Mastery Learning

The idea of mastery learning amounts to a radical shift in responsibility for teachers; the blame for a student's failure rests with the instruction, not a lack of ability on the part of the student. In a mastery-learning environment, the challenge becomes providing enough time and employing the correct instructional strategies so that all students can meet or exceed standards. (Levine, 1985; Bloom, 1981)

Support Binder

To help the new educator in day-to-day activities, we have created an 8 x 5 spiral notebook for each new teacher that contains:
1) HELP-- who to call for assistance from discipline in the classroom to the location of erase markers
2) WHERE IS IT- locations of all the restrooms, classrooms, offices, gym, lunch room etc.
3)WHAT FORM- how to fill out the basic forms
4) GENERAL CLASS RULES THAT WORK
5) PROCEDURESWHEN YOU (the teacher) ARE ABSENT
6) LIAISON AND INSTRUCTIONAL COACH names, extension numbers, planning time, home phone number etc.

Source: Kate, Seagull School

Adding Value, Increase the School Day?

American teachers work more hours with their students than do teachers in any other developed country. That would be 1,139 hours a year in elementary schools and a few hours less in secondary, according to a recent survey. The average number of student contact hours in other advanced nations was 803 in elementary, less in secondary.
Japan, notably, was at the bottom with 617 hours in elementary, 513 in "lower secondary," and 449 in "upper secondary." Japanese teachers spend time outside their classes collaborating to develop and improve their lessons. This may explain why Japanese students consistently score at or near the top in international competitions.
If the school day is extended school districts, rather than extending student contact time, may benefit more if teachers plan together and demonstrate their lesson to their peers before presenting the lesson to their students.

SITE-BASED INDUCTION/STAFF DEVELOPMENT

The most willing and able teachers should be trained first, because they can help sell and support the training to the rest of the faculty. The decision to train the most needy teachers first reduces faculty buy-in because it stigmatizes training as remedial. Rather than mandating that teachers participate, it is more effective to create a atmosphere of success with strong teachers who volunteer.

One of the hardest things for an administrator to do is permit a program to gain strength gradually as people discover its value. There is not training that will fix a faculty in one year. Professional development is a career-long process and administrators need to develop systems that support the continual growth of everyone on their faculty.

Interviewing A Teacher

A teacher new to your school should find no surprises. Be honest in the first interview describe the student population, its challenges, and your expectations of the teachers. Every school has its own culture and the primary goal for interviewing candidates is to find teachers that complement that culture. A suggestion explain to the new teacher that although you are hiring them to teach a specific grade or subject that they work for the school and are expected to help every student be successful not just the students in their classroom. Finally, what are you looking for in your first interview?

Knowledge

• Student centered
• State Standards
• Multiple instructional techniques
• Strong subject matter knowledge

Skills

• Effective classroom management
• Communicate learning processes
• Proficient technologically
• Treats students with respect

Attitude

• Likes kids
• Positive
• Flexible

Aspiration

• Reflective thinker
• Desire to continue to learn and improve
• Comfortable with risks

Behavior

• Can work with others
• Communicates high expectations
• Accepts constructive criticism

The Good Teacher

305 Broward County Elementary School students were ask to list five characteristics of a “Good Teacher”. The students identified 48 attributes, behaviors, and attitudes they like to see a teacher demonstrate. The chart represents the top 8 characteristics that the students identified most often in their responses. The percentages are a comparison of the 8 characteristics identified by the students. The survey results are not scientific but could be used by your faculty for developing a common language and understanding of “Good Teaching” and what it means to your staff and the students at their school.

The following is an agenda you could use for a faculty or a department/grade level meeting.

1. Ask the group to brainstorm, What are the characteristics of an “Effective Teacher”?
2. Next, share what the State and District have identified as the characteristics of an “Effective Teacher” and the responses by the students above or your own students.
3. Then have the group reexamine their list and discuss any possible additions or revisions.
4. Finally, have the group identify the top five characteristics of an “Effective Teacher”.
5. A possible follow-up could be using future meetings to discuss those characteristics and what they look like in real practice.

Assessing New Educators Needs

I developed a ticket-out for our NESS support meetings.

• I first ask the NE to write and tell me one thing that is going well for them.
• Next I ask them to tell me what they need in order to best meet the needs of the students in their classrooms.
• Last, I ask them what would be a helpful topic for the next meeting, as well as providing a list of possible choices.

This ticket out serves as another way to prevent needs from falling through the cracks and empowers the NE.

Source: Melissa, Liberty Elementary

Site-Based Professional Development

Build on Strength
Your department/grade chairs and the most willing and able teachers should be trained first. Often they become co-trainers and coaches that help transfer the new learning to the classroom. In addition, their success and enthusiasm could encourage the more hesitant colleagues to say, "Well, if it can help them, I guess it can help me too." While well intentioned, the decision to train the most needy teachers first reduces faculty buy-in by stigmatizing training as remedial and not part of a natural career long professional development process.

Make Training Voluntary
Changing habits of teaching requires that teachers focus on new ways of doing things as they begin each day or class period. Teachers must want to change. Sharing data, encouraging professionalism, and showing respect is more effective in creating a critical mass of success than mandating that teachers participate. Once training becomes mandatory it is impossible to determine which teacher are really committed to improving their practice.

Diversify Training
One of the hardest things for an administrator to do once an excellent program demonstrates its merit is to slow down. "Let's train everyone on the faculty" can prevent the systematic process of training that permits a program to gain strength as people discover its value. Another challenge for administrators is developing a differentiated, systematic approach for training your faculty that will provide immediate results as well as long-term sustainability.

For more information on developing an effective site-based professional development system please contact Deborah Porter at 754-321-3521

Are we as rigorous as we think?

The information in the chart above was gathered by Data Works Educational Research. Assuming this information is true and there is no contradictory finding in the research at present, "What are the implications of this data for political leaders, universities, school districts, administrators, teachers, students, and parents?" Respond to all or part of the question above in the comment section.

Protocol Practice

Teachers using protocols during meetings or professional learning communities has brought back a memory from when I taught 4th grade. I’d like to share…

I can remember my first time facilitating a Socratic seminar with my 4th graders. Well not exactly. I do not remember the text we used or the questions that was asked. I am unable to recall how long the conversation lasted, or the follow-up activities that I provided. What I DO remember were is how anxious I was getting during the seminar and how depressed I felt after I finished. Nothing happened as planned, yet I could not understand why.

I remember selecting “a text” that was modeled during the training, and even used frequently asked opening, core and closing questions. I remember explaining to the students the process and the norms, yet the conversation lacked depth, interaction, and any signs of student listening or thinking skills. How could this be possible when I did everything exactly as it was modeled to me during the training? I’m not sure if at the time I was able to answer that question, however now I know that even for me learning, implementation, and improvement is a process.

We (my students and I) were committed to try again even though it would have been easier to dump the process and continue with the familiar question and answer routine. Once again a common text was selected, questions were prepared, and the norms and process was reviewed. To improve on the experience we wanted to focus our own behaviors and decided to videotape our event. Immediately after the seminar, we watched our video without comments (yet there was quite a few moments of laughter- these are 4th graders), and the watched a second time with a purpose.

Groups of students were assigned to look for evidence of specific behaviors including signs of referring to the text, demonstration of listening, and indication of students asking questions. As a class we discussed what we saw and what we should do next. This process reinforced behaviors and identified areas of improvement. Is was amazing how our critiques were professional and free from any ridicule. We continued with the videotaping throughout the year and eventually found the seminar process engaging, thought provoking, and fun. Just like it was during the initial training.

My expectations never changed, just my timeline. As teacher leaders continue to use protocols to engage conversation, the practice of refining and improving the process is essential for success.

Are we teaching too much?

In many European and Asian countries, teachers spend no more than half their work week in classroom instruction. They spend 17-20 hours per week teaching and devote the remainder of their 40-45 hour work-weeks to planning, collaboration, meeting with students, and observing their peers (Darling-Hammond, 1999). In the United States teachers average 5 to 10 more hours per week in the classroom than their counterparts in top-performing European and Asian countries, and thus have less time for planning together, collaborating, and implementing job-embedded professional-development strategies that are common in other countries.

Are public school teachers given too great a teaching load?
What would you do with 5 to 10 hours of non-teaching time per week?

How To Be An Ineffective Teacher

Don't take responsibility for results. Its not me I covered the material. The research is clear the only way to increase student achievement is with a competent, qualified teacher.

Make excuses for your students. I believe all my students can learn but... The effective teacher not only establishes high expectations for their students, they also model appropriate professional behavior in their relationship with others.

Don't plan just cover the textbook. I have more than enough to cover in the textbook to worry about planning. In a standards-driven- system the effective teacher identifies learning objectives, develops appropriate assessments, and designs lessons that provide students an opportunity to learn those standards.

Be a "know it all.” Been there done that. Effective teachers, no matter how good they are, know that they can always improve their instructional practice.

Show no interest in professional development. I have a college degree and am State Certified; I don't need anything else. Effective teachers are enthusiastic life long learners and constantly seek ways to improve their lives and practice.

Let's have some fun, what do you think are some other qualities of an ineffective teacher?

Is Professional Development Worth $$$$

Countless workshops, seminars, retreats, and other training opportunities are offered under the assumption that they can positively affect how a faculty teaches, which in turn will help students learn more. However, there’s evidence that short-term interventions, such as afternoon or early morning workshops, don’t have much of an effect when it comes to changing teacher behaviors. On the other hand, data suggest that well-designed, substantive training programs are worth the time and effort. Well-designed and substantive training programs by Florida professional development standards involves four steps planning, delivery, follow-up, and evaluation.

Gibbs and Coffey looked at the effects of training programs at 20 universities in eight countries. Each training program involved at minimum of 60 hours (300 hours for the longest) and spread those activities across four to 18 months. The results provide confirmation that in-depth training does make a significant impact on teaching. A faculty that participates in well-designed training programs becomes more learner-focused and their students are more likely to learn.

Planning next year’s professional development calendar will begin second semester, before you start planning take time to reflect on the professional develop offered this year to your staff. How did your site’s professional development experience influence changes in teacher behaviors to enhance student learning? What can administrators and teacher leaders do to help their faculty marry Florida Standards with appropriate teaching processes?
Source: Academic Leader, Magna Publications

Teamwork?

In the book called, “It’s Called Work for a Reason,” Larry Winget explains how Teams do not work. I have been in and heard of many experiences that random grouping of individuals with an assigned task might eventually lead to the completion of that task, yet wonder if the group is functioning as a team or just struggling to get the job done.

From Larry’s book he writes, “Instead of teams, we should create groups of superstar individuals who share a common goal. Then you allow those superstars to exploit their uniqueness in an environment where other superstars are doing the same thing. This mutual respect for the talent of others helps them achieve the common goal faster and allows them to excel as individuals, which is better for their egos. It takes care of the whole “what’s in it for me?” mentality that we all possess, because the individual doesn’t have to share the credit with people who didn’t contribute.”

“Superstars with a common goal must still work together, and happily will if there are other superstars whose talents and abilities they respect. Superstars love working with other superstars who are great at what they do. But this is not teamwork. This is a common goal being accomplished by a group of individuals who have individual tasks, and held accountable for their tasks, and are given credit for accomplishing their tasks.”

How would you describe your team experience to Larry?

Source: Winget, L. (2006). It's Called Work for a Reason!: Your Success Is Your Own Damn Fault. New York: Gotham.

Technology and PLCs

NESS Liaison Debra Stahl from Parkway Middle is a participant of a Teacher Leadership Professional Learning Community (PLC) that is learning about developing effective PLCs. Debra journals her experiences with the rest of her team via Tangler.com, an online discussion network. Her latest entry expresses her experience with sharing responsibility, collaboration, and technology.

"Ms. Badio, an Instructional Coach and our Teacher of the Year who totally is into technology and also is paperless in her math class have run the last two months of our NESS learning community. She has been showing the entire group online resources that new teachers and really all educators can use. These resources are great for the students because of the world in which we live in today. It brings the teaching to a different level when trying to get students to buy into what is taking place in the classroom. It is interesting to see how the younger new teachers pick up what she is showing so quickly, while someone like me has to take notes and write down the steps involved. We even have started our own online community through Wiki (didn't know what that was either), which is somewhat what we are doing here on Tangler. Ms. Badio shared with the group, "Wiki is a powerful tool for multiple people to edit documents, work together and coordinate projects." She posts information for the new educators and coaches and we can log on and talk with one another on the site as well. It is great!!"

Thanks to Ms. Badio and Debra Stahl

Continuous Improvement: PLAN, Do, Study, Act

Plan, Do, Study, and ACT (PDSA) is a structured process of continuous improvement. This article describes a planning process commonly used by Instructional Coaches. During the PLAN phase the coach together with the New Educator discuss and identify the characteristics of an effective, competent teacher. These characteristics represent the goals (Desired State) that teachers work toward to improve their practice.

The coach begins the planning process by collecting baseline data. This baseline data is use to clarify the new teacher’s Current Reality. Current Reality is written in concrete measurable terms, such as, “class started on time”, “13 questions were knowledge level and 4 were application level”, or “teacher ignored two student talking off task during warm up activity”.

After baseline data is collected the coach and the new teacher discuss the meaning and possible impact of the information. During the discussion the new teacher and coach select a Goal or area that the new teacher could improve. Once the Goal is established the Desired State can be refined or brought into focus. Then the new teacher and coach can select possible Interventions. Interventions are actions that could lead to a change in teacher behavior that will have a positive effect on student achievement. The reason I said, "could lead" is that we will not know the effect of the interventions until we measure Impact.

Tips for the Planning Process:
• Align actions towards the Desired State
• Fix process not blame
• Use data and data narrowing tools to identify Current Reality
• Build a professional relationship based on commitment, not compliance.

This article focused on the steps to Plan. There will be follow-up articles on Do, Study, and Act.
Source: Doug Miller

Student Assignments

GLE - Grade Level Expectations

Beginning with Pygmalion in the Classroom (Rosenthal and Jacobson, 1968), an extensive body of research has been developed that describes how teachers' expectations can influence student performance. While it is misleading to state that teacher expectations determine a student's success, the research clearly establishes that teacher expectations do play a significant role in determining how well and how much students learn.

Research into the ways in which teachers interact with their students highlight how teachers form expectations about their students and more importantly how teachers' expectations influence the rigor of assignments they give their students. Particularly noteworthy are the findings of Douglass (1964) and Mackler (1969) on the effects that tracking has on teachers and students, "Teachers' expectations about a student's achievement can be affected by factors having little or nothing to do with the student’s ability and yet these expectations can determine the level of achievement by confining learning opportunities to those available in one's track."

Data Works, an educational software company, examined work assigned by teachers in thousands of classrooms and found that teachers from second grade through high school have reduced their academic expectations of their students. Astonishingly, the research showed that by 5th grade only 2 out of every 100 assignments given to students were at grade level. It would be nice to think that the other 98 assignments were above grade level pushing the students to expand their horizons, however, the chart above suggest otherwise.

It should be remembered that the students often internalize teachers' expectations over time. When this internalization occurs, a student's perseverance and motivation to achieve may decline until the student's ability to achieve is damaged. As a classroom teacher, “How do you determine the rigor of your assignments?”

Summary : http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/leadrshp/le0bam.htm

A Teacher’s Influence

"I have come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or deescalated and a child humanized or dehumanized."

From, HAIM GINOTT, Between Teacher and Child

Orange Brook Elementary's Instructional Coaches

The following are stories provided by six of Orange Brook Elementary's Instructional Coaches. The stories focus on the rewards the coaches received helping new educators transition into the teaching profession.
Story One
I like to help people. As an Instructional Coach, I have an opportunity to help another teacher get things organized in her classroom and I can offer suggestions to help make her day a little smoother and easier. I have also enjoyed watching her teach her class. Once she had a great project that she did with her students and I was able to modify it to use with my class.
Story Two
Being able to reduce the pressure on a New Educator's by assisting in various aspects especially the overwhelming paperwork and procedures so she could focus on teaching, was one of the most rewarding experiences. Maintaining an open, two way communication being there for my NE to express her concerns and needs on a regular basis and seeing how my assistance and advice give her more confidence was a great feeling also!
Story Three
It was so nice to see a new teacher have support and actually know what to do each day. I know that I felt so unsupported when I was a new teacher. It was also nice to know that my new educator felt comfortable coming to me with issues and that I could work with her to come up with answers.
Story Four
My most rewarding experience as an Instructional coach was having a NE that is truly enthusiastic and vibrant about being and educator! Also, sharing the many new and exciting teaching skills, strategies, and ideas at the NESS meetings has made me a more reflective teacher.
Story Five
My most rewarding experience as an instructional coach was seeing my mentee grow and learn. She started off very timid and self-conscious and now she is a confident teacher. She does not question herself anymore. She knows that she has the skills to teach her students and she does it without hesitation. I am proud to see how much my mentee has learned and how much her students have learned because of it.
Story Six
My most rewarding experience this year as an Instructional Coach, was helping a new educator be successful. I was able to help my new educator have a great first year . That in it self was rewarding to me. Although, my NESS person is teaching in intermediate, and I am primary, we found experiences that related to each other.

INDUCTION MATTERS: The Difference between Mentoring and Induction

A growing body of research demonstrates that implementing a comprehensive induction program is one of the most effective methods for retaining quality teachers, and can cut teacher attrition rates by 50 percent. In addition, designing well-crafted induction programs can improve teaching quality and increase teacher retention. (www.teacherquality.org)

Mentoring is considered a formal coaching relationship in which an experienced teacher gives guidance, support and feedback to a new educator. High quality mentor programs fully train mentors/coaches, pair first and second year teachers with mentors in similar grades and content areas, and release time and common planning time is provided for mentors and mentored.

Induction goes beyond mentoring to provide an extensive framework to support the continual professional development for everyone in the organization. Comprehensive induction programs may vary in their design, but essential components include a high quality mentor program, ongoing professional development, access to a supportive network in the school, and a criteria-based evaluation of job performance and the process itself.

Mentoring: Focuses on survival and support
Induction: Promotes career learning and professional development

Mentoring:Fosters a mentor apprentice relationship
Induction: Fosters interdependent collegial support of everyone on the staff

Mentoring: Treats mentoring as an isolated event
Induction: Induction is comprehensive and is a part of a career long professional development design

Mentoring: Reacts to whatever arises
Induction: Acculturates a vision that proactively adapts to changes in expectations and in the organization

Mentoring: Short term
Induction: Long term, recurrent, and sustained

Source: Dr. Sheila Lewis, HRD Program facilitator