Shaping the Workday
We recently shared information from the National Staff Development Council (NSDC) about how to find more time for teacher learning. One of the solutions is to restructure the teacher workday to allow for collaborative teacher growth opportunities. Creating a teacher workday that begins before students arrive or ends after the students leave can do this. In many cases, it means a 30-minute earlier start or ending 30 minutes later. It also could be accomplished by adding the time in the course of the day by modifying class schedules.
Once you have created the time in the day, you must now create teacher teams that meet consistently to discuss and evaluate student learning. As stated previously, these teams could be by grade level, by team or by content area. In the book Getting Started: Reculturing Schools to Become Professional Learning Communities, Richard DuFour talks about four questions that should drive the discussions at EVERY team meeting:
- What do we want students to learn?
- How will we know they are learning?
- What are we going to do if they don’t learn it?
- What are we going to do if they already know it?
A second activity at team meetings is to discuss student interventions to address individual student needs. Again, a series of four questions guides this discussion, this time about each child who needs interventions:
- What does our formative assessment data revel about the students’ learning?
- What could account for a specific student’s lack of success?
- Did this student’s achievement match my expectations? Why or why not?
- What instructional strategies helped my colleagues’ students succeed on our common, formative assessment?
These discussions should result in a plan of action. While traditional planning systems work on long-term goals, this type of plan is only for the instructional time until the team meets again. Check out the above-referenced Web sites for more information.
Content Literacy Academies
The Kentucky Writing Project, in conjunction with the Kentucky Department of Education, is sponsoring Content Area Literacy and Learning Academies. The academies will be held at various locations around the state from June 12 through June 15 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day.
The registration fee is $50 per person, and the registration deadline is May 1. Please go to Content Area Literacy & Learning Academies for more information and to download a printable registration form or to register online. Please send all questions or comments to Dr. Jean Wolph at jean.hicks@louisville.edu, or call (502) 852-4544.
Louisville to Host International Conference
On April 18-21, the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) International Conference will be held in Louisville. The CEC conference offers sessions on co-teaching, behavior intervention, differentiating instruction, assessment for students with severe disabilities and much more. Be inspired by keynote speaker Jack Canfield, the originator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul® series. Jack has developed a specific methodology and results-oriented activities to help people take on greater challenges and produce breakthrough results. Learn more at 2007 CEC Convention & Expo.
Quotable Quotes
“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”
George Bernard Shaw