Professional Development Models

Professional Development Models

EDU-585 Lisa Maltais

Mentoring &Coaching

Data Analysis

Peer Observations

Communities of Learners

Action Research

References

Mentoring & Coaching

Characteristics:

• One on one conversations
• Small group instruction
• Collaboration
• Emotional connections between coach & teacher
• Providing Feedback
• Ongoing & cyclic

Effectiveness:

• By providing personalized support to teachers, coaching can improve classroom instruction and makes it easier for teachers to meet the needs of their students.

Advantages:

• Individualized support
• Improved instructional practice
• Increased professional growth for both coachee and coach.
• Improved school culture
• Improved connections with peers
• Higher student performance and reduced achievement gaps

Disadvantages:

• Resistance from veteran teachers
• Teachers may not use feedback
• Time constraints: Teachers aren’t really spending enough time on coaching activities so there is no change in instructional practices
• Quality of feedback from the coaches

Activities:

• Observations, goal setting, modeling of intervention, & feedback ( Knight, 2007) & (Moody, 2019)

Peer Observations

Characteristics:

• One-to-one relationship
• Teacher observes another teacher to enhance their classroom practice
• Includes reflection, analysis, and feedback

Effectiveness:

• “For this type of professional development to be effective, the administrative team should provide training and develop simple observation sheets or road maps so that individuals participating have specific objectives” (Hopping & Stevenson, 2014).

Advantages:

• Encourages honest conversations
• Provides opportunity for reflection
• Helps observer develop their communication skills
• Observers might learn some useful strategies to implement in their instruction

Disadvantages:

• Lack of confidence when being observed
• Teachers may not show real performance knowing they are being observed
• Feedback may not be useful
• Finding time to observe

Activities:

• Visible Learning: Peer can videotape lesson. Peers have the ability to evaluate their own work

and apply data on student learning to guide teaching practices.

• Checklist: quick way to record teaching and learning strategies and can give an overview of the lesson's

activities

(Hopping & Stevenson, 2014) & (Cambridge Assessment International Education, Teaching and Learning Team, n.d.)

Data Analysis

Characteristics:

• Identify strengths, needs, challenges, and resources in order to improve student achievement
• Gives teachers actionable information with which to plan teaching and reteaching of every single student

Effectiveness:

• Teachers might see patterns and trends in student performance data that might point to areas in which their students are performing well or poorly.

• It allows teachers, along with the SST team to provide interventions to different tier groupings.

Advantages:

• Informs instructional practice (targeted instruction, differentiated instruction, & progress monitoring)

• Teams can collaborate and follow the RtI approach
• Enhances student outcomes

Disadvantages:

• Students are so much more than the data they provide.

• Data can be used ineffectively.
• Data has made education more of a chore than a love of teaching.

Activities:

• Data Day: Classroom teachers meet with SST team. They analyze the data on benchmark tests.

Based on data, interventionists create tier 2 and tier 3 groups. Team discusses ways to improve tier 1 instruction based on MAP testing. Goals are set.

Communities of Learners

Characteristics:

• Supportive and shared leadership
• Shared values and vision
• Collected creativity
• Supportive conditions
• Shared personal practice

Effectiveness:

• A learning community's capacity allows it to provide a variety of leadership positions and chances for skill development.

Advantages:

• Continuous learning
• Improved teacher satisfaction
• Builds strong relationships between team members
• Promotes teacher reflection
• Leads to improved student achievement

Disadvantages:

• Finding time to meet
• Requires additional resources (training, materials, & technology)
• Lack of teacher buy-in

Activities:

• Team can do a book study
• Review student data
• Set learning goals

(Professional Learning Communities, 1997) (Fogarty & Pete, 2017)

Action Research

Characteristics:

• Collaborative
• Cycle of planning, acting, developing, & reflecting
• Conducted to learn new knowledge
• Can help make school wide decisions

Effectiveness:

• Action research generates knowledge and allows teachers to learn through their actions and apply what they learn immediately.

Advantages:

• Teacher empowerment
• Teachers learn from one another
• Helps teachers develop new knowledge
• Schools become more effective learning communities

Disadvantages:

• A time-consuming process
• Validity of data may be questioned
• Some may not be trained in the methods of the action research

Activities:

• Identify a problem area, create three research questions, collect data, analyze data, & create an action plan, share with colleagues

(Benefits of Action Research – Expository Essay, 2023)

References

Benefits of Action Research – Expository essay. (2023, October 30). IvyPanda. https://ivypanda.com/essays/action-research/ Cambridge Assessment International Education, Teaching and Learning Team. (n.d.). Getting Started with Peer Observation. https://www.cambridge- community.org.uk/professional-development/gswpo/index.html Fogarty, R. J., & Pete, B. M. (2017). From staff room to classroom: A guide for planning and coaching professional development. (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. ISBN-13: 9781506358307 Hopping, L., & Stevenson, R. (2014). The Case for Meaningful Professional Development. AMLE Magazine, 1(6), 10-13.https://www.proquest.com/docview/1671180454/fulltextPDF/93F7F28DB5684F75PQ/1?accountid=7374&parentSessionId=7LR0nNeogJLyltw%2B0fEXH852lU%2BsFwbqn0oTOd2XB34%3D&sourcetype=Trade%20JournalsKnight, J. (2007). Instructional coaching: A partnership approach to improving instruction. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. ISBN-9781412927246 Moody, M.S. (2019, November 1). If instructional coaching really works, why isn't it working? ASCD, 77 (3). https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/if-instructional-coaching-really-works-why-isnt-it-working Professional learning communities: What are they and why are they important? (1997). Issues...About Change, 6 (1). https://www.rider.edu/sites/default/files/files/tlc- SEDLArticlePLCs.pdf