Professional Practice in the PLC

Category 8) Professional Practice of the Internship Performance Criteria states that the teacher participates collaboratively in the educational community to improve instruction, advance the knowledge and practice of teaching as a profession, and ultimately impact student learning. This means that as I teacher I collaboratively engage in my professional relationships to improve instruction, address goals related my students achievement, and seek advice on how to facilitate a better learning environment that is focused on enhancing student learning. When collaborative relationships are not cultivated intentionally, teachers easily slip into isolation. Teacher isolation, while a seemingly easier alternative to deliberate collaboration, is not in the student’s best interest. There is abundant research linking higher levels of student achievement to educators who work in the collaborative culture of a professional learning community (DuFour 2011).

At the school where I intern, the 8th grade Language Arts/Social Studies team collaborates under the Professional Learning Community (PLC) model. The PLC comes together on a weekly basis to develop curriculum that ensures students have access to the same essential knowledge and skills regardless of the teacher to whom they’re assigned (DuFour 2011). Throughout the week, teachers will gather information on the progress and learning of their students, ideas for future planning, and upcoming tests, projects and rubrics to design. The assessment process is developed by the team. Together they analyze evidence of student learning, provide collaborative feedback, and improve instruction. Essential skills and understandings are agreed upon as a group. Teachers in the PLC learn from one another to lead students towards the essential learning objectives, while still allowing flexibility for each teacher to utilize their unique passions and strength in their classrooms.
As the PLC analyzes student’s progress, agreed upon remediation is discussed when needed. For example, after looking over the scores of each 8th grade student’s writing samples, each teacher in the PLC agreed that differentiated remediation was needed for students. The PLC identified a couple problematic trends they witnessed in students’ writing. Then a plan was enacted to separate students into groups to address specific writing skills. Students will be sent to their assigned workshop to get specific help in their writing depending on what need is addressed.
PLC meetings are structured and adhere to agreed “norms”. Team norms address academic, curricular, logistical, and relational issues. Academic norms are that teachers share resources, post and honor common agreements, reflect on unit and what happens when students “don’t get it”, use Haiku (online learning site), start and end on time, assume good intentions, maintain positive P.R. among children and adults, one speaker at a time, no team agreements through email, and additional team meetings are scheduled so as not to interfere with PLC meeting.

These norms have been enacted based on past experiences and are respected. They are also upheld to ensure that the main intention of the PLC, better student learning and achievement, is prioritized above personal interests. Although challenging at times, this collaborative process has yielded positive results for students and teachers. It has proved fundamental to new teacher success. Consistency for students across the 8th grade is strong.

In contrast to these small collaborative teams, it is imperative that teachers connect with spheres of collaboration on the state and national level. These organizations provide a platform were teachers from across districts and regions can share ideas, material, curriculum and insights. Contributing and receiving in this larger discussion on bettering teaching practices cultivates inspiration on many levels. Finding a relevant organization to become apart of is simple and worthwhile. Research done on statewide and national organizations is attached below.

Works Cited
Desimone, L. M. (2011). A Primer on Effective Professional Development. Kappan Magazine, 68-71.
DuFour, R. (2011). Work Together But Only If You Want To. Kappan Magazine, 57-61.

Professional Organizations Webquest

Cognitive Development in the Classroom

There are two general ways to understand how the mind develops: Piaget’s Stage Theory and the Information Processing Theory. They are in not contradictory, but model alternative yet compatible interpretations of brain maturation patterns. Piaget’s Theory describes stages of rapid development which occur sequentially and abruptly from one stage to the next. The mechanisms for cognitive stage advancement are biological as well as induced by the environment. Cognitive conflict is the event where a child’s prior knowledge is no longer compatible with a new problems. Disequilibrium arises, and a child realizes that their previous ways of thinking are in contradiction with new stimulus. In order to relieve this conflict, and potentially jump to the next stage, a child must assimilate new information into their preexisting schema. Modification to cognitive structures should also accommodate new demands presented (Pressley & McCormick 2007). Learning turns into quite the event!

The role that I, as a teacher, play in encouraging children to develop and mature into new stages of development would be to present challenges to students that require just a little bit more understanding then they currently have. As a teacher, I intend to be very aware of the subtleties of this balance, presenting problems that are just beyond the student’s prior understanding but assuredly within their reach. Once the cognitive leap, big or small, has been made, I celebrate and cause students to realize what they have achieved in order to build confidence and self-efficacy for future dilemmas. I find understanding stages of development essential in to knowing what my students can accomplish and what the next step is for them. I seek to master the perfect balance between boredom (lacking any challenge) and stress (content far out of reach) in my lesson planning.

Information Processing Theory of development offers a computer-like model of the brain. It is a gradual development model because children’s short-term capacity and efficiency naturally increases over time. This development theory is all about short-term memory capacity, long-term knowledge, and the use of strategies (Pressley & McCormick 2007). Strategies are plans of action used to achieve a goal. In the classroom, some strategies include chunking information, note taking, repetition for memory, and creating diagrams to name a few. Children naturally acquire strategies independently, but I cannot underestimate my role in teaching strategies to my students. Strategies can be applied to any aspect of life and continue to be applicable in college and career situations. Mastering strategies is vital to success in the adult world, and I would be teaching them invaluable skills.

How children learn to associate and mentally organize concepts and schema into networks is an important aspect of Information Processing Theory. Information is represented in the brain in a couple of ways, one being concepts. A concept, being the mental representation of a category of related items, groups together associated things. Humans group items together in different ways; by definition, resemblance, hierarchically or categorically, etc. From this, we create networks across linking concepts. When we recall information, we activate a concept stored in our long-term memory as well as associated concepts along the network. The ability to remember recalled information is made stronger every time. This is why it is important in my teaching to revisit past knowledge multiple times and in different contexts.

Learning is making connections. The common theme between these two models of brain development is facilitating connection making. Connecting preexisting knowledge and worldviews to new stimulus information is how students create more accurate and complex neural networks as they advance in the stages of development. Linking old and new information, assimilating fresh ideas into established paradigms, discovering new and interesting ways to connect knowledge all contributes to the learning process. To witness a light bulb turn on for a student is to witness a new connection being made.

As a teacher, I am in a position to present digestible and meaningful new stimulus into my student’s awareness. I can offer strategies as tools to make necessary connections. These connections are not always made sequentially, but as the need for them arise in my student’s life. Like the drama of a narrative unfolds, so too the blossoming of a child’s learning process (Wiggins & McTighe 1998). Learning follows curiosity. I wish to create a learning environment rich in material to spark curiosity. A process of discovery is a powerful drive in the learning process, and as a teacher, I can enthusiastically support this process. What students are naturally curious about truly matters, and they will readily gather information on the topic their curiosity points to (Media 2011). As a teacher, I can be a stable support system during this process. I can teach students how to scaffold their knowledge, ask questions that lead to meaningful discoveries, and present topics that offer an appropriate level of challenge.

Child and Adolescent Development Influences on Philosophy of Instruction

• As people grow up, they go through steps in brain development. At these different stages, their brains prioritize certain functions over others. Because of this, educators have to be aware of what stage their students are in so as to meet them on their level and hold their attention. There are certain ideas that are particularly interesting to a person at certain stages of development, appropriately so. For this reason, it is believed that the student can decide what they will attend to and process, seeking out things that are interesting to them (Pressley & McCormick 2007). It could be said that they are ready and capable to learn what they need to develop at a particular stage of life. However, it cannot be assumed that kids will only exclusively hold their attention to what they want. They also are able to absorb many concepts that are seemingly irrelevant to them.
• Knowing the science behind brain development influences my philosophy of instruction by contributing to evidence that the most captivating lessons are those that draw on what students are interested in. Knowing what a child is natural inclined to want to know and how their inclined to think – e.g. abstract or more concrete – unlocks the door into what is going to hold a classroom’s attention. Tapping into their cultural influences can be an exciting source of material: Are the Seahawks going to the playoffs on Sunday? Creating a lesson using examples from football could be very interesting to students. Can they not get the Tangled soundtrack out of their heads? Make a mnemonic based on those catchy tunes. Teachers can become aware of strong cultural media influences on development and use them to their advantage.
• Much about child and adolescent development can shed light on a child’s cognitive boundaries. Knowing how much students can absorb at one time is important to maintaining their interest. For instance, pushing a lesson to deeper levels by asking open-ended questions could be very fruitful in one context and go nowhere in another context.
• There are great debates in the area of human development. Many of the factors associated with brain development fall along a spectrum of extremes that cause scientists and educators alike to wonder at what end the scale tips. Being educated on each side of these “great debates” allows educators to have a more well-rounded approach to student-learning abilities. Knowing these debates are not simply two sides to an argument but rather an illustration of a dynamic relationship at work helps teachers strike a balance. “It is important to be realistic about what to expect from children of particular ages, but not to be so tied to stage thinking as to ignore inconsistencies with it” (Pressley & McCormick 2007).