What Elements Make Teacher Professional Development High Quality? - Teaching Now. A report last fall found that the majority of professional development—80 percent—doesn't align with the new federal definition of high-quality training.
So, what is working? The fourth and final installment of a report series by the Frontline Research & Learning Institute, released last week, highlighted district best practices on high-quality PD. The institute is a division of Frontline Education, which is a K-12 software company. For this report series, researchers examined a nationally representative sample of 203 school districts, which included data from over 107,000 teachers who participated in almost 377,000 activities over a five-year span (between 2011 and 2016). The federal K-12 law, the Every Student Succeeds Act, defines high-quality PD as meeting six criteria: sustained, intensive, collaborative, job-embedded, data-driven, and classroom focused. 10 strategies to develop teacher agency in 2017. By Dawn Wilson Welcome to 2017.
5 Things Teachers Want from PD, and How Coaching and Collaboration Can Deliver Them—If Implementation Improves. We rarely accept “sit and get” instruction as ideal for our students.
So why is it still the most common form of professional development for teachers across the country? Even though educators acknowledge the weaknesses of presentation-based professional development, 80 percent of teachers still participate in a sit and get each year. As part of our research on what PD should look like, we found that both teachers and administrators value the same things in professional development—and it’s not sitting and getting. In a nutshell, they want professional learning opportunities that are: Relevant. No Panacea: Key Obstacles to Effective Teacher Professional Development - Core Education, LLC.
Historically, states and districts have invested large sums on teacher professional development or “PD” as the primary strategy to help teachers improve their practice.
Despite its potential, in its present state, PD has gained a poor reputation among educators and those who study education, in part because little evidence exists that the significant investment of time and financial resources in PD has been consistently effective. Lesson Study: Teacher-Led PD That Works. One of the best aspects of my work is that I get to meet many talented educators.
I'm on the road this week, and I invited two of them to do guest posts. The first comes from Matt Karlsen, Project Director of Teaching American History Grants at ESD 112 in Vancouver, Washington. Matt and I first connected on Twitter then recently met over coffee. I was impressed with the success his group's Lesson Study approach. There's a hysterical video called “Collaborative Planning” currently going viral. Teacher-Led Professional Development: Eleven Reasons Why You Should be Using Classroom Walk Throughs. I frequently conduct large-group workshops for an entire school or district.
I use a variety of methods (like audience response systems) to create engaging events that model the practices I am promoting. The workshops resonate well with teachers and I am often asked to come back and “do some more.” A Guide to Designing Effective Professional Development: Essential Questions for the Successful Staff Developer. All considerations for professional development (PD) should flow from the premise that staff development should model what you want to see in the classroom.
We strive to offer our students engaging, relevant, and rigorous instruction that supports students who will, over time, take responsibility for their learning. PD should apply those same goals to training teachers, staff and administration. I've seen PD from a variety of perspectives - as a 25-year teacher receiving staff development, as a teacher offering PD courses at our district teacher center, as a K-12 director and Assistant Superintendent planning PD, and as outside consultant / trainer.
22 Powerful Closure Activities. Too many university supervisors and administrators criticize the absence of lesson closure, a dubious assessment practice likely caused by the improper use of Madeline Hunter’s lesson plan model (PDF) as a de facto checklist of eight mandatory teaching practices -- anticipatory set, objective and purpose, input, modeling, checking for understanding, guided practice, independent practice, and closure -- a custom that Hunter decried in 1985 (PDF).
Center for Teaching Quality: How do teachers really learn? - Core Education, LLC. Why Don’t We Differentiate Professional Development? As I prepare for another afternoon of district-provided professional development activities, I always make sure that I bring plenty of work to do (papers to grade, lesson planning, etc.).
This isn't because I have a bad attitude and hate professional development (PD). A great PD event can really energize me to improve my classroom instruction. However, the sad fact is that the majority of PDs I attend are repetitive, simplistic, or downright boring. I bring other work to do so that I don't get irritated when I feel that my time is being so carelessly wasted. Wasted Opportunities I am not alone. Thinking about this in the car on the way home after another wasted opportunity made me angry.
For us teachers, think of this in terms of teaching a lesson. We wouldn't teach our students this way. How To Plan Better Professional Development. [Only 16 days until the release of our book, Building School 2.0!
Pre-order it today!] So… after yesterday’s post, several folks asked me to talk about how to make PD better. There are as many ways to make professional development better as there are ways to make our teaching better… what follows are just a few. The overarching thing to remember is this – we have to be one school. The Top 8 Professional Reads for Educators 2016 (plus more) – Mr Kemp. The Top 8 Professional Reads for Educators (plus more) as voted by you for your Summer reading list!
After sending out a survey over the space of 2 weeks on Twitter and through other Social Media Platforms, we had 258 book suggestions from 123 educators from 13 different countries around the world, spanning several continents and every corner of the globe. The global reach here has magnificent and the professional reading shared was detailed and diverse. Why Professional Development Should Be More Like 'MasterChef'
Sustaining a Culture of Learning for Educators. Sustaining a Culture of Learning for Educators If we want our teachers to allow students the opportunity to personalize their learning experiences, then we should afford teachers those same opportunities. As stated in the 2016 National Education Technology Plan, Making It Stick With My Summer PD Reading List. Glenn Whitman , Director, The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning Posted 05/07/2015 7:20AM | Last Commented 06/05/2015 8:01AM One of the great perks and necessities for many teachers is the summer break. You are a global educator. It's time to start thinking like one. Building collaboration skills today means building global collaboration skills.
Educators have their work cut out for them Ed note: Innovation in Action is a monthly column from the International Society of Technology in Education focused on exemplary practices in education. It’s one thing for today’s students to connect with the world and to appreciate the diversity and significance of potential interactions through everyday, real-time interaction. It is a whole different challenge to be able to collaborate with learning partners across town — or around the world. The latter, in truth, is what all educators and learners should be aspiring toward, but the reality is you cannot run before you can walk. Emerging approaches to digital scholarship question what knowledge is, how it is gained, and how it is shared. Tossing Professional Development: New Ways to Talk About Teacher Learning - EdTech Researcher. Let's End Professional Development as We Know It - Learning Deeply.
Productive PD: Learning by Doing. "Are you kidding me? " I thought when the instructor gave the task. There's no way that we are going to be able to stay together and lead all five horses with only thin pieces of curling ribbon. One of the horses had already refused to follow a teacher with a rope. How were we going to get him to follow with only a piece of ribbon?
Teacher Evaluation. Online Facilitation.