(R)evolutionize Professional Learning

Bring Key Stakeholders to the Same Table

• Take note – highly effective classrooms, schools, and school systems are focused on being learning organizations
• Teachers, APs, and Principals all need to be a part of the instructional visioning process to ground in the why together
• When creating a path for student success, involve parents in that visioning
• Each neighborhood has special values; those values and the community’s reality need to be considered
• We must take care of students/families basic needs first, so that learning can occur

Let’s Support Our Teachers

• We expect teachers to differentiate their teaching, and professional learning (PL) needs to do the same for them
• What do good teachers do?  They are able to weave a web of connectivity between themselves, the subject, and who students are to create a world of learning — if that’s good teaching, then PL needs to be aligned with the supports that will put teachers on that trajectory
• We need to talk about one another’s humanity. For a teacher that’s asking: Who am I? Who do I teach? What does that mean for what I teach?
• Quality teaching takes many years to master, we need to track growth overtime for adults, the same way we do for kids
• When examining how things are currently done, make sure we are deploying our educators in the best way possible and not overburdening them
• So much is asked of teachers: What is essential? Operationational? Who needs to be freed up to really focus on the work of supporting the learning journey of the classrooms, school, and system?

(R)evolutionizing PL

• Conditions for PL success include: 1) instructional vision, 2) stakeholder analysis  3) a narrow focus, because you can’t do everything overnight, 4) alignment across the collective effort, and 5) progress monitoring
• Use data to help address disparities that exist—this includes sub-group analysis, classroom visits, coaching notes, evaluations, self assessments, and student/parent surveys
• When breaching conversations about equity, offer a  “call in” and not a “call out.” Facilitate conversations so they encourage professionals to self reflect and build from their experiences
• Don’t limit thinking around who PL is for, and what different people can get out of it
• Let’s make this a transformational moment, not one that reinforces “we don’t know how to do this, and therefore we are not doing it,” instead let’s commit to doing things differently through the ongoing support of one another

Tune into the webinar to hear more — including Rodney Robinson, 2019 Teacher of the Year, reflect more on the power and value of community, as well as his creative ideas for making your voice heard in education.