Professional+Development+-+Thinking+Template


 * Essential Questions**

//"And questions long buried under answers may be unearthed" (Tom Barone, 2001, p. 3).//

In this space, list no more than 5 to 7 questions that would guide others in exploring your topic area in ways that will help them to develop a deep, enduring understanding of it.

1) Should professional development be designed for a single discipline or for multiple discipline for the most effective impact to all learners?

2) What are the concerns of your audience?

3) How can the 'whole person' be addressed in professional development experiences? Everyone comes with physical, emotional, social, and intellectual needs -- how can a PD experience take ALL of these into account to make a successful experience for all? (CT)

4) How can professional development offered to an educational institution meet the needs of many teachers, who are at so many different stages of their professional and personal development?

5) To be relevant and meaningful the professional development must hit them at the point where it aligns with each educator's needs and stage in the professional life of the teacher --how can professional development meet the varied needs of all?


 * Key Concepts**

//". . . the emphasis should be on a few powerful ideas that students are unlikely to discover on their own and that can help them make sense of a wide variety of more specific ideas" (Putnam & Borko, 1997, p. 1271).//

SUSTAINED

COLLEGIAL

ACTION RESEARCH

WALK-THOUGH

IDENTIFY 'WHY'


 * Guiding Principles**

//". . . Search for principles. Carefully separate them from the detail used to explain them. Principles are concentrated truth, packaged for application to a wide variety of circumstances// //. . . . It is worth great effort to organize the truth we gather to simple statements of principle" (Richard G. Scott)//

In this space, make a list of no more than 7 principles (or rules of thumb) that others could use to guide them in applying key concepts from your topic area to their own classrooms or contexts.

1) make it meaningful to your audience

2) PD experiences should be holistic in nature, addressing the 'whole person.' (CT)

3) PD not only has to be research-based but also provide follow-up and support for those who are practicing to mastery. 'One-shot' contacts with a new or important concept or practice results in few if any teachers implementing it in their classrooms.

4) Quality PD is: SUSTAINED and COLLEGIAL; it involves ACTION RESEARCH, WALK-THROUGH, and IDENTIFIES 'WHY.'

5) Change agents/ideas cause tension, much like a rubber band. Accomodation can only occur in small stages (stretched a little at a time); too great an attempt causes the system to 'snap' and break down. One must convice others to share the belief and 'get inside the rubber band.'

6) Most practicing teachers cannot keep up with latest research. Therefore, a successful presenter at a PD event will summarize that and translate it into best practices, showing what that would look like in the classroom.

(Linked Statements)


 * PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CYCLE*

Effective professional development results from an ongoing cycle of interdependent steps.

A learning community, comprised of leaders, peers, and mentors, that builds consensus around a set of beliefs and needs, creates relevance.

Relevance creates impetus for change; that change requires resources.

Resources, including people, time, and money, are required to plan, implement, and evaluate opportunities for change. Commitment of those resources must be tied to accountability.

Accountability ensures a sustained cycle of thoughtful, responsible involvement from all stakeholders within the learning community.


 * Personal Reflections**

//"For what you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing: it also depends on what sort of person you are" (Lewis, 1955, p. 136).//

In this space, note 1 reflection or personal connection that each person in your group made with your topic area.

Person 1: you need direction or you won't ever get where you want to go. (BM)

Person 2: Most teachers see PD from the participant side only; having conducted a number of half- and day-long experiences, I know that it changes your perspective to be a participant again. It makes you at once both more cynical and more sympathetic. Perhaps the real key would be to make sure that the participants *are* co-presenters/presiders during the experience, and thereby put the 'shift' *during* the event, rather than waiting for when, and if, the participant becomes a presenter/presider. (CT)

Person 3: Teachers struggle to survive day-to-day in the classroom; professional development, above all, must be real and practical. It must help the teacher's survival and not complicate his/her life. (TF)

Person 4: PD should not be legislated or prescriptive; an appropriate focus should be available when needed.


 * Quality Models**

//". . . we teach who we are" (Palmer, 1998, p. 2).//

In this space, list no more than 5 quality models of your topic area in action.

1) WILL (Western Initative for Language Learning (year 1) and Leadership (year 2))

2)Annenberg/PBC 'Teaching Foreign Language' Videos www.learner.org

3)

4)

5)


 * Powerful Quotations**

//"The voice of the mentor becomes the internal voice of the protégé" (Lipton & Wellman, 2003)//

In this space, list no more than 20 powerful quotations related to your topic area. Please use the following format: "Quotation" (Author's Last Name, Year of Publication, p. #). "Quotation" (Author's Last Name, Year of Publication, p. #). Leadership is about making those around you great (no idea who said this, but I am quoting Carl Falsgraf - he was quoting someone else) ___ __ "Die Eifersucht tist eine Leidenschaft, die mit Eifer sucht, was Leiden schafft." It's a play on words as well, as the compound nouns, when separated, make pithy commentary: "jealousy is a passion which zealosly seeks that which causes suffering." I'm adding it here because I observe that a fair amount of resistance and negativity I see in teachers at PD events is based on a petty jealousy (Look at *her* -- doesn't *she* think she's special!). SOMEHOW that needs to be short-circuited so that it doesn't get in the way or delay participation and learning. It saddens me to see how easily FL teachers cut each other to the bone, and I think it's mostly petty jealousy. __
 * //"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."//** (General Patton [looking for date said])
 * __This is an old German saying, and I never cease to be surprises how many different interpretations it can have:__


 * Resources & Materials**

//"The selection of a material or activity is also the selection of an array of forces that will influence how students will be challenged to think . . . the curriculum is a mind-altering device" (Eisner, 2004, pp. 13, 72).//

In this space, make a list of the TOP TEN resources and materials that you would recommend to a foreign language educator who is interested in understanding and using your topic area to improve their practice.

Talking Shop: authentic teacher conversations by Christopher Clark. I posted this under the resources link under our topic.


 * References**

Eisner, Elliot W. (2002). //The arts and the creation of mind.//New Haven: Yale University Press.

Lewis, Clive S. (1955). //The magician's nephew.//NY: Scholastic.

Lipton, Laura, & Wellman, Bruce. (2003). //Mentoring matters: A practical guide to// //learning-focused relationships (2nd ed.).// Sherman, CT: MiraVia.

Palmer, Parker. (1998). //The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher's life.//San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Putnam, Ralph T., & Borko, Hilda. (1997). Teacher learning: Implications of new views of cognition. In B.J. Biddle, et. al. (Eds.), //International handbook of teachers// //and teaching// (pp. 1223-1297). Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Showers, Joyce, B. and Showers, B. // Power in staff development through research in training. //Alexandria, Virginia: ASCD, 1983.

Steffey, B., Wolfe, M., Pasch, S,. & Enz, B. (2000) // Life Cycle of The Career Teacher. // Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.