STAFF DEVELOPMENT FOR GIFTED PROGRAMS

1. STAFF DEVELOPMENT FOR GIFTED PROGRAMS July 13-14, 2012 Mary Schmidt Gifted Education Consultant Heartland AEA mschmidt@aea11.k12.ia.us 515.270.0405 or 800.255.0405 ext. 14375 http://pdingt.pbworks.com http://prezi.com/tcbp4jlgwcny/edit/#79

2. Essential Questions • What is Professional Learning? • What Professional Learning do we need? • How do I develop/deliver Professional Learning? • How do I know Professional Learning is effective?

3. LEARNING TARGETS • To become familiar with effective professional learning practices for adult learners • To become familiar with models and types of professional learning • To learn ways to assess staff needs for PD in gifted education • To plan for evaluation of g/t staff development • To align professional learning with other components required by Iowa Code (Ch. 12, IAC)

4. AGENDA • Introductions, warm up, expectations • Characteristics of high quality and high impact professional development • Professional development standards • Characteristics of adult learners • Planning for professional learning • Managing complex change • Evaluating staff development

5. COURSE REQUIREMENTS • 100 % attendance • Active participation in learning • Completion of in-class activities • Completion of self-assessment and action plan • Completion of final project/presentation to be submitted by July 20.

6. A LOOK AHEAD Share a plan for action that will move gifted and talented professional development forward in your building/district, demonstrates key concepts from this class, and is designed to promote growth in learning for g/t students, their teachers, and/or administrators. • Examples • Overview of SD session • Plan for involvement on building/district teams • Year-long PD plan/overview including ways to “sell” the plan to administration • Your idea? • From the Action Planning web, develop a plan for your professional learning and send to me along with a reflection on your plan/work. • Things to think about • Situation/Context • Connections • Rationale • Focus on results

7. NORMS Support each other in the learning process Monitor progress (individual/group) Ask questions Respect others’ viewpoints Take time to reflect

8. Remember, if you choose not to lead… …you will be forever led by others. --J. Michael Straczynski

9. Reflect on… …three things you want to learn from this class.

10. GETTING TO KNOW YOU • Eye contact partner • Introductions • Share one of the things you want to learn and why this is important to you. • Repeat twice • Large group sharing/categorizing

11. What is Professional Learning?

12. …whatever teachers become professionally, the process is not finished when they complete their teacher education program at age 21. Learning to teach well is a lifetime endeavor. The growth of understanding and skill in teaching terminates only when we do. --Eisner, 2002

13. Professional Learning: Process or Event?

14. STAFF DEVELOPMENT vs. INSERVICE Single event or series of short sessions Purpose is to raise awareness Conducted by outside expert Long-term commitment of time, energy, and resources Targets school goals Conducted by stakeholders Personnel preparation Dettmer & Landrum, 1998

15. Imagine hiring a basketball coach to come in once a month and advise players he has never seen play. He doesn’t know their strengths and weaknesses, but he still prescribes the plays they should use.

16. THINK ABOUT… …a time when professional development resulted in negligible change in your professional practice. What characteristics of that experience provided no encouragement to transfer the new learning into practice?

17. INSANITY… …endlessly repeating the same process hoping for a different result. --Einstein

18. THINK ABOUT… …a time when professional development led to a change in your practice. What characteristics of that experience encouraged you to transfer that new learning into practice?

19. THINK ABOUT… …a time when staff development led to a change in your students’ learning and achievement. What characteristics of that experience led to the change and how did students respond?

20. Characteristics of High Quality PL • Consider what you found positive and negative. • Form two groups and construct a “Top 10” list of the characteristics of quality professional development. • Share lists

21. Triangular Comparison Characteristics of Professions Student Teaching Bar Examination Residency Teaching Internships Counseling State Regulations Teaching Professions Education Medical Field Legal Profession Education Student Teaching Medical Field Residency Counseling State Regulations Internships Bar Examination Legal Profession

22. Triangular Comparison Inservice Professional Development Professional Learning

23. Leadership & Learning Matrix Organizational Results Antecedents of Excellence Reeves, p. 17

24. High Impact PD Three essential characteristics • Focus on student learning • Rigorous measurement of adult decisions • Focus on people and practices, not programs --Reeves, p. 21-3

26. Professional development must be an invitation to learn and reflect.

27. Characterisitics Of Powerful Professional Learning • Arises from real work going on in classrooms or schools • Focuses on what is happening with learners • Is generally collaborative • Establishes a culture of quality • Honors staff professionalism, expertise, experiences, and skills • Promotes inquiry and reflection • Ensures some level of application L.B. Easton, 2004

28. Characteristics Of Effective Professional Development • Longer duration • Greater span over time • Greater subject-matter focus • Greater active learning • More coherence • Integration of core content and pedagogy • Context-based Garet, et.al., 2001

29. What’s The Order? • Change in beliefs • Staff development • Student achievement • Change in practices

30. The Benefits of Practice “Teaching, like any complex cognitive skill, must be practiced to be improved.” --Willingham (2009) “…deliberate practice is the key to improved performance.” --Ericsson et. al. (2006)

33. Effective Professional Learning • intensive and sustained • directly relevant to needs of teachers and students • provides opportunities for • application • practice • reflection • Reinforcement --Reeves, 2010

34. McREL’s Knowledge Taxonomy Traditionally, most professional development focuses on declarative knowledge.

35. A PARADIGM SHIFT Dettmer & Landrum, p. 4

36. So What? • Given this information, what’s been problematic about gifted PL in your setting?

37. …the minute educators stop their own education, they start down the road to incompetence. --Wood & Thompson, 1993

38. Time to Reflect What have you learned (or how has your thinking changed) about professional learning based on our examination of the first essential question, “What is professional learning?”

39. Ready, Set, Recall What do you remember?

40. What professional learning do we need?

41. Using Standards to Define the Target

43. CEC-NAGC Knowledge & Skill Standards • Foundations • Development and Characteristics of Learners • Individual Learning Differences • Instructional Strategies • Learning Environments and Social Interactions • Language and Communication • Instructional Planning • Assessment • Professional and Ethical Practice • Collaboration http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=1863

44. NAGC Programming Standards Gifted Ed Programming Criterion 6 Professional Development • Description: Professional development is essential for all educators involved in the development and implementation of gifted program services. PD is the intentional development of professional expertise as outlined by the NAGC-CEC teacher preparation standards. PD may take many forms ranging from… ⏎

45. Attitudes, Beliefs, and Assumptions

46. Examine Program Goals and Student Outcomes • Look at your own plan’s program goals • How well are doing at meeting those goals? How do you know? • What professional learning would assist you in hitting the target? For… • teachers of gifted? • classroom teachers? • administrators? • school board? • parents and community?

47. Making Connections • What professional learning is already going on in your building/district? • Where does gifted fit? • What are the connections you can make to existing knowledge, skill, and practice?

48. Law of Initiative Fatigue When the number of initiatives increases while time, resources, and emotional energy are constant, then each new initiative – no matter how well conceived or well intentioned – will receive fewer minutes, dollars, and ounces of emotional energy than its predecessors. --Reeves, p. 27

49. SCENARIOS • Form groups of three/four • Read your chosen scenario • Identify the issues presented which might be impacted or rectified by focused professional learning opportunities. Consider assessing needs, stakeholders/audience, modality (format for learning), and focus/content.

50. PLANNING PD… • What else do you need to know? • How would you get the answers? • Based on current information, where would you start? • What are the major issues to address in your staff development plan? • Who would be best equipped to deliver information and support/coach participants in implementation? • Who would your teachers best hear the message from? • Where do your teachers fall in the growth states?