Professional learning from content experts
Most teachers want and need direct support in implementing standards-based instruction in difficult classroom contexts. The following list incorporates some of the many items school teams can build into their plans for site-based professional learning. In some cases, the experts will need to come from “outside” the school, while in many cases the expertise exists among team members. Team members might start with a discussion of the 12 TCSII recommendations to determine which of the following relate to current school priorities:
- Subject matter competency
- Lesson design/backward mapping
- Effective use of planning and collaborative time
- How to develop team and classroom norms
- How to develop common assessments
- How to differentiate instruction for English learners
- How to differentiate instruction for special education and gifted students
- Strategies for classroom management
- How to run student-led parent conferences (see the section in Chapter 11, “Accountability“)
- How to analyze school practices using the School Self-Study and Rating Rubric (DOC; 413KB; 9pp.).
- How to teach reading and writing across the curriculum
- How to involve parents
- How to include real-world and service-learning in class projects
- How to work as an interdisciplinary team
For an extensive list of other professional development topics, see “Idea Bank: School-Based Professional Development“ from Appendix 14 of the original Taking Center Stage (2001).
In the Spotlight
Serrano Intermediate School (Outside Source), Saddleback Valley Unified School District. The Orange County Department of Education has provided content experts to assist Serrano Middle School teachers through on-site professional learning exercises. In addition, the county offers many seminars on a wide range of topics related to improving student performance. Teachers at Serrano have used the concepts from those seminars to improve their instructional practices.
Each teaching team needs veterans who know middle grades content and understand the unique needs of middle grades students. In addition, each team needs access to specialists who can help them develop intervention strategies. For example, members of a grade-level teaching team can use some of their common planning time to learn how to apply literacy strategies in all of the content areas (math, science, the arts, and social sciences).
In the Spotlight
Alvarado Intermediate School (Outside Source), a Schools to Watch™-Taking Center Stage 2004 model, Rowland Unified School District. Delivery to special education students is different from delivery to students with limited English proficiency. As a result, the school staff uses targeted professional development so that teachers know specific skills for delivering curriculum to special populations at each grade level and in each content area. They also receive training so they understand how to use accommodations, tutors, supplemental materials, and scaffolding for students with special needs.
The teaching team members can also learn from experts and one another about how to weave learning concepts and strategies into their lessons. For example, Howard Gardner’s work suggests that schools must develop the following thinking capacities for America to survive as a global economy. PLC members challenge each other to analyze how their teaching encourages students to develop:
- A disciplined mind – One that can think well and appropriately in the major disciplines.
- A synthesizing mind – One that can sift through a large amount of information, decide what is important, and put it together in ways that make sense personally and for others.
- A creative mind – One that can raise new questions, come up with novel solutions, and think “outside the box.”
- A respectful mind – One that honors the differences among individuals and groups, trying to understand and work productively with them.
- An ethical mind – One that thinks beyond selfish interests and aspires to be a contributing worker and citizen.1
In the Spotlight
Rincon Intermediate School (Outside Source), Rowland Unified School District. Teachers add lessons and project ideas into a best practice binder that is organized by subject and grade level and is available for all team members to use.
Previous Section
Ongoing professional learning for teacher satisfaction and retention
Next Section
Professional learning from instructional coaches
Footnote
1 Howard Gardner, “Beyond the Herd Mentality: The Minds That We Truly Need in the Future” (Outside Source), Education Week, Vol. 25, No. 3 (Sept. 14, 2005), 44.
Back to Top