Learning Forward
Equity and excellence in teaching and learning.
Transforming Teaching
June 2009
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In This Issue
ARTICLES
Three Levels Of Text Protocol
To deepen understanding of a text and explore implications for participants’ work.
More Ways To Connect Through NSDC
News and notes of the National Staff Development Council.
A Work In Progress
The 6th-grade language arts teachers at Twin Groves Middle School, in Illinois’ Kildeer District 96, chitchatted as they trickled in to what they assumed would be an ordinary session of common planning time. They usually gather in Lauren Loessl’s classroom, with walls nearly hidden behind student work, informational posters, and a wealth of pictures of dogs, both Loessl’s own and others. The teachers comfortably took their seats to examine the results of a pretest they’d given to their 200 students.
Who's That Teacher?
A principal makes countless decisions during the school year, ranging from bus routes to discipline, curriculum alignment to master schedules. It doesn’t take long to realize that the majority of these decisions pale in comparison to decisions about how to select and support highly skilled teachers.
Collaboration Takes Center Stage
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Abstracts
Abstracts for Summer 2009 JSD
Smaller Budgets Call For Bigger Thinking
Katelyn is a first-year educator. She is working with 2nd graders, and her school has provided her with a mentor. Throughout the year, Katelyn and her mentor have worked through the challenges she faces in her classroom, in communicating with parents, and with organizing everything she is expected to do. At the most recent staff meeting, the principal shared with the staff that the declining economy is affecting federal and state revenues.
Medical Residency Model Goes to School
Imagine you have an illness. In selecting a health care professional, you are faced with two choices: a doctor who is two weeks out of med school, or one who attended med school and then spent two years learning on the job with an experienced, qualified physician. The choice is a no-brainer. You want the doctor who worked side-by-side with skilled physicians and real patients, the one who had the benefit of seeing a wide range of techniques, the one who had the opportunity to make mistakes in a controlled environment.
Learning At Work: The Long And Short Of It
We — those of us who work in professional learning — often cite learning models from other professions. In fact, an article in this issue showcases a residency model transferred to teaching. Sometimes we turn to other fields to understand what effective professional learning looks like in other contexts.
From The Field
Synthesizing extensive research of arts education practice across the United States, this online handbook is a guide to designing arts education professional development for K-12 classroom teachers and provides a database of 50 arts learning communities.
Shared Perspectives Lead To Better Vision For Everyone
The collaborative approach is already successful in many schools and districts. Only by working together can we understand and address the educational challenges we face. We must access all of the perspectives at hand to increase the ways in which we collaborate for the benefit of all teachers and students.
Love And Compassion Challenge Taken-For-Granted Assumptions
Several months ago, co-author Patricia Guerra was walking her dogs when she came upon a woman who lives nearby. Walking alone, the woman asked if she could join Guerra on her walk. As they walked, the woman explained that she had just started volunteering as a teacher assistant at the neighborhood elementary school. She was excited about no longer being a stay-at-home mom and shared experiences from her first week on the job.
Rich Learning Opportunities Exist In A Tough Economy
We live in uncertain times. With the recent federal stimulus package, school systems are receiving the single largest influx of new dollars ever, yet many districts will still be forced to cut programs in order to meet budget requirements. Staff development, like many departments and budget-line items, will undergo cuts. As a result, district leaders are asking how they might respond to these circumstances.
State Of The Profession Revisited
Most approaches to professional development have not been accompanied by programmatic research, leaving us with too little information to guide policy and practice.
Spotlight On Special Education
With the everyday juggling act principals perform, they have a daunting challenge to keep up with the latest research in education. At the same time, the literature documents an intensive need for increased professional development of principals in special education (Goar, Schwenn, & Boyer, 1997; Lasky & Karge, 2006; McLaughlin & Nolet, 2004). To assist these busy leaders, we provide 10 must-reads to help administrators enhance their knowledge and skills, and the skills of their staffs, in special education.
See Me, Hear Me, Coach Me
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How Conversations Can Change Educators' And Student' Lives
In Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, one character asks another, “How did you go bankrupt?” The response: “Gradually, then suddenly.” I believe that our careers, organizations, relationships, and our very lives succeed or fail gradually then suddenly, one conversation at a time. The marriage we cherished or lost, the peer respect that deepened or declined, the job in which we shined or bombed, the students we inspired or bored.
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