Our first official session

We had our first release day last Friday, October 7.  Seldom have I enjoyed a professional development activity so much as I did Friday's session.

Professional Learning Resources

We chose professional learning books about subject specific DI, PLC's, general DI and student achievement and agreed to create a library of resources for our own use and also for use by our fellow staff members.  When they arrive, we will each review a few of the titles and blog about their usefulness. I am excited to see what new ideas we can find in the new DI library.

Common DI structures and strategies

We chose our common strategies and aligned them with the different elements of a DI lesson plan.

As an anecdotal assessment in the MINDS ON section of the lesson plan cluster, we agreed to do a cubing activity.

As a formative assessment in the ACTION section of the of the lesson plan cluster, we agreed to use Learning Centres and RAFTS.

As the summative assessment in the CONSOLIDATION section of the lesson plan cluster, we agreed to use a Choice Board.

Daniella and I will apply the DI activities in our Grade 9 Locally Developed and Grade 9 Applied English classes respectively during our Romeo and Juliet unit.

I am really looking forward to the creation of Learning Centres.  We are going to label each centre with both the Multiple Intelligences and the VARK inventory identifiers.  We plan to have the students Make a Mask, Watch video clips and compare the interpretations, do a Dramatic Reading and podcast it and do a Scrapbook Portfolio including some journal writing in role.  We will post all of these lessons and document files when they are completed.

Pre and Post Survey

We also did a short Google Survey to be administered before and after the unit to see how the students' attitudes and interest change, if at all, after the DI lessons.  We worked on the questions together and then Marc got the survey set up for us.

Planning for the Activities
We made a list of materials we would need and also some posters/charts for the lessons. 

Next steps
Our next step will be to take a Period 3 off near the end on November 17. We all have 4th Prep so we will gather the materials and complete all the posters/charts at our WECDSB Teacher Center.

Our goal is to implement the over a week period from Nov. 21 - Nov 25.  We will begin with the survey on November 21 in the computer lab and end with the Post Activity survey on November 28.

Overall impressions

So far, I am finding this a very encouraging and empowering experience.  We have a group of people who are like-minded and curious.  We have control over our own methods and our own implementation.  This is how P.D. should be.  I am excited to see the plans in action.  We so seldom get time to reflect on our practices, discuss new ideas and fine tune our own approaches to our subject areas.  I always feel like I don't have enough time but on Friday, we were able to discuss our own practices and brainstorm new ways to reach our students.  It was really great.

A return to teachers as intellectuals

A colleague of mine presented an article in a M.Ed. class I am taking and the following passage struck me.  I feel like this project is respectful of teachers as intellectuals and professionals.

The ghost of curriculum past that I’d most like to animate is the ghost of teachers as

intellectuals. Intellectuals are those who have “a highly developed ability to think,

reason and understand especially in combination with wide knowledge” (Soukhanov,

1999) Creative intellectuals are those with “the ability to use the imagination to

develop new and original ideas or things” (Soukhanov, 1999). Wise intellectuals are

those with the ability to make sound, sensible and reliable judgments based on

knowledge and experience. Practical intellectuals are those who can put these

abilities to practical use. Education systems that animate these ghosts will not be

staffed by docile or compliant teachers – teachers who think thin. Rather, they will be

staffed by teachers who are creative, wise and practical intellectuals. And being thus

they will be able to produce students with the abilities to think, judge and imagine

and to put these abilities to practical use.

Kenway, J. (August 01, 2008). The Ghosts of the School Curriculum: Past, Present and Future. Australian Educational Researcher, 35, 2, 1-13.

The Beginning of the Road - Oct/11 First Meeting

Our first release day was a very productive and helpful session. In addition to ordering and discussing book choices, we created 2 meaningful student surveys to help us plan and edit our assessments for future use. This will also be helpful to know students better and eventually present our findings to other teacher groups. The focus for the next month or so will be to create and implement the Choice Boards, Learning Centres, RAFTs, and Cubing activities. Personally, I am anxious to use the Learning Centres with my GLE/ENG1L0 class and their Romeo and Juliet unit. Depending on the success of this method it may something that can be easily adapted and used in other classes and with other topics. In the end, this TLLP will be most valuable to our peers if we can provide them with real techniques that can be adapted to suit their individual disciplines. I think one of the main criticisms about PD is that it is irrelevant and only good in theory. I guess my personal goals here are to learn something that will make me a better teacher and teach something that will make someone else a better teacher. That is after all - the point!