Transforming SchoolsInforming Classroom Practice

Welcome Back!School Specialists September 17, 2004

“Your organization functions and grows through conversations. The quality of those conversations determines how smart your organization is.”

David Perkins

Reflection: Pick 3 for 101. Reflect on the degree to which your school

reviews student work together.

2. Reflect on the last time I assisted a teacher in reviewing her/his student data and helped change daily practice in the classroom as a result.

3. How does a teacher demonstrate to me that instruction is differentiated for students with disabilities?

4. Think about the most recent professional development session I planned and conducted. How could I have improved it? What can I observe to confirm that the information is being applied in the classroom?

REFLECTION 1 for 56. When thinking of a teacher that I

coached last year who was not successful, what could I have done that would resulted in the teacher being successful?

Group Activity• As a small group, discuss with your

colleagues what importance these questions have for you as coaches? What is their connection to your work and your school goals?

• This isn’t about who each of us is as a professional; it is about who we are as a system.

( Zmuda, Kuklis and Kline, 2004)

2004-2005 Specialists’ Focus

• Looking at student work to inform instruction• Applying formative and summative student

assessments to guide teacher practice;• Differentiating instruction for students with

disabilities -reaching all NCLB subpopulations;• Nonfiction writing/editing in Math, Science and

Social Studies• Providing professional development including

coaching to improve teacher practice.

Teachers and school leaders have little time for sustained, in depth conversation. Neither teachers nor administrators have time for reflecting on their practice. It's ironic that educators are charged with creating conditions that promote deep understanding and powerful learning for others, yet enjoy none of the conditions that would promote their own understanding of teaching and learning.

We have found that it is much easier to complain about state regulations, to endure the budget process, and to obsess over bus schedules than to have conversations about teaching and learning. These managerial issues will not go away; we accept them as part of our existence in schools. But by participating in structured conversations about the real work of schools—teaching and learning—we encourage fundamental discourse that directly affects student performance.