1. What is Professional Development?
1.1. Professional development refers to those intentional, systematic, and ongoing processes and activities designed to enhance the professional knowledge, skills, and attitudes of educators so that they might improve students' learning.
1.2. Research shows that teacher expertise is the most significant school-based factor on student learning and high quality professional development is a central component for improving education.
1.3. They provide the vision, the leadership, the support, and they also create the culture under which teachers and support staff work.
2. Professional Development and Teacher Evaluation
2.1. Teacher effectiveness does not develop in a vacuum and teachers should not be targeted as the sole source of student success or failure.
2.2. As a content area teacher in the US, you will be evaluated by some teacher evaluation system.
2.3. Effective evaluation systems use multiple measures of student learning to gauge how teacher meet the standards, and their students meet the learning goals.
2.4. Teaching Standards
2.4.1. Personalized Learning for Diverse Learners
2.4.2. A Stronger Focus on Application of Knowledge and Skills
2.4.3. Improved Assessment Literacy
2.4.4. A Collaborative Professional Culture
2.4.5. New Leadership Roles for Teachers and Administrators
2.4.6. The CCSSO aims for all stakeholders to use these learning progressions to develop a common language about effective practice, and how to develop it, maintain it, and support it.
2.5. The Danielson Framework for Teaching
2.5.1. A generic instrument that applies to all disciplines, for building common language and understanding what good teaching looks like.
2.5.2. The framework presents a complex picture of teaching reflected by 22 components that are clustered into four domains of teaching responsibility:
2.5.2.1. Planning and preparation
2.5.2.2. Classroom environment
2.5.2.3. Intruction
2.5.2.4. Professional responsibilities
2.5.3. Teachers can use information from formal and informal observations to plan for instruction, make from for instructional improvements, and monitor their own progress.
2.5.4. In addition to formal observations, teachers can also experience unannounced classroom visits followed by an informal conversation.
2.6. The Marzano Casual Teacher Evaluation Model
2.6.1. This model is based on studies that correlate instructional strategies to student achievement, and experimental studies that show causation between elements of the model and student learning.
2.6.2. These practices are organized into four domains:
2.6.2.1. Classroom Strategies and Behaviors
2.6.2.2. Planning and Preparing
2.6.2.3. Reflecting on Teaching
2.6.2.4. Collegiality and Professionalism
2.7. Feedback and Teacher Growth
2.7.1. Feedback is vital to teacher learning and success.
2.7.2. Seeking feedback from mentors and others is not a sign of weakness; instead it is a sign of strength.
2.7.3. "Elbow coaching" is a method were instructional coaches teach "elbow-to-elbow" with the teacher in the classroom. It provides immediate feedback to teacher who need to improve their instruction.
2.7.4. Evidence-based feedback will offer facts and "stays away" from inferences and interpretation.
3. Teacher Collaboration and Professional Development
3.1. Data Rich and Information Poor (DRIP) is a commonly used phrase in educational circles that refers to the syndrome of collecting ample data but not knowing how to use it appropriately.
3.2. In this era of accountability, the ability of a state, school, district, and teacher to use data to prove that their students are improving and progressing is essential for school success.
3.3. Knowledge about student data equips the teacher to have valuable informative conversations and conferences with his or her students in class about their progress, and/or learning goals and aspirations.
3.4. Data or Leadership Teams
3.4.1. These are groups of educators dedicated to data inquiry that results in informed educational decisions.
3.4.2. Teachers in data or leadership teams can:
3.4.2.1. Examine standardized and progress monitoring data
3.4.2.2. Examine formative and summative assessment data
3.4.2.3. Analyze student data per grad and/or content area levels
3.4.2.4. Analyze data as a school
3.4.2.5. Make data-driven plans
3.4.2.6. Form intervention groups
3.4.2.7. Make decisions about student placement
3.4.2.8. Examine instructional trends that work, and revisit those that are in need of improvement
3.5. Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)
3.5.1. PLCs are an increasingly effective means of analyzing a school's specific needs and building upon those needs.
3.5.2. As part of PLCs, teachers work together as members of ongoing, reflective, collaborative teams that focus on improving student achievement.
3.5.3. PLCs need to be guided by a focus on student learning and school improvement, a culture of collaboration, a focus on results, and commitment from all teachers, school administrators, and support staff.
3.6. Study Groups and Department-Level Meetings
3.6.1. These can take place in a variety of ways and be used for different purposes:
3.6.1.1. Whole Faculty
3.6.1.1.1. Each faculty member is part of a study group. The groups' purpose is to support whole-school improvement.
3.6.1.2. Small Group
3.6.1.2.1. Group of individuals with a common interest or need that meets for a specified time and purpose
3.6.1.3. Grade or Subject Area Groups
3.6.1.3.1. Meets based on common areas of concern or interest.
3.6.1.4. Teacher Groups from Different Schools or Districs
3.6.1.4.1. These groups examine issues beyond the traditional school scope.
3.7. Lesson Study
3.7.1. Lesson study is a cyclical and highly reflective professional development process inspired by Japanese teachers to systematically study, analyze, and reflect on teacher practice for the purpose of improving it.
3.7.2. The cycle includes the following:
3.7.2.1. Study, teachers study the curriculum and consider long-term goals
3.7.2.2. Plan, teachers select a research lesson, anticipate student thinking, and plan the data collection.
3.7.2.3. Do the research lesson, the team member teaches and collects the data.
3.7.2.4. Reflect, share data and reflect on what the data shows about student learning.
4. Teacher Professional Development, and Student College, Career, and Workforce Readiness
4.1. All teachers will need clear definitions of content and performance standards, and states will need to ensure a professional development framework to create a unified statewide understanding and support systems.
4.2. Professional development is a must, and not a luxury, for teacher growth and professional learning. It needs to be ongoing, cohesive, job-embedded, and collaborative, with coaches and small groups of teachers reflecting on practice, on student learning, and applying new knowledge to their specific context.
4.3. Accountability is not a new term or revelation for any educator. But ways in which policy has been used in oppressive and demoralizing ways toward educators has also resulted in reduced teacher morale, several good teachers leaving the education field, and much competitiveness for funding.
5. Andragogy: The Study of Adult Learning
5.1. Adnragogy refers to the "art and science of helping adults learn."
5.2. Adults differ from child learners in the following ways:
5.2.1. Self-concept
5.2.2. Experience
5.2.3. Readiness to learn
5.2.4. Orientation to learning
5.2.5. Motivation to learn
5.3. Research shows that adults learn best when:
5.3.1. Professional development goals are realistic.
5.3.2. There are opportunities for collaboration with peers.
5.3.3. The program is learner-centered.
5.3.4. The professional development is knowledge-centered.
5.3.5. The professional environment is assessment-and instruction-centered.
5.3.6. Ongoing collaborative professional learning opportunities are present.