The 2013 TEA Fellows of Winthrop University
The Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program (TEA) is a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State and IREX. Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC hosted the second group of outstanding secondary school teachers from around the globe in 2013. These teachers come to the United States to further develop expertise in their subject areas, enhance their teaching skills, and increase their knowledge about the United States. A key focus of this grant funded program is to help fully develop the teachers' growing interest in the use of technology in teaching and learning. This website is intended to be a showcase of the TEA Fellows' work, and the strategies developed and implemented at Winthrop University.
Technology in Teaching & Learning
We are passionate about the idea that technology must solve a problem. If it doesn't, it is likely too expensive and difficult to be worth our effort as educators.
The unifying theme for the technology workshop is: “get the
technology into the students’ hands.”
Most TEA Fellows come to us with the desire to learn to create materials
to use for presenting information to their students. We recognize this, and
provide them with opportunities to advance these skills. But we stress the use
of technology for more than information presentation.
Other workshops also use technology as well, the idea being to demonstrate the use of technology in multiple contexts. The ideas presented here are ones that illustrate ways to use and model technology during TEA work sessions. These ideas relate to the teaching of pedagogy to all participants. The unifying theme for these workshops is reflective practice for effective teaching. A series of workshops, involving lesson observation activities, guest speakers, and reflective practice activities are used. Each workshop centers on one of four important themes: instructional variety; formative assessment; student engagement; and differentiation of lessons.
Other workshops also use technology as well, the idea being to demonstrate the use of technology in multiple contexts. The ideas presented here are ones that illustrate ways to use and model technology during TEA work sessions. These ideas relate to the teaching of pedagogy to all participants. The unifying theme for these workshops is reflective practice for effective teaching. A series of workshops, involving lesson observation activities, guest speakers, and reflective practice activities are used. Each workshop centers on one of four important themes: instructional variety; formative assessment; student engagement; and differentiation of lessons.