What Does Effective Professional Learning Look Like?

By Vicki Bechard
LFKS Secretary


I love to see pictures of scrumptious recipes on Facebook or in cookbooks that really make me want to try to make that for my family to eat (or more than likely for me to eat!).  I go to great lengths to capture the recipe and the accompanying picture for future reference, saving them, printing them and putting them in the plastic protective sleeve in my 3 ring notebook.  Yes I have a computer file, but I just like the real thing better.  Then I make it.  Sometimes it looks surprisingly similar to the picture, but many times it does not. Most of the time it tastes great regardless of how it looks, but the effect is not quite the same.  So I think of ways to make the next attempt better and jot that down for future use.  Does this ever happen to you as an educator trying out new strategies and ideas?

Have you ever sat in a professional learning session (regardless of the topic), listened to the presenter, talked with other participants about the topic, jotted down ideas, and yet walked away wondering (just like seeing the scrumptious recipe), "What would this look like in my district (classroom)?"  "Could I really make this happen?"

We want to learn and be great educators.  We purposely seek better strategies and new ideas to improve our own practice and the success of our students, yet until we try it, we just don't know for sure whether it's going to work.  What if we could see it in action in someone's classroom that is similar to ours? Or in our own school?  There are several companies providing educators with videos that will do just that... for a significant price.  A more affordable idea might be to use our own planning time to watch a colleague teach to gain ideas and perspective. We might need some guidance on how to observe effectively, but the cost is much, much less, and the lessons might be even more valuable. Collaborative teams might agree to teach the same strategy and allow each other to observe them in action and offer suggestions to make the lesson more effective. Sometimes we just have to see it in action before it clicks and we truly "get it."

Professional learning is no different.  How do we design effective professional learning that makes a difference?  How has professional learning changed in your building or district since the Standards for Professional Learning were adopted in 2012?  How has professional learning changed in your building or district since Kansas College and Career Ready Standards or the new evaluation system came into play?  If you say professional learning has not changed, then it might be because "they" don't know what effective professional learning looks like.  Where do we go for this kind of modeling  and support?

Dayna Richardson and I have been completing a grant application this past week for LFKS that focuses on creating videos of exemplary professional learning practices in Kansas schools that can be used as real world examples of the kinds of professional learning experiences that are meaningful and lead to transformed teaching and learning.  What do effective collaborative groups do and look like?  What  does effective Leadership look like in action? or Effective use of Data? or Meaningful and purposeful Learning Designs?  Consider:  If I see it, I gain perspective.  If I can do it, I understand.  I believe that if our professional learning becomes the kind and quality of learning experience that we expect from our teachers for our students, then the effectiveness of our educators will improve too.

While there is no guarantee that we will be awarded this grant, it begins the conversation on the next steps that must be taken if we are to help each other improve our practice, not just in the student classroom, but in the educator classroom as well.  The Executive Leadership Program is being studied and piloted this spring as another vehicle that can help educators understand the change process and how professional learning impacts educator and student performance, with the ultimate goal that it will change practice.

I believe we have established the foundation of "WHY" we want every educator to experience excellent and effective professional learning, but now we must move to the "HOW" as we take the next steps.  If we are to accept the challenge given to us by Learning Forward Director, Stephanie Hirsh, during her visit to Kansas last year (April and June 2014), of going from KNOWING to DOING, then we must ensure that educators and schools know what effective professional learning looks like so they can successfully implement the complex changes that face Kansas schools today.  After all, we don't know what we don't know.  So having something to look at might help us produce the desired result, and give us the confidence to say "I/we can do that!"

The Case for Effective Collaboration

By Vicki Bechard,
LFKS Secretary

Last week, at the suggestion of one of our board members, Learning Forward Kansas began posting daily pictures on social media that reflected the importance of collaboration.  We know through research and experience that, alone, we are not as effective as we are together.  What we learn from others strengthens our own understanding and provides us with perspectives we may not otherwise have considered.  We find the support and feedback we receive from collaborative colleagues to be relevant and useful rather than evaluative.  We struck a chord with many who “liked” and "favored" our posts and realized that these daily posts may have sparked more conversation about the value of collaboration.

Collaboration can be found in each one of the Standards of Professional Learning.  As a part of Learning Communities, collaborative groups help us develop collective responsibility and engage in continuous improvement through the discussions we have on our practice and student results.  Leadership is encouraged through collaborative efforts between building leaders and educators as well providing a setting to build the capacity for learning and leading.  The ideas and strategies we gain from our colleagues in a collaborative setting provide us with more Resources for our tool box.  In collaborative sessions, we examine both instructional and student Data to determine progress toward achieving desired learning goals, as well as evaluate the effectiveness of professional learning.  This information helps us plan for future learning and instruction.  Collaboration can be an important part of Learning Designs as we plan and engage in strategies to promote engagement and deep understanding of the intended outcomes.  Implementation requires that we practice the identified strategies and receive the necessary support and feedback that a collaborative group can provide.  Finally, as Outcomes are aligned between professional learning and student curriculum standards, the collaborative group can address gaps and overlaps and build coherence to meet performance standards.

How are you using collaboration to increase effectiveness?  How might you improve the use of collaboration to build trust, promote engagement and collective responsibility, offer more support and feedback, or build capacity?  As you evaluate the effectiveness of the implementation of identified changes in your district or school, consider the role of collaboration as you currently use it, and how you might use it in the future, as a vehicle that helps transform teaching and learning.

Excellent Teaching and Learning Every Day

By Vicki Bechard

Secretary, LFKS

Wouldn't you want to work in or have your own children learn in a school that practices excellent teaching and learning every day in every classroom?  This is the new vision from Learning Forward that emphasizes the teaching and learning for the adults. What if we also understand that the adult teaching and learning leads to excellent student learning?  This vision clearly states what all educators, parents, and community members want for their school.  So if this is what we want, then what would that look like? 

Schools ask, “How do we get and sustain this in every classroom of the building?”  Educators ask, “What I do I have to do?” Excellent teaching and learning begins with effective Professional Learning. 

The Standards for Professional Learning provide a framework for implementing and sustaining any initiative, including the vision of excellent teaching and learning every day.  Creating a culture of learning in the school for all adults begins the journey toward achieving this vision of excellence.  When adults practice continuous learning and transfer their own learning to improve their instruction, we get excellent student learning and success.

Excellent teaching isn't accomplished in a one day, sit and get, professional learning session.  It comprises new learning, or learning how to use existing knowledge in a different way.  It occurs during practice and after mistakes.  It occurs after feedback and support through the implementation process.

Success for all educators…  Consider:

·         How do we provide & support new learning?

·         How do we support implementation?

·         How do we demonstrate learning?

·         How do we extend learning?

Always Remember….

·         To have conversations about what was learned and how it worked during practice, after the learning, before moving onto the next topic or issue.

·         To connect Professional Learning to student results.

·         That excellent adult learning leads to excellent teaching which leads to excellent student learning and success.

Stay tuned for more posts on achieving the vision of Excellent Teaching and Learning Every Day!

Beginning Your Teaching Career? Wondering “Professional……What”?

By Paige Rathbun
Teacher Representative

Many educators ask themselves, what exactly is professional learning? Am I really benefiting from the professional development that I am attending or is it another sit and get? This is where Learning Forward Kansas steps in. The purpose of Learning Forward is to help staff incorporate quality staff development practices into their district. As a new or future educator, we are asking that you openly discuss what kinds of professional development you have been involved in that have been effective as well as what you would feel would be beneficial for you. Learning Forward would like to know what we can do to help support you and your professional learning practices and help further your knowledge in the education field. This is the place to post your ideas and questions. We are here to help you and are interested in your ideas. We’re looking forward to your responses and input.

Embedding Professional Learning Through Lesson Study

Embedding Professional Learning Through Lesson Study

Michelle Flaming, Math Consultant, ESSDACK

There are many forms of professional development available for teachers today. One of the most under used, but most effective, is the Lesson Study. Lesson studies are used on a weekly basis in many other countries. Those countries, according to TIMSS, out-perform our students in the area of mathematics. This type of professional development is as much a norm in their country as our one-day back to school in-services are in the United States. This article will discuss what lesson studies look like, the purpose, and the benefits of this type of professional development for our professional teachers. We will also look at a specific example of how a lesson study was used to improve the mathematical learning of fourth graders in a Kansas district.

Lesson study is job-embedded professional development. Teachers, usually from the same grade, sometimes not, get together to discuss student learning and misconceptions. Seven teachers are gathered around a table in the workroom of a Kansas school. They are preparing for their first lesson study. They have looked over their assessment data and realize that all of their classes scored poorly on the measurement benchmark. “Why do our kids have such a hard time with measurement and reading a ruler?” is the topic of conversation.

The seven teachers design a purposeful lesson that should address measurement, and more specifically, reading a ruler. As the lesson gets finalized the teachers then decide on who will teach the lesson created by the group. As the group prepares the lesson to be followed easily by the presenting teacher, they also decide on who will observe and take notes on which students.  As the lesson is presented, teachers watch their individual students, taking notes on what the student understands and the student misconceptions.

About 15 minutes into the lesson, a student misconception, caused the lesson to take a turn. It became very clear that students were misreading a ruler because 1. They didn’t understand the concept of an inch. (The inch is the space between each of the lines.) 2. They were counting the number of lines on a ruler not the spaces. The teachers couldn’t wait to get out of the room to tweak their measurement lesson now that there was a better understanding of the misconceptions.  

The lesson was tweaked to address this newfound knowledge, and the teachers decided once again who would present the tweaked lesson this time. The teachers choose another classroom and followed the above process with the modified lesson. Students in this classroom had the same common misconceptions but the lesson was now focused on addressing the real misunderstandings. As the seven teachers left the room and went back to the break room to discuss their findings many articulated that this was the BEST job-embedded professional development they had ever experienced in their entire professional life.

Fast-forward six months, students are now scoring higher than in the past on this state assessed benchmark. The apparent solution to an existing problem was teachers working together to improve their teaching and students’ mathematical learning.

What?  The job embedded professional learning called Lesson study originated in Japan as a cycle of instructional improvement focused on planning, observing, discussing research, and drawing out their implications for teaching and learning more broadly.

.

Why? Lesson studies focus on the heart of professional learning: what happens in the classroom between teachers and students.  As professional learners, teachers study and collect data on the supports and barriers to students’ learning. Lesson studies are teacher-led processes that allow teachers the opportunity to think about the goals of lessons, deepen the knowledge of content and instructional pedagogy, strengthen collaboration with other teachers, and create continuous dialogue about learning.

How?  Lesson study is a simple idea that can be conducted in so many different ways. Below is a set of steps that most lesson studies follow.

1.      Form a Lesson Study Group – It is best if this group (four to six) is a willing group that is focused and committed to learning. Trust is a major factor, so time is needed to develop ground rules or norms and to build a collaborative group. It often works well for teachers from the same grade or similar grades to be a part of the group.

2.      Focus the Lesson Study – The group needs to determine the short and long term goals for student development and also determine the content area and topic.

3.      Plan the Research Lesson – Don’t start from scratch. Begin by using existing curriculum materials and enhance them. Whenever possible, build on the best available lessons.  Teachers should try the lesson, by putting on their student hats, and anticipating student thinking. Where might the misconceptions be?  Does this task work on the concept and goals of the lesson? 

It is then important to make a data collection plan. Determine who will watch which students, what are we observing? The specific data collected will depend on the study team’s goals.

4.      Conduct the Research Lesson – One team member teaches the designed lesson and the rest of the team members closely observe student learning, behavior, and misconceptions agreed upon from the planning process.  As hard as it may be, only the chosen team member should be teaching the lesson.

5.      Reflect on the Research Lesson – The goal of this time is NOT to evaluate the teacher but to share data on students’ responses to the lesson. Protocols or agendas for this discussion should be made clear so all members understand the purpose and desired discussion.

The teacher who taught the lesson speaks first and has a chance to reflect on the challenges in the lesson. Other members then share the data they collected. After each has had an opportunity to share, they should discuss common themes, possible problems, changes that need to be made, etc. An hour is usually sufficient for this step.

6.      Planning Next Lesson Study – Lesson studies are not just a one-time professional learning opportunity; they are ongoing. Members should consider what they have learned about the subject matter, students, and instructions, and should determine what the group would like to do next. What are the next steps?

In conclusion, lesson study is a job-embedded professional learning that puts the decisions back into the hands of the professionals – the teachers. Jackie Hurd, a U.S. teacher, said of lesson study:

“One of the things that I really love about it is that it puts a professional part back in teaching that we have to battle all the time … being able to say, ‘This is like a science, and we can figure these things out and get better at them.’”

Resources:

Powerful Designs for Professional Learning – Second Edition

Lesson Study: A Handbook of Teacher-Led Instructional Change (Lewis)

Can You Life 100 Kilograms? (www.lessonresearch.net)

Does lesson study have a future in the United States?  Lewis, C (2002)

Lesson Study: a case study of a Japanese approach to improving instruction through school-based teacher development. Yoshida, M (1999)

Lesson Study Project (http://www.uwlax.edu/sotl/lsp/)

Embedding Professional Learning Through Lesson Study

Michelle Flaming, Math Consultant, ESSDACK

There are many forms of professional development available for teachers today. One of the most under used, but most effective, is the Lesson Study. Lesson studies are used on a weekly basis in many other countries. Those countries,according to TIMSS, out-performour students in the area of mathematics. This type of professional development is as much a norm in their country as our one-day back to school in-services are in the United States. This article will discuss what lesson studies look like, the purpose, and the benefits of this type of professional development for our professional teachers. We will also look at a specific example of how a lesson study was used to improve the mathematical learning of fourth graders in a Kansas district.

Lesson study is job-embedded professional development. Teachers, usually from the same grade, sometimes not, get together to discuss student learning and misconceptions. Seven teachers are gathered around a table in the workroom of a Kansas school. They are preparing for their first lesson study. They have looked over their assessment data and realize that all of their classes scored poorly on the measurement benchmark. “Why do our kids have such a hard time with measurement and reading a ruler?” is the topic of conversation.

The seven teachers design a purposeful lesson that should address measurement, and more specifically, reading a ruler. As the lesson gets finalized the teachers then decide on who will teach the lesson created by the group. As the group prepares the lesson to be followed easily by the presenting teacher, they also decide on who will observe and take notes on which students.  As the lesson is presented, teachers watch their individual students, taking notes on what the student understands and the student misconceptions.

About 15 minutes into the lesson, a student misconception, caused the lesson to take a turn. It became very clear that students were misreading a ruler because 1. They didn’t understand the concept of an inch. (The inch is the space between each of the lines.) 2. They were counting the number of lines on a ruler not the spaces. The teachers couldn’t wait to get out of the room to tweak their measurement lesson now that there was a better understanding of the misconceptions.

The lesson was tweaked to address this newfound knowledge, and the teachers decided once again who would present the tweaked lesson this time. The teachers choose another classroom and followed the above process with the modified lesson. Students in this classroom had the same common misconceptions but the lesson was now focused on addressing the real misunderstandings. As the seven teachers left the room and went back to the break room to discuss their findings many articulated that this was the BEST job-embedded professional development they had ever experienced in their entire professional life.

Fast-forward six months, students are now scoring higher than in the past on this state assessed benchmark. The apparent solution to an existing problem was teachers working together to improve their teaching and students’ mathematical learning.

What?  The job embedded professional learning called Lesson study originated in Japan as a cycle of instructional improvement focused on planning, observing, discussing research, and drawing out their implications for teaching and learning more broadly.

.

Why? Lesson studies focus on the heart of professional learning: what happens in the classroom between teachers and students.  As professional learners, teachers study and collect data on the supports and barriers to students’ learning. Lesson studies are teacher-led processes that allow teachers the opportunity to think about the goals of lessons, deepen the knowledge of content and instructional pedagogy, strengthen collaboration with other teachers, and create continuous dialogue about learning.

How?  Lesson study is a simple idea that can be conducted in so many different ways. Below is a set of steps that most lesson studies follow.

1.      Form a Lesson Study Group – It is best if this group (four to six) is a willing group that is focused and committed to learning. Trust is a major factor, so time is needed to develop ground rules or norms and to build a collaborative group. It often works well for teachers from the same grade or similar grades to be a part of the group.

2.      Focus the Lesson Study – The group needs to determine the short and long term goals for student development and also determine the content area and topic.

3.      Plan the Research Lesson – Don’t start from scratch. Begin by using existing curriculum materials and enhance them. Whenever possible, build on the best available lessons.  Teachers should try the lesson, by putting on their student hats, and anticipating student thinking. Where might the misconceptions be?  Does this task work on the concept and goals of the lesson? 

It is then important to make a data collection plan. Determine who will watch which students, what are we observing? The specific data collected will depend on the study team’s goals.

4.      Conduct the Research Lesson –One team member teaches the designed lesson and the rest of the team members closely observe student learning, behavior, and misconceptions agreed upon from the planning process.  As hard as it may be, only the chosen team member should be teaching the lesson.

5.      Reflect on the Research Lesson –The goal of this time is NOT to evaluate the teacher but to share data on students’ responses to the lesson. Protocols or agendas for this discussion should be made clear so all members understand the purpose and desired discussion.

The teacher who taught the lesson speaks first and has a chance to reflect on the challenges in the lesson. Other members then share the data they collected. After each has had an opportunity to share, they should discuss common themes, possible problems, changes that need to be made, etc. An hour is usually sufficient for this step.

6.      Planning Next Lesson Study –Lesson studies are not just a one-time professional learning opportunity; they are ongoing. Members should consider what they have learned about the subject matter, students, and instructions, and should determine what the group would like to do next. What are the next steps?

In conclusion, lesson study is a job-embedded professional learning that puts the decisions back into the hands of the professionals – the teachers. Jackie Hurd, a U.S. teacher, said of lesson study:

“One of the things that I really love about it is that it puts a professional part back in teaching that we have to battle all the time … being able to say, ‘This is like a science, and we can figure these things out and get better at them.’”

Resources:

Powerful Designs for Professional Learning – Second Edition

Lesson Study: A Handbook of Teacher-Led Instructional Change (Lewis)

Can You Life 100 Kilograms? (www.lessonresearch.net)

Does lesson study have a future in the United States?  Lewis, C (2002)

Lesson Study: a case study of a Japanese approach to improving instruction through school-based teacher development. Yoshida, M (1999)

Lesson Study Project (http://www.uwlax.edu/sotl/lsp/)

Embedding Professional Learning Through Action Research

This article was originally published in the October issue of Direct Connection (Learning Forward Kansas) Talking Points: How do you see collaborative action research being used to bring about improvement/change in your district, school and/or classroom? Why is collaborative action research an effective tool for bringing about desired change?

Embedding Professional Learning Through Action Research

Penny Schuckman, Director of the Learning Center, USD 261 Haysville

Is there anything you would like to change about your district, your school, your classroom or yourself?  If you answered yes, then Action Research is an effective tool you can add to your toolbox to bring about that change you desire!

What? Action Research is studying your own situation to change the quality of processes and results within it.  To do Action Research is to empower yourself to study your action so that your future actions will be more effective.

Why? Do Action Research because it is……..

Practical – Insights that you get from data lead to practical changes in your classroom or in your school during and immediately after the inquiry.

Collaborative – As action researchers, you and your students or you and your colleagues collect data about a real issue in your shared situation.

Empowering – All of you together can influence and contribute equally to the research.

How? Collaborative Action Research has five sequential steps:

Problem Formulation – The team identifies the issue that is of the greatest professional concern.  Researchers identify what they already know about the issue, what they still need to know about it, and their understanding of the variables affecting the issue.

Data Collection – The credibility of any research effort lives or dies on the quality of the data used to support its conclusions.  To ensure adequate data collection, action researchers and their colleagues are expected to assemble three sets of data for each research question.

Data Analysis – Most action researchers find this step to be the most enjoyable of the entire process.  It involves looking systematically at all the data collected to see what trends or patterns emerge and what conclusions can be drawn.

Reporting Results – Inviting others to peer over our shoulders and learn from our practice is one of the most powerful and rewarding aspects of collaborative action research.  It is imperative that teams of action researchers find as many appropriate forums as possible to share what they are learning about teaching and learning.

Action Planning – Since the purpose of collaborative Action Research is to improve our professional practice, the process won’t be complete until we have put in place plans incorporating what we’ve learned as a result of our systematic inquiry. 

 I need to conclude this article with a warning.  Action Research is addictive!  As you begin to see your district, school, classroom, students and self change for the better, you will be compelled to repeat the process.  Enjoy your Action Research journey !

Resources:

Sagor, R. (1992). How To Conduct Collaborative Action Research. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Schmuck, R. A. (2006). Practical Action Research For Change. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press, Inc.

http://arj.sagepub.com/  An online Action Research Journal

http://cadres.pepperdine.edu/ar/c9/burker/ar-blog.html A blog of one teacher’s Action Research journey

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg83f72_6Gw Video of the Action Research Process