LFPA Member Spotlight: Featured LFPA Members
Hear from our members about their own personal experiences with highly effective professional learning, and what inspires their work with educators and / or students in Pennsylvania!
Professional Learning is for Principals, too!
Pictured above are principals from a partner school district who are unpacking the indicators of the Project Based Teaching Rubric in order to define coaching moves for teachers.
When we think of professional learning, we often think of pushing the professional practice of our teachers. Of strengthening our teachers’ capacities for innovative practice so our students’ experience high quality teaching and learning in our classrooms everyday.
We have amazing teachers across our schools who take the task of pushing their own edges very seriously. In our work with teachers, one piece of feedback that we often hear about their ability to feel successful as they practice and apply their new learning is that they want their site based leadership to deeply understand and know how to support the innovation.
One perfect example of this is when teachers are shifting to a Project Based Learning (PBL) approach to teaching and learning. (For more information on Gold Standard PBL, check out the Buck Institute for Education’s website, High Quality Learning Campaign and the connection between Gold Standard PBL & HQPBL). So, here is some advice from teachers and principals who have engaged in the shift to PBL.
We have amazing teachers across our schools who take the task of pushing their own edges very seriously. In our work with teachers, one piece of feedback that we often hear about their ability to feel successful as they practice and apply their new learning is that they want their site based leadership to deeply understand and know how to support the innovation.
One perfect example of this is when teachers are shifting to a Project Based Learning (PBL) approach to teaching and learning. (For more information on Gold Standard PBL, check out the Buck Institute for Education’s website, High Quality Learning Campaign and the connection between Gold Standard PBL & HQPBL). So, here is some advice from teachers and principals who have engaged in the shift to PBL.
- Know your why! Know how the work that you are asking the teachers to do aligns to other school or district initiatives and be prepared to communicate that across stakeholders.
- Engage in learning on the instructional innovation in advance of teachers. Ask yourselves, based on what my teachers need to know, understand and be able to do to make this successful in their classrooms, what are my leadership moves to support that work?
- Be deeply versed in the quality tools you’ll use to coach and celebrate teacher practice. Make sure that teachers have the chance to understand how to use those tools to goal set and reflect on their own progress. (Check out BIE’s Project Based Teaching Rubric and Essential Elements of PBL Design Rubric)
- Pictured below are principals from a partner school district who are unpacking the indicators of the Project Based Teaching Rubric in order to define coaching moves for teachers.
- Leverage teacher focus groups to understand what the challenges to success are so your leadership moves can reflect the support needed at the classroom level.
- Celebrate the small stuff! While keeping the vision for the work as your North Star, be sure to lift up the small wins so teachers see the pay-off of their efforts.
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