Dos Rios Elementary
Weekly Rocket News * April 2, 2018
Principal's PLC-Connection
Dear Dos Staff Family,
Please make sure you follow the testing and specials schedule provided by Mrs. Castro for this week.
Starting April 9th, every Monday we will have a quick 15-minute StandUp meeting... Our "Weekly DOS of PBIS" from 3:15-3:30. Please note that as you are contracted until 3:30 daily, this meeting is mandatory for all teachers.
"Together We Can..."
Principally yours,
Mrs. Annamarie Dowling-Garrott
Weekly Launch Codes
Week-at-a-Glance
April 2nd-6th
- Monday 4/2: AZMerit Day 1
- Tuesday 4/3: AZMerit Day 2 ... LTS Hearing #8 (ADG Out 9:30-11:30)
- Wednesday 4/4: AZMerit Day 3
- Thursday 4/5: AZMerit Day 4
- Friday 4/5: AZMerit Day 5
SPECIALS SCHEDULE - please follow schedule provided by Mrs. Castro
Seven Keys to Getting Traction with Professional Development
In this article in The Reading Teacher, Denise Morgan (Kent State University) and Celeste Bates (Clemson University) summarize the findings of a 2017 report on the ideal design elements of professional development:
- Focused on content – “Content anchors everything,” say Morgan and Bates. “It is ultimately what allows teachers to connect theory to practice.” Of course content has to be coupled to the best instructional strategies for the students teachers are working with. PD leaders need to do their homework and guide colleagues in book and article study groups and viewing relevant classroom videos.
- Active learning – Professional development sessions should minimize lectures and maximize hands-on activities, including looking at student artifacts, exploring materials that teachers will use in their classrooms, participating in and modeling lessons, watching lesson videos, grappling with questions, and reflecting on local problems of practice.
- Support for collaboration – This can be one-on-one, in small groups, or with the whole faculty, the key being sufficient time to nurture a “togetherness mindset” and develop collective knowledge and relational trust. “Contrived collegiality can look collaborative,” say Bates and Morgan, “but is really a superficial relationship in which members will often meet but are not afforded the time to dig deeply into the issues.” True collaboration involves unit and lesson planning, classroom observations, collective analysis of student work, and tweaking plans and strategies in an ongoing effort to meet the needs of all students.
- Models of effective practice – Teachers need to see instructional practices in action through videos, demonstration lessons, peer observations, case studies, and samples of student work – giving instructors a sense of how lessons will unfold in their own classrooms. Seeing a variety of models, say Bates and Morgan, “allows teachers to understand that no two students follow the same path and shows the importance of teacher expertise in instruction.”
- Coaching and expert support – This can come from instructional leaders, literacy coaches, university faculty, or expert peers, and should include classroom visits and debriefs, video analysis, co-planning, and looking at student work. “Coaches who view their role as tentative and adopt a co-learner stance,” say Bates and Morgan, “assist teachers in seeing multiple possibilities when making decisions.”
- Feedback and reflection – There needs to be enough time built into PD “for teachers to think about, receive input on, and make changes to their practice,” say the authors. “For feedback to be helpful, it must be viewed as constructive and not critical.” Trust and a sense of common purpose are essential to teachers hearing and acting on feedback.
- Sustained duration – “A one-shot, sit-and-get approach to professional learning, no matter how dynamic, is not sufficient,” say Bates and Morgan. Teachers need ongoing support over weeks, months, even years as they identify issues in their classrooms, study them, implement changes, reflect on results, and continuously improve their practices.
“Seven Elements of Effective Professional Development” by Celeste Bates and Denise Morgan in The Reading Teacher, March/April 2018 (Vol. 71, #5, p. 623-626), available for purchase or to ILA members at https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/trtr.1674; the authors can be reached at dmorgan2@kent.edu and celestb@clemson.edu. The full report is “Effective Teacher Professional Development” from Learning Policy Institute by Linda Darling-Hammond, Maria Hyler, and Madelyn Gardner, June 2017, https://bit.ly/2qPSb27.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYG4sfXDbtM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT_HlRugrR8