Teacher Leadership Standard 4
Engage in analysis of teaching and collaborative practices
When I think of engaging analysis of teaching and collaborative
practices, I think of Professional Learning Communities (PLC’s). More
importantly, it addresses the growth and development criterion eight of the
Marzano TPEP Framework. The Marzano
Framework states I will be “Exhibiting
collaborative and collegial practices focused on improving instructional practice
and student learning” (OSPI, 2018).
I didn’t realize until
now, but I have always been involved in some kind of PLC. Whether I was in
sales where we compared numbers from the day before so we can set a goal for
day, or in a Real Estate staff meetings to speak about statistics of the
market, the goal was the same. I was to take the data and improve. In
education, PLC is still the same. We analyze data and the data informs our
instruction.
Two
models of collaboration I have learned so far are Critical Friends group and
Learning Circles either online or as a PLC. While both share similarities in
working toward student achievement, they both function independently from one
another. PLC’s are a necessity. This statement is especially true when we do
the “right” work. “The most obvious way to address the issue of professionalism
is to engage teachers in meaningful staff development activities” (Marzano, R.
2003). PLC’s gives us the vehicle to do the work that gives meaning to what we
do as teachers.
“Critical
friends groups are cross-curricular groups of teachers that meet once a month,
focusing on laser-like on student achievement through teaching practice”
(Zapeda pg.205). A great example of a CFG is the diversity group I put together
for my district. I am facilitating a group of teachers to identify culturally
responsive teaching practices in our schools. We feel student achievement is
directly correlated to part of the achievement gap that is not addressed
through current teaching practices. Focusing on culturally responsiveness
practices allows the teacher practitioner to reach students beyond the status
quo of standardized testing “basic” teaching practices. Dufour, R. and Eaker,
R. (1998) states, “focus on behavior, not beliefs” (pg. 96). They explain that
often times we focus on what we believe on how kids are treated. For example, I
often hear, “I treat all kids the same, therefore everyone gets the same
thing.” This is a belief statements that often drive misconceptions of
guaranteed and viable curriculum. In reality, we need to focus on our behavior
on how we treat the kids the same. To me, this drives the differentiation of
the curriculum to close achievement gaps for our struggling students.
These conversations should be the driver in our learning circles. Author
Zaretta Hammond in Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain touches on
relationships as a big part of cultural responsive teaching. Building
relationships is a big part of differentiation of the classroom. She writes,
“the chronic achievement gap in most American schools has created an epidemic
of dependent learners unprepared to do the higher order thinking, creative
problem solving and analytical reading and writing called for in the new Common
Core State Standards” (Hammond, Z., 2015)
Learning
Circles or what Zapeda calls a Lesson Study allows teachers to their practices
though data collection. “Lesson study can be approached as a research that
combines collaboration, reflection, and professional development” (Zapeda
pg.225). The process is systemic that begins with a study. This leads to
planning to research and then reflect. To me, this reminds me of a discussion I
had with my building administrator in which we both agreed observing another
teacher will allow for personal growth. In this, I see a team of working to
together in observing one another then sharing data about what was observed and
results from the lesson.
In
learning about “models of collaboration,” I’m beginning to see models of
collaboration going on within my building. They take form as either committees,
PLC’s, or even critical friend groups (CFG’s). The most pertinent of models of
collaboration is Learning Circles which take the form of PLCs. While we don’t
observe our teacher colleagues, we do get to come together and examine results
of the lessons we taught. Through our PLC, we strive to stay together to ensure
we all teach the same content with the same material thus creating a guaranteed
and viable curriculum. Theoretically, the data collected post-lesson should be
comparative because of this. This allows us to focus our attention to our
teaching practices.
I
could see learning circles as part of professional development. Zapeda(2013)
states, “Effective professional development is job-embedded where the work of
teaching and learning how to teach, to improve, and to meet the needs of
students coalesce into opportunities to live the impact of efforts on student learning”
(pg. 233). In my opinion, this is an opportunity missed. As my administrator
shared, it is a goal that she would like to implement. The only hurdle is time
and money. I personally don’t see it as hard as it seems. I think the real
issue is priorities. For now the priorities is ensuring teaching students to
ensure a standardized test is passed. Personal growth for teachers is not a
priority. If it was, I believe learning circles working in this capacity would
be a normal practice across the board.
The
challenges to creating this type of collaborative model is buy-in that this
model works in the interest of students and teachers. In this way, there would
be a protocol created to facilitate the learning circle practice. Let’s say
there was buy-in. Then the challenge would be to identify the data in which
show growth in. I think sometimes we get so fixated on showing growth on one
thing, we tend to ignore the rest. For example, we currently are examining
possible interventions for all students. The only thing we fixate on teaching
practices that involve teacher directed models and the data that goes a long
with it. We overlook students’ social and emotional needs and never collect
data on how they are functioning within the learning community. It’s not a
priority. For me, these are a couple challenges in creating learning circles. I
think the next step is for me is to first do it myself and collect the data. I
would need to present the data along with my team. Or, I can advocate for a
learning circle designed to address the current needs of students.
I think my thinking hasn’t really
changed. I believe collaboration is vital for a successful teaching and
learning environment. It more like validated my theory on the need to redirect
the focus of teacher collaboration practices. I think “best practice” is using
all data from all stakeholders of the student life. This will allow us to look
inward from teacher practice to how the child navigates through the system within
the community. We need to unleash the full potential of teacher and student
growth by examining all facets of public education.
References
DuFour, R., Eaker,
R. E., & National Educational Service (U.S.). (1999). Professional
learning communities at work: Best practices for enhancing student achievement.
Bloomington, Ind.: National Educational Service.
.Hammond, Z., & Jackson, Yvette. (2015). Culturally
responsive teaching and the brain : Promoting authentic engagement and rigor
among culturally and linguistically diverse students. Thousand Oaks,
California: Corwin, a SAGE Company.
Marzano, R. J.
(2003). What works in schools: Translating research into action.
Alexandria, Va: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Teacher/Principal Evaluation Program. (2018, March 06). Retrieved
March 31, 2018, from http://www.k12.wa.us/TPEP/
Zapeda, Sally J. (2013). Professional
Development (Second Edition): What Works. New York: Routledge
