RBERNing Questions
RBERNing Questions is a professional learning podcast, produced by Mid-State RBERN, where we answer your most compelling questions about teaching, serving, and supporting multilingual learners. We connect teachers and leaders of English Language Learners (ELLs) and Multilingual Learners (MLs) with experts in our field who will address timely and specific questions relating to instructional practices, teacher collegiality, and outreach to students and their families.
If you are a K-12 educator, to receive CTLE credit for listening to this podcast, go to our website: https://midstaterbern.org/2023-2024-podcasts/.
To find out more about the Mid-State RBERN team, visit https://midstaterbern.org/who-we-are/.
RBERNing Questions
Teaching as a Lifestyle: Biology, TESOL & Philosophy w/Agbor Effiom
Episode Summary:
In today’s episode, Agbor Effiam, a lifelong science educator with extensive experience teaching in the US, Thailand, and the Netherlands, shares his transformative journey from struggling to connect with Thai students to becoming a passionate advocate for multilingual education. He discusses his strategies for engaging diverse learners, emphasizing the importance of making students feel their languages are welcomed. By integrating instructional routines focused on literacy, Agbor aims to improve reading comprehension in science education. He also reflects on the concept of teaching as a lifestyle, driven by his family's legacy and his own experiences. Agbor also touches on the challenges educators face and the need to create impactful lessons despite these hurdles. If you are looking for inspiration in ways to feel a connection with your students, this episode is a must-listen!
RBERNing Questions for this Episode:
1- What do you think are some of the key ways working in the field of TESOL aligns with what you've done so far as a science educator?
2- What are some of the creative ways you engage your ML learners in biology and environmental science?
3- You have quite a few research articles published in the realm of science. Do you see yourself doing research on the synergies between science and language instruction?
Full BIO:
Agbor Effiom is a Science Educator with 13 years of experience working with students (2 years in the USA, 8 years in Thailand, and 2 years in the Netherlands). He holds an MAT-Science-Biology and an Advanced Certificate in TESOL, MSc. GIS & Remote Sensing, MSc. Natural Resource & Environmental Management, and BSc. Environmental Science.
Resources:
Websites/Social Media:
LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/in/ agbor-effiom-80a48627a
Publications:
• Contribution of forest resources to the livelihood of adjacent communities around forest concessions in the Eyumojock area, the southwest region of Cameroon. World Forestry Congress Seoul, South Korea 2021. Control id: 3490013.
• Combining unmanned aerial vehicles and multispectral Pleiades data for tree species identification: a prerequisite for accurate carbon estimation. J. Appl. Remote Sens. 13(3), 034530 (2019), DOI: 10.1117/1.JRS.13.034530.
• Relative canopy height modeling precision from UAV and ALS datasets for forest tree height estimation, Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsase.2019.100284
• Computational time modeling for tree crown extraction from high-resolution imagery using geographic object-based image analysis. Int. Arch. Photogram. Remote Sens. Spat. Inf. Sci. 2019, XLII-2/W13, 483–488.
To find out more about Mid-State RBERN at OCM BOCES' services, listen to season 1 of the show with host Collette Farone-Goodwin, or to receive CTLE credit for listening to episodes, click here: https://midstaterbern.org/