Building Effective Professional Development in Elementary School

Building Effective Professional Development in Elementary School
Author: Judy Johnson
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 172
Release: 2018-04-27
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1351266268

Learn the principles of comprehensive professional development and motivate elementary school teachers to be more effective in the classroom! In Building Effective Professional Development in Elementary School, Judy Johnson presents a career-long and comprehensive approach to professional development that gives teachers the support they need to improve instruction and raise the levels of student achievement. Her book not only explains how to create and lead a successful PD program; it also offers practical advice for establishing a school culture that will encourage teachers to collaborate and self-motivate in an effort to improve instruction. Other topics include: Training to deepen content knowledge and expand the teaching repertoire; Identifying high-performing educators and helping them build upon their strengths; Using teaching demonstrations to enliven and diversify classroom practice; Creating an effective mentorship program that brings out the best in faculty members, regardless of experience level; Resolving problems with recruitment, dealing with disgruntled teachers, assessing teaching quality, and overcoming other obstacles preventing implementation of a comprehensive professional development program; And more!

Powerful Professional Development

Powerful Professional Development
Author: Diane Yendol-Hoppey
Publisher: Corwin Press
Total Pages: 201
Release: 2010-02-09
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1412979757

Draw on and develop the skills of your own faculty to provide effective, job-embedded professional development (PD) that is based on proven strategies and cost-effective PD models.

Professional Capital

Professional Capital
Author: Andy Hargreaves
Publisher: Teachers College Press
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2015-04-24
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0807771708

The future of learning depends absolutely on the future of teaching. In this latest and most important collaboration, Andy Hargreaves and Michael Fullan show how the quality of teaching is captured in a compelling new idea: the professional capital of every teacher working together in every school. Speaking out against policies that result in a teaching force that is inexperienced, inexpensive, and exhausted in short order, these two world authorities--who know teaching and leadership inside out--set out a groundbreaking new agenda to transform the future of teaching and public education. Ideas-driven, evidence-based, and strategically powerful, Professional Capital combats the tired arguments and stereotypes of teachers and teaching and shows us how to change them by demanding more of the teaching profession and more from the systems that support it. This is a book that no one connected with schools can afford to ignore. This book features: (1) a powerful and practical solution to what ails American schools; (2) Action guidelines for all groups--individual teachers, administrators, schools and districts, state and federal leaders; (3) a next-generation update of core themes from the authors' bestselling book, "What's Worth Fighting for in Your School?" [This book was co-published with the Ontario Principals' Council.].

Science Teachers' Learning

Science Teachers' Learning
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2016-01-15
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0309380189

Currently, many states are adopting the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) or are revising their own state standards in ways that reflect the NGSS. For students and schools, the implementation of any science standards rests with teachers. For those teachers, an evolving understanding about how best to teach science represents a significant transition in the way science is currently taught in most classrooms and it will require most science teachers to change how they teach. That change will require learning opportunities for teachers that reinforce and expand their knowledge of the major ideas and concepts in science, their familiarity with a range of instructional strategies, and the skills to implement those strategies in the classroom. Providing these kinds of learning opportunities in turn will require profound changes to current approaches to supporting teachers' learning across their careers, from their initial training to continuing professional development. A teacher's capability to improve students' scientific understanding is heavily influenced by the school and district in which they work, the community in which the school is located, and the larger professional communities to which they belong. Science Teachers' Learning provides guidance for schools and districts on how best to support teachers' learning and how to implement successful programs for professional development. This report makes actionable recommendations for science teachers' learning that take a broad view of what is known about science education, how and when teachers learn, and education policies that directly and indirectly shape what teachers are able to learn and teach. The challenge of developing the expertise teachers need to implement the NGSS presents an opportunity to rethink professional learning for science teachers. Science Teachers' Learning will be a valuable resource for classrooms, departments, schools, districts, and professional organizations as they move to new ways to teach science.

Driven by Data

Driven by Data
Author: Paul Bambrick-Santoyo
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2010-04-12
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0470548746

Offers a practical guide for improving schools dramatically that will enable all students from all backgrounds to achieve at high levels. Includes assessment forms, an index, and a DVD.

Professional Learning Communities at Work

Professional Learning Communities at Work
Author: Richard DuFour
Publisher: Solution Tree
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1998
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9781879639607

Provides specific information on how to transform schools into results-oriented professional learning communities, describing the best practices that have been used by schools nationwide.

The Leader in Me

The Leader in Me
Author: Stephen R. Covey
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 218
Release: 2012-12-11
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 147110446X

Children in today's world are inundated with information about who to be, what to do and how to live. But what if there was a way to teach children how to manage priorities, focus on goals and be a positive influence on the world around them? The Leader in Meis that programme. It's based on a hugely successful initiative carried out at the A.B. Combs Elementary School in North Carolina. To hear the parents of A. B Combs talk about the school is to be amazed. In 1999, the school debuted a programme that taught The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Peopleto a pilot group of students. The parents reported an incredible change in their children, who blossomed under the programme. By the end of the following year the average end-of-grade scores had leapt from 84 to 94. This book will launch the message onto a much larger platform. Stephen R. Covey takes the 7 Habits, that have already changed the lives of millions of people, and shows how children can use them as they develop. Those habits -- be proactive, begin with the end in mind, put first things first, think win-win, seek to understand and then to be understood, synergize, and sharpen the saw -- are critical skills to learn at a young age and bring incredible results, proving that it's never too early to teach someone how to live well.

The Art of Coaching

The Art of Coaching
Author: Elena Aguilar
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 375
Release: 2013-02-22
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1118421027

Hands-on resources for new and seasoned school coaches This practical resource offers the foundational skills and tools needed by new coaching educators, as well as presenting an overview of the knowledge and theory base behind the practice. Established coaches will find numerous ways to deepen and refine their coaching practice. Principals and others who incorporate coaching strategies into their work will also find a wealth of resources. Aguilar offers a model for transformational coaching which could be implemented as professional development in schools or districts anywhere. Although she addresses the needs of adult learners, her model maintains a student-centered focus, with a specific lens on addressing equity issues in schools. Offers a practical resource for school coaches, principals, district leaders, and other administrators Presents a transformational coaching model which addresses systems change Pays explicit attention to surfacing and interrupting inequities in schools The Art of Coaching: Effective Strategies for School Transformation offers a compendium of school coaching ideas, the book's explicit, user-friendly structure enhances the ability to access the information.

Handbook of Professional Development in Education

Handbook of Professional Development in Education
Author: Linda E. Martin
Publisher: Guilford Publications
Total Pages: 593
Release: 2014-04-16
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1462515274

This comprehensive handbook synthesizes the best current knowledge on teacher professional development (PD) and addresses practical issues in implementation. Leading authorities describe innovative practices that are being used in schools, emphasizing the value of PD that is instructive, reflective, active, collaborative, and substantive. Strategies for creating, measuring, and sustaining successful programs are presented. The book explores the relationship of PD to adult learning theory, school leadership, district and state policy, the growth of professional learning communities, and the Common Core State Standards. Each chapter concludes with thought-provoking discussion questions. The appendix provides eight illuminating case studies of PD initiatives in diverse schools.

The Knowledge Gap

The Knowledge Gap
Author: Natalie Wexler
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2020-08-04
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0735213569

The untold story of the root cause of America's education crisis--and the seemingly endless cycle of multigenerational poverty. It was only after years within the education reform movement that Natalie Wexler stumbled across a hidden explanation for our country's frustrating lack of progress when it comes to providing every child with a quality education. The problem wasn't one of the usual scapegoats: lazy teachers, shoddy facilities, lack of accountability. It was something no one was talking about: the elementary school curriculum's intense focus on decontextualized reading comprehension "skills" at the expense of actual knowledge. In the tradition of Dale Russakoff's The Prize and Dana Goldstein's The Teacher Wars, Wexler brings together history, research, and compelling characters to pull back the curtain on this fundamental flaw in our education system--one that fellow reformers, journalists, and policymakers have long overlooked, and of which the general public, including many parents, remains unaware. But The Knowledge Gap isn't just a story of what schools have gotten so wrong--it also follows innovative educators who are in the process of shedding their deeply ingrained habits, and describes the rewards that have come along: students who are not only excited to learn but are also acquiring the knowledge and vocabulary that will enable them to succeed. If we truly want to fix our education system and unlock the potential of our neediest children, we have no choice but to pay attention.