Are you working with your school’s
leadership team to improve instruction?
Have you targeted an area where you would like to see growth during the
upcoming school year? Maybe your
school’s goal is to include more STEM instruction, to incorporate
social-emotional learning, or to implement a writer’s workshop approach. Once you’ve determine an instructional goal,
how do you make it happen?
Research on professional development
suggests of few key characteristics of teachers’ learning that I think will
ring true for you.
Discussion-based learning:
Teachers’ learning, like their students, is contextual and social. Professional learning that includes
collaboration and social construction of knowledge promotes teacher learning
and also models interactive learning structures that teachers can take to their
own classrooms. Text talks, protocols for professional discussion, and
co-constructed anchor charts help teachers generate and hang on to important
ideas.
Personalization:
Peery (2004) argued, “Teachers must
invest in their own growth by posing their own questions…This personalization
is the essence of development.” But how do you personalize teacher learning
when a focus has already been selected?
I’ve found that it is helpful to generate a list of essential questions
about the topic (beforehand or as you launch a new initiative). Then let each
teacher pick from among these the one s/he is most interested in investigating.
You can also personalize by offering several articles for learning about the
topic and letting teachers choose which to read, by giving opportunities for
teachers to journal about their own learning, and by including time for
teachers to design lessons that put principles into practice in their own
classrooms. Professional growth is possible
when training is responsive to teachers’ personal needs.
Conceptual Understanding linked to Practical Application:
To be effective, teachers’ professional learning needs
to maintain a link between conceptual and practical tools. When principles are
presented, teachers need the opportunity to plan how to put them into practice.
This works best when professional
learning experiences happen right in the school.
Time: short, stand-and-deliver inservice workshops can
introduce or build awareness of new content, but real change requires extended
opportunities for professional development.
Research suggests that longer duration produces sustained results. It’s
hard to make the things listed above happen without investing considerable
time. Having the time to think, read, write, and talk together supports Implementation.
As you ponder and plan for the upcoming
school year, be sure to think about how the principles of professional
learning, listed above, will be part of your plan for purposeful change.
-------------------
Peery,
A.B. (2004). Deep change: Professional Development
from the Inside Out. Lanham, MD:
Scarecrow
Education.
---------------
Teachers’ professional learning is
something I’m passionate about! One form
of professional learning that includes the above attributes is Lesson Study. You can
read more about it in my upcoming book, Collaborative Lesson Study, available
here
for pre-order (20%
discount code is TCP2019). Please indulge me in celebrating this book. I’m so excited to share what I’ve learned!
This week, you might want to take a look
at:
3 Ways to More “Aha” Moments in
Coaching:
I’ve
tried this and it works! Combining
character traits and vocabulary instruction:
How mentors help first-year teachers:
The ABC’s of feedback:
3 Ways to Encourage Collaboration:
That’s
it for this week. Happy Coaching!
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