Feb. 15, 2012, 5:38 p.m.

By THEODORIC MEYER

Sixteen years ago, Charlotte Danielson, an Oxford-trained economist, developed a description of good teaching that became the foundation for attempts by federal and state officials and school districts to quantify teacher performance.

Complete Interview HERE

21st Century Skills

"Within the context of core knowledge instruction, students must also learn the essential skills for success in today’s world, such as critical thinking, problem solving, communication and collaboration." 

-The Partnership for 21st Century Skills

The Teaching and Learning Framework often references 21st Century Skills. But what ARE the 21st Century Skills?

Take a look at this graphic:

• Where do the core subjects fall in this graphic? 
• What are the 4Cs? 
• How are you already incorporating "Life and Career Skills" & "Information, Media, and Technology Skills" into your teaching practice? 

A central component of the the 21st Century Skills framework is the 21st Century Themes (the green arch above).  In addition to the core subject that we teach, the 21st Century Skills move beyond these competencies by weaving 21st Century Interdisciplinary Themes into core subjects:

• Global awareness
• Financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy
• Civic literacy
• Health literacy
• Environmental literacy

Learn more about 21st Century Skills HERE!

Professional Growth

For many of you, we are in a time between formal observations.  During this time, however, you can continue to receive valuable feedback about your practice through informal observations and focus on the areas of growth from your Growth Plan.  The Educator Growth and Development Cycle is continual and the stops along the way are for feedback and adjustments to practice....AND....

"Current supervision theory states that to be effective, supervisory practices must be regulated in large part by the teacher.  The teacher decides what happens in a classroom, and instructional practice cannot improve without these decisions being the best possible.  The framework for teaching can transform what is generally the rather meaningless ritual of supervisory evaluation into a powerful process for thinking about instructional excellence."  -from Enhancing Professional Practice, A Framework for Teaching by Charlotte Danielson

• What elements of The Framework seem most essential to improve practice?
• What might be an element that you can most easily begin to see improvements in practice?
• What type of feedback would be most useful for you?
• What Professional Development might best support your Individual Growth Plan?

As always, please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions or needs.

Dean

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a great first week back!

The focus for January is the completion of your Individual Growth Plan (if you haven't finished it yet).  Also, the informal observations begin in January.  You should have received a letter in your email regarding your stipend. If you have any questions, please let me know!

Also, I found this great blog with some New Year's Resolutions for Teachers!  Tim Gauntley is a Former Library Coordinator for Toronto District School Board.  He is now an Education Consultant.  He Blogs on curriculum, technology, the school library, and learning commons.

Thanks Tim for the Great Ideas!!

Resolutions for 2012 Thirty-Six Years in the Making

1. Become a great storyteller and collector of stories. Everyone has a story to tell, even you.
2. Plan your work and work your plan. As my father used to say of his military days: “Good reconnaissance was seldom wasted.”
3. Do what you need to survive but go beyond. When teaching is merely about getting through the day, maybe it’s time to call it a day.
4. Collaborate to root your labour in your profession. You stand on the shoulders of giants, and arm-in-arm with colleagues.
5. Don’t just forgive your mistakes. Get others to help you laugh at them.
6. Model lifelong learning in front of your student charges. Recharge them with your energy for deep feelings, conversation, and ideas.
7. Every day memorize a poem, research a word, collect an anecdote, write a letter. Your synapses will thank you.
8. Meditate, don’t medicate. Loving kindness may be a teacher’s best gift.
9. Balance output with input. Your own learning (e.g., reading, viewing, traveling, listening) should equal your giving (marking, presenting, meeting, talking).
10. Live more in the moment. It is all here, NOW, so you don’t need to make new resolutions every year!

Happy Holidays!

Wishing you all a Happy Holiday Season!

RtI and the Teaching and Learning Framework

On December 8th, the Cohort 1 Response to Intervention group engaged in a day of reflective conversations regarding the Teaching and Learning Framework.  They brainstormed responses to this question:  

What are some of the elements of effective practices for teaching and learning?

Their thinking was charted and sorted into the standards that comprise the Teaching and Learning Framework.

Thank you Cohort 1 for connecting your funds of knowledge to the LAUSD Teaching and Learning Framework!

Individual Growth Plans: Technology

What might a classroom with a highly effective technology integrating teacher look like?

You may have heard of the concept of Pedagogical Content Knowledge.  This is the knowledge a teacher has of both the content they are teaching and the knowledge of how to teach it.  Click here for a more detailed explanation.  Lee Schulman is credited with the phrase "Pedagogical Content Knowledge".  Schulman's contribution can be visualized as the overlapping of Pedagogical Knowledge and Content Knowledge:

http://www.tpck.org/

Dr. Matthew J. Koehler, at the College of Education at Michigan State University, is working on a model that also incorporates Technological Knowledge.  All together now:  Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge!  (TPACK)

http://www.tpck.org/

Take a look at this video for an explanation of TPACK:

TPACK 101 from Clare Kilbane on Vimeo.