Jennifer Uhler

PLENARY SPEAKER

JENNIFER UHLER is the Regional English Language Officer based in Jakarta and works with U.S. Embassies in Indonesia and East Timor. She has recently come to Indonesia from her previous posting as a RELO in Central Asia. Before joining the U.S. Department of State, Jennifer was an instructor in the English as a Foreign Language Program at Georgetown University and an adjunct professor of TESOL at American University in Washington, DC. Abroad, she has worked in many capacities, including as an English Language Fellow in Estonia, an English Language Specialist in Austria, a Fulbright teacher in Romania, a bilingual education teacher in Mexico, and a Peace Corps Volunteer in Slovakia. In addition, she has worked with the University of Montana and the Korean National University of Education in their capstone teacher training program. Jennifer holds bachelor’s degrees in Spanish and English from Augustana College and a master’s degree in TESOL and Language Program Administration from the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Her professional interests include using technology to enhance teaching, content-based instruction, and curriculum design.

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ABSTRACT

Teaching and Leading in the 21st Century: The Chalkboard and Beyond

Arguably standing in front of a room full of students makes a teacher an instantaneous leader, and, certainly, this leadership circumstance bears some merit. However, in the same way that teachers are called – to a vocation rather than a job – to lead their classrooms, leaders are also called beyond the chalkboard to take a role in a community of practice. The 21st century teaching context demands more mobile applications than chalk, and, as English language teachers, we are in a unique position to respond to the challenges and opportunities of the global marketplace, internationalization, and the technology revolution. This talk will focus on how the power of teachers’ communities and how you as teachers can rise to the occasion of leadership in meeting the challenges of the English teaching profession today.