by Diana Stein
Strategies for facilitating
engagement of faculty and staff in ongoing reflection and self-assessment may
include a wide variety of media and instructional programming that may be
included alongside mentoring, coaching, observation, and feedback to promote
effective teaching and improve performance for all faculty and staff. Thereafter, effective use of data from these may
be utilized to:
• assess and diagnose instructional needs,
• define staff
goals for continuous improvement, and
• collaboratively
design differentiated professional development to meet students’
needs and achieve academic goals.
needs and achieve academic goals.
Additionally,
strategies for building staff capacity through systems of support and
development, integrating opportunities for continuous learning into the
educational environment, and engaging faculty and staff in ongoing reflection,
self-assessment, and self-directed change and improvement strive to aid in removing
discriminatory practices and remove instructional bias. Ultimately, the goal is
for faculty to take responsibility for their practices as dynamic and continual
process.
The purpose of
this blog posting is to propose strategies for building staff capacity for ongoing
self-reflection through on-going self-directed change and improvement. Included herein you will find the reflection
process for:
• lesson
components
• formative assessment
• classroom management strategies, and
• summative assessment
• formative assessment
• classroom management strategies, and
• summative assessment
The Reflection Process
Reflection generating activities have been shown to be
useful in cultivating teacher reflection. These activities can include reading
case studies, writing journal entries, conducting self-studies, and audio or
video recording and analyzing of lessons (Jaeger, 2013). Administrators may encourage teacher
reflection by including time and opportunities for teachers to reflect on how
their efforts are tied to student needs and growth plans. The reflection process may include a wide variety of media (e.g., video and/or
audio recording, photographs, Skyping with fellow teachers, blogging, etc.) and
instructional programming (e.g., webinars, professional journals,
self-tutorials, online and in seat coursework, book clubs, etc.). These methods
may be included alongside mentoring, coaching, observation, and feedback to
promote effective teaching and improve performance for all faculty and staff. Providing
time and place for reflection, and opportunities to observe other teachers and
share ideas afterward, debrief, reflect and make connections to their own
practices positively effects student learning results.
The Lesson
Teachers, as
well as students, need to know exactly what
is expected of them within their own learning. Teachers connect with the
planning and how it’s connected to the standards, as well as to the students’
own understandings of the outcomes. The teachers’ learning goals mirror those
of the students in that they contribute to their learning development through practices
of analyzing outcomes, and assessing by criteria that has been predefined at
the start of the lesson and/or unit of study. Teachers need to closely examine:
- What the needs of the students are
- How to help students make meaning of the material
- How to design and facilitate authentic learning experiences
- How to facilitate learning through inquiry to encourage higher-ordered critical thinking
- How to effectively problem solve to strengthen weaker areas of concept understanding and promote concept transference, moving toward mastery
What we do as a staff is directly tied to what the
learning goals and expected student outcomes are. Through collaboration and self-reflection
teachers are able to determine what next steps for lesson revisions and forward
momentum are. Assessment drives the next
steps for instruction. Reflection builds understanding of the symbiotic
relationships with ability, content, and context.
Formative Assessment
Summative
assessment is currently fixated on results from high stakes testing given near
the end of any given school year. While this data may indeed be useful,
teachers collect all sorts of intermediate (formative) and valuable information
about students that informs how we
teach, as well as where and what we
review, re-adjust, and reteach (Alber, 2011).
Reflection-generating activities have been shown to be
useful in cultivating teacher reflection. These activities may include reading
case studies, writing journal entries, conducting self-studies, and audio or
video recording and analysis of lessons (Jaeger, 2013; Jordan B. Smith,
Jr., personal communication, January 3, 2017).
Professional development meetings may
be utilized to plan time for teachers to collaborate on self-reflection
techniques. For example, the instructional coach or administrator may model the
plan, teach, reflect, apply model and then flip the staff development meeting
to allow time for teachers to practice new strategies. This encourages
transference of the material being taught at the professional development
meetings to be applied within the classroom in a timely manner. Coming away from professional development
meetings with additional “tools in the tool belt” helps to make these meetings
meaningful. Plus, many of these formative assessment strategies may be simple
to implement. For example exit slips, online/interactive quizzes/polls, and
“thumbs up/thumbs down” are quick ways to gather information on where students
are and where they need to go next (Alber,
2011).
Observational
data gathered as the students are working allows us to adjust the pacing for
the whole class, or scaffold for struggling learners. A constructivist approach
taken within a student-directed classroom tells the students that they are free
to take risks, knowing that the teacher’s role is that of “guide on the side.”
This sort of practice provides opportunities for students to take ownership of
their learning, while by-design allows time for the teacher to collect
formative progress. When critical thinking is explicit and intentionally
modeled collaboration is positively promoted within the classroom.
It is important that teacher leaders
encourage others to try out new strategies, take chances, and talk about
student outcomes with each other. This type of professional exchange not only
builds staff teaching capacity, but also helps to build camaraderie.
Classroom Management
Instructional
practices are designed around pedagogy with the end goal to help each student
connect to the content and the concepts to the very best of his or her ability
daily. Through personalizing and/or
modifying online and classroom curriculum and instruction teachers are able to
level each lesson as appropriate for each learner, which helps to create a
positive learning climate.
It is important
that the teacher is skilled in orchestrating student pairs, small groups, and
whole group instruction for maximum learning to occur. Effective classroom
management includes articulating what the essential learning outcomes are, and
then provide structure and support to ensure that these goals are met. Students
must understand where they are headed within the lesson (or unit of study) in
order to commit to the same vision.
Once students
have a clear understanding of why the
classroom is orchestrated a particular way, their attitudes help direct the
quality of the learning experience for all.
Attitudes are directly correlated with behavior. Positive reinforcement and
partnering with the students encourages learners to pursue behaviors that will
make their community respectful and caring– for them and for everyone else
(Hunt, 2011).
“Positive Behavior Support (PBS) also
helps create meaningful relationships between teachers and students. Students
need to feel that teachers are concerned and have a vested interest in their
future. Teenagers, in particular, want to be independent and make their own
decisions, but they need a clear, defined structure within which to make those
decisions (Klem & Connell, 2004). They need to know what teachers expect in
terms of conduct--and that adults will hand out consistent, predictable, fair
consequences when students don’t meet those expectations” (“Blue Tickets
and Big Smiles,” 2011).
Ultimately,
students need to know that teachers and administrators care about them if they
are to buy-in to any sort of program. They need to know why it is necessary for them to behave. Positive behavior
modification (PBS) focuses on the positive behaviors, rather than seeking means
to punish or suspend students (or staff) for misbehaving. Knowing how to
recognize where conflict may arise, and then knowing how to proactively avoid
it, takes practice within a safe environment. Instruction through discussion,
role-playing, and modeling trains students as well as staff how to handle
difficult situations and may be built into a schoolwide positive behavior
support plan such as PBIS.
Summative Assessment
Summative
assessments, such as a literary analysis essay or an end of unit subject
specific exam, allow teachers to measure individual and whole-group learning.
If a large proportion of the class doesn’t measure up on high-stakes testing,
it is imperative to reflect on teaching practices and make necessary
adjustments.
Cumulative
files house important data on individual students that will inform next steps
for teaching and reaching each child. Personal circumstances which may hinder
learning progress may include homelessness, inaccurate placement within a class
or sub-group, psychological diagnoses, specialized instruction needs, and
visionary deficits to name only a few. At the beginning of the term teachers
need to collect data on each student in order to know what each child’s
particular needs are. Accurate information aids in removing discriminatory
practices and removes instructional bias. Sometimes a pattern may be clearly
visible on the cumulative records that may otherwise go undetected. When a
teacher knows what the “pieces of the puzzle are”, shows that he or she cares,
and has opportunities to provide empathy and acknowledge student hardship, bonds
may then be formed that encourage the student to buy-in with learning and
behavior expectations. Clearly defined and explicit goals will help the child
to improve academically, as well as emotionally.
Lastly,
reviewing the results of state standardized test scores from previous years,
along with other data (e.g. class assignments, observations, etc.), will help
to guide instructional decisions. These
results may be shared with students individually (privately) to set obtainable
and reasonable learning goals. The information from these tests may also be
utilized to determine small group instruction (e.g., below, at, or above
proficiency levels indicate where support is needed as well as who will need
additional challenges). The teacher must
keep in mind that these decisions for groupings are fluid and dynamic and are
based on ongoing formative and summative assessment. Test taking anxiety must
never be ruled out as a possible factor in summative results.
Conclusion
As
John Dewey once stated, “Every experience affects for better or worse the attitudes
which help decide the quality of further experiences” (p. 37). He believed that
teachers must be aware of the “possibilities inherent in ordinary experience” (p.
89), that the “business of the educator [is] to see in what direction an
experience is heading” (p. 38). (Jordan B. Smith, Jr., personal
communication, January 7, 2017).
In
conclusion, strategies for building staff capacity through systems of support and
development, integrating opportunities for continuous learning into the
educational environment, and engaging faculty and staff in ongoing reflection,
self-assessment, and self-directed change and improvement strive to aid in
removing discriminatory practices as well as aid to remove instructional
bias.
Through ongoing
reflection staff gradually increases problem-solving abilities while analyzing
student performance, as well as professional development based on clearly
defined benchmarks and performance goals. Ultimately, the goal is for faculty
to take responsibility for their learning as a dynamic and continual process to
improve students’ learning results; while continually checking and balancing
what direction each learning experience is heading. Through reflection of multiple data sources,
informal as well as formal, teachers are able to set clear and accurate
learning goals to maximize learning results for all learners while building
positive learning communities for all.
References
Alber, R. (2011). 3
Ways Student Data Can Inform Your Teaching. Retrieved from
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/using-student-data-inform-teaching-rebecca-alber
Blue tickets and big smiles. (2011, September). Educational
leadership/promoting respectful schools, 69(1). Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept11/vol69/num01/Blue-Tickets-and-Big-Smiles.aspx
Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New
York, NY: Macmillan
Hunt, A. (2011). Blue tickets and big smiles. Educational
leadership, 69(1). Retrieved from
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept11/vol69/num01/Blue-Tickets-and-Big-Smiles.aspx
Jaeger, E.
L. (2013). Teacher reflection: Supports, barriers, and results. Issues in
Teacher Education, 22(1), 89.
