With professional learning communities as ground zero for the data cycle in our schools, it’s essential instructional partners find ways to promote and contribute to PLC success. Developing proficiency in three coaching support roles provides the foundation, says Kay Haas.
Over her four years as a consultant facilitating ABPC’s Instructional Rounds program, former principal Pat Johnson has observed evolutionary growth and powerful impact — with dedicated professionals from many schools “digging deep into the craft of teaching and learning.”
Just thinking about an “energized school” ought to make every educator smile, writes Cathy Gassenheimer. She shares some of her favorite articles from the March issue of Educational Leadership that can help school and teacher leaders boost the learning power for students and staff.
Personalization or differentiation? ABPC consultant Jackie Walsh was eager to hear expert Carol Ann Tomlinson explore these two approaches to teaching at the ASCD Empower 18 conference in Boston. Join Walsh on the “thinking journey” that took place during Tomlinson’s 90-minute talk.
ABPC’s Emily Strickland recently observed an instructional round at Pike Road Elementary in Montgomery County. “What I saw was a short snippet of a much larger picture, but it was a a glimpse of what might be possible in a school culture of collaboration, respect and innovation.”
Can children as young as kindergarten become “leaders of their own learning”? Educators at all-K Howell Graves School are proving they can. Instructional Partner Sandy Armstrong describes how faculty and staff implemented student-led conferences that give kindergarteners the lead role in communicating their own progress.
When literacy instruction is intentional, writes Regie Routman, both teachers and students are very clear about desired learning outcomes and those outcomes propel students forward as readers, writers, and thinkers in meaningful ways. The first step: make no assumptions.
Frontloading begins “by consciously building a strong foundation of knowledge, processes, and strategies that will enable the learner to do the inquiry, problem solving, task, writing, reading, and so on, with minimal guidance and support,” says literacy leader Regie Routman.
If children are born thinking, as Art Costa tells us, we should be deepening their ability to think effectively, comprehensively, and nimbly early on. Cathy Gassenheimer shares an amazing Georgia resource to help parents and educators work on a child’s comprehension from birth.
Visible Learning for Literacy by Frey, Fisher and Hattie is a just-in-time resource for teachers of all grade levels and subject areas to ensure students can effectively read, understand, and explain their learning. Cathy Gassenheimer highlights the book’s focus and video resources.