Tag: Friends

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Lesson Study: Teacher-Led PD That Works

One of the best aspects of my work is that I get to meet many talented educators. I'm on the road this week, and I invited two of them to do guest posts. The first comes from Matt Karlsen, Project Director of Teaching American History Grants at ESD 112 in Vancouver, Washington. Matt and I first connected on Twitter then recently met over coffee.  I was impressed with the success his group's Lesson Study approach.

There's a hysterical video called “Collaborative Planning” currently going viral.  It’s a "laugh until you cry" feast, one that lays bare the hypocrisy too often evident in teacher professional development where teachers are forced into “Professional Learning Teams” that are none of the above.

Ls-image1 Thankfully, I’ve been able to work with teachers for the last several years using Lesson Study, a format that is collegial, educative, and transformative.  In our Teaching American History grant funded project, Lesson Study starts with teachers learning new historical content.  They consider state and national thinking and learning targets and examine their students’ work to get a sense of their students’ strengths and struggles.  They form teams to develop a lesson trying to impact student skills and knowledge.  At the same time as helping students answer questions about the historical content, they’re research lessons – helping teachers answer questions they have about teaching and learning.  The group gathers to watch students interact with the lesson, spending the rest of the day discussing observations using this protocol.

Why does it work?

  1. It’s inquiry driven.  Genuine questions guide teachers and students, and the quality of the questions is continually refined to better the learning.  It fosters curiosity.
  2. Teachers are in control.  They decide the lesson targets, the questions they want students to consider and the “problems of practice” they want to investigate.  
  3. Students are the focus.  Ultimately, everything depends on what real students do with the lesson.  Kid-watching eyes are developed as observations become the talking points.
  4. It’s flexible and adaptable.  Regardless of who, what, where, or for how long you’ve been teaching, the process works.

Want to learn more?  

  • Catherine Lewis from Mills College has played a large role in adapting Lesson Study from Japan to the US. The Lesson Study Group at Mills College Resource Page offers links to many informative articles, videos, and books.
  • Oakland Unified School District’s Teaching American History Grants have paved the way for considering Lesson Study in History.  The two videos posted on their site are inspirational starting points for understanding the process.
  • Feel free to contact me (Matt)  to talk about Lesson Study!  It was through open collaboration with others – including Catherine Lewis, Stan Pesick in Oakland, Roni Jones in Placer County, and our TAH partners – that I’ve been able to move down this path.  Let’s extend the Lesson Study professional learning community!
  • Two useful documents for download: 2010-11 LS Review Sheet  and  LS Observation & Debriefing Protocol -Fall 2010

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Interested in more teacher-friendly PD? Read my posts: 

Teacher-Led Professional Development: Eleven Reasons Why You Should be Using Classroom Walk Throughs 

A Guide to Designing Effective Professional Development: Essential Questions for the Successful Staff Developer 

The Reflective Teacher: The Taxonomy of Reflection

 

 

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Please Vote for Elementary School Engineers

Inventor1 A colleague and creative friend, Brian C Smith is currently in the running for an H P EdTech Innovators Award with an innovative proposal for “The I.D.E.A Room.”  His project is based on his 4th-grade “Playful Inventors” workshop that Brian and his wife Wendy, (a STEM coach)  piloted in 2009. The project had great success integrating the arts, science, engineering, and technology in creative problem solving environment

 

Please take a moment to read their proposal
 and cast your vote here.
  

More on the project from Brian …

Our faculty explored inquiry-based models of instruction and wanted to experiment with implementing a fully student-centered learning experience.  After analyzing data from NYS 4th grade test scores, problems under the physical science realm were identified as most troublesome.  Given their action research idea and the identified areas of weakness in science, a team of teachers designed the I.D.E.A Room program to provide students with opportunities to explore physical science concepts through the engineering design process while using technology as an integral component of their work. The Playful Inventors workshop, an after-school program implemented in the fall of 2009,  allowed students freedom of time to play, explore, design, test, and problem-solve.  Highlights of the success of the program include:

    •    Increased problem-solving strategies

    •    Reliance on cooperative learning

    •    Integration of the arts, science, engineering, and technology

    •    Creative uses of materials 

    •    Increased proficiency with technology, including computer programming

    •    Deeper understanding of key concepts of force and motion

Inventor2  Our most important initiative is to continually shift instructional practices to become constructivist in nature using inquiry-based methods. We have discovered that in the classrooms where this is the norm, students are more self-directed in their learning, willing to take risks, creative in their approaches to problem solving, and demonstrate stronger team approaches to learning.  In the I.D.E.A Room, projects are personal, yet learning is both iterative and social.  The work by the teachers on the I.D.E.A. Room project has built the foundation for this instructional shift.  

Our second initiative is to increase the use of technology to facilitate learning for both students and teachers. Students participating in the pilot program were able to use a wide variety of technology tools for learning, collaboration, and creation of content.  Both the teachers and students in this group will be instrumental in assisting others to learn how technology can be transformative.

At the end-of-the-year I.D.E.A. Room Community Workshop, students will collaborate to create their multi-media presentation and practice their presentation skills. The Jr. Engineers will facilitate the hands-on stations as community members, including invited engineers from local industry experts, business owners, parents, and others try their hand at creating, designing and programming using the I.D.E.A. Room materials.

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What Time Is It Now? Reflection on Literature and Life by Abraham Rothberg

Rothberg-fiction For the last 5 years I’ve been a print-on-demand publisher, producing ten books for a dear friend – Abraham Rothberg. His previous work was published by mainstream publishers and has been favorably reviewed in NY Times, Harper’s, Time Magazine, and Publishers Weekly. Unfortunately his previous work had gone out of print. So we decided to cut out the middle man and self publish.

Our latest book is “What Time Is It Now? Reflection on Literature and Life.” Preview / purchase the book  

The collection is a retrospective selection of essays, sharply observed and often humorous, that span almost half a century of reflections of modern life and literature, politics and personality. There is an essay analyzing the operations of British Secret Intelligence in the novels of John LeCarré, explorations of the conflicts between “superman” Social Darwinism and Socialism as portrayed in the works of Jack London. The collection contains a series of personal forays into the nature of modern marriage, of trying to “cultivate one’s own garden” in modern life, as well as how novelists have depicted the “flawed dream” of American politics. In addition, there are analyses of Gary Snyder’s poetry and their sources, Solzhenitsyn’s short stories and plays and their underlying morality, and the domestic turbulence of Arnold Wesker’s English dramas. Several essays also describe and dissect anti-Semitism in European life and literature, its roots and reverberations, and in one instance, in the works of T.S. Eliot.

In addition to five new essays, it features twenty-five previously published works including:
 “The Decline and Fall of George Smiley” ~  Southwest Review, Autumn, 1981.
 “Waiting for Wesker” ~ Antioch Review, Winter, 1964-65.
 “Solzhenitsyn’s Short Stories”  ~ Kansas Quarterly, Spring, 1967
 “Jack London: American Myth”  ~  Bantam Books, 1963.
 “The War in the Members: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” ~ Bantam Books, 1967.
 “Styron’s Appointment in Sambuco”  ~  New Leader, July 4-11, 1960 

Read Abe’s latest reflection on his work “Fiction is a Lie that Tells the Truth“ 

And many thanks to my talented publishing assistant,  June Tyler who designed Abe’s latest two books.

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Fiction is a Lie that Tells the Truth: Reflections on Life and Literature

Abraham Rothberg

RothbergFor the last 5 years I’ve been a print-on-demand publisher, producing ten books for a dear friend – Abraham Rothberg. Abe has had a distinguished career as a journalist, university professor and author of 16 published novels, two books of history, a collection of short stories, two children’s books, and a volume of literary criticism. His previous work was published by mainstream publishers and has been favorably reviewed in NY Times, Harper’s, Time Magazine, and Publishers Weekly. Unfortunately his previous work had gone out of print. So we decided to cut out the middle man and self publish.

Recently we held a tribute to Abe – the man and his writings – as part of the Jewish Book Festival, at the Rochester JCC. 

Abe surprised the attendees with an eloquent reflection on fiction. [Excerpt]

... Serious fiction is a lie that tells the truth. Fiction can introduce you into the lies and truths of other people’s minds and hearts, to your own country and time, or strange, foreign places and other eras, into the most public forums and the most private scenes of human intimacy; it can make you see, hear, feel, love, hate, forgive, judge, understand, and yet not be bound by the consequences of all those activities, though you are there as a participant-observer in the most personal and informed ways. 

… And so, tonight, you will hear some of the lies I have written I take to be important truths, serious fictions about our lives and times I thought my books might contribute to the cultural and political conversations and dilemmas of our epoch. If that has not taken place as I wished– and I am sorry to say it has not–it was not for the want of my trying. Complete text of his presentation

Read more about Abraham Rothberg and purchase his fiction


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Summer Academies that Support Ninth Grade Transition

A recent issue of Education Week featured a ninth grade transition program that combats the drop-out problem associated with movement from middle to high school – see “Pittsburgh Building ‘Nation’ of 9th Graders.” Education Week, August 29, 2007

The idea was to target not just the teenagers’ heads, but also their hearts. A week of getting used to their new schools, befriending their classmates and teachers, and undertaking adventures together was designed to forge what district officials are calling a “9th Grade Nation”—a freshman class that moves through high school feeling supported and confident.  Read 9grade-Nation (98KB pdf)

Reading about this program reminded me of a summer program that I designed and served as founding director from 1999-2000. The "Summer Prep Program" targeted students exiting 5th – 8th grade who were academically at-risk.  Elementary, middle and high school teachers (and a dedicated school nurse) delivered a specially designed three-week curriculum designed to engage students in their learning and foster a positive attitude towards school. A dozen high school and college interns assisted in the program, serving as positive role models and establishing friendships that will extend into the school year.  Summer Prep produced excellent results with nearly one-half of our students improving their grades in three or four of their core courses.

Specially trained teams of teachers provide daily instruction in English, math, technology, library research, learning and organizational skills. Each grade was divided into small sections. Classes were held from 8 AM – 11 AM, Monday – Thursday. Preprocks Each Friday was reserved for an activity day – indoor wall climbing, ropes, obstacle courses, kayaking, and even a juggling workshop.  As one parent wrote about the program "The Summer Prep School was the best thing that could have happened to my daughter this summer. She struggled throughout the school year – and with the frustration of struggling, she lost confidence and enthusiasm for school in general. However, this excellent program spurred in her a renewed interest in learning. Every day as I picked her up, she had a fun and exciting anecdote to tell me about. She absolutely loved her writing class – believe it showed as I am leafing through her folder tonight at Open House. I would like to thank Mr. Pappas for his extreme enthusiasm and support of our daughter at a very difficult personal as well as scholastic juncture in her life."

The cooperation and teamwork of parent, student and teacher is essential to success. Parents’ workshops were offered to support and inform the parents with practical activities and techniques in communications, discipline, academic support and problem solving.

As one parent wrote about the parenting workshops "Over the last 4 weeks – my relationship with my daughter has grown by leaps and bounds!! This program has helped me to identify the behaviors she exhibits that trigger me to get upset. The whole family has had benefits, especially with improvements in communications. More concrete boundaries and expectations have been established and our family life had been more relaxed, peaceful, and less stressful. Thank you for offering our expertise. I have looked forward to Tuesday evenings this summer."

Visit an archived version of the Summer Prep School website and read more about the program in the SAANYS Journal. Find out more about Summer Prep and Ninth Grade Academies at Small Learning Academies that Work.