This much-needed text provides a coherent and strategic approach to teacher development Teacher Development for Language Teachers examines ten different approaches for facilitating professional development in language teaching: self-monitoring, support groups, journal writing, classroom observation, teaching portfolios, analysis of critical incidents, case analysis, peer coaching, team teaching, and action research. The introductory chapter provides a conceptual framework. All chapters contain practical examples and reflection questions to help readers apply the approach in their own teaching context.
Develop and sustain collective efficacy in your school to energize teachers and students alike. In today’s schools, working together and learning together go hand in hand. Collective efficacy is educators’ beliefs, fueled by evidence, that by working together—as a collective, rather than as individuals—they will positively impact student and teacher learning. So how can teachers put collective efficacy into action? Collaborating Through Collective Efficacy Cycles: A Playbook for Ensuring all Students and Teachers Succeed demystifies the concept of collective efficacy and empowers teacher teams with the necessary tools to ignite collaborative processes, pool energy and resources, determine their impact, and foster mutual accountability at a schoolwide level. Step by step, the authors guide readers through six modules, leading them through a full cycle and helping set a foundation to systematically cultivate collective efficacy. The playbook offers background information, evidence-based research, and practical strategies and tools to help educators: Establish detailed conditions for creating collective teacher efficacy, using data to identify student learning needs and determine a common challenge Plan collectively, implement strategy, and observe colleagues in deliberate classroom practices that deepen expertise and facilitate increased student and teacher learning Select learning opportunities to bolster knowledge and enhance professional skills surrounding evidence-based practices that address needs and accelerate learning Define how teacher teams can cultivate and increase motivation and energy as individuals and, equally importantly, with one other. While content changes, this established process can be used repeatedly, offering teacher teams a clear and defined pathway towards personal and professional fulfillment while simultaneously elevating student motivation, well-being, and academic success.
'Collaborative Peer Coaching' introduces the 2+2 performance appraisal method, which has been successful in reducing teachers' levels of anxiety & self-doubt, increasing job satisfaction, increasing meaningful contact between teachers & allowing for appraisals in a less threatening context.
This book provides a comprehensive and practical guide for three different models of Peer Observation Partnerships: self-directed; guided; and coordinated.
Classroom Observation explores the pivotal role of lesson observation in the training, assessment and development of new and experienced teachers. Offering practical guidance and detailed insight on an aspect of training that is a source of anxiety for many teachers, this thought-provoking book offers a critical analysis of the place, role and nature of lesson observation in the lives of education professionals. Illustrated throughout with practical examples from a range of education settings, it considers observation as a means of assessing teaching and learning and also as a way of developing teachers’ skills and knowledge. Key topics include: The purposes and uses of lesson observation The socio-political and historical context in which lesson observation has developed Practical guidance on a range of observation models and methods Teacher autonomy and professional identity Performance management, professional standards and accountability Peer observation, self-observation and critical reflection Using video in lesson observation. Written for all student and practising teachers as well teacher educators and those engaged in educational research, Classroom Observation is an essential introduction to how we observe, why we observe and how it can be best used to improve teaching and learning.
In order to make appropriate changes to improve your teaching and your students’ learning, first you need to know how you’re teaching now. Figure it out for yourself and invigorate your teaching on your own terms! This practical evidence-based guide promotes excellence in teaching and improved student learning through self-reflection and self-assessment of one’s teaching. Phyllis Blumberg starts by reviewing the current approaches to instructor evaluation and describes their inadequacies. She then presents a new model of assessing teaching that builds upon a broader base of evidence and sources of support. This new model leads to self-assessment rubrics, which are available for download, and the book will guide you in how to use them. The book includes case studies of completed critical reflection rubrics from a variety of disciplines, including the performing and visual arts and the hard sciences, to show how they can be used in different ways and how to explore the richness of the data you’ll uncover.
This practical resource book provides a collection of materials for use on mentor courses. It presents a range of activities and processes for exploring the roles and duties of mentors and for developing and practising the skills required.
Powerful tools for facilitating teachers' professional development and optimizing school improvement efforts! Combining professional learning communities (PLCs) and action research, this step-by-step guide provides coaches, workshop leaders, and staff developers with strategies, activities, and tools to develop inquiry-oriented PLCs. The authors present essential elements of a healthy PLC, case studies of inquiry-based PLCs, and lessons learned for improving coaching practices. Sample projects and reflection prompts will help readers: Organize, assess, and maintain high-functioning, inquiry-oriented PLCs Facilitate the development of study questions Enable PLC members to develop, analyze, and share research results Lead successful renewal and reform efforts
This volume is based on an ERASMUS+ project that ran from 2017 to 2020. It aimed at empowering both prospective teachers and teacher educators to actively become agents of their own continuing professional development. It further intended to cooperatively establish a culture of self-reflection, as well as an intercultural network of professionals who creatively use mobile technologies and innovative ways of teaching and learning in the field of foreign language teaching. All contributions were provided by our partners from Germany, Sweden, Spain, and the UK and give an excellent insight into all the manifold aspects dealt with in this project – including voices of participating students.
This book takes the idea of distributing leadership in schools to a new level of understanding and practice. The authors address the complexities of leadership by putting forward two essential propositions. The first is the need to understand leadership as the outcome both of people’s intentions and the complex flow of interactions in the daily life of schools. The second is the need to integrate values of social justice and democracy into our understanding of leadership. Building on this insight, the authors show how leadership can be truly collaborative. The book also combines practice, theory and research and draws on the authors’ international experience. This book is an invaluable resource for reflection and change for everyone who contributes to and studies leadership – senior leaders, teachers, support staff, students and researchers.
