5. Engage in professional growth and leadership
Teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in their school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources.
- Participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning
- Exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion, participating in shared decision making and community building, and developing the leadership and technology skills of others
- Evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning
- Contribute to the effectiveness, vitality, and self-renewal of the teaching profession and of their school and community
Our Work Related to ISTE Standard*T5
Professional Learning Community (PLC)
Our group of teachers are made up all three of the English Language Arts (ELA) teachers at our middle school, plus two Instructional Coaches. We met every Tuesday morning for 20 minutes and have moved to bi-weekly meetings second semester. Meetings begin with sharing successes and brainstorming opportunities for growth. Our group uses the data from bi-weekly progress monitoring in writing, which includes the online PAW system (see description listed below) and a 5-minute written sample for each student, scored using the 6-traits of writing. Our current focus is on sentence fluency and organization, as the data has shown it is area our students need further support. |
Instructional Coaching from Jim Knight http://www.instructionalcoach.org
We are fortunate to have Jim Knight, creator of the Partnership Approach who has written multiple high-quality books on instructional coaching, using data for goal setting and using video to support coaching practices. Our coaches have had the opportunity to participate in several of Dr. Knight's coaching academies and his annual coaching conference. We would highly recommend these professional learning experiences to anyone who has the honor or working with educators in a coaching capacity. The following two videos are Jim Knight staples and are examples of two types of coaching. You can guess which one he (and we) lives by! |
Progress Assessment in Writing (PAW)
The PAW system is under development and our team has been beta testing it with our students. Teachers login using their Google account to asses, manage and reassess their students. Students login to the PAW system using a class name and password, assigned by the teacher. Students have one minute to think about a narrative writing prompt and then three minutes to type their response. When the time expires, the students simply close the window. The PAW system takes about five minutes for students to complete and it gives automatic scores for indicators including spelling, total words, total letters and word sequencing. Over time, teachers begin to see trend lines develop and can access each writing to design goals for each student. Eventually, this PAW system will be folded into a dashboard where teachers will receive comprehensive reports for individual students and classes and they will be guided through learning modules to address their learners' needs. These modules will include multimedia videos of teachers in action, using specific learning strategies, resources and technology. The DIDS system will likely go live in 2016. Buss4 p/w write
The PAW system is under development and our team has been beta testing it with our students. Teachers login using their Google account to asses, manage and reassess their students. Students login to the PAW system using a class name and password, assigned by the teacher. Students have one minute to think about a narrative writing prompt and then three minutes to type their response. When the time expires, the students simply close the window. The PAW system takes about five minutes for students to complete and it gives automatic scores for indicators including spelling, total words, total letters and word sequencing. Over time, teachers begin to see trend lines develop and can access each writing to design goals for each student. Eventually, this PAW system will be folded into a dashboard where teachers will receive comprehensive reports for individual students and classes and they will be guided through learning modules to address their learners' needs. These modules will include multimedia videos of teachers in action, using specific learning strategies, resources and technology. The DIDS system will likely go live in 2016. Buss4 p/w write