School Year 2011-2012

Well as usual it was a very busy and productive summer in the curriculum/assessment office. Our dedicated teachers and department leaders spent over 2500 hours in June working on improvements to our curriculum and assessments. With the adoption of new math resources (that weren't yet published), new Illinois Learning Standards (incorporating the Common Core) and 16 new teachers in the system it was a crazy-busy process.

We kicked off the school year with a dynamic presentation by Mr. Jim Burgett. No matter how many times I hear him speak, I just can't get enough. Mr. Burgett reinforced so many of the initiatives that we have been focused upon; including the importance of building relationships and engaging students with technology in the classroom. It's easy to find a speaker that can entertain and amuse. It's more important to find professional development that helps us stay focused on the important district goals and he did just that. There is so much to learn from his messages- and I encourage anyone that has a chance to hear him speak to jump at the chance.

So I'm beginning my 22nd year with Coal City Schools and am so thankful to work in such a caring and professional organization. It's certainly not without challenges, but what fun would work be if it wasn't challenging?

Back in 2009 when I started to blog I wanted to end each one on a positive note about someone in the organization and give "thanks" for someone in the CCCUSD#1 family. I'm going to continue that practice this year. A couple of weeks ago, I was fortunate to get to work with the new teachers that we've hired into the district. While I truly enjoyed working with all of them, I'm going to single out one in this particular post. Sharon S. is a new teacher at the middle school this year. In each encounter with Sharon she has reminded me how "excited, happy and grateful" she is to work in the school district. It's a good reminder for all of us (when those 'fun challenges' are piling up) of having a grateful, servant heart. Sharon is going to be a great teacher because truly loving what you do, regardless of the job, is half the battle. We can't teach new teachers to have enthusiasm and love what they do, but it's certainly a vital component to great teaching. I was having a conversation with my son in the car about there being two types of educators, although I think it applies to any work and not just work in the field of education. There are those that see a job as a way to collect a paycheck and those that see it as a reflection of who they are (a calling, a profession). I wish everyone viewed their work as a profession and not as a way to collect a paycheck. I'm thankful we have people in our organization like Sharon who will help all of us remember just that.

Thanks for reading

Tammy

Professional Development

Teaching has certainly changed since I started my career in 1990. The demands on the professionals in the classroom are various and complex. Most of the biggest challenges we talk about in 2011 didn't exist or were unknown just two decades ago. For teachers to be successful and satisfied in their constantly changing roles, they need good professional development. What we once thought was good professional development is no longer supported by the professional research. When I first started teaching we basically had two types of professional development. The first was a 'sit and get' at a conference, workshop or seminar. These one-day opportunities were often fun to attend but did little to change the learning environment in my school, beyond my individual classroom. The second type of opportunity was the motivational speaker or guru that was brought into the school to explain the latest and greatest or pump us up to feel better about the jobs we were trying to do. Neither did much to change the instructional practices in my classroom and we certainly would be hard pressed to demonstrate any increase in student achievement from those speakers. So what do we know that good professional development should look like?


First of all we now have a better understanding of how adults learn. Training needs to be relevant and useful. They should have choices and it should "meet them where they are." It needs to give them tools to improve in their profession--not create meaningless work for them.(Sounds a lot like good classroom teaching doesn't it?) Professional development can't be a 'sit and get and forget' -- it should be tied to expectations in the classroom, have support and be continuous.


While our professional development still isn't where it needs to be, I think we've made great strides toward building a better model for adult learning in the organization. During our early dismissals this year we have created opportunities in several key strands of learning. The strands have related to curriculum/assessment/instruction, technology integration and RtI. Those broad categories included such sessions as book studies, writing projects, resource selection, progress monitoring, content area reading, common core implementation and life skills curriculum development. Our technology focus this year has included sessions on: Google forms, MOBIs, Clickers, Blogs/Wikis, Facebook, Twitter, iPod Touches, iMovie, Garageband and MacBook Tips and Tricks (just to name a few). Teachers are allowed to select what they would like to learn. For the most part they are learning from colleagues and not outside 'gurus.' This accomplishes several tasks, first of all it makes connections between staff members that might not have an opportunity to know each other. Secondly, it gives the new learner a person to contact in the event they need additional support. Lastly, it becomes an opportunity for continuous growth as the group can continue to collaborate after the session is completed.


Early dismissal time is used for professional development to enhance teaching and learning. It is not time for teachers to get caught up on paperwork or do other tasks associated with their jobs. Although, being human, that is often the desire. As with anything there is never enough time to get everything done that needs to be done. We get a couple of hours each month to try and address the needs we have, and the needs outweigh the time available. So we'll continue to improve the process and strive to meet the needs of each learner (regardless of their age).


My thanks this post goes out to Jackie Mark, Jackie Larson and Dave Sinkular. In my last post I was lamenting about the rough time we had with the implementation of a new assessment package. Since that time, things have improved. Using that assessment system, Jackie, Jackie and Dave were willing participants in our first round of online testing with students. They volunteered to take a chance and allow their students to take their classroom assessment on the computer. It's difficult to agree to the unknown, yet they were willing to help out and work through the process. I'm so grateful to get to work with such dynamic teachers that are always student focused. They make CCUSD#1 a better place to work.

Thanks for reading.