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February 2023

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Articles featured this month:


  • Assessing professional development
  • Writing and students with disabilities
  • Four practices of intentionally inviting instructional leaders
  • Book Spotlight: Answers to Your Biggest Questions About Teaching Secondary Math

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Assessing professional development

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Educators attend countless sessions of professional development (PD) throughout their careers. They may need to renew a license, earn a certificate, develop skill sets, understand changes in policy and practices, or stay current with advances in research and knowledge. Learning always continues; and when it occurs within a profession, it is considered PD. Professional development is defined as a way to continue to develop additional knowledge and skills after meeting the basic requirements needed to be hired for a particular position; but its impact also defines it. Were participants busy working on their laptops or phones? Did a transformation occur in which they were actively engaged in a learning process that will result in a change of practice? (Aguilar & Cohen, 2022). If you are presenting PD, how do you measure the impact of your session? How do you know if you achieved the intended purpose and if participants actually learned? 


Thomas R. Guskey (2002) created the Five Critical Levels of Professional Development Evaluation which is widely used to determine the impact of professional development from the participant experience to its effect on student learning outcomes. Each of the levels addresses typical questions for inquiry, informational gathering methods, what is being assessed, and how the information will be used. Gathering this information gives PD leaders insight into what constitutes impactful learning for adults and, ultimately, the intended outcomes for students. 


The Five Measures of Impact, listed below, were influenced by Thomas Guskey and fully explained in Elena Aguilar and Lori Cohen’s The PD Book: 7 Habits that Transform Professional Development (2022).


  1. Participants’ Reactions: How did they feel about the experience? (e.g., questionnaires, focus groups, interviews)
  2. Participants’ Learning: What did participants learn and what can they do as a result of this PD? (e.g., demonstrations, reflections, action steps, exit tickets)
  3. Organizational change: How does participant learning support site and systems-level change? (e.g., evidence of cultural shifts or policy changes, questionnaires)
  4. Participants’ use of new knowledge or skills: How are teachers applying this learning in classrooms? (e.g., questionnaires, direct observations, videos, student performance data)
  5. Student Learning Outcomes: (e.g., data beyond quantitative measures; how students feel and what skills they can demonstrate)


For educators, the fifth measure of impact is the most important since it assesses the impact of professional development on the performance and achievement of students. Building relationships and increasing student engagement, learning, and potential are the primary reasons educators continue to attend professional development sessions. When leading your next PD, ask what measures you might use to assess the impact and ultimately and how you might look for evidence of change for students.


References

Aguilar, E., & Cohen, L. (2022). The PD book: 7 habits that transform professional development. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


Guskey, T. R. (2002). Does It Make a Difference? Evaluating Professional Development. 

Educational Leadership, 59(6), 45 - 51.


For more information, contact Mary Addeo, (mjaddeo@vcu.edu), Program Specialist T/TAC at VCU.

Writing and students with disabilities

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Writing is an essential skill for all students to learn. Teachers rely upon writing to assess student understanding. It is important for communication in and out of the classroom for academic, professional, and social purposes. It provides a voice to tell stories, personal narratives, and biographies while facilitating a deeper understanding of content, life experience, and exploration of feelings and morals (Foxworth et al., 2016). Writing is a reciprocal process to reading that requires coordination of transcription, text generation, and self-regulation. As students learn writing skills, they actually improve their reading. Writing is learned over a span of years and is developed and shaped through practice and sharing with others (Graham, 2019).


Writing is a difficult skill to master; but students with disabilities experience challenges that can make it even harder. Students with disabilities may have weak executive functioning skills and difficulty writing in mechanics and spelling. In addition to these challenges, they often resist planning and low writing production. Despite challenges, research shows that writing development for these students can be accelerated through the use of systematic and explicit instruction that addresses their needs for feedback and scaffolding (Graham, 2019).


While there is not a commonly accepted writing curriculum, there is research that provides insight into what should be taught. A framework for effective writing instruction involves (a) varied and realistic purposes for writing; (b) supporting students throughout the writing process; (c) explicit skill instruction; (d) cultivating an encouraging writing environment; and (e) linking writing with reading and other learning (Graham, 2019). More specifically, evidence shows that writing instruction should be based on a foundation of transcription skills (e.g., handwriting, spelling, keyboarding), sentence construction, and understanding of the writing process (Graham, 2019). Students with disabilities tend to minimize processes and focus on generating content. 


To assist students with writing production, it is recommended that students have self-regulated strategy development (SRSD). SRSD is a framework to teach writing that involves setting goals, learning to self-monitor and self-instruct, and self-reinforce (Kroesch, et al., 2022). In this approach, students are taught six steps to master a strategy: 

1) Develop and activate background knowledge. 

2) Discuss the strategy.

3) Model the strategy.

4) Memorize the strategy.

5) Use guided practice.

6) Perform independent practice.


A well-researched strategy taught through the SRSD framework can help students increase the quantity and quality of their writing. An example of this type of strategy is the well-researched “POW + TREE.” This mnemonic stands for “Pick an idea, Organize notes, and Write and say more + Topic sentence, Reasons, Explanation, and Ending” (Harris et al., 2017). 


Teaching a skill like writing is complex and involves years of development and support. Cultivating an environment where students can have frequent opportunities to practice with plenty of support is critical to long-term writing success for students with disabilities. 


Instructional resources for writing are available in the T/TAC at VCU library, including The Writing Revolution by Judith Hochman. 


For more information, contact Jennifer Askue-Collins, (askuecollij@vcu.edu), Program Specialist T/TAC at VCU.


References

Foxworth, L. L., Mason, L. H., & Hughes, C. A. (2016). Improving narrative writing skills of secondary students with disabilities using strategy instruction. Exceptionality, 25(4), 217–234. https://doi.org/10.1080/09362835.2016.1196452


Graham, S. (2019). Changing how writing is taught. Review of Research in Education, 43(1), 277–303. https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732X18821125


Harris, K. R., Graham, S., Aitken, A. A., Barkel, A., Houston, J., & Ray, A. (2017). Teaching spelling, writing, and reading for writing. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 49(4), 262–272. https://doi.org/10.1177/004005991769725



Kroesch, A. M., Peeples, K. N., Pleasant, C. L., & Cuenca-Carlino, Y. (2021). Let’s argue: Developing argumentative writing skills for students with learning disabilities. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 38(5), 399–414. https://doi.org/10.1080/10573569.2021.1970659

Four practices of intentionally inviting instructional leaders

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The act of invitation is described as a normal request to be present or participate (Wikipedia, 2022). Those not closely associated with education may wonder why students with access to public education would need the invitation to learn. Everyone has access; but the invitation to learn comes when a teacher creates an inviting educational experience and a leader ensures that this is a common practice in their school. 


A teacher's actions in a classroom should be inviting; teachers welcome students and provide a purpose for the work ahead. A leader needs to monitor teacher practices when they observe the classroom and provide insight into how teachers can welcome students to learn. Engaging learning environments, emotional security, eager and optimistic demeanors, and psychological security should take center stage as each one affects teacher and student performance. Leaders need to intentionally invite teachers to pay attention to the elements described above and work diligently to increase the presence of these elements daily. Authors and educational researchers Fisher, Frey, and Lassiter (2022) boast, "Essentially, the more intentionally inviting you are, the more likely it is that the school climate will be one in which teachers and staff members want to work and will excel(Fisher et al., 2022. para 5)." 


What are the four essential ideas of intentional invitations that will support leaders in any school? Begin with “intentionally uninviting teachers to create a hostile learning environment” (Fisher et al., 2022, para 3). Students need to understand their role in the class and know that their teacher is an ally in the learning process. It is hard for students to learn when they do not have a relationship with their teacher. Leaders should promote opportunities for teachers to get to know their students and then move to “unintentionally uninviting teachers to hold themselves at an emotional distance from their students (Fisher et al., 2022. para 3) and having low expectations. Students need to know that you care about them and expect their best daily. They thrive on connecting to the learning environment; we want to provide them with challenging experiences they can pull from year to year.  


Next, we want to encourage and motivate. Researchers shared that teachers who are unintentionally inviting are eager and positive (Fisher et al., 2022). These qualities benefit the bonds between teachers and students. What is essential outside of great personal characteristics? Teachers need insight into what does and does not work in the classroom. Consider differentiating instruction and providing choice and variety. The goal is to try new instructional strategies and allow students to explore what works for them. Finally, leaders want to intentionally invite teachers to have a strong sense of their practice; to be insightful about the psychological and instructional moves they make to foster learning ( Fisher et al., 2022). When teachers are encouraged to share or increase their content knowledge, they become motivated to impart that knowledge within the educational setting. 


To learn more about intentional invitations, please read the article listed below. 

         

References

Fisher, D., Frey, N., & Lassiter, C. (2022, December 6). Four practices of intentionally inviting instructional leaders. Corwin Connect. https://corwin-connect.com/2022/12/four-practices-of-intentionally-inviting-instructional-leaders/


The Free Dictionary. (n.d.). Invitation. In The Free Dictionary by Farlex. Retrieved January 26, 2023, from https://www.thefreedictionary.com/invitation


For more information, contact Amber Butler (butleram2@vcu.edu), Program Specialist, T/TAC at VCU.

Book Spotlight: Answers to Your Biggest Questions About Teaching Secondary Math

As students enter the secondary level and academic content becomes more complex, their instructional needs change. The authors of Answers to Your Biggest Questions About Teaching Secondary Math offer an excellent resource that they hope will support all math teachers, especially those who are new to teaching secondary math. Their book covers a wide range of topics; but three topics worth highlighting are how to engage students, how to promote mathematical discourse, and how to formatively assess student learning (Dillon et al. 2022).


To promote engagement, the authors delve into the importance of selecting mathematical tasks, teaching problem-solving, and promoting/supporting the productive struggle. Dillon et al. (2022) remind us that “engaging students means that each and every student is a valued part of the mathematics learning community (p. 66).” The authors share a list of features teachers should look for in selecting tasks, providing resources on scaffolding when teaching problem-solving, and sharing examples of verbal prompts for responding to struggling students. 


Rich and robust discussion may not be the first thing one thinks of when preparing for math instruction. However, promoting math discourse helps students to provide clear justifications for their ideas and others’ solution strategies and to make connections to important math concepts (Dillon et al., 2022). In order to be prepared for the discussions students may have, teachers must anticipate answers, pre-plan questions, know how to facilitate group work, and use multiple representations to support student understanding. The Virginia Department of Education’s math instruction website provides many additional resources to support evidence-based math instruction, including the C-R-A (Concrete-Representational-Abstract) framework.


Assessing student knowledge should be ongoing so that teachers can provide feedback to students and adjust instruction in real-time. The chapter on assessment kicks off with a comparison between formative and summative assessment by reminding us that summative assessment is an assessment of learning while a formative assessment is an assessment for learning (Dillion et al., 2022). Other highlighted topics include examples of how to provide feedback, how to determine what data to collect, and how to determine the role notes will play in instruction.


Whether you’re a new math teacher, new to teaching math, or simply looking for fresh ideas, Answers to Your Biggest Questions About Teaching Secondary Math is filled with a plethora of links and ready-to-use resources with access and equity for diverse learners in mind. This book, along with many other new math titles, are available to check out from our T/TAC library. 


Reference

Dillon, F., Perry, A., Cheng, A. & Outzs, J. (2022). Answers to your biggest questions about teaching secondary math. Corwin.


For more information, contact Crystal Bell (bellcr@vcu.edu), Program Specialist, T/TAC at VCU.

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