Engaging School Teachers in Teaching as the Learning Profession

1. Engaging School Teachers in Teaching as the Learning Profession JenqJongTsay & Christopher Smith UT – Pan American

2. Teaching as the Learning Profession1 • A different vision of teacher professional development • teachers learn content on teaching and learning situated in teacher experiences arising from their daily practice of the teaching profession • teachers are taught through conducting a full scale action research project in a Community of Practice 1Darling-Hammond & Sykes, 1999

3. Learning to work vs. Working to learn • Learning to work: performance environment • Working to learn: learning environment • “Flow of information”2 • exchanged by teachers in schools where they work and learn • aptitude for working in any situation: thinking, planning, coping, problem solving skills • Teaching as the learning profession • for teachers to transition from learners to workers • we would like our teachers to learn “how to learn – how to solve problems of teaching and learning” in their work 2Corno, 2004

4. Professional Development Characteristics • Teacher learning situated in a broader context3 • individual student needs served • school improvement goals served • profession as a whole served • High quality professional development • focuses on pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) • includes opportunities for practice, research, reflection • is embedded in educators’ work and is during school day • is sustained over time • is founded on collegiality and collaboration 3Randi & Zeichner, 2004

5. A Promising Model for Prof. Develop. • Professional development • slow, situated process in a community of practice • voluntarily knowledge-seeking teachers • teachers challenged to access, share, and contribute to the professional knowledge base • A consistent practice: teacher (action) research • teachers investigate teaching and learning practices • teachers question their beliefs of teaching and learning • teachers create informed knowledge immediately useful in the classroom

6. Framework for Preparing Teachers for Learning • Four characteristics of effective learning environments4 • learner-centered • knowledge-centered • assessment-centered • community-centered 4NRC, 1999

7. Framework for Action Research Design and Implementation • Optimal learning results from meaningful interactions between5 • the learners • instruction • the target domain to be learned 5Siegler, 2001

8. Process of Action Research • Action research begins with an event or concern defined as a problem6 • It continues with reflection leading to hypotheses and planning of informal investigations • Following collection and analyses of data, conclusions are drawn • The conclusions lead to decision-making and revised instructional strategies and/or curriculum content 6Hopkins, 1993

9. Teacher (Action) Research and the Working to Learn Environment • Teacher (Action) Research • one of the components of designed professional development, or • an umbrella to overarch a broader context for the entire professional development • Our perspective • an umbrella to overarch a broader context for the entire professional development • high-quality professional development