Increased teacher collaboration and individual teacher reflection undoubtedly contribute to improved professional practices in the classroom. Teachers evolve and mature through discussions with other educators about current practices and ways to improve. Therefore, if teachers are eager to build on present skills they must reach out for objective help, most often from fellow colleagues. Hindin, Morocco, Mott and Aguilar (2007) recognize that changes in practice can occur if one rethinks teaching, and this rethinking evolves from collaborative professional development opportunities. However, the difficulty of teacher collaboration lies in encouraging professionals to gather, discuss and reflect in a manner that is authentic, collaborative, …show more content…
The RLC initiative is in its first year of implementation at our school, and we believe it is directly contributing to positive collaborative culture, school-wide reflection and improved teacher practice. TQS, or Teacher Quality Standard, refers to the quality teaching practices expected of all Albertan teachers throughout their careers including continuous consideration of classroom and teaching context, and decisions surrounding pedagogical knowledge which will help students learn (Alberta Education, 2013). KSA’s are descriptors for the Knowledge, Skills and Attributes required for student learning. KSA’s are divided with consideration of interim professional certification versus permanent professional certification in Alberta. KSA’s highlight specific skills all teachers should possess surrounding educational context, pedagogy, technology, subject knowledge, parental involvement, as well numerous other expectations including the successful achievement of Alberta Education’s …show more content…
While formal education of our teachers is the initial foundation, collective learning and reflection is the scaffolding necessary to ensure teachers are flexible and focused on improvement. The key to constructing collaborative professional opportunities is encouraging reflection, both individually and with peers, and ensuring group collaboration does not appear obligatory; instead, it must illuminate the necessity of collaboration and the unquestionable benefits to individual
I can help my teachers be professional learners by using observation and evaluation processes, like those found in Danielson’s model, to promote self-assessment, reflection on practices, and professional conversations with them. The Framework can help me have honest, reflective conversations with the teachers about their instruction and I can use it as a guide to help all involved in professional development decisions. In other words, I can use such teacher evaluation models to promote active engagement and encourage professional growth in all
Queensland College of Teachers. (2007, January). Professional Standards for Queensland Teachers. Retrieved July 15, 2010, from Queensland College of Teachers http://www.qct.edu.au/standards/index.html
Laura Jimenez’s article “The Next Frontier of Education Reform” was a well thought out article about the possibility for a new program called LEAP or LEarning Together to Advance Our Practice to help improve the failing system of improving our public school educators. Jimenez uses accurate data to show the reasons behind the need to reform educator professional development and shows different examples of how this could be accomplished. She largely looks at the DC public school system’s IMPACT and the newly created LEAP projects.
The Federal definition of a “highly qualified teacher” requires the teacher to have certification for the State, having passed licensing exams. An elementary school teacher who is new to the field is required to have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree, has passed State testing, subject knowledge and skills in reading, writing mathematics and other areas of basic elementary school curriculum. A middle or secondary school teacher who is new to the field has the same requirements; however they must also demonstrate high levels of competency in each of the academic subjects they intend to teach. Academic standards have been established for each state. The idea is to prepare students for college and “the real world”. This also creates an accountability system that recognizes student growth and school progress (ESEA Reauthorization, 2010).
I recently took a course on cooperative discipline and found that many of my own beliefs and practices involving discipline in the classroom were validated and reinforced throughout the class. Students do choose how they will behave and the best way (maybe even the easiest way) to get them to make the right choices in the classroom is to foster a feeling of mutual respect and to give them a sense of responsibility or classroom ownership. Kids want discipline, or maybe to put it differently they want structure and predictability. And the nice thing about Linda Albert’s cooperative discipline model is that it gives the students exactly what they need. But what are our responsibilities? Linda Albert tells us that “the ultimate goal of student behavior is to fulfill a need to belong”, so it is our job to fill that need by helping the student to feel capable, connected, and able to contribute (in a positive way) to the group.
In other words, through reflection, teachers are being thoughtful and they will start to think seriously about what they do inside and outside of the classroom. In fact, according to Farrell (2007), in order for teachers to engage in reflective practice, they must analytically collect information about the lesson that happen in their classroom and then analyze and evaluate this information and compare it to their primary assumptions and beliefs so that they can make changes and improvements in their teaching. That is to say, reflective practice facilitates teachers to learn from mistakes, success, failure, as well as to improve and develop themselves further to be a better teacher. Above all, Bartlett (1990) argued that teachers need to critically reflect on certain fundamental issues in language teaching. Thus, in this paper I am going to discuss on the importance of reflective practices, the elements in the reflective practices, and I am going to provide a sample of reflective practices of real life in the classroom. I have divided the discussion into several
Traditionally, teacher development typically occurs through trial and error in the isolated confinements of each teacher’s classroom with some periodic whole-group professional development (Goddard & Goddard, 2007). Within the past few decades, many schools and districts, including ours, have considered and experimented with Professional Learning Communities (PLC) as an alternative framework in guiding a more efficient development program for their teachers. PLCs are focused on enhancing student learning through developing teacher practices. The concept of PLC relies on using structured collaborative sessions amongst teachers within the school to build internal capacity. Through PLCs, teachers critically reflect on current practices, brainstorm solutions, and obtain help and advice from others in a supportive growth-oriented environment over an extended period of time (Vescio, Ross, & Adams, 2008; Nelson, 2009; Scher & O'Reilly, 2009; Bolam, McMahon, Stoll, Thomas, & Wallace, 2005). The theory of change guiding PLCs holds that by providing teachers with targeted support from within the school community, as oppose to hiring additional outside experts, professional developments can become for efficient. Implementation of effective PLCs requires intentional effort, school-wide and possibly district-wide restructuring of teacher schedules, and additional resources. For schools considering implementing PLCs, it is important to understand the logic of action and the benefits of PLCs as it relates to teacher improvement and increased student achievement.
A teacher today needs to have an ability to relate to and create partnerships not with their students, but also families, administrators and other professionals. This ensures that all persons involved with the education of the student are on the same page. All involved then work in harmony and help each other achieve the common goal of educating the student in the best possible way for the best possible result. (Wesley, 1998, p 80)
Marcos, J.M., Sanchez, E., Tillema, H.H. (2011). Teacher Reflection: What is said to be done. Journal of Education for Teaching: International Research and Pedagogy, 37(1), p.21-36.
Another factor considered in this study is the professional development of teachers. Professional development of teachers is a strong factor that enhances teachers’ knowledge and learning. A number of studies have reflected that the said factor is imperative to a positive change of every individual that seeks development professionally.
Proponents claim that learners’ academic achievement can be significantly improved with the effectiveness of use of collaborative learning. The active exchange of ideas within small groups increases interest among learners and also promotes critical thinking and deeper levels of understanding of concepts (Benware & Deci, 1984). According to Johnson & Johnson (1986), there is convincing evidence that collaborative teams achieve high level of thoughts and retain information longer than learners who work as individuals. The shared learning gives learners an opportunity to engage in discussion, take responsibility for their own learning, and thus become critical thinkers (Totten, Sills, & Russ, 1991).
For everything we do, even if it is our best performance, there is always room for improvement. It could not be different in a career such as teaching. Teachers are always self-reflecting to analyze and evaluate their own teaching methods in order to find out what works and what needs to improve. With this information in hand, teachers can come up with strategies to improve certain areas of their teaching. There are many tools teacher can use to self-reflect. As a teacher, I will continually evaluate the effects of my professional decisions and actions on students through self-reflective journals, video recordings, students’ formal and informal assessments, peer support, student and parent evaluation, and suggestion box.
The intention of reflective practice is to help the teacher/learning coach evolve and develop the quality of their teaching by the continuation of personal development. Although most teachers have done this for years, reflective modelling or methods have formulized a structure which can be followed and adapted to best suit their methods. It is an ongoing process which takes feelings and emotions into consideration and so it will not always have a definitive answer/ending. Since most models of reflection require subjective and objective thinking then there is a willingness to be honest to engage constant self appraisal. It asks that the teacher become flexible analytical and socially aware when addressing their chosen model of reflection.
This week had the biggest impact on my professional growth. During this week, I learned that meaningful reflection is " the practice or act of analyzing our actions, decisions, or products by focusing on our process of achieving them (York-Barr, Sommers, Ghere & Montie, 2006). There are many benefits of reflecting in the field of education. The most influential is the effect that reflection has on the learning that your students gain. If a teacher meaningfully reflects on their practices they will create lessons to better impact students. According to Carol Ann Tomlinson (2003), “Teacher reflection inevitably attends directly to students ' need for affirmation, contribution, power, purpose, and challenge.” Each time a teacher reflects on their work, they empower their students to learn more. Students recognize their teacher’s reflection and mimic their behavior. I feel like learning about reflection impacted me most because it showed me that I should reflect on the good and the bad. Everything that I teach should be reflected on. The more that I reflect on my work, I will be closer to becoming an expert teacher. Reflection has the biggest impact on professionalism as a teacher. If I am willing to learn from my strengths and mistakes I will impact my students to strive to the best they
The National Staff Development Council (2009) shed more light on professional development in education. The definition put out by the NSDC (2015) in a proposed modification to the elementary and secondary education act, states that professional development is “a comprehensive, sustained and intensive approach to improving