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Ah Ha Moments
Link to Dissertation Review Graphic Organizer docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m3Sdu-RyX9VefgwPhKNk0lL4VFbNUqKozE4gLpmBgp4/edit?usp=sharing
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The following examination of a professional learning opportunity I completed during the 2017-2018 school year looks at the experience in terms of how well the professional learning leveraged the seven common design elements of effective PD as defined in the report, “Effective Teacher Professional Development.”
Darling-Hammond, L., Hyler, M.E., Gardner, M. (2017). Effective Teacher Professional Development. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute. Overview The professional development opportunity I will reflect on for this assignment was offered to the Florida Teacher Lead Network members by the Florida Department of Education and was conducted by The New Teacher Center. The FLDOE sought to increase teacher leaders’ efficacy across the state by providing professional development to improve instructional practices and equip teacher leaders with the skills needed to coach other teachers along the path to more effective teaching practices. The topics of professional learning sessions included:
Design Elements for Effective Professional Development
relevant to their content area and grade level.
Overall Efficacy of This Professional Learning The Florida Teacher Lead Network sessions form one of the most impactful professional learning opportunities I have experienced. These sessions helped me to become a more effective instructional leader inside and outside of my classroom. In addition to the content and pedagogical knowledge gained, I forged relationships with educators across the state that are still an essential part of my professional growth and development. Room For Improvement After reading “Effective Teacher Professional Development” the professional learning described here could have been improved by integrating in-field observations. Observations could have been conducted through live webcam feeds or through short recorded videos. Participants could have been assigned a partner to provide additional spaces to practice giving and receiving feedback and reflections about the experience. Implications For My Current Work The most significant takeaway for my current work is that teachers need greater access to professional learning conducted by experts. Teachers need opportunities to engage in the rigorous work of professional learning rather than endure sit-and-get style redelivery of content from someone that attend a multi-day session and has condensed the experience to 45 minutes. The second takeaway is that teachers need greater access to professional learning opportunities focused on making them more effective instructional leaders that stay in the classroom. Too often, the only pathways for teachers looking for leadership opportunities lead them out of the classroom and into coaching or administrative roles. During the 2018-2019 school year, I began delivering the required ethics training to newly hired teachers in my school district. I inherited a presentation that was a "sit and get" session with limited opportunities for participants to ask questions or engage in a discussion of ethics. Recognizing that the nearly three-hour session would not engage participants, changes were made to make the session more participatory. Even with the changes that were made, I knew there was still room for improvement. After reading Cochran-Smith and Lytle's "Relationships of Knowledge and Practice: Teacher Learning in Communities," the framework of knowledge for, in, and of practice allowed me to reflect on the course’s strengths and identify specific areas for improvement. Knowledge-for-practice The ethics training described above is professional development training where the goal is to have teachers “put into practice what they have learned” to provide a safe learning environment for students (pg. 257). Much of the course content “comes from authorities outside the profession itself” (pg. 257). In this case, the Florida Department of Education can be considered “outside the profession” of actively teaching in a classroom setting. The course begins with a detailed review of Rule 6A-10.081, Florida Administrative Code, Principles of Professional Conduct for the Education Profession in Florida. This review provided participants descriptors for each section of the rule, including examples of past ethics violations. Teaching ethics to educators requires instruction that is “explicit about a formal knowledge base [Rule 6A-10.081, F.A.C] rather than relying on the conventional wisdom of common practice” (pg. 255). Unfortunately, some individuals do not follow the conventional wisdom of common practice even with explicit instruction and end up in the news for their poor ethical choices. Knowledge-in-practice To break up the monotony of listening to a review of Rule 6A-10081 F.A.C, scenarios based on real events were integrated into the training. The scenarios were included to allow participants to collaborate with their colleagues and talk through their responses. Since participants in the session range from novice to experienced teachers, a wide variety of practical and theoretical knowledge was discussed during the training. The collaboration between the session attendees helped “newcomers participate in dialogue with puzzling problems of practice” (pg. 270). When this course is delivered face to face in the future, there need to be increased opportunities for participant collaboration and analysis of scenarios to provide “social and intellectual contexts in which prospective and experienced teachers can probe the knowledge embedded in wise teaching decisions of other and/or can deepen their own knowledge and their own abilities to make wise decisions in the classroom” (pg. 272). To accomplish this goal, I will include additional sample scenarios where educators made questionable choices so participants could discuss how they would handle being made aware of the situation described and identify what they would have done if they were in the position themselves. Knowledge-of-practice This is the part of the framework in which my ethics training course is most lacking. Because “knowledge-of-practice, emphasizes that teachers have a transformed and expanded view of what ‘practice’ means, the ethics course needs to move beyond the basics. Reminders that educators should not embarrass or harass students, use district resources to support their side-hustle, send emails they wouldn’t feel comfortable hearing read on the news, or have sex with students do little to transform an educator’s practice (at least that’s my hope). To be transformative, the ethics course needs to provide a bridge from the typical examples into conversations around the significant ethical responsibility educators have to provide students equitable opportunities. Additional work needs to be done to ensure the course offers a space to explore the difference between equality, equity, and justice and how those concepts relate to our ethical obligation to the student. It could be a practical entry point into additional training opportunities that provided a space to dig deeper into equity and justice to allow educators to reflect and revise their practice. Relevance and Practicality Before reading “Relationships of Knowledge and Practice: Teacher Learning in Communities,” I thought about the audience and professional learning sessions’ objectives when planning them. I always thought about what it was I wanted participants to leave knowing. After reading the article, I realize that I need to think about the overarching framework used to deliver information and use the right format(s) based on the content, audience, and purpose of the session. Reflecting on professional learning I have created and facilitated led me to realize that I am weakest in providing spaces for educators to grow their knowledge-of-practice. Moving forward, I hope to learn better how to leverage knowledge-of-practice opportunities for teacher-learners to explore issues of equity and justice in their practice and a broader social context. KEY CONCEPTS
"What Works in Professional Development?" by Thomas R. Guskey and Kwang Suk Yoon
by Rebecca West Burns, Jennifer Jacobs, David Allsopp et. al.
by David K. Cohen
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AuthorMichelle Bily, M.Ed. 
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