Comments on: Situating professional development

By: Patrice

Patrice — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:02:39 +0000

Ms. Martinez, thanks for referring me to your post here in response to my previous post to your YES blog. I appreciate the framework you have presented here. I coordinated and lead faculty and staff development programs in a community college. I couldn’t agree with you more that the experience of taking the teacher out of his/her environment to learn something then expect him/her to implement ideas later is challenging. Two models we are experimenting with are faculty learning communities and hybrid learning experiences. Our faculty learning communities are loosely based on Tinto’s extensive research on student learning communities. Faculty come together to collaboratively plan for team teaching and work with not only a partner but other academic professionals and support personnel. By making connections among courses and with academic services we can try to provide “wrap around” services for students. From our Teaching and Learning Center we’re trying the same approach working with faculty leaders, content specialists and technologists. In the hybrid experience we pair hands-on learning in a safe environment with time in between sessions to implement ideas while sharing successes and lessons learned in a virtual environment.

I will certainly check into the sources you note in this post! Thanks again for the referral and best wishes for continued success!! –Patrice H., Illinois State University doc student

By: John Hendron

John Hendron — Sat, 10 May 2008 02:48:13 +0000

What a refreshing conclusion you bring: that the best PD happens in the classroom when the classroom activities are “in session.”

We have begun this model in the US in the state of Virginia with a model for “instructional technology resource teachers.” I work in a small district with only 5 schools, and while I sometimes do this, we really only have one dedicated person.

I’ll be honest, it’s sometimes hard to get her into a classroom, but when teachers do place their trust in her, they are overwhelmingly happy with the results–”that isn’t so bad, at all.” She can model, support, and eventually step away when comfort by the teacher is achieved.

That’s how it’s supposed to work, and when it does, I’ll echo three cheers. I only wish we had more “ITRTs” to go around.

By: Whitney Hoffman

Whitney Hoffman — Fri, 02 May 2008 14:21:13 +0000

My friend, Chris Hambly from the UK calls this sense of teachers learning alongside students as the “Guide on the Side” model. I think it’s really important, as well as to be able to admit when we, the ‘adults’ make mistakes or simply don’t know. We can show kids that they need not have every answer at their fingertips, but certainly can learn how to go find out what they want to know- isn’t that what education should be all about?

More importantly, how can be get teachers away from the concept of being Gatekeepers to Knowledge but instead Knowledge Evangelists?