Praxis 5621- Professional Development, Leadership, and Community

The Professional Development Practices in which educators engage include:

-Joining Professional Associations

-Attending workshops and conferences

-Furthering their education

-Collaborating with colleagues

-Reflecting on their own practices

Professional Associations:

-Nonprofit organizations that support the members of a particular profession by setting standards and advocating for associates.

-Great networking community

-Provide support, such as helping members find jobs

-Advice to help job seekers improve resume and interviewing skills

-Provide literature and organize conferences/workshops that help members stay abreast on latest research and best practices.

-Publish literature such as magazines, journals, and newsletters

Some well-known professional associations for teachers:

-Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)

-National Education Association (NEA)

-National Council for Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)

Workshops:

-Discussions/meetings in which a small number of participants exchange information about best practices.

Conferences:

-Formal meetings in which a large number of members of a particular profession learn from one another and discuss important topics within the field.

PLC's... (Learning Communities):

-Become a popular option

-Small groups of professionals who share common goals that meet to collaborate about instructional practices.

-Focus on student achievement

-First meeting: Teachers will identify SMART goals and develop a plan that focuses on the essential questions that will be reviewed each meeting. (Ex: What do we expect students to learn?)

-To be effective, a PLC must include members who are willing to share leadership and take ownership of the collective improvements of student learning.

Study Groups:

-Focus on learning more about a specific subject.

-May work together on a book study or each member may be assigned research that is brought back to the group and discussed.

Independent Research:

-Teachers can take responsibility for their own development if he/she is interested in finding out more about a specific educational topic.

Earning a graduate degree can.......

-Increase career options for teachers who enroll in programs to become a school counselor, administrator, or library media specialist.

Other places that offer educational internships:

-The U.S. Department of Education

-Curriculum publishers

-Educational television programs

-Museums

-Overseas teacher-exchnage programs

A Mentor Teacher is available to advise on:

-How to navigate the first years of teaching

- Where to find resources

-How to handle classroom management issues

-How to write effective lesson plans

The World Education Research Association (WERA) and the

American Educational Research Association (AERA):

-Advocate for the use of research-based practices in education

-Promote professional standards for collecting and distributing research findings

Educational Researchers:

Work for...

-Colleges

-Universities

-Graduate or doctoral students

-Publishing companies

-Testing companies

-Educational associations

Types of Research:

-All include the use of scientific method

-Basic academic: Finding out information

-Applied research: Proving a point/sell a product

-Qualitative: Subjective... interviews and case studies

-Quantitative: Analyze findings through statistics

Accurate vs. Secondary research based information:

-Accurate: Professional journal articles and other peer-reviewed materials

-Secondary... (not as accurate): Newspapers, magazines, encyclopedias.

Action Research:

-Researching the teachers' own instructional practices to improve student learning.

1. Develop a guiding question and state collection technique.

2. Gather evidence.

3. Display the data.

4. Analyze the data and draw a conclusion.

5. Use the info to guide one's teaching practices.

Reflective Practice:

-Intentionally thinking about professional practices as part of one's own professional development.

-Incorporates the emotions, reactions, and responses

-Reflective journals

-Peer and self assessments

-Incident analysis

-Peer observation

-Professional portfolio

Reflective Journaling:

-Written records of a learning experience.

-Could be shared with colleagues or for personal use

-May contain reflections about lesson delivery, student achievement, classroom management

-Journaling can take on several forms, including observations, questions, speculations, critiques, or inspirations

-Aspects of reflective journaling:

record what happen

reflect on reactions feelings and thoughts of event

an analysis of the situation

conclusions

a resulting action plan

Incident Analysis:

-Formally reviews a situation to determine why it happened and how to reduce the likelihood of another similar event

Steps:

-Detailed description of what happen.

-Write down reactions, emotions, and thoughts about the event.

-Apply critical thinking skills to evaluate assess the situation

Professional Portfolio:

-Provide comprehensive view of professional practice

-Document, reflect, and share professional experiences

-May include lesson plans, student work, formal evaluations, anecdotal records, and clips of teaching.

Peer Observation:

-Collaborative approach to professional development

-Teachers watching each other and offering feedback

-Discussion and plan to apply what has been learned should immediately follow

Critical Friend:

Someone who supports growth by providing objective and honest feedback.

Teachers are called upon to be ____________.

-Advocates for the profession.

Teachers set expectations for the profession that include using:

-Research based practices

-Collaboration

-Collegiality

-Commitment to continued growth

The key to all positive relationships is through _________.

-Communication

Communication can happen through:

-Conferences

-Phone calls

-Student work foldes

-Emails

-News letters

-Open houses

Provide info through:

-Newsletters

-Calendars

-Notes to parents

-Web pages

Two-Way Communication:

-Phone calls

-Emails

-Home visits

-Conferences

-Interactive journals

-Planners

-Take home folders

Tips for a successful parent conference:

-Be prepared with observations of students

-Maintain a portfolio of student work to share

-Invite other school personnel who work with child to attend

-Be prepared to share anecdotal notes about things child does well and enjoys

-Ask parents for help with any challenges (comfort and concern)

-Be prepared of questions

-Never give out info about other students or parents

Schools that receive Title I funds must....

-Use a portion of the funds for parent and community involvement

Stake-holders:

-Anyone who has stake in the school. This includes students, teachers, parents, staff, administrators, and community members.

An Action Plan:

-A process by which goals and the steps towards achieving the goals are determined.

1. Objectives and shared vision

2. Brainstorm every possible challenge so each can be turned into an action step

3. Decide what success looks like for each action step

States choose support and interventions for...

-Schools in the bottom 5 percent with dedicated federal funds for turnaround initiatives

States have the authority to...

-Develop their own opt-out laws as long as 95 percent of students take the test... therefore severely disabled children no longer have to endure annual testing

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA):

-Protects the confidentiality of a student's educational records

-Parents have rights until student is 18

-Guarantees that students have a reasonable right to privacy.

The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA)

-Ensures that students with disabilities have equal access to free and appropriate public education.

-Part B of IDEA says schools must service students from 3-22 years of age.

-Outlines parents rights and school's responsibility to identify and serve disabled students.

Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA):

-Prohibits discrimination based on disabilities for all public entities, including access to educational facilities.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act:

-Prohibits discrimination based on disability in any program or activity that is subsidized by federal funds... including athletics

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972:

-Prohibits gender discrimination, including sexual harassment, inequality in athletic opportunity, inequality in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) courses, and discrimination based on pregnancy.

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964:

-Prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in programs or activities receiving federal financial assistances. Includes racial harassment, segregation, and denial of language services to English learners.

Tinker v. Des Moines:

Teachers do not lose their First Amendment rights (freedom of religion, expression, press, and peacefully assemble) when they come to school but the right to free speech is limited if it interferes with the educational mission of the school.

-black arm bands to protest Vietnam war... court agreed students had right

Intellectual Freedom:

-The right to retrieve information from various perspectives without censorship.

New Jersey vs. TLO:

-Court supported school's decision to search a student's purse after student was caught smoking in hall.

-Court did not consider in a violation to fourth amendment (right against illegal search and seizure) bc it was determined that the school has reasonable suspicion.

Due Process:

-Everyone must be treated fairly and the rights of all must be respected

Goss vs. Lopez:

-Determined that students must be given the opportunity to an informal hearing with school administrators before a suspension fro school.

-If suspension is more than 10 days, students has right to a formal hearing before an impartial body.

-If the school determines that a student poses a danger to other students, he/she may be suspended immediately with a hearing scheduled ASAP.

-Students have right to an attorney present when questioned.

Liability:

-Legal Responsibility

-Educators may be held liable for injuries to students or educational malpractice.

-If sued, teachers may face personal financial responsibility.

-Professional Liability Insurance is recommended either through a professional organization or union or from a private provider.

Licenses typically last ___________ years before they must be renewed.

1-5 years

-Ongoing professional development and proof of current experience are required for renewal.

Tenured:

-Means that a person has been given a permanent position.

-One is able to become tenured in approximately 3 years.

Copyright:

-The exclusive right to intellectual or creative works, such as literary or musical pieces.

-The only creative works that are not protected by copyright laws are those that have not been recorded in any way: work contrived from public documents, familiar names, slogans, symbols, and ideas.

-Works in the public domain are not protected by copyright laws.

-The fair use doctrine: provides teachers some leeway to use copyrighted materials for educational purposes as long as it will not used in a way that will create financial loss for the creator.

Typically educators may...

-Copy excerpts from a book, article, or short essay that comprises of less that 10 percent of the work

-Copy up to 250 words of a poem

-Copy a graphic from a book, magazine, or newspaper.

-Use bought/rented video for instruction but not for student entertainment.

Teachers may not...

-Duplicate a work in lieu of purchasing a class copy set

-Copy the same work for more than one class

-Use the same work more than 9 times in one semester

-Use the work for commercial purposes

-Fail to attribute the author

Copyright materials may be used by teachers under the following conditions:

-Material is part of the public domain

-Less than 10 percent of literacy work is used

-The material is not used for more than one class, course, or semester

-Material is not used more than 9 times within a semester

-Videos are used for instruction, not entertainment

-A graph or picture us used only with an attribution line

-The material consists of solely public information

-The teacher has secured permission from the author or publisher