Professional Learning walkS

1. Mill Park Heights Primary School, 2010 ProfessionalLearning walkS Professional Learning Leader Melissa Corps

2. Performance and Development Planning 2010 • Mill Park Heights Primary School through their Performance and Development Culture accreditation process, invested time into ensuring staff plans are relevant, challenging and contribute to professional growth and school priorities. • Carefully developed goals lead to an examination of current practice and how it can be improved.

3. Plans and Professional Learning Walks • Creating Performance and Development Plans that include relevant and challenging professional goals are already the norm at MPHPS • An area for improvement is in the way we track the development of our goals • The provision of a 50 Minute Individualised Professional Learning block offers each staff member an opportunity to participate in Learning Walks, Collegiate Conversations and Reflective Writing to help to achieve maximum professional growth

4. Professional Learning Walks at MPHPS • A Professional Learning Walk at MPHPS is defined as an ‘interval that provides an opportunity to extend professional knowledge’ Examples of action that may take place during a Learning Walk include: class visits, discussions with Curriculum Leaders ie Numeracy Coordinator, Professional Reading, investigation of Continuums or Assessment Maps, collegiate conversations, etc

5. Structure of Professional Learning Walks • An ongoing investment has been made to provide each teacher with a 50 minute opportunity per week for Individualised Professional Learning • The Professional Learning Walk will aim to develop individual teacher understanding of their identified focus goal (a goal from their plan)

6. Structure of Professional Learning Walks • An essential element of a Professional Learning journey is reflection upon teacher practice • A class visit on an area of focus may last 30 minutes with the remaining 20 minutes taken as an opportunity to reflect upon the visit in your Reflective Journal • During the following weeks you may follow up in the same classroom, another classroom or arrange to meet with a Curriculum Coordinator for a “Collegiate Conversation’ regarding your focus goal, always taking time to reflect upon your learning in your journal

7. Identifying a Focus Goal from your Performance and Development Plan School Goals Student Learning: To maximise student performance in all areas of the curriculum, with a particular focus on Literacy, Numeracy and Curiosity. Student Engagement and Wellbeing: To promote student behaviours that will enhance student wellbeing and achievement. Student Pathways and Transitions: To ensure students make smooth transitions from home/kindergarten to Prep, intra-school, and from Grade 6 to Year 7. Team Goals As negotiated in PLTs ICT Ultranet 2) ePotential Survey Professional/Career Goals

8. How to write your goal... 1) Describe what you want you students to accomplish. For example: To maximise student performance in all areas of the curriculum, with a particular focus on Numeracy.

9. How to write your goal... 2) Select an emphasis for your goal focusing on your own teaching and learning For example: Developing my understandings of Methods of Calculation in Number to support students to count fluently forwards and backwards by twos, fours, fives, tens and hundreds from a given number

10. How to write your goal... 3) Develop strategies for improvement, ie actions taken to accomplish the goals For example • Learning Walks within Grade 1 and 2 areas during lessons count fluently forwards and backwards by twos, fours, fives, tens and hundreds from a given number • Collegiate discussions with Numeracy Coordinator and Numeracy Intervention Coordinator • PLT conversations about the Indicators of Progress, Assessment Maps and Mathematics Continuum

11. How to write your goal... • What evidence will I have to demonstrate the success of my goal? For example: • End of year VELS data • Reflective Journal Entries • Mathematics Online Interview data • On Demand Testing for Number

12. Expanding Your Thinking • What is happening now? • What do you need to achieve? • What action could you take? • What is the best way forward? • How and when will you do it? • How will you sustain success?

13. Is your Goal SMART?

14. Questions to consider prior to the Professional Learning Walk? • What area of practice do you want to focus on? • What do you want learning to look like in your classroom? • What could you do to change the situation? • What could you do to achieve your goal? • Who might be able to help?

15. Questions to prompt reflection after the Learning Walk? • What does quality teaching look like? • What approaches have you seen used? • Which approaches would you like to utilise in your classroom? • What resources would assist you in achieving this goal? • What would you like to see on your next Professional Learning Walk?

16. In Summary • Review your Performance and Development Plan and select a ‘focus goal’ for Professional Learning Walks • Complete the Learning Walks Pro forma • PLT Leaders timetable Professional Learning Walks • Negotiate with a colleague for a visit during your Professional Learning Walk, discuss your goal so that you can be sure that you will be see you need • Reflect upon your Learning Walk in your Journal using the Question prompts for after your Learning Walk • Create a direction for your next Learning Walk • Gather appropriate evidence to support your focus goal and share your journey at your end of year review