Learning Forward
Equity and excellence in teaching and learning.
Nurture Hidden Talents
Transform school culture into one that values teacher expertise
By Learning Forward
February 2014
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Reflection Questions
| Educators can use these reflection questions to create opportunities to identify talents and then to foster and nurture them.
Materials needed: One large (4 inch by 24 inch) sentence strip for every participant and a few extras for mistakes. A large wall to organize the sentence strips. |
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| Reflection 1 | Mine existing group talent |
| 1. Each person takes about five minutes to reflect on his or her teaching career and to answer these questions:
What part of your teaching gives you the most energy? When are you most proud of your students’ accomplishments? What talents contributed to this success, and how would you describe them to a colleague? 2. Working with a partner, describe how you define your talents and the one for which you are most proud. Partner listens and captures your most-proud-of talent on a sentence strip large enough for others to read. Change roles and repeat. (To keep balanced participation, all participants can choose only one talent while recognizing that there are many.) 3. Each participant takes a moment to stand and announce his or her talent and then post it on the wall at the front of the room. Ask participants to post similar talents in close proximity to other talents already posted. 4. The group looks at the wall and reflects collectively: What are we learning about our talent pool? What else are we learning? (Continue this question until group comes to a stop.) 5. Ask the group to summarize what participants learned. Designate a scribe to capture these thoughts. 6. Type up the talent pool list and the summary and distribute. |
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| Reflection 2 | Deepen understanding about talents in a school |
| 1. Looking at the talent wall, participants ask colleagues to expand on their thinking: “Tell me more about how you … .” Continue as long as time allows and the group is engaged.
2. Working in teams of three, develop questions that can help participants better understand another teacher’s personal stance for excellence. 3. Each team selects a question to ask the whole group. The expert answers first, and then others are asked to contribute, allowing others with a similar talent to be recognized. Continue as long as time allows and the group remains engaged. |
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| Reflection 3: | Honor talents
(Note: In schools with strong taboos about “showing off” or being “singled out,” this may need to be the first reflection.) |
| 1. As an entire staff, discuss the following questions:
How do we celebrate and learn from excellence? Note: Only tangible evidence is acceptable, such as: “Last year, a board meeting showcased student writing from one of our teachers.” What are the barriers that keep us from celebrating excellence? Probe deeply: List the behaviors and keep asking for more. Often, the presenting problem is not the real problem, so be slow to come to conclusions. Distribute copies of this article to all participants and discuss: How can we fulfill the promise of this article? How will we continue to celebrate and learn from our talent pool? How will we make our talent pool known to others? What are our next steps? |
Cognitive Capital: Investing in Teacher Quality
By Arthur L. Costa, Robert J. Garmston, and Diane P. Zimmerman
Teachers College Press, 2014
Building on the authors’ work in cognitive coaching, this book provides teachers, schools, and policy leaders with the rationale and new direction for enhancing the development of the intellectual capacity of educators, their performance, and their ultimate effects on student learning. The authors focus on assisting teachers in developing awareness in their own ability to make effective judgments based on all their capabilities and experiences.
References
Costa, A., Garmston, R., & Zimmerman, D. (2014). Cognitive capital: Investing in teacher quality. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Learning Forward is the only professional association devoted exclusively to those who work in educator professional development. We help our members plan, implement, and measure high-quality professional learning so they can achieve success with their systems, schools, and students.
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