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!
LFPA Members from Derry Township School District (DTSD) in the picture from left to right:
Miss Katelyn Harley (art teacher), Mr. Kevin Stover (technology education teacher),
Mrs. Sarah Smith (reading teacher), and Mr. John Gabriele (music teacher).
Miss Katelyn Harley (art teacher), Mr. Kevin Stover (technology education teacher),
Mrs. Sarah Smith (reading teacher), and Mr. John Gabriele (music teacher).
During the 2017-2018 school year, 16 teachers in the DTSD School District took part in a volunteer microcredential pilot offered at the middle school for teachers to strengthen their instructional practice through deeper understanding and application of the Standards for Professional Learning (Learning Forward, 2011). Although all seven standards are critical in a comprehensive learning system, the pilot this year started with the LF Standards for Professional Learning of Learning Communities and Data.
Although effective professional learning should be job-embedded, inquiry-driven, and collaborative (Darling-Hammond, 2012), not many schools provide this type of learning to their teachers.
A recent nationwide study (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 2014), found U.S. schools invest about $18 billion in teacher professional development annually, and teachers, on average, engage in about 68 hours of formal training annually directed in large part by their school district with only 29% high satisfied with the current workshop, seat-time approach to professional development delivered by districts.
Many teachers are disillusioned by the quality of professional learning being offered in their districts. The Gates study describe their findings as a serious “problem of execution.” Microcredentials offer a new approach to professional learning implementation and delivery.
Microcredentials offer a new way for teachers to document their learning using work samples, videos, student work, peer and administrative classroom observations, portfolios, teacher and student reflections, and other artifacts that document learning and have the potential to transform professional development.
Microcredentials create opportunities for teachers to document their formal and informal learning in bite-size pieces. They are: competency-based, personalized, on demand, and shareable. Through microcredentialing, teachers can access professional learning that is easily accessible, personalized, and grounded in research. They create ways for teachers to lead their own learning while balancing the learning needs of individual practitioners, teacher teams, schools, and districts.
John Gabriele, a music teacher in the DTSD pilot, explained the purpose of microcredentialing in this way, "As I have come to learn, many disciplines and professional organizations are beginning to use the micro-credential model as a means for individuals or smaller groups to become proficient in one area of study. By intensive work within their discipline, teachers are allocated time to get a 'mini-degree' in different areas. Of course, these mini-degrees happen by focusing on an area / unit / project within their discipline and afford a teacher the opportunity to work with mentors / peers to raise the bar of student learning and achievement as a result of the teacher's professional learning."
The microcredential course at DTSD during 2017-2018 was a blend of self-paced instruction, hybrid learning, and face-to-face interaction conducted throughout the school year. The supervision model in PA is the Danielson Framework for Teaching. This course utilized Danielson's Six Clusters (2015) which is an streamlined tool of the original framework that retains all the 22 components and their elements, but rearranges them into six larger clusters, representing the big ideas of teaching.
Katelyn Harley, an art teacher, stated: "I feel that this microcredentialing pilot gave teachers a more hands on and collaborative way of reviewing the Danielson Framework and more accurately assessing how we are applying that in our classrooms. Each part of the module that we completed assessed our teaching practices and student learning and we reflected on how we are instructing individually and as a PLC community. It also allowed us all to share information, teaching techniques, assessment ideas, struggles, etc. to improve and our own teaching and our students' learning."
At a few points in the pilot, teachers leveraged video to enhance their professional practice and collaboration. Video is powerful for professional learning because it helps teachers see exactly what it looks like when educators teach and our students learn.
Sarah Smith, a reading teacher, explained: "In looking at the monthly component submissions, I know that my teaching has become more reflective over time, and that I have enhanced my teaching skills and my students' learning. I have been able to adjust my instruction with feedback from my peers, and I have learned so much about my own teaching and the teaching of others in my school."
The teachers utilized a collaborative video platform called "Sibme" which allowed teachers to use video and collaborative discussion boards to videotape lessons for self-reflection, observe other teachers in the building through video without losing instructional time with their students, participate in video coaching with our building coaches, receive feedback and participate in virtual discussions with their peers, and create a best-practices library of instructional practices.
Unlike traditional videotaping, the Sibme platform allowed time-stamped, expert feedback, correlations to instructional frameworks, and creation of private workspaces in shared spaces called Huddles. While teachers in our building benefit from face-to-face PLCs, the use of video and a video collaboration platform allowed the pilot participants to become a virtual "PLC without walls." Kevin Stover, a technology education teacher, shared, "I plan to use video more in the future to review some of my lessons and activities to evaluate their effectiveness. I enjoyed using Sibme.com."
At the end of the pilot, teachers were asked to take a survey to share their thoughts and feedback. John Gabriele summed up his experience this way: "I used to be good at teaching students, but now I am good at student learning."
Although effective professional learning should be job-embedded, inquiry-driven, and collaborative (Darling-Hammond, 2012), not many schools provide this type of learning to their teachers.
A recent nationwide study (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 2014), found U.S. schools invest about $18 billion in teacher professional development annually, and teachers, on average, engage in about 68 hours of formal training annually directed in large part by their school district with only 29% high satisfied with the current workshop, seat-time approach to professional development delivered by districts.
Many teachers are disillusioned by the quality of professional learning being offered in their districts. The Gates study describe their findings as a serious “problem of execution.” Microcredentials offer a new approach to professional learning implementation and delivery.
Microcredentials offer a new way for teachers to document their learning using work samples, videos, student work, peer and administrative classroom observations, portfolios, teacher and student reflections, and other artifacts that document learning and have the potential to transform professional development.
Microcredentials create opportunities for teachers to document their formal and informal learning in bite-size pieces. They are: competency-based, personalized, on demand, and shareable. Through microcredentialing, teachers can access professional learning that is easily accessible, personalized, and grounded in research. They create ways for teachers to lead their own learning while balancing the learning needs of individual practitioners, teacher teams, schools, and districts.
John Gabriele, a music teacher in the DTSD pilot, explained the purpose of microcredentialing in this way, "As I have come to learn, many disciplines and professional organizations are beginning to use the micro-credential model as a means for individuals or smaller groups to become proficient in one area of study. By intensive work within their discipline, teachers are allocated time to get a 'mini-degree' in different areas. Of course, these mini-degrees happen by focusing on an area / unit / project within their discipline and afford a teacher the opportunity to work with mentors / peers to raise the bar of student learning and achievement as a result of the teacher's professional learning."
The microcredential course at DTSD during 2017-2018 was a blend of self-paced instruction, hybrid learning, and face-to-face interaction conducted throughout the school year. The supervision model in PA is the Danielson Framework for Teaching. This course utilized Danielson's Six Clusters (2015) which is an streamlined tool of the original framework that retains all the 22 components and their elements, but rearranges them into six larger clusters, representing the big ideas of teaching.
Katelyn Harley, an art teacher, stated: "I feel that this microcredentialing pilot gave teachers a more hands on and collaborative way of reviewing the Danielson Framework and more accurately assessing how we are applying that in our classrooms. Each part of the module that we completed assessed our teaching practices and student learning and we reflected on how we are instructing individually and as a PLC community. It also allowed us all to share information, teaching techniques, assessment ideas, struggles, etc. to improve and our own teaching and our students' learning."
At a few points in the pilot, teachers leveraged video to enhance their professional practice and collaboration. Video is powerful for professional learning because it helps teachers see exactly what it looks like when educators teach and our students learn.
Sarah Smith, a reading teacher, explained: "In looking at the monthly component submissions, I know that my teaching has become more reflective over time, and that I have enhanced my teaching skills and my students' learning. I have been able to adjust my instruction with feedback from my peers, and I have learned so much about my own teaching and the teaching of others in my school."
The teachers utilized a collaborative video platform called "Sibme" which allowed teachers to use video and collaborative discussion boards to videotape lessons for self-reflection, observe other teachers in the building through video without losing instructional time with their students, participate in video coaching with our building coaches, receive feedback and participate in virtual discussions with their peers, and create a best-practices library of instructional practices.
Unlike traditional videotaping, the Sibme platform allowed time-stamped, expert feedback, correlations to instructional frameworks, and creation of private workspaces in shared spaces called Huddles. While teachers in our building benefit from face-to-face PLCs, the use of video and a video collaboration platform allowed the pilot participants to become a virtual "PLC without walls." Kevin Stover, a technology education teacher, shared, "I plan to use video more in the future to review some of my lessons and activities to evaluate their effectiveness. I enjoyed using Sibme.com."
At the end of the pilot, teachers were asked to take a survey to share their thoughts and feedback. John Gabriele summed up his experience this way: "I used to be good at teaching students, but now I am good at student learning."
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DTSD Teachers also involved in the pilot from left to right: Miss Kaitlyn Roberts (science), Mrs. Renee Owens (ELA), Mr. Nate Beamer (American History), Mrs. Stevie Hegge (ELA), and Miss Abby Eggert (ELA).
DTSD Teachers also involved in the pilot from left to right: Miss Kaitlyn Roberts (science), Mrs. Renee Owens (ELA), Mr. Nate Beamer (American History), Mrs. Stevie Hegge (ELA), and Miss Abby Eggert (ELA).
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Additional members of the volunteer pilot at DTSD from left to right include: Mr. Dave Cavic (math), Mr. Darin Hickethier (math), Mr. Jim Shay (science), and Mr. Art Titzel (American History). |
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The final two DTSD members of the pilot from left to right are: Mrs. Kellie Stover (science) and Mrs. Joy Graeff (math).
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