Happy Read Across America Day! In honor of today, I am sharing two books I have recently read.
One is The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown. It is the retelling of nine crewmembers from working class families who compete (and win) at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. How they become a team and maintain their focus (mind in the boat) is the central theme of the book. Brown shows how these college athletes had to learn to work for the team rather than for themselves in order to achieve more together, Olympic Gold. The parallels with our work are what drew me to this book. If you have not read it, put it on your "to read" list.
Another book I read is Designing Schools for Meaningful Professional Learning by Janice Bradley. Bradley shows how to integrate the seven Standards for Professional Learning with a five-step model that she developed. The model provides teachers time and experiences to grow and advance into highly effective facilitators of student learning. The supportive model creates a shared vision among school staff for effective classroom learning environments, aligns with the teacher evaluation system, supports teacher selection of learning designs, and provides opportunities for teachers to act as knowledge producers. The model supports educators in launching and sustaining site-based professional learning. This is Learning Forward's Book Club selection for Winter 2014-15.
A NEW Guide for District Approaches + Tools for PD
edSurge has put together a new guide called 'From Pre Fab to Personalized: How Districts are Retooling Professional Development'. This new guide is full of stories from districts doing work to transform PD and the tools they are using to get them there. It shares stories from districts like DC Public Schools, Denver Public Schools and Franklin West in Vermont, all sharing their own journeys kick starting change in their schools.
Teacher isolation is so deeply ingrained in the traditional fabric of schools that leaders cannot simply invite teachers to create a collaborative culture. They must identify and implement specific, strategic interventions that help teachers work together rather than alone. -Richard DuFour
So begins Dennis Sparks' blog, The creation of a collaborative culture requires skillful leadership. Continue reading here. He closes his blog with this question:
In your experience, what specific, strategic interventions help teachers work together rather than alone?
