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
the California Department of Education's (CDE) 12 Recommendations for Middle Grades Success
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 (refer to the section in Recommendation 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, refer to Idea Bank: School-Based Professional Development from Appendix 14 of the original Taking Center Stage (2001).
In the Spotlight
A. C. Stelle Middle School, Las Virgenes Unified School District
At A. C. Stelle Middle School the English/language arts (ELA) department has transformed how they teach writing to their students. Beginning in 2003, ELA teachers believed their students could improve their writing yet felt unsure of which best practices to employ. Supported by their principal, Mary Sistrunk, and using school improvement monies, the English team developed an extensive two-year staff development effort to improve student writing. The new plan centered on implementing the six-trait model popularized by Vicki Spandel, teacher and author or more than 25 books including Creating Writers.
As commonly understood and used today, the six-trait writing model teaches students how to write well while giving teachers a common language for grading the following traits:
Ideas and Content (clear main idea, focused, interesting, complete).
- Organization (good opening, logical sequence, strong conclusion)
- Voice (energetic, engaging, consistent tone)
- Word Choice (active verbs, precise nouns and qualifiers, imagery)
- Sentence Fluency (smooth flow, varied sentence structure)
- Conventions (correct spelling, punctuation, grammar)
On the 2005 seventh grade writing proficiency test, student test results showed:
- Three percent scored eight out of eight.
- Twenty-five percent scored six out of eight
- Sixty-seven percent scored four out of eight
- Six percent scored two out of eight
On the 2008 test, scores showed:
- Thirty-nine percent scored eight out of eight
- Fifty percent scored six out of eight
- Zero percent scored four out of eight
- Less than one percent scored two out of eight
How did they make such impressive gains? Beginning in school year 2003-04, the English/language arts and the history social-science departments began with two days of on-site training on the six-traits writing model (board members, principals, district assistant superintendent and deputy superintendent participated in parts of the training to model district support). The teachers used the rest of the year to practice implementing the model and used staff planning time to assess the effectiveness of their strategies.
In the second year, the school administration used school improvement funds to hire Fred Wolff, a writing consultant who specialized in the six-trait model. Working with teachers during two weeks of in-classroom training, he modeled lessons using the six traits, then observed and critiqued as teachers conducted their own lessons. Wolff met with several middle school principals, the district assistant superintendent of education, and English department chairs from all three middle schools to develop a five-year plan for continued improvements in student achievement.
As a next step, teachers studied how to conduct student conferencing from Carl Anderson, literacy consultant and author of How's It Going? A Practical Guide to Conferring with Student Writers. As a result of the conferencing, teachers have noticed writing is stronger and more authentic.
Alice C. Stelle DataQuest School Profile
A. C. Stelle Middle School (Outside Source)
English/language arts
How's It Going? A Practical Guide to Conferring with Student Writers (Outside Source)
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).
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
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Footnote
1Howard 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.
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