I agree that group discussions among teachers is a profoundly powerful means of staff development...in our district, we call these PLCs -or professional learning communities. As reading specialist, I find myself with plenty of opportunities to work with teachers and formally facilitates the PLC for kindergarten in my building. One of the things I have learned is that we are most successful when we pay attention to, not surprisingly, the process. It helps to set up guidelines and protocols for sharing with colleagues in things like grade level meetings or book study groups. Without them, true, meaningful sharing is less likely as we try to protect our own and others feelings. Discussing in advance how you will work together with each other and then holding each other to those expectations helps keep the discussion both honest and supportive. This really became evident in my lesson study team. Our very first cycle we had an outside process observer who was really crucial. He helped us reflect on how we were working with each other. As we completed our 5 cycles, our process observer was not always available to help us out. At first, when our process observer was absent, we sometimes strayed from the protocols during our debriefing session and our learning was not as profound. It was natural really, we were friends and it was easy to slide into our natural pattern for relating to each other. Once we figured out how important process was, we started holding each other to the protocol and our experience improved. During our final cycle, our process observer was able to work with us again more consistently, and once again helped us fine-tune our process which in turn, deepened our learning. We entitled our presentation about lesson study for the reading conference "It is all about the process..." It is just so important to effective professional development. My belief in the importance of process was the reason why we started this discussion group with a post on guidelines and why I periodically will ask how things are going and ask for feedback on things like pacing of our discussion etc. Feel free to post on or off list if our process is not working for you! :-) Jennifer Palmer Reading Specialist, National Board Certified Teacher FLES- Lead the discovery, Live the learning, Love the adventure. Reading furnishes the mind only with the materials of knowledge. It is thinking that makes what we read ours. -John Locke
________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sun 4/20/2008 9:44 AM To: Special Chat List for "To Understand: New Horizons in ReadingComprehension" Subject: Re: [Understand] Chapter 3 But, I must say, the quote that you mention about rethinking what we do, as teachers, hit me like 'a ton of bricks'. I often find myself patting myself on the back because I 'think' a lesson went very well, or the kids really related and understood...and I'm sure that happens to all of us at some time. However, I never thought to look beyond what I was confident about to break down that whole into parts. What could I have done even better? How could I guarantee that more of my students would 'get it'? Could a colleague observe and reflect with me about ways to improve? As the Reading Specialist in my building, I am part of a literacy committee that has spent the last year reworking and rethinking our Writing Workshop. I am bringing Ellin's suggestion of colleagues really looking closely at their instruction and rethinking what they feel confident about, and what areas need to work more smoothly. I think this is one of the best professional development models. I just hope many of my colleagues will see the value in this and try it out. Linda -------------- Original message -------------- From: Beverlee Paul <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Or, as Mimi Brodsky Chenfeld would say, "Down with > Smug!"__________________________________________________________________________ > _____________________________On page 57, "We must do what is hardest of > all--rethink what we believe is already working" really resonated with me. I > am > so fortunate to be in a district that embraces best practices and allows > teachers to implement exactly what Ellin speaks of in this book. But, and here > is the sad part, teachers are very unwilling to take a critical look at what > they already do. > _________________________________________________________________ > Pack up or back up-use SkyDrive to transfer files or keep extra copies. Learn > how. > http://www.windowslive.com/skydrive/overview.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_Refresh_skyd > rive_packup_042008 > _______________________________________________ > Understand mailing list > [email protected] > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
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