NEA-UAW/Saturn Award

In collaboration with the Broward Teachers Union, the School Board of Broward County, the nation’s sixth largest school district, received national recognition for its New Educator Support System (NESS) a site-based induction program that provides new educators support and services that retain new educators at a much higher rate than the state average. Although it is voluntary, virtually 100 percent of all new educators choose to participate. NESS includes a jointly-sponsored and funded New Teacher Orientation; a five-day New Teacher Academy; intense site-based coaching and mentoring support; and ongoing staff development opportunities.

HRD wishes to thank all the Principals, NESS School Liaisons, and Instructional Coaches for their efforts in making NESS a nationally recognized success.
(Left to right are: UAW Region 8 representative Ray Curry, NEA President Reg Weaver, HRD Director of Teacher Development Linda Whitehead, Pat Santeramo and Manager Regional Sales & Marketing, Saturn Southeast Region Jim Craner)

Brainwriting

Brainwriting is a process where all ideas are recorded by the individual who thought of them. They are then passed on to the next person who uses them as a trigger for their own ideas. Teachers in Broward County, Florida utilize this process to organize the role and responsibilities of an Instructional Coach.

Brainwriting Video

Keys to Good Classroom Management

What’s in it for me as a teacher? The suggestions are proven methods for creating a safe and effective learning environment. Implementing these tips can increase positive on-task behaviors by the students leading to greater learning gains for all of your students. Sweat the small stuff and you and your students will benefit.

• Avoid unnecessary congestion in group work areas, classroom entrance and exit, pencil sharpener, trash can, lavatory, sink and water fountain, bookshelves, storage and supply stations, special displays, teacher’s desk, and computer stations.
• Always have a clear view of students.
• Verify that all students can see instructional displays.
• Place learning areas so students can move from one to another with little or no disruption.
• Place storage space and necessary materials so they are easily accessible.

Tips for Arranging Furniture:

• Make sure all students can see you, the chalkboard(s) and other instructional displays.
• Consider potential distractions: windows, doors, etc.
• Leave walking space around students' desks.
• Position yourself so you can see all students at all times.
• Avoid placing learning centers and work areas in "blind corners."
• Seat students who need extra help near you.
• Arrange students' desks in rows facing instructional areas until you've learned their names, work habits and personal traits.

Tips for Storage Place:

• Place instructional materials where they are easily accessible to instructional areas.
• If you must use tables or desks with inadequate storage, consider storing student materials in "tote trays" where they will be easily accessible but out of the way.
• Provide adequate, conveniently located space for students’ belongings.
• Provide easily accessible bookcase shelves for everyday books and materials not kept in students' desks.
• Keep long-term, seldom used or special-occasion items in a location outside of the classroom.

Other Things to Consider:

• Choose a particular spot, easily seen by all students, for posting daily assignments (weekly, if possible).
• Display rules, procedures, assigned duties, a calendar, schedule, student-work and extra-credit activities on walls and bulletin boards.
• Check all electrical equipment to be sure it works and practice with the equipment before using it in class.
• Have a sturdy extension cord available if an electrical outlet is not within easy reach.

Classroom Procedures:

• Procedures tell students how to perform routine instructional and housekeeping tasks.
• Routines and procedures allow classrooms to function smoothly.
• Self-management procedures build student autonomy and reduce the need for your constant attention.
• Clear procedures manage smooth transitions and minimize downtime.

First Day Procedures:

1. Students find their seat (Use 3x5 card to place number on each desk, greet students at the door and direct them to look at the class list posted in the front of the room, check the number by their name, and then find their seat).
2. Students store their belongings in designated area.
3. Students complete the activity following the directions on the front chalkboard.

Systematically Teach Procedures:

• Present procedures in a clear and orderly manner as the need arises.
• Model expected behavior for your students.
• Provide students with opportunities to practice.
• Review and re-teach procedures as necessary.
• Reinforce the procedure and provide feedback.
• Apply positive and negative consequences consistently.
• After three weeks, only reminders should be needed.
• Teach procedures as part of the instructional activity.
• Examples: Demonstrate how to head their papers the first time a paper is assigned, explain clearly how to write down an assignments, note where and when assignments are posted.
• Review procedures over several weeks until they become routines.

Source: http://www.aft.org/teachers/jft/management.htm

First Steps in Mentoring

Mentoring new teachers is very demanding at the beginning of the year, because the students are coming August 14th and the New Educator must be prepared to carry out all the duties that a veteran teacher routinely performs. The following are some possible talking points for those first meetings with the New Educator during preplanning:
• Build personal connections by asking questions like “Where did you attend college?”, “Where are you from?”, and “What’s your sign?” just kidding but you get the idea. You are the New Educator’s big brother or big sister.

• Explain your role as an Instructional Coach – friend, observer, provider of feedback, information resource, advocate, etc.

• Discuss the characteristics of an ideal teacher and write them down. (This will reduce possible conflict later, if you both share the same vision of effective teaching).

• Help the New Educator prepare his/her classroom or if she/he are roving prepare their cart.

• Encourage the New Educator to have written procedures for the following:

1. Students entering the room
2. Starting the period or the day
3. Ending the period or the day
4. Getting students attention
5. Restroom, water breaks, and hall passes
6. Assigning seating
7. Distributing and collecting materials

• Develop classroom rules
• Encourage the New Educator to have at least two weeks of lesson plans based on your school’s instructional focus calendar.

Warning: Encourage New Educators to focus on classroom procedures. During the first week of school many new teachers will feel they are falling behind with academics but effective teachers know if you don’t develop effective procedures in the beginning, you lose a considerable amount of academic time later handling behavioral problems.

Source: Dr. Doug Miller

Teacher Mentoring as Professional Development

What’s in it for the Instructional Coach?

Since the early 1980’s teacher mentoring programs have dramatically increased as a vehicle to support and retain new teachers. As a result researchers have come to recognize that mentors also derive substantial benefits from the mentoring experience. Instructional Coach benefits include:

Professional competency: As mentor teachers assist their protégées in improving their teaching, they also improve their own professional competency.
Reflective Practice: Mentors report that mentoring has forced them to be reflective about their own beliefs about teaching, students, learning, and teaching as a career.
Renewal: A number of researchers have reported that mentors experience professional renewal, are re-energized, and often strengthen their commitment to the teaching profession.
Collaboration: Mentors report that continued contact with mentees provides some of their richest collegial interactions.

Contributions to Teacher Leadership. Mentor training and experiences can build mentors' capacity for leadership through structured professional development including training and experience in classroom observation and coaching skills.

Source: www.principals.org ERIC Digest (ED460125), Nov 2001, Leslie Huling, Virginia Resta

A Life-Cycle Model for Career Teachers

It’s a new year and your students’ success depends on the quality of your teachers. Teachers make the difference for students, and teachers need support for their continued growth and satisfaction in their profession. If we expect excellence, we must support it. The Life Cycle of the Career Teacher model is based on the premise that, given the appropriate learning environment, teachers will continue to grow and develop throughout their professional lifetime.

The model identifies four distinct phases of development:

• The apprentice phase begins with the orientation period and extends into the second or third year of teaching. The teacher is the primary learner in the classroom.
• The professional phase emerges as teachers grow in their self-confidence as educators. Student feedback plays a critical role in this process.
• The expert phase symbolizes achievement of the high standards. Even if these teachers do not formally seek it, they meet the expectations required for national certification.
• The distinguished phase is reserved for teachers truly gifted in their field. They exceed current expectations for what teachers are expected to know and do. Distinguished teachers impact education-related decisions at district, state, and national levels.

The critical factor that enables teachers to propel themselves through the career life-cycle is the opportunity to reflect on professional practice colleagues. Reflective practices like Peer coaching, collaborating, study teams and learning communities are especially helpful to teachers. The primary benefit of reflective practice is a deeper understanding of one's teaching style and, ultimately, greater competence as a teacher.

If the opportunity for reflecting on one’s practices is missing, teachers are likely to begin to withdraw. Withdrawal is a form of disengagement. Without help, an educator who begins the downward slide can become a detriment to students, schools, and the profession.

The Life Cycle of the Career Teacher model challenges the administrators to take action. It addresses teacher needs at different phases along the continuum of practice. Administrators can implement systems of professional development to assist teachers, regardless of career stage. The life cycle model can help put change into motion for teachers and their students. Administrators can advocate the need to link professional development with a structured career ladder.

Source: Kappa Delta Pi Record, Fall 2001, Betty E. Steffy and Michael P. Wolfe