At the beginning of the year, we have a discussion about what best practice means at our school. We talk about the things we get good results on and the areas that are still not working as well as they should. We look at data from the previous year, when it's available.
Then, teachers choose an area they think will help improve their own performance. We have a form that asks teachers to choose a general topic, a performance goal within the topic, and explore the likely benefit to students. Those are approved by admin and then groups form around the general topics. Each group has an experienced teacher to facilitate. We have a set group of facilitating teachers, but I think it would work better if the group chose that person new each time.
In groups, plans are modified and finalized. Those groups report to each other, help each other, observe classes for specific elements as identified in the teacher's own plan, etc. Teachers compile a portfolio of evidence for their progress, which varies depending on the goals that were set. Some teachers do a lot of research, some take online courses, some visit other schools, some attend conferences, many do a combination of all of those. The thing that works is that group members hold each other accountable for using that information to improve teaching. So a certificate of conference attendance is never accepted evidence of learning. Incorporating conference material into lesson plans is evidence of learning. A video of that lesson actually happening is even better.
Several times a year, groups present their progress. Any individual not making progress on their goals is intervened by admin, but admin also have goals and have to demonstrate progress. So far, no one has needed to be intervened, bc they chose their own topic and groups are led by teachers not outsiders.
We set aside almost all professional development time for groups to meet and teachers to work on their plans--it can't be an add-on or extra; to work, it has to be the entire PD focus. Also, then the $$ that would normally be spent on consultants and outside PD can go to paying for people's plans. For example, this year we had a group wanting to integrate more technology into their teaching. Each person had slightly different goals within that concept (one person used almost no technology and wanted to start from scratch, another person in that group wanted to create real-time international projects in cooperation with schools all over the world, for example) and a French teacher wanted to use ipod touch to create mobile language labs. With the $$ we didn't spend on PD outsiders, she got 3 ipods to start out. My goal this year was about increasing my theoretical knowledge so I got enough $$ to take a course online.
Right now I'm working on moving us to a more networked method for both teacher learning and portfolios. I'd like to see us using wikis, or webpages maybe, both to provide a way for groups to interact with each other and to expand the focus to incorporate more of the learning that's going on in places like twitter.
I Am Healed
1 week ago
