6/4/23 – It is not surprising that “research tells us that teachers learn much the same way that students do,” because I felt that as a teacher and realized it early as an Instructional Coach (Gulamhussein, 2013). If anything, teachers may need more time and support to learn new practices than their students since adults tend to be more entrenched in their thinking and beliefs.
Most PL is not effective because it tends to be a “one and done” in workshops as “sit and get.” Even jazzing a workshop up with interactive activities and discussion may make the workshop receive great feedback, but doesn’t transfer to the classroom as Daniel shares in her discussion (Daniel, 2013). Research in the articles lised below also supports this conclusion (Gulamhussein, 2013; Hill, 2015)
Additionally, research shows that lack of knowledge for teachers is not the issue, but it is having the ability and time to implement the knowledge successfully (Gulamhussein, 2013). The 5 Principles of Effective Professional Development can be implemented to address this deficit with PL (Gulamhussein, 2013). Focusing on these five principles along with utilizing Instructional Coaching and Professional Learning Communities are the key to supporting a teacher’s dual roles as a technician and an intellectual.
Thankfully, this is the direction that my district has been going in the past five years. On our campus, we use artifacts from student work in a PLC regularly and have created a protocol to support our PLCs during the collaboration over artifacts. One example would be using student work to norm a grade level’s writing expectations to improve teacher clarity for instruction and student support. Our district is also “utilizing a combination of outside consultants and in-house talent” where instructional coaches work “with teams of teachers to present effective teaching strategies and model lessons” (Gulamhussein, 2013).
I also appreciate how my district is embracing a more alternative approach to PL especially in Personalized/Blended Learning where for over 2 years we have been working in small cohorts with a consultant, and then taking the learning back on campus to practice and refine before we meet again on a quarterly basis. In the meantime, we meet in PLCs on campus to collaborate on the work in detail. We restructure coverage for teachers’ classrooms in-house for teachers to have PLC time with Instructional Coaches consistently. In addition, Instructional Coaches work one-on-one with teachers to create new resources and model new instructional practices with students. The power of this flows into other classrooms where other teachers see what is happening in a cohort teacher’s room and desire to replicate it just like Daniel’s shared in her experience (Daniels, 2013).
The Mirage: Confronting the Hard Truth About Our Quest for Teacher Development shared that having “Clear Roles and Responsibilities”, a “Culture of High Expectations and Continuous Learning,” along with “Regular Feedback and Practice” were important for teacher development (TNTP, 2015). Our district works to embrace this, but it is even more crucial that a campus administrator embraces this. I am grateful that my administrator is strong in developing these practices on our campus.
References:
Daniels, K. (2013). Empowering the teacher technophobe. Retrieved from Youtube. TEDxBurnsvilleED: https://youtu.be/puiNcIFJTCU
Gulamhussein, A. (2013). Teaching The Teachers. Effective Professional Development in an Era of High Stakes Accountability. Retrieved from Center: http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/system/files/2013-176_ProfessionalDevelopment.pdf
Hill, H. (2015). Review of The Mirage: Confronting the Hard Truth about Our Quest for Teacher Development. Harvard Graduate School of Education. Retrieved from http://www.greatlakescenter.org/docs/Think_Twice/TT-Hill-TNTP.pdf
TNTP. (2015). The Mirage: Confronting the Hard Truth About Our Quest for Teacher Development. Retrieved from http://tntp.org/publications/view/evaluation-and-development/the-mirage-confronting-the-truth-about-our-quest-for-teacher-development
Wings and a Wand 