Week 2 Assignment: Learner-Centered Staff Development

Directions

Refresh your knowledge of learner-centered principles by reviewing Lecture 1; the Week 1 reading, “Applying Learner-Centered Principles in Teacher Education”; and the resource documents “Learner-Centered Psychological Principles” and “Helpful Web sites.”

Create a preliminary agenda for a learner-centered staff development session for colleagues at your school. The agenda is preliminary because you will make additions and revisions to it in Weeks 3 and 4.

The staff development presenter must:

demonstrate an understanding of learner-centered principles and the TEA learning system.

create a positive environment (seating arrangement, snacks, etc.) for participants.

focus on the objective selected in the Analysis Assignment.

lead activities that require active participation from all involved.

facilitate consensus-building on the best approach for teaching the objective.

conform to a time limit of 30 - 45 minutes.

conduct an evaluation of the session.

have the principal approve the agenda. Arrange a time with a principal for presentation of the session. You are not required to present the staff development during the course.

Staff Development Agenda

Use the following table as a planning tool to complete the preliminary organization of the learner-centered staff development session. Refer to the Resource documents “Learner-Centered Principles” and “Learner-Centered Practices” to help you generate ideas for activities.

Session Purpose: Designing an Engaging Lesson

CIP Goal

1) Learning Experiences at Fairmeadows will be customized to cultivate profound learning through the investment of time and effort in order to ensure minimal academic gaps among students resulting in a 90% or above passing rate in reading, math, and writing. CIP, (2010, p. 1)

8 teachers 0 -5 years experience

Hispanic teachers 31.3%

Hispanic students 78.4 %

Economically disadvantaged 85.9%

Limited English Proficient 36.3%

At-risk 73.3% AEIS, (2010)

These students have limited experiences. The teachers do not always come from the same cultural or economic background as the students. Relevancy is often an issue when teaching these students.

Reading percentages are at 98% and 96%. Math percentages are 94% and 96%. Writing percentages are at 99%. AEIS, (2010)

Learning Objective to Be Addressed: Identifying your audience; Creating Relevancy for diverse audiences (What is their interests and their needs)

CIP objectives

1) We will provide all students with engaging learning experiences that will extend their knowledge of subject matter taught in their classrooms through the use of multiple sources of media and material. CIP, (2010, p. 1)

2) The design coaches will provide all faculty and staff with training on designing engaging lessons on hard to teach/ hard to learn concepts. CIP, (2010, p.5)

Approving Principal: Teresa Villarreal Presentation Date: February 16, 2011

Grade Level:

PK – 4th

Facilitator: Design Coaches

(Barron & Roberts)

Location: Fairmeadows Elementary School Library

Start Time:

4:00 PM

End-Time:

4:45 PM

Learner- Purpose Description Steps Estimated Time

Centered Activity

Introduction Identify a hard to teach/ hard to learn TEK that is to be taught within the next 2 weeks and address ways to teach this lesson. This will show how they plan before the staff training. They have had training on identifying their audience in the past, but need a refresher on keeping the material relevant to the audience, not just to the teachers.

The team will focus on a lesson that they have already developed, and will be presented within a two week window. They will form a consensus in choosing the lesson that will be the most difficult for them to teach, and the students to learn. They will document this on chart paper for comparison at the end of the training.

The faculty will sit in small groups divided into grade-level teams. The team will focus on a lesson that they have already developed, and will be presented within a two week window. They will form a consensus in choosing the lesson that will be the most difficult for them to teach, and the students to learn. They will document this on chart paper for comparison at the end of the training. They will list the TEK at the top of the T-chart. On the left, they will identify the lessons and activities they are using to teach this objective.

5-10 Minutes

Using Recyclables to Create a Teaching Tool

Find an unusual, low cost way to teach the above TEK. This will help teachers to think outside the box when considering new ways to teach this lesson.

Creating a teaching tool out of “trash” is a fun, energetic way to keep participants engaged, and show that there are many ways to teach a lesson that do not

A table will be set up on the side of the library that will contain a large number of items that could be considered to be trash or recyclables. All of these items will be free or

15 Minutes

depend on straight lecture. The idea is to show different ways that we think. Each group will show something unique, but effective. Since each team is different, their needs will be different, as well as the way they think. This activity is to show them the wide variety of ideas that are possible when addressing student needs.

low cost items that are being recycled or repurposed. Each team will take their choice of these items and create a teaching tool to help teach their hard to teach lesson. They will need to be able to explain how it works, and why it is relevant to the lesson.

Name Those Activities

Each teacher has previously made an in-depth list of their students’ characteristics and which design qualities match up to those characteristics. The grade level teams will list different activities that their students enjoy and are effective approaches for their learning under each design quality. These activities will be the basis to building a better lesson in

This is a cooperative way for the whole group to help build a list of innovative activities. This list will be combined into a cheat sheet for teachers to use when planning their lessons. It will be used in the concluding activity to show how useful it can be. Then the list will be compiled into a document for each teacher to use for ideas in future planning.

The teachers are going to go through the activities that their students enjoy, participate in, and find relevant. They are going to list these under all the appropriate design qualities. For example, A child who has ADHD may need the design quality identified as novelty and variety. An activity for this could be to create a podcast. They will have ten minutes to write down as many as they

10 Minutes

the concluding exercise.

can think of. Each team will post their list on the wall for everyone to use on the next activity.

Conclusion After seeing how relevancy and interest affect how they learn, the faculty will refer back to the introductory activity, and amend it to reflect better choices for their audience. This will make the lesson fit the students’ needs and interest to a larger degree, which will increase student learning by increasing their engagement in the lesson.

The team will complete the T-chart from the introductory activity. This will show how the lesson now addresses student need in a more relevant fashion. Most teachers plan in a way that is comfortable to them. It is more difficult to address relevancy to the student than it is to address relevancy to the teacher. This activity is being used to focus attention on ways to address student needs and build an engaging lesson in such a way that is feasible for the teacher.

After using the recycle activity to change the way the teachers think about the lesson, they will use their class characteristics to identify the design qualities most appropriate for their class. When they know these qualities, they will list activities that are relevant to those qualities. This new list will be located on the left side of the original T-chart. Once complete, the team will report out to the whole group. They will explain their original lesson, their new teaching tool, and how they amended their lesson to make it more relevant to their audience. After everyone has reported out, the faculty will complete a survey and engagement meter to help the

5 – 10 Minutes

facilitators assess what was helpful, and to plan additional training for the future.

Fairmeadows Elementary Campus Improvement Plan 2010 – 2011 School Year, (2010).

Duncanville Independent School District, Principal: Teresa Villarreal. Pp. 1 – 12.

2009-10 Academic Excellence Indicator System, Campus Performance, Fairmeadows

Elementary School, Duncanville ISD. (2010), Texas Education Agency, pp. 1 - 4.

2009 – 10 Academic Excellence Indicator System, Campus Profile, Fairmeadows

Elementary School, Duncanville ISD. (2010), Texas Education Agency, pp. 1 - 4.

Staff Development Agenda Reflection

Explain in a paragraph how your proposed staff development agenda reflects learner-centered principles. You do not have to address all learner-centered principles. Type your responses in the expandable boxes.

Explain in one paragraph how the components of the TEA learning system are reflected in your proposed staff development agenda. You do not have to address all components.Learning Goals, curriculum documents, instructional program, staff development program, measurement system, administrative procedures

The staff development agenda for developing an engaging lesson aligns with the TEA learning system components. Developing an engaging lesson affects all the learning goals (TEKS) because it affects our instructional program, or the way we present the lesson. It is used to develop lessons for hard to learn/ hard to teach TEKS. We are working to make the lessons relevant to all learners. This staff development program addresses training our teachers on how to identify their audience and then creating a relevant lesson that addresses their needs and interests. This is a major part of the goals and objectives of the Fairmeadows Campus Improvement Plan, which is part of the administrative procedures. We will use a sign-in sheet to document teacher training, and the effectiveness of the instruction should be measureable in how our students do on district benchmarks, and the TAKS. These documents provide the basis for the new Campus Improvement Plan for the next year.

Describe in one paragraph how you will create a positive environment for the staff development session. We will be striving to create a positive atmosphere for this training. By using the library for training, the atmosphere becomes more comfortable. It is a less severe setting than in the cafeteria, but still provides enough room for all the participants. We will have the teachers sit by grade level, in small groups. Since we are discussing audience interest, this division will create groups of similar interest. This training is after a full day of work, but it is not a long session. We will provide bottles of water for the participants, and snack size chocolate bars on all the tables for anyone who would like a couple (these are a favorite of our staff). We will be working in collaborative groups with hands-on activities. This will help to keep the interest of the tired participants. By providing a fun, relaxed atmosphere, we hope to have a productive and positive session.

How will you ensure activity participation by all who attend the staff development session? Specify activities. Our faculty often works in small, collaborative groups. This means that we have procedures in place that insures that all members know what their “job” is and effectively incorporates all members into the activity. This is very helpful when using this type of activity for staff development. Our introduction activity will have the grade level team considering lessons (TEKS) that they will be using in the near future, and how they plan to teach it. They will document this on chart paper. The lesson at the top, and the

activities listed on the right side of the paper. All of our grade levels plan as a team, so this should not be difficult for the team. Creating the teaching tool for the lesson is a fun, hands-on activity that should have everyone working together for a common goal, and discussing different ways of teaching that objective. By giving a time limit to the next activity, the teachers will usually become a little competitive, and work hard together to beat the other teams. This should provide a nice list of student (audience) -centered activities that address all the components of a relevant lesson. The conclusion exercise of the staff training will refer back to the original document. After completing the two activities addressing ways to make a lesson relevant to its audience, the grade-level teams will make a new list of activities that is more relevant to the intended audience. These will be listed on the left-hand side of the paper. The team will present its finding to the other grade levels. After completing the group presentations, a survey and engagement meter will be completed by each member to assess how effective and relevant the training was.

How will you facilitate and help participants build consensus on the best course of action to address the objective? I am going to help facilitate the staff training by using a method of training that is often used by our faculty. It incorporates small groups, and a set format for procedures. Everyone participates in different capacities. They all are expected to help and add their voice to the discussion. The participants are comfortable in this format, and are willing to ask others for advice and help when involved in different activities. I am also dividing the participants into grade level teams. That means that they already work on curriculum together, and often help each other on developing instructional programs for their classroom. By having the groups report out to everyone, they become responsible for their results. They need to understand what was being discussed, and how it will effect change in their instruction. By being able to explain the process to others and how it affected what they were planning for their audience, the information becomes more relevant and useful to their own instruction. Our faculty usually incorporates a fair amount of humor in this process. This makes the process more interesting for us, which means that we are more likely to remember what we learned.

How will participants evaluate the staff development session? I will use an end of session survey with an engagement meter. This will allow participants to give useful comments or criticism. The engagement meter is used to see if the lesson or training is effective and interesting, or if they are there just because they are required to be. Since the session is after a full day of classes, it is important to keep their interest.