How can you use what you have learned on this safe site in a professional development session based on your school’s goals and needs
How can you use what you have learned on this safe site in a professional development session based on your school’s goals and needs?
Professional development is an essential aspect in helping educators grow each year. The students are always changing, and so are the curriculum and/or new ways to provide students with a rigorous curriculum. My school’s focus this year has been the individualized learning and social/emotional development of the students. Based on Marzano’s nine instructional strategies and my school\’s goals, the best way to provide staff with meaningful and effective learning is to provide choice and relevant information that can be applied to students learning this year and in the future. I think that offering sessions for all nine of the strategies would be effective, however, allowing the educators to choose the time and schedule is best. In this way, teachers would be provided with small group instruction, shorter sessions, with a focus on one strategy at a time. This would be effective and allow the teachers to set up their schedule for the professional development day.
What performance objective could you establish the goal of the session?
Upon attending the professional development, teachers can use one of the nine instructional strategies to include in their professional development plan for the year. This way, the teachers would be held accountable to enforce a strategy learned and apply it for an entire year. The teachers would meet with the administration twice a year to discuss how the plan is working and ways to better meet the needs of the students. Cooperative learning is a great strategy to use for a performance objective. According to research, “Cooperative learning enhances student achievement across all subjects and age groups, for tasks involving higher order thinking skills” (Almekhlafi et al., 2020, p. 328). A goal would be to provide students with three opportunities each week to work in cooperative groups since research shows cooperative groups provide a positive impact on student learning.
What Marzano strategies can you use to achieve the goal? Explain.
My professional goals are aligned with the school\’s goals with a focus on individualized learning. Marzano’s instructional strategy focuses on cooperative learning. Based on student data, and ongoing progress monitoring, students can be provided individualized instruction in a small group cooperative learning setting. Teachers are provided with a 40 minute period at the end of the day to focus on individualized learning, during this time, students can be placed in a cooperative learning group that focuses on specific skills and needs of the students.
References
Almekhlafi, A. G., Ismail, S. A., & Hassan, A. A. (2020). Teachers\’ Reported Use of Marzano\’s Instructional Strategies in United Arab Emirates K-12 Schools. International Journal of Instruction, 13(1), 325-340.
Peer Response 2:
How can you use what you have learned on this site in a professional development session based on your school\’s goals and needs?
Based on 2020-2021 data for this school, it was noted that students in multiple grade levels (3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, & 8th) are showing less than 50% proficiency in English Language Arts (ELA) on the Florida Standards Assessment (FSA). Knowing that literacy impacts almost all other content areas, and that increasing mastery of foundational skills in Grades Kindergarten through Second when students are learning to read is a critical component of student success, a schoolwide literacy plan will increase student achievement. Motivating and engaging students in the learning process is a huge factor, too.
- What performance objective could establish the goal of the session?
It is the goal of this K-8 school to increase reading proficiency by 10% on the 2022 FSA. In order to do this, participants in the professional development session will be able to scaffold learning and engage students through the use of non-linguistic representations (Thinking Maps). Participants will use data to create effective cooperative groups and research-based strategies that allow students to share their academic thinking in respectful and inclusive ways (Kagan Strategies; Discourse Cards; CHAMPS expectations).
- What Marzano strategies can you use to achieve the goal? Explain.
The first Marzano strategy is using Non-Linguistic Representations. Brain research has shown that 75% of information that is stored in the brain comes from visual cues, and that when the brain can make strong connections then retention, recall, and comprehension are strengthened. This happens through visuals, patterns, metacognition, automaticity, emotion and meaning, and higher-order thinking. It is for this purpose that the professional development will incorporate the use of Thinking Maps. (Thinking Maps, 2016)?There are 8 maps that are utilized consistently and match a specific cognitive skills (Defining/Brainstorming, Sequencing, Categorizing/Main Idea & Details, Cause & Effect, Seeing Relationships/Analogies, Describing, Whole-to-Part relationships, Compare/Contrast), as well as include a Frame of Reference for three types of metacognitive connections. When students can automatically take both inferential and abstract information and place it into a visual representation that includes non-linguistic examples to solve problems and make meaning, student achievement will increase.
The second Marzano strategy is Cooperative Learning. Cooperative learning, when done well, increases student engagement and motivation while also developing an inclusive and positive classroom environment. Teacher participants will build Thinking Maps individually, and then work in cooperative groups to share information from the maps using various Kagan Strategies and discourse cards, and then build a Frame of Reference together. Groups would be called on to present their learning. This would provide a model for how to combine both Non-Linguistic Representations and Cooperative Groups to deepen learning for students.
References:
Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning. (n.d.).?Marzano\’s Nine Instructional Strategies for Effective Teaching and Learning. Cloud County Community College.?https://www.cloud.edu/Assets/pdfs/assessment/marzanos%209%20strategies.pdf (Links to an external site.)
Thinking Maps. (2016).?The Building Blocks of Brain-Based Learning: The Research Base for Thinking Maps.
Peer Response 3:
What is the evaluation process in your school or district?
Teacher evaluations vary from school to school and state to state. Within my district, the administration follows the Ohio Department of Education protocols for evaluation. Recently, we implemented OTES 2.0 which is the new evaluation system in the state of Ohio. Based on the teachers\’ years and contracts, each educator has formal and informal observations each school year. Following these observations are formal meetings with the administration to review the observation. In addition, each teacher is required to complete two professional development plans with very clear goals and objectives. Before turning in the professional plans, the principal met with each teacher to review ways the goals would be met throughout the school year. The best thing about OTES 2.0 is the teachers are not graded with a specific letter grade with student data being the most important component.
What recommendations could be suggested for improving the evaluation procedures to improve the process?
The only suggestion I would provide regarding the evaluation process at my school is to have a schedule for when the formal observations are happening. The schedule would provide teachers with time to prepare for the formal observations.
What are the state, district and campus expectations for teacher evaluation outcomes?
The state expectations are followed specifically by our school administration. With OTES 2.0 as the brand new evaluation system in Ohio, many schools are piloting this year to better prepare their teachers for the next school year when it must be enforced. Each teacher has a number of formal and informal observations each school year, professional development plans, and ways to gather data on student performance based on the teacher\’s goals. The district must utilize high-quality student data as a way to progress monitor the students\’ growth. The teachers are rated as ineffective, developing, skilled and accomplished.
Where are the evaluations stored and how is that data used in the future?
The school administration keeps a copy of all the evaluations and provides the teachers with a copy. Each teacher is asked to keep a folder of each evaluation. The data is used for administration, for the most part.
Are evaluations tied to teacher pay? Should they be?
Evaluations are not tied to teacher pay. Personally, I do not feel evaluations should be tied to teachers\’ pay because there are so many factors that can influence teacher performance. Student scores should not reflect how much a teacher is paid because it all depends on the diverse student population each year. I also feel it could deter great teachers from the education field. According to research, “Teacher evaluation systems have not accurately measured teacher quality and have not aided in developing a highly-skilled teacher workforce” (Marzano, 2012, p. 15). However, I do think incentives should be offered for student achievement, creative lessons, and thinking outside of the box! I believe this would motivate teachers to use research-based learning strategies more and motivate them to seek more professional learning opportunities on their own.
References
Marzano, R. J. (2012). Teacher evaluation. Educational leadership, 70(3), 14-19.
Peer Response 4:
The teacher evaluation process is the same across our district. Each teacher is required to be formally observed at least one time during the school year, two times if they are within their first 3 years of teaching. This formal observation must be at least 30 minutes long and the teacher must be notified ahead of time. The formal observation counts for 1/3 of their overall evaluation. The other 2/3 of their evaluation comes from their deliberate practice goals and their student achievement data. As far as observations go, this varies across schools. At my school, any observations other than the annual formal observations are called “walk-thrus” and can occur at any time throughout the year. The teacher does not have to be notified ahead of time.
In my opinion, I feel that the walk-thru data should be added as a component on the bottom of the formal observation. I feel like the walk-thrus provide a lot of “snapshots” that allow the administration to see what teachers are doing throughout the year and not just what they see in one 30-minute lesson. I also feel like they get a better idea of what the true teaching looks like in the classroom when the teacher is not expecting them to come and observe. This can be positive and negative, but would provide valuable information. Due to the lack of time, it is not realistic to require every teacher on campus to have multiple formal observations. Walk-thrus could be utilized in a way that would help with this issue. In a study by Anderson et al. (2019), both teachers and administrators “agreed that lack of time was the primary barrier to effective teacher evaluations” (p. 148). Additionally, they claimed that “Regular feedback from administrators takes time; however, its absence is a major contributor to teachers leaving the profession” (p. 148). With the teacher shortage that we have in our country, it is imperative that we find an effective teacher evaluation system.
In my current district, teachers that receive unsatisfactory overall evaluations must create a plan of action. This plan must include how the teacher plans to improve their instruction. Teachers that receive a rating of effective or highly effective often receive performance pay from the district and/or state.
Evaluations are stored in an online platform. We previously used Baseline Edge but have recently transitioned to PowerSchool. Teachers, administration, and district staff all have access to the online evaluations. The final evaluations are printed and stored each year by the principal in the teacher’s HR file on their home campus.
Anderson, D., Cameron-Standerford, A., Bergh, B., & Bohjanen, S. (2019). Teacher evaluation and its impact on wellbeing: Perceptions of Michigan teachers and administrators. Education, 139(3), 139–150.
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