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School districts across the US are creating new teacher evaluation systems that are supposed to better identify ineffective teaching and, in some cases, tie a teacher’s rating to student performance. My quarrel is not with the evaluation systems themselves however. My quarrel is with how they are being implemented. Here are three of the most common mistakes I’ve seen: 
In this interview with Educational Leadership, Linda Darling-Hammond describes the kind of preparation and support new teachers need to survive their critical first years in the classroom. Excellent example of formative assessment in a math classroom. Also see: Standardized Test Scores Can Improve When Kids Told They Can Fail, Study Finds (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/13/test-scores-can-improve-w_n_1343020.html). 
I recently attended an educational assessment conference in which Ronald Ferguson from the Harvard Kennedy School was the keynote speaker. He is an educational researcher who presented his work on teacher effectiveness. This research shows that there are seven C’s that make a difference in the learning environment 
But this spring, Johnson will take a practice version of a new performance assessment that goes beyond asking what he knows about his subject.
Formally known as the Teacher Performance Assessment, the portfolio-based assessment will be required for anyone completing a teacher-education program and seeking a teaching license in Wisconsin after Aug. 31, 2015, the Department of Public Instruction has decided.
Johnson and teacher hopefuls in other states taking the Teacher Performance Assessment, even if for practice, will have to submit lesson plans, reflections of their work and a video of their classroom interactions with students as part of the Web-based program.
All of it is aimed at answering a single, critical question: How well can you teach? Blogger Andrew Miller recounts his journey from enforcing a punitive grading system to shaping a paradigm that engages all learners. Via Frank Clint "The digital age has provided learning professionals with an amazing opportunity via personal learning networks; and as with most opportunities, this one comes with a risk. PLNs aren't just for learning professionals; it's representative of a fundamental shift in the way people learn. People all around the world are forming PLNs, most without even realizing it yet. It's a natural evolution of our increasingly connected world." Via Paulo Simões 
I AM a special education teacher. My students have learning disabilities ranging from autism and attention-deficit disorder to cerebral palsy and emotional disturbances. I love these kids, but they... In my preservice lesson plan reviews, the first question to be answered at the end of the teaching day was always, "How could I improve this lesson?" Knowing I would have to answer that question to the satisfaction of my professors made me very conscious of my teaching and my students' response to it. At the time, I didn't realize that my daily reply to that question would become one of the most useful ways for me to monitor my effectiveness as a teacher. 
In other words, teachers should help their students become competent and confident critical thinkers and evaluators of their own work and the work of others. We should be experts at ensuring that our students leave our classrooms with the kind of evaluative knowledge they will need in order to be lifelong learners who make judgments, reflect, interpret, and ask critical questions. In addition, in order to succeed in the 21st century, young people need to be skilled in exercising control over their own learning. Effective ongoing assessment can help them learn how to ask critical questions, how to monitor their own progress, and how to pay attention to how they learn and what happens when they learn and engage in what we commonly refer to as schoolwork. Effective, timely, meaningful formative assessment, delivered through a variety of means — but mostly through ongoing critical conversations with our students about their work — will help engage them in developing metacognition: knowledge about themselves as learners as well as self-regulation knowledge (planning, monitoring, self-assessment, setting goals). The purpose of this study was to examine reasons for teacher participation in online communities of K–12 teachers. The authors interviewed 23 teachers from 
Time, creativity, clear commitments and professionalism ensured every teacher learned and contributed to the conversation. Infusing these elements into our site-based and district level professional learning can shift professional development from something that is done to teachers, to something that is done by teachers. |
Research that helps us pinpoint the causes of burnout gives us guidance for how to avoid and combat it. In his landmark book, Beyond Burnout (Routledge), Cary Cherniss used intensive case study research to identify factors most likely to lead to teacher burnout: When done right, evaluation in any career provides not only accountability, but also a welcome boost to the next level of excellence. 
Teacher training in Ontario will be bumped up to two years starting in 2014, says the provincial government.
The Liberals, who promised the move during the 2011 election campaign, began consultations with education groups on Wednesday about the change. Three to four additional sessions are planned for April and May.
Teachers typically earn a four-year undergraduate degree and then spend another year at university completing their bachelor of education. (Ten of the 13 universities with education programs also offer the degrees concurrently so students can complete the two at the same time.)
The Liberals have said more training is needed given the challenges and increasing demands teachers face. The expanded program, the details of which have yet to be finalized, will include more practical, in-class training for new teachers. Enter Instructional Rounds: a process adapted from the medical rounds model that doctors use in hospitals. Instructional Rounds help educators look closely at what is happening in classrooms in a systematic, purposeful and focused way. 
INDIANAPOLIS — Any number of educators—principals, personnel directors, superintendents—can be called upon to evaluate teachers.
But one school district in Indiana, Anderson, has decided that another group has perhaps the best expertise to judge quality teaching: other teachers. This type of peer review is catching on nationally but is rare in Indiana. 
Distinguishing between mood disorders and the normal difficulties of adolescence is not always easy, but a new program has been developed by the institute to give teachers and students a better understanding of mental health issues.
The HeadStrong program uses classroom activities to share information and prompt discussions on depression and bipolar disorders, at-risk personality types, coping strategies and where to get support.
The following excerpts are from Allen Mendler's forthcoming ASCD book When Teaching Gets Tough: Smart Ways to Reclaim Your Game.
Are there days when you feel overwhelmed by some combination of unruly or poorly motivated students, parents who either give you a hard time or simply aren't to be found, and never-ending classroom distractions? Do you feel frustrated by burdensome meetings that accomplish little but eat up a ton of time? Are you getting tired pleading and scavenging for basic school supplies? 
Educational software and service provider ASCD has begun to offer professional development resources for educators at no cost through iTunes U. Via Gene Carboni The meaningful integration of technology in teaching and learning is consistently called for in all sectors of education. Recently it has appeared as a key tenet for achieving what has been termed as personalising learning. Personalising learning, a concept that addresses a range of current best-practice approaches with an added emphasis on ICT and the voice of individual learners, is becoming more prevalent in both general discussion, and in some countries, in policy regarding education. 
I have written extensively on what makes a good blogpost and why it is so powerful. From personal experience blogging is one of the most beneficial professional development activities I have ever engaged with. I learn more from blogging than I do from almost any other activity I participate in. Here are 7 good reasons why teachers should blog: Via Jim Lerman The rationale is that the process of writing down one’s thoughts serves as a ‘thinking device’, helping the teacher find his way in retelling a story and in examining his perceptions and, if done very well, its multiple perspectives. Writing as a ‘thinking device’ is generated from oneself to oneself. A bit like a film director who also acts in the same film.
The act of externalizing reflections through writing makes a teacher’s ideas more ready for re-conceptualization. Writing is, perhaps in the loneliest form, engaging in dialogue. This is attuned to Vygotskyan perspectives of development which proposes that verbalization is a vehicle to changes in behavior, process of which language (and languaging) is the main mediation tool. |
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