Coaching:
Peer Coaching: a non-evaluative reciprocal process in which teachers are paired to share and discuss a strategy, observe each other and provide mutal support
Instructional Coaching: The purpose of instructional coaching is to assist teacher learning and to build capacity to implement effective instructional practices that improves student learning and achievment.
Leadership Coaching: is about becoming a partner in a team, members journey towards enhanced competence and effectiveness, where structured support to achieve specific goals and professional growth to lead to enhanced results.
Instructional Coaching:
From careful examination of their student learning data, it was clear to the leadership team at Mount Summit School that they needed to focus one of their school-wide priorities on improving numeracy results.
'Most of our teachers are very experienced and have been teaching for a long time. We need a strategy that honours that and simultaneously helps them take on board numeracy teaching practices that are research and best practice proven.'
This comment from Bill, the principal, stimulated much conversation about the need to directly influence and support teachers in classrooms by having someone with numeracy expertise work in partnership with them over time.
Cycle follows needs analysis, classroom modelling by coach, coach and teacher co-teach, teacher teaches with coaching support, coach observes teacher with feedback, and then back to begining.
a. A rubric for schools to use as part of their peer review.
- Filling in individually and sharing back
Where are you at and what are the next steps. What, why and how
b. Building understanding around some powerful processes in PLOT
-- Coaching (all three forms)
-- Action Research
-- Learning Walks
Processes that support all kinds of professional learning
c) Sharing back what they have been working on back in their own schools, sharing this with each other and building a rubric that captures these key learnings for each school. What is working well, what they are focussing the most on etc etc.
These processes all look at norms / protocols for working together, dialogue skills for effective leadership / communication.
Dave and James's contribution. Home /school partnerships, using online collaborative tools and the use of these in the assessment process.
Goal: Increase capability of teachers and princpals to improve students' learning and achievement through e-learning
Main themes: Assessment linked to next step learing: Having conversations and analysing and using data with principals, teachers, students, BOT (MOE).
Feedback/feedforward (converstaions around this)
What is the purpose? - shared vision, values and beliefs to drive what we are doing.
- global purpose.
Resources: Hooked on thinking: (shared language around the tools to engage students in higher order thinking)
Building effective learning communities - leadspace
ICTPD online - a fantastic newsletter with lots of links to software for learning, using web 2 tools effectively, change management. Be sure to scroll down to the end
Path toward strengthening professional learning communities and collaboration within and across Schools.
Step 1. Prepare the Team.
Effective professional learning happens by design, not chance
Adult collaboration
'Dependent people need others to get what they want. Independent people can get what they want through their own effort. Interdependent people combine their own efforts with the efforts of others to achieve their greatest successes.'
(Covey, 1989)
Building commitment
Once a foundation of trust, comfort, and risk taking is created, the opportunities for peers to support and learn from one another through collaborative effort are boundless.
At the same time, there is no guarantee adult colleagues will want to. Like our students, we are far more likely to make a genuine commitment to collaboration when we see purpose and benefits, and when we have an understanding of the important phases and principles on which teamwork is based.
And while the ultimate goal is a central focus on student learning, pedagogy and continuous improvement, many of our teachers have worked in isolation for a very long time. Depending on your particular situation, it may be important that your staff's initial experiences and explorations with collaboration are 'low risk,' that is, they don't require them to put their professional selves on the line.
Who teachers are to one another matters. In a sometimes lonely profession, isolation within the individual cells of an egg-crate school does not promote personal or professional growth. Parallel play may socialise youngsters in sandboxes, but it limits learning for adults.
(Garmston & Wellmann, 1999, p 256)
Collaboration tends to emerge as staff members move from relationships characterised by congeniality, to cooperation, and then to collegiality. How much time is spent in each of these stages will be a function of the existing characteristics of an individual school.
(Robbins & Alvey, 1995, p 134)
The core purpose of professional learning is the improvement of student learning and teacher practice.
The adults whose learning we facilitate need to experience and have modelled for them the kinds of learning we want to see happening for students, so that understandings are constructed and the likelihood of transfer to practice enhanced.
Professional learning needs to be primarily site-based and embedded into the daily work of adult learners, so they can work closely with colleagues to share practice, address important issues related to learning and teaching, and focus on improving their practice and student learning.
New learning takes time, and the provision of on-going, long-term support is essential to embed and sustain changes to practice for individuals and teams.
Each of these elements is essential to facilitating the kind of professional learning that makes a difference to teacher practice and student learning:
• Model best practice learning
• Construct understanding
• Engage diverse learners
• Empower learners: foster reflection and self-responsibility
• Connect learning to practice - embed and sustain
Joan is currently working on and writing a range of rich processes and practical strategies you can use to assist the work you do with adult learners to be highly effective.
Facilitate, embed and sustain the learning will be a sizeable section; it is anticipated that parts of this will be accessible early in 2007 and added to over the year.
The major focus in Ways of Talking is related to the kind of reflective and substantive dialogue that helps people:
• construct strong mutual understandings of pedagogy
• build, maintain and enhance respectful, positive collegial relationships.
Step 2. Framework for Collabortation.
Substantive dialogue
Professionally alive communities engage in substantive conversations about pedagogy in ways that support:
• learning
• inquiry
• mutual understandings, and
• growth.
The ways we talk together have a profound impact on the learning and professional growth that takes place. How we:
• talk to and about each other, our students and our parents (staff norms), and
• how we engage in substantive dialogue about pedagogy
holds the key to transforming our schools into dynamic, professional learning communities.
This is easy to say, and not so easy to do. Poor conversations are all too common in our schools. How often have we heard comments like:
Just as we work to build the communication abilities of our students, and our own as we work with them, we must work simultaneously to build and polish our conversation and dialogue skills with other adults.
There are many kinds of discourse; in particular, professional communities use both dialogue and discussion, for different purposes and outcomes. When we understand both, we are in a strong position to consciously decide which is the appropriate pathway to pursue.
Use this framework to help you:
• Understand the collaborative process from a 'big picture' perspective
This helps us pay attention to each one. Remember that each phase serves a specific purpose, including the storming phase. If for example, there is no conflict, there is no genuine community or team. It's handling it effectively that's important.
• Reflect on and evaluate your community's (or team's) current functioning
Analyse and discuss each phase to identify your current dominant 'place' (you may be in more than one). Compare the key elements of that phase with what you have already done to ensure effectiveness. Go back to prior phases to ensure they have been properly attended to in terms of time and process.
• Set goals to increase effectiveness
Having done this, you are now in a position to identify your team/community needs, and to set goals that will help you move forward.
• Reflect on and revisit each phase as necessary
Even when you have paid due attention to each phase, events and situations may occur that mean you have to revisit, re-focus and re-build. This is an expected and necessary part of effective collaboration
Forming
‘coming together’
• getting to know each other
• building trusting relationships
• creating a safe, need-satisfying environment
• establishing common goals/purposes
Goal: safety, acceptance, inclusion, forming for a purpose
Adjourning
‘reforming’
• celebrating achievements acknowledging contribution
• purpose for working together fulfilled
• disengaging from group: letting go and moving on
Goal: fulfilling purpose for which group was formed Norming
‘guiding structures’
• establishing shared norm and values
• co-creating explicit charters to guide functioning
• working on skills development (task, process, interpersonal)
Goal: establishing structures andguidelines for task and group functioning
Performing
‘high-functioning task, process skills, group development
• achieving mutual understandings
• getting the work done and doing the right work
• on-going reflection and review of progress
• inter-dependent teamwork: balancing task, process, and relationships
• collective sense of achievement
Goal: accomplishing goals, purposes, skilful group processing , and maintenance of internal relationships. Burgeoning
‘real thinking emerging’
• substantive dialogue in evidence - using guiding framework/s
• exploring own and others’ ideas
• increased openness and risk-taking
• increased focus on task/complex thinking and dialogue
Goal: building stronger mutual understandings, increased openness to exploring ideas
Storming
‘conflict and struggle’
• conflicting ideas out in the open
• exploring disagreement
• perspective-taking in evidence
• working for positive resolution
• using problem-solving processes
• using agreed to norms, charters and structures
to guide resolution
Goal: living effectively with conflict and handling it positively
Step 3 Communicate.
Communication is central to learning, and an essential key to life success. It is fundamental to making sense of, and successfully participating in, networked societies in a global world.
One of the many challenges we face as teachers today is contending with both new and traditional forms of communication, and helping our children master traditional literacies and new communications media. Our world is now awash with multimedia and global communications. Students increasingly need to be able to use and blend simultaneously various kinds of literacy - aural, visual, multimedia, aesthetic, information networks and other tech.
Our next day working with Mel will be:
25 May.
3 August
2 November TBC
Goal setting: Gots and Wants
What is a key thing you get from today?
Time laying with PLOT site and see direction
Having an opportunity to network and talk
Mel questions
Modeling the process
Great starting point
To follow through the website with a purpose in mind
Other resources out there that you didn't realise were there
Issues that are out there.
Things book marked in personal journal for later use
What is it that you feel you will have completed by next time we meet?
Lyndia. "The Map" The lamp The Plan. on the wall.
Warren How PLOT can help and support the not negotiables in the The NZC
Sarah look at decision making working with BOT and pathway to follow
Christian Use PLOT tools to revisit our vision and strategic plan
James Community consultation around vision, name etc
Dave Prioritise ideas around plot and leading change in school and where we are heading
Andrea Use PLOT action plan for 2009 focusing on reviewing and setting vision inplace
One question you will bring to our next meeting that you would like to ask? 1 April.
Christian
I'd like some help from Mel and PLOT tools to plan a teacher only day for
the new curriculum.
Outline at this stage = I want to start with where we're at, what we have
and what we think about the next steps. The school has done quite a bit
prior to me arriving so it's time for a revisit and to reaffirm our
direction, pedagogy basis and that we share our understandings, priorities
with current data.I'd like some balance between hard thinking and fun. If
possible.
9 March 9:00 am - 3:30 pm. Otakaro 216.
Mel and I have met to organise the day. Mel has all your registrations for the PLOT website and database.
Please bring along your copy of NZC and some of the documentation that you have in draft or perhaps are in the process of introducing with your staff.
We will begin the day talking and discussing the ramifications of NZC at your school and how you have gone about designing a curriculum to suit the needs of your community. This will then be supported by the material in PLOT that you and your staff can access.
Time will be spent in the afternoon using the resources in the PLOT database, so that you feel confident to share and use these with your staff.
As an aside, the parking regulations are back inforce at the Dovedale Campus. Some of the streets surrounding the College Campus also have restricted parking times on them, so please be aware when you park as fines are up to $40. Solway Street by the carparks appears to be a free park zone. We do want you to enjoy the day. :-)
PLOT. Professional learning Online Tool
Table of Contents
3 August 9:00 am Otakaro 243.
Coaching:
Peer Coaching: a non-evaluative reciprocal process in which teachers are paired to share and discuss a strategy, observe each other and provide mutal support
Instructional Coaching: The purpose of instructional coaching is to assist teacher learning and to build capacity to implement effective instructional practices that improves student learning and achievment.
Leadership Coaching: is about becoming a partner in a team, members journey towards enhanced competence and effectiveness, where structured support to achieve specific goals and professional growth to lead to enhanced results.
Instructional Coaching:
From careful examination of their student learning data, it was clear to the leadership team at Mount Summit School that they needed to focus one of their school-wide priorities on improving numeracy results.
'Most of our teachers are very experienced and have been teaching for a long time. We need a strategy that honours that and simultaneously helps them take on board numeracy teaching practices that are research and best practice proven.'
This comment from Bill, the principal, stimulated much conversation about the need to directly influence and support teachers in classrooms by having someone with numeracy expertise work in partnership with them over time.
Cycle follows needs analysis, classroom modelling by coach, coach and teacher co-teach, teacher teaches with coaching support, coach observes teacher with feedback, and then back to begining.
Links from today
Edtalks
Our wall on Wallwisher
a. A rubric for schools to use as part of their peer review.
- Filling in individually and sharing back
Where are you at and what are the next steps. What, why and how
b. Building understanding around some powerful processes in PLOT
-- Coaching (all three forms)
-- Action Research
-- Learning Walks
Processes that support all kinds of professional learning
c) Sharing back what they have been working on back in their own schools, sharing this with each other and building a rubric that captures these key learnings for each school. What is working well, what they are focussing the most on etc etc.
These processes all look at norms / protocols for working together, dialogue skills for effective leadership / communication.
Dave and James's contribution. Home /school partnerships, using online collaborative tools and the use of these in the assessment process.
CLOUD COMPUTING - Definitionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing
WHAT IS CLOUD COMPUTING
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PNuQHUiV3Q
Nick Rate, DP and 2008 eFellow at Russell St School, explored the way digital portfolios support effective pedagogy and formative assessment in his school. Nick talks about his research, and how eportfolios are essential to the formative assessment process.
http://www.edtalks.org/play.php?vid=180
PLOT PD - HOME SCHOOL COMMUNICATION
http://www.plotpd.com.au/Go+to+PLOT/Pedagogy+in+action/Communication/Home-school+communication/ PLOT PD - INTEGRATE NEW TECHNOLOGIES http://www.plotpd.com.au/Go+to+PLOT/Pedagogy+in+action/Communication/Integrate+new+technologies/10settingthescene.htm PLOT PD ADULT COLLABORATION STRUCTURES - ideas for involving people in meetings
http://www.plotpd.com.au/Go+to+PLOT/Adult+collaboration/Structures+menu/
Cloud Computing Explained
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJncFirhjPg
Cloud Computing in Plain English
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdBd14rjcs0
Goal: Increase capability of teachers and princpals to improve students' learning and achievement through e-learning
Main themes: Assessment linked to next step learing: Having conversations and analysing and using data with principals, teachers, students, BOT (MOE).
Feedback/feedforward (converstaions around this)
What is the purpose? - shared vision, values and beliefs to drive what we are doing.
- global purpose.
Resources:
Hooked on thinking: (shared language around the tools to engage students in higher order thinking)
Differentiated curriculum model (how to initiate thinking around getting students to learn how to learn
PLOT Substantive dialogue assessment audits Focus on core purpose
Cheryl Doig's site Think Beyond - schools having a clear vision on the direction they wish to take
Resources page has excellent links to leadership, engagement, change
The Big Picture stuff - establishing vision
Julia Atkin
Values, Belief's and Vision
Converstations that matter - professional reading on leadspace
Building effective learning communities - leadspace
ICTPD online - a fantastic newsletter with lots of links to software for learning, using web 2 tools effectively, change management. Be sure to scroll down to the end
MOE National Standards
NZCER research and publications
Analysing data - using the information from AsTTle
John Hattie. What makes a difference?
Path toward strengthening professional learning communities and collaboration within and across Schools.
Step 1. Prepare the Team.
Effective professional learning happens by design, not chance
Adult collaboration
'Dependent people need others to get what they want. Independent people can get what they want through their own effort. Interdependent people combine their own efforts with the efforts of others to achieve their greatest successes.'
(Covey, 1989)
Building commitment
Once a foundation of trust, comfort, and risk taking is created, the opportunities for peers to support and learn from one another through collaborative effort are boundless.
At the same time, there is no guarantee adult colleagues will want to. Like our students, we are far more likely to make a genuine commitment to collaboration when we see purpose and benefits, and when we have an understanding of the important phases and principles on which teamwork is based.
And while the ultimate goal is a central focus on student learning, pedagogy and continuous improvement, many of our teachers have worked in isolation for a very long time. Depending on your particular situation, it may be important that your staff's initial experiences and explorations with collaboration are 'low risk,' that is, they don't require them to put their professional selves on the line.
Who teachers are to one another matters. In a sometimes lonely profession, isolation within the individual cells of an egg-crate school does not promote personal or professional growth. Parallel play may socialise youngsters in sandboxes, but it limits learning for adults.
(Garmston & Wellmann, 1999, p 256)
Collaboration tends to emerge as staff members move from relationships characterised by congeniality, to cooperation, and then to collegiality. How much time is spent in each of these stages will be a function of the existing characteristics of an individual school.
(Robbins & Alvey, 1995, p 134)
The core purpose of professional learning is the improvement of student learning and teacher practice.
The adults whose learning we facilitate need to experience and have modelled for them the kinds of learning we want to see happening for students, so that understandings are constructed and the likelihood of transfer to practice enhanced.
Professional learning needs to be primarily site-based and embedded into the daily work of adult learners, so they can work closely with colleagues to share practice, address important issues related to learning and teaching, and focus on improving their practice and student learning.
New learning takes time, and the provision of on-going, long-term support is essential to embed and sustain changes to practice for individuals and teams.
Each of these elements is essential to facilitating the kind of professional learning that makes a difference to teacher practice and student learning:
• Model best practice learning
• Construct understanding
• Engage diverse learners
• Empower learners: foster reflection and self-responsibility
• Connect learning to practice - embed and sustain
Joan is currently working on and writing a range of rich processes and practical strategies you can use to assist the work you do with adult learners to be highly effective.
Facilitate, embed and sustain the learning will be a sizeable section; it is anticipated that parts of this will be accessible early in 2007 and added to over the year.
The major focus in Ways of Talking is related to the kind of reflective and substantive dialogue that helps people:
• construct strong mutual understandings of pedagogy
• build, maintain and enhance respectful, positive collegial relationships.
Step 2. Framework for Collabortation.
Substantive dialogue
Professionally alive communities engage in substantive conversations about pedagogy in ways that support:
• learning
• inquiry
• mutual understandings, and
• growth.
The ways we talk together have a profound impact on the learning and professional growth that takes place. How we:
• talk to and about each other, our students and our parents (staff norms), and
• how we engage in substantive dialogue about pedagogy
holds the key to transforming our schools into dynamic, professional learning communities.
This is easy to say, and not so easy to do. Poor conversations are all too common in our schools. How often have we heard comments like:
Just as we work to build the communication abilities of our students, and our own as we work with them, we must work simultaneously to build and polish our conversation and dialogue skills with other adults.
There are many kinds of discourse; in particular, professional communities use both dialogue and discussion, for different purposes and outcomes. When we understand both, we are in a strong position to consciously decide which is the appropriate pathway to pursue.
Use this framework to help you:
• Understand the collaborative process from a 'big picture' perspective
This helps us pay attention to each one. Remember that each phase serves a specific purpose, including the storming phase. If for example, there is no conflict, there is no genuine community or team. It's handling it effectively that's important.
• Reflect on and evaluate your community's (or team's) current functioning
Analyse and discuss each phase to identify your current dominant 'place' (you may be in more than one). Compare the key elements of that phase with what you have already done to ensure effectiveness. Go back to prior phases to ensure they have been properly attended to in terms of time and process.
• Set goals to increase effectiveness
Having done this, you are now in a position to identify your team/community needs, and to set goals that will help you move forward.
• Reflect on and revisit each phase as necessary
Even when you have paid due attention to each phase, events and situations may occur that mean you have to revisit, re-focus and re-build. This is an expected and necessary part of effective collaboration
Forming
‘coming together’
• getting to know each other
• building trusting relationships
• creating a safe, need-satisfying environment
• establishing common goals/purposes
Goal: safety, acceptance, inclusion, forming for a purpose
Adjourning
‘reforming’
• celebrating achievements acknowledging contribution
• purpose for working together fulfilled
• disengaging from group: letting go and moving on
Goal: fulfilling purpose for which group was formed Norming
‘guiding structures’
• establishing shared norm and values
• co-creating explicit charters to guide functioning
• working on skills development (task, process, interpersonal)
Goal: establishing structures andguidelines for task and group functioning
Performing
‘high-functioning task, process skills, group development
• achieving mutual understandings
• getting the work done and doing the right work
• on-going reflection and review of progress
• inter-dependent teamwork: balancing task, process, and relationships
• collective sense of achievement
Goal: accomplishing goals, purposes, skilful group processing , and maintenance of internal relationships. Burgeoning
‘real thinking emerging’
• substantive dialogue in evidence - using guiding framework/s
• exploring own and others’ ideas
• increased openness and risk-taking
• increased focus on task/complex thinking and dialogue
Goal: building stronger mutual understandings, increased openness to exploring ideas
Storming
‘conflict and struggle’
• conflicting ideas out in the open
• exploring disagreement
• perspective-taking in evidence
• working for positive resolution
• using problem-solving processes
• using agreed to norms, charters and structures
to guide resolution
Goal: living effectively with conflict and handling it positively
Step 3 Communicate.
Communication is central to learning, and an essential key to life success. It is fundamental to making sense of, and successfully participating in, networked societies in a global world.
One of the many challenges we face as teachers today is contending with both new and traditional forms of communication, and helping our children master traditional literacies and new communications media. Our world is now awash with multimedia and global communications. Students increasingly need to be able to use and blend simultaneously various kinds of literacy - aural, visual, multimedia, aesthetic, information networks and other tech.
Our next day working with Mel will be:
25 May.
3 August
2 November TBC
Goal setting: Gots and Wants
What is a key thing you get from today?
Time laying with PLOT site and see direction
Having an opportunity to network and talk
Mel questions
Modeling the process
Great starting point
To follow through the website with a purpose in mind
Other resources out there that you didn't realise were there
Issues that are out there.
Things book marked in personal journal for later use
What is it that you feel you will have completed by next time we meet?
Lyndia. "The Map" The lamp The Plan. on the wall.
Warren How PLOT can help and support the not negotiables in the The NZC
Sarah look at decision making working with BOT and pathway to follow
Christian Use PLOT tools to revisit our vision and strategic plan
James Community consultation around vision, name etc
Dave Prioritise ideas around plot and leading change in school and where we are heading
Andrea Use PLOT action plan for 2009 focusing on reviewing and setting vision inplace
One question you will bring to our next meeting that you would like to ask? 1 April.
Christian
I'd like some help from Mel and PLOT tools to plan a teacher only day for
the new curriculum.
Outline at this stage = I want to start with where we're at, what we have
and what we think about the next steps. The school has done quite a bit
prior to me arriving so it's time for a revisit and to reaffirm our
direction, pedagogy basis and that we share our understandings, priorities
with current data.I'd like some balance between hard thinking and fun. If
possible.
9 March 9:00 am - 3:30 pm. Otakaro 216.
Mel and I have met to organise the day. Mel has all your registrations for the PLOT website and database.Please bring along your copy of NZC and some of the documentation that you have in draft or perhaps are in the process of introducing with your staff.
We will begin the day talking and discussing the ramifications of NZC at your school and how you have gone about designing a curriculum to suit the needs of your community. This will then be supported by the material in PLOT that you and your staff can access.
Time will be spent in the afternoon using the resources in the PLOT database, so that you feel confident to share and use these with your staff.
As an aside, the parking regulations are back inforce at the Dovedale Campus. Some of the streets surrounding the College Campus also have restricted parking times on them, so please be aware when you park as fines are up to $40. Solway Street by the carparks appears to be a free park zone. We do want you to enjoy the day. :-)