts by V. Canese

Chapter 52 Becoming a Reflective Practitioner Through Action Research by V. Canese

Chapter 53 Doing Research in the ELT Undergraduate Classroom by A. Salas

Chapter 54 Promoting Collaborative Professionalism Among Pre-Service Teachers by D. Pineda 

Algren, M. S. (2016, February 12-13). TESOL’s path to lifetime horizons: The power of professionalism, advocacy, and changing lives [Keynote presentation]. AMTESOL Conference, Orange Beach, AL, United States.

Carroll, L. (2011). Alice’s adventures in wonderland and through the looking glass. The Porcupine’s Quill.

Hughes, L. (1994). Youth. In A. Rampersad & D. Roessel (Eds.), The collected poems of Langston Hughes (p. 39). Vintage Books.

Judd, E. (2006, March 15-18). Turning 40: A midlife crisis for the profession [Keynote presentation]. 40th Annual TESOL Convention, Tampa, FL, United States. 

Mark Algren began teaching English in 1979 in Hong Kong, followed by 14 years as university instructor and administrator in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. He then taught and directed ESL programs at the University of Kansas and University of Missouri (USA). He has published numerous articles and book chapters and delivered over 150 presentations in 24 countries on 5 continents. Before and after being president of the TESOL International Association, Mark assumed so many responsibilities that he received the James E. Alatis Award for Distinguished Service. He has also served as accreditation commissioner for the Commission on English Language Program Accreditation, and trustee of the English Language Testing Society.

Email for correspondence regarding this chapter: malgren@missouri.edu

Cover Photo by M ACCELERATOR on Unsplash