Saturday, April 9, 2011

200% of Nothing

Dewdney, A.K. (1993), 200% of Nothing: An eye-opening tour through the twists and turns of math abuse and innumeracy. New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc

Books main ideas/arguments
This book is an interesting look at how math is abused, misused, and altered to fit the agendas of advertising, corporate goals, and personal needs. This book is presents several different found pieces of incorrect mathematics commonly found in our daily lives. These articles were found by “mathematical detectives” to expose those who twist mathematical truths to fit their own needs.
This book could be used as a discussion starter as to how and where math abuse occurs. It could be entertaining to discover the error in each section with students. This could be a great way in which students could become more “street wise” when in comes to mathematics. The distortions range from seemingly accidental to overly bending the truth. This could be used alongside the regular curriculum to sharpen the mathematical understanding of the students. This is mathematics butchered and directly applicable to the lives of the students.
Quotes:
From Lotteries and Lightening
“Does anyone truly understand how little chance he or she has of winning big in a lottery? Private and state lottery corporations, which annually part North Americans from some 30 billion of their dollars, certainly hope not” (28)
This gives explanations to some of our modern day misconceptions. These could be fun problems to have the student try to calculate. This could be a good introduction into probability and statistics.
“In matters of public persuasion, no single instrument is used (and misused) as frequently as polls. To obtain an accurate picture of public opinion, you must take a large enough sample to rule out statistical fluctuations, you must gather the sample carefully, and you must ask the right questions. Experience has show pollsters that missing one of these criteria invites disaster”(38)

Flow: The psycology of optimal exerience

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience.
New York: Harper Perennial.

Book’s main ideas/arguments:
This book is a fantastic look into the human soul and give sound advice as to what is truly important. Csikszentmihalyi central argument is that human beings should create meaning in their life through their “flow” experiences. Flow is the activity that one participates in where one losses track of time and becomes fully engaged in the act. Similar to Pink, Csikszentmihalyi speaks not only on autonomy, master, and purpose but goes much further in detail about how to create it in one’s own life. This book takes a deep look into how we interpret events.
“What I ‘discovered’ was that happiness is not something that happens. It is not the result of good fortune or random chance. It is not something that money can buy or power command. It does not depend on outside events, but rather, on how we interpret them” (2)
He defines something called the “autotelic experience” derived from auto meaning self and telos meaning goal. These are experiences in which “are done not with the expectation of some future benefit, but simply because the doing itself is the reward” (67) Flow activities encompass autotelic experiences as people lose themselves in flow due to being engaged in the activity and not because there are consequences associated with it. These activities should also be ones in which a person could continually improve ones own skill and approach the level of mastery. The activities increase life’s complexity and keep things interesting. Contrary to the popular belief, recreational time is actually more difficult to find flow experiences as we seldom know what to do with our time. Whereas, in the work place one must hone her skill and constantly improve it is much easier to find flow. This optimal experience exists between anxiety and boredom.
A must read for everyone.

Quotes:
“The most important step in emancipating oneself from social controls is the ability to find rewards in the events of each moment. If a person learns to enjoy and find meaning in the ongoing stream of experience, in the process of living itself, the burden of social controls automatically falls from one’s shoulders.” (19)
I feel that this is one of the main themes of the book. One should look at the each moment and each task and to find meaning within. He talks about people who have the ability to find enjoyment and meaning in some of the most depraved circumstances. Our quality of life depends on how the mind filters everyday experiences. If we could take charge of what happens in the mind we could control our level of happiness.
“Learning to use time alone, instead of escaping from it, is especially important in our early years. Teenagers who can’t bear solitude disqualify themselves from latter carrying out adult tasks that require serious mental preparation” (171)
How do we get students to become engaged in their work and what they are able to create with their lives instead of heading home and turning on the television or finding other forms of distraction? How do we teach students to use their time alone?

Friday, April 8, 2011

Collaboration and the need for trust

Tschannen-Moran M. Collaboration and the need for trust Journal for (Tschannen-Moran) Education Administration (2001); 308-331.

This journal article is written for administrators, but even for non-administrators it is helpful in some parts to identify those qualities of a school culture that help to foster collaboration among teachers. This article, as have other articles, talks about the increased movement away from teacher isolation and autonomy that is part of the traditional school culture. It also touches on the benefits of collaboration, which include “the satisfaction, loyalty, and decision acceptance of teachers” (308) and notes that “the productivity and adaptability of schools can be enhanced by creating structures that facilitate collaboration among teachers” (311).

The article also notes that although the idea of collaboration is often met with enthusiasm, the results are sometimes disappointing. There are several different types of collaboration that are explored: Principals with teachers, parents and schools, and teachers with teachers. In the section on teachers collaborating with teachers, the article goes into more detail about the benefits of collaboration for teachers: Noting that teachers rarely have the chance “to engage in substantive dialogue,” the article notes that collaboration has the potential to “invigorate teaching with increased intellectual stimulation. Collaboration also has the potential to create a culture of shared values and create a supportive learning community. In order to do this though, teachers must trust their colleagues. And this is the main focus of the article, creating a culture of trust.

Much of the discussion is about the administrator’s role in creating a culture of trust, noting that in all areas of collaboration trust is a requirement in order to transform schools “into vibrant learning communities” (328), and noting that it is worthwhile to identify “how trust develops, what supports trust, and how to repair trust that has been damaged” (328)

Eval/response: Although this is written for administrators, this article is still helpful for me in identifying some of the obstacles to collaboration. In interviewing teachers around the village, the idea of trusting your partner was repeated, and although this article doesn’t really address the idea of trust between teachers as much as I would have liked, it still presents this as a barrier. And looking at this from an administrator’s POV, I could see how a loss of trust could impact a school at all levels and create a culture where teachers/students are afraid to collaborate or take risks for fear of jeopardizing their jobs

The continuing trouble with collaboration: Teachers talk.

Leonard, L. and Leonard, P. (2003, September 17). The continuing trouble with collaboration: Teachers talk. Current Issues in Education [On-line], 6(15). Available: http://cie.ed.asu.edu/volume6/number15/

Collaboration is increasingly seen as good organizational practice, not just in business but in education as well, suggesting that students benefits from teachers who reject the “traditional norms of isolationism and individualism,” two of the biggest obstacles to collaboration. Collaboration is supported/encouraged in a learning community “based on shared conceptions of vision, purpose, and means.” In other words, collaboration flourishes in an environment where adults as well as students are seen as learners and where there is a shared attitude and understanding about learning and working together. The benefits to such an environment are many, according to research done by the authors: “teacher empowerment, collegial trust, and organizational change, and school improvement” (Hall and Hord, 2001; Maehr and Midgley, 1996; Stoll and Fink, 1996).

Although the article cites the benefits of collaboration, the main focus of the article is to illuminate the obstacles to collaboration and some possible remedies for those obstacles. A few of the obstacles the authors noted from previous studies were “ time constraints, fragmented visions, competitiveness, conflict avoidance, and lack of administrative support.” The authors then add to the list with their own study, looking at both the amount/kinds of collaboration as well as the obstacles. The biggest factor that their study noted was time. As one teacher noted: “We have a lot of responsibilities and not a lot of free time.” Other factors included negative attitudes toward collaboration, a lack of commitment to collaboration, personality conflicts, lack of administrative support (scheduling often noted) and a lack of compensation for time spent outside of the school day for collaboration.

Suggestions for administrative support of teacher collaboration were also included. Some that seemed worth pursuing were to arrange common planning time, provide substitute teachers, better utilize staff days, and provide collaboration training for teachers

Evaluation/response: This was useful in pinpointing some of the traditional obstacles to collaboration; however, as I work at a non-traditional school where some of those obstacles have been addressed (time for collaboration is built into our schedules, collaboration is an accepted and understood part of the school culture, competition is now for the best collaborative project rather than kept in the classroom) that would leave fewer obstacles for me to look at. There are still time issues (even with the built in meeting time), and there are still personality conflicts, conflict avoidance, negative attitudes toward shared work (control issues?), and varying levels of commitment, so these seem like good issues to explore.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Teaching and Learning from the Inside Out


Chap. 4 – Teaching and Learning from the Inside Out
(Adapted from Teaching and Learning from the Inside and Out: By Judy F. Carr, Janice R. Fauske, Stephen Rushton, pp. 59-62)


Chapter 4: Inside Connections – Commitment and Collaboration

Carr highlights the differences between congeniality and collegiality.  In congenial work spaces, people are pleasant and respectful.  Carr sets a scene in which teachers and administrators congregate in the lounge or halls.  People feel well-liked and discussions about extracurricular activities and the students social scene proliferate.  Teachers may spend time together outside of schools and the atmosphere in school is one of ease with colleagues.  However, the conversation and action amongst colleagues does not focus on the positive and negative aspects of actual practice.  Colleagues do not push one another to improve, as that might be perceived as not “congenial.”  The atmosphere is comfortable to the point that it may become stagnant. 

In a collegial atmosphere, the portrait Carr paints is different.  In this setting, colleagues sit together at meetings to discuss particular strengths and weaknesses.  They observe one another frequently and plan together daily.  There are professional development opportunities that are designed and offered by the staff based on particular strengths.  In the first, congenial scene, conflict does not arise and is in fact discouraged.  In the second, collegial scene, “a collegial partnership encourages collective reflection on practice and open discussion of choices—a setting where examining one’s work is expected routinely, new ideas and risk taking are encouraged, and there is a focus on shared purposes. This process includes deeper, “inner” learning and shared, “outer” learning (Fullan, 1993) that can reshape a school and redirect its resources and energy through true collegiality as a school learning community.”

According to Carr, there are four practices that are necessary to produce collegial relationships:
1.     Talk about practice in conversations that are frequent, continuous, concrete, and precise
2.     Observe each other engaged in the practice of teaching and administration
3.     Engage together in work on curriculum by planning, designing, researching, and evaluating curriculum
4.     Teacher each other what they know about teaching, learning, and leading (Little, 1981, as cited in Barth, 1990, p. 31).

Collegial Coaching - SDC Knowledge Management Tool Kit


Collegial Coaching – SDC Knowledge Management Tool Kit


According to the tool kit, “Collegial coaching is a process in which two or more professional colleagues work together for a specific, predetermined purpose in order that professional performance can be improved as well as validated.”  The article suggests that the collegial coaching process builds trust amongst participants and establishes a culture where participants are constantly improving.  This allows for effective implementation of new skills, as the following statistics from the article suggest:

·      5% of learners will transfer a new skill into their practice as a result of theory
·      10% will transfer a new skill into their practice with theory and demonstration
·      20% will transfer a new skill into their practice with theory and demonstration, and practice within the training
·      25% will transfer a new skill into their practice with theory and demonstration, and practice within the training, and feedback
·      90% will transfer a new skill into their practice with theory and demonstration, and practice within the training, feedback, and coaching

A collegial coaching protocol is offered, in which a “case” is shared with one to four different “coaches.”  The team of coaches is given minimal time to ask questions, and then discusses what struck them about the case, without the participant of the person who brought the case.  After a discussion ranging from 10 to 90 minutes (depending on the difficulty of the case and the number of participants) all participants debrief the process.

Qualities of a “good coach” are those that have had similar experiences, those with strong communication skills that can “reframe” a situation, and those with empathy.

Related websites are shared at the end, including references to practices at High Tech High.

The Evolution of Peer Coaching


The Evolution of Peer Coaching
Beverly Showers; Bruce Joyce
Educational Leadership, March 1996 v53 n6 p12(5)

“Peer Coaching” differs here from Collegial Coaching in that it does not include verbal feedback.  In this model, Peer Coaching teams are formed where teachers discuss new initiatives in curriculum design or classroom practice that they plan to implement.  Feedback is not offered in this model because of the evaluative connotation that is associated with the word. 

The authors have been working with the peer coaching model for over 30 years, having initially introduced it as a structure for school improvement in 1980.  They offer a history of peer coaching from pre-1980 to 1999, in which they detail the evolution of peer coaching.  Initially, structures did not exist at school to assist teachers in implementing new skills or sustaining new practices that were learned during the year or over the summer at training programs.  In the 1980’s the authors looked at teachers who had formed “coaching” relationships (meaning they shared their practice with a colleague) and found that teachers who did so were more likely to effectively implement new skills.  Specifically, “members of peer-coaching groups exhibited greater long-term retention of new strategies and more appropriate use of new teaching models over time (Baker and Showers 1984).”

In the 1990’s, the authors began to work with entire school faculties to implement the peer-coaching model.  They follow four design principles when working with staff at a school-site on peer coaching:
1)   All members of the staff must agree to the initiative, support one another in the change, share materials and practices, and collect data
2)   Omit verbal feedback (This is done to ensure that no staff feel the process is evaluative, which the authors have found can be a danger and can take away from the growth potential that is possible when teachers do not feel they are being evaluated).
3)   Define “coach” more broadly (The “coach” in this case completes observations not to give feedback to the person being observed, but to gain insights into his or her own practice).
4)   Define peer coaching more broadly (Instead of observing and giving feedback, the coaching relationship involves all of the collaborative interactions that occur during planning, finding materials, watching one another, informally discussing practice, and thinking about student actions and reactions.

Four recommendations are offered for training sessions:

1)   Rather than just providing time for collaborative planning, support can be offered during specific training sessions.
2)   Peer coaching teams should be formed on the first day
3)   Examples of formats or structures for collaborative planning should be provided
4)   Peer coaching teams need to be able to monitor the effectiveness of what is being implemented

Peer Coaching: Partnerships for Professional Practitioners

Belisle, T. (1999, May). Peer coaching: partnerships for professional practicioners. The ACIE Newsletter, 2(3), Retrieved from www.carla.unm.edu/immersion/acie/vol2/May1999_PeerCoaching.html

This article, written by a fifth grade teacher in Minnesota, suggests peer coaching as a creative solution for providing on-site staff development. The author shares how schools have the "impossible" task of addressing the many different needs for all of the teachers in a school with only a few possible days to deliver in-service professional development. She points to peer coaching as an effective professional development approach since it incorporates: self directed learning, sustained development of expertise, and collaborative professionalism. As a language immersion teacher, she talks about how peer coaching specifically supports the development of other immersion teachers.

The author outlines a process for developing peer coaches. She explains how peer coaching is intrinsically motivating and renewing in addition to being effective for improving instruction and achievement. She believes the two key components for a successful peer coaching program are commitment and choice. She also suggests for schools to start small and allow participation to grow over time as other staff members how successful and motivating it has been for the pioneers of the program. The author outlines a procedure for launching a peer coaching program in clear steps-- this could be very helpful for schools considering developing a peer coaching program.

Important Quotes:
"It is evident that becoming a highly effective teacher is not the result of a one-time investment, but rather an ever-evolving process... Teachers must see their professional development as an integral part of their ongoing responsibilities."

"Partnerships: Having teachers choose their own partners is much less threatening than assigning partners. Also, many will have reasons for choosing a specific partner (e.g., teaching style, teaching philosophy, expertise in an area, etc.)"

"Have partners establish and commit to the following components of the process. A written contract could be developed so that both partners are clear about the process they have agreed to...
(a) Weekly time for observations and meetings. The teacher being observed determines what she/he wants the partner to look for an comment on. Another option is to videotape a session, and watch the video together. Videotaping can be a valuable tool if used from time to time.
(b) Method for monitoring professional growth and determining impact on student learning. This could be as simple as keeping a teaching journal, reflecting specifically on the issue selected. A more challenging option is to develop pre- and post- tests to evaluate growth.
(c) Number of articles or resources teachers will read dealing with the issue chosen."

"Teachers will learn a great deal from one another while planning instruction, developing materials, observing one another with students, and reflecting on the impact of their teaching on students' learning."

Peer Coaching for Improvement of Teaching and Learning

Becker, J.M. (2010, March 3). Peer coaching for improvement of teaching and learning. Retrieved from essentialeducator.org/?p=688

The author asserts that ongoing learning by teachers is the key to increasing student achievement and educators need to be responsible for weaving continuous development into their practice. They point to a report developed by the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future that drafted five recommendations for the future of education. These were: (1) get serious about standards, for both students and teachers, (2) reinvent teacher preparation and professional development, (3) overhaul teacher recruitment and put qualified teachers in every classroom, (4) encourage and reward teaching knowledge and skill and (5) create schools that are organized for teacher and student success. The authors focus on Peer Coaching as a tool and model of professional development that has the potential to improve teaching practices and student achievement. They define peer coaching as a "process in which two or more professional colleagues work together for a specific, predetermined purpose in order that teaching performance can be improved as well as validated. The purpose may be to reflect on current practices or to expand, to refine, and build new skills. Peer coaching can be utilized to share new ideas; to teach one another; to conduct classroom observations; or to solve problems in the workplace."

The author shows how peer coaching can have a positive impact on teacher's likelihood to transfer new skills into their practice. Only 5% of teachers will do this as a result of theory. When theory is combined with demonstration, 10% of teachers will transfer the new skills. If practice is added to the theory and demonstration, the likelihood of transfer jumps to 20%. With training and feedback along with theory, demonstration and practice, 25% of teachers will transfer the new learning. Finally, when there is theory, demonstration, practice, training, feedback AND coaching, 90% of teachers will transfer their new skill into practice. This data alone makes a strong case for schools creating an environment for all of these things to happen for their teachers.

The website goes on to provide a list of benefits of peer coaching including: improved student achievement, increased ability to analyze their own lessons, deeper sense of efficacy, better articulated curriculum, and more cohesive and positive school culture and climate. The website also provides a list of supports that need to be in place in order for a school to create peer coaching processes. The author closes by arguing that schools need to include peer coaching as an important part of their professional development programming.

Important Quotes:

"The improvement of teaching practices has traditionally been left to individual teachers working in isolation... To improve professional practices, and consequently to improve student learning, teachers need accessible opportunities and models for collaboration, sharing of ideas, feedback and assistance with their practice so that students may have the most optimal situations for learning, achievement, and success in schools."

"In order for peer coaching to meet the intended purposes and realize the many benefits, specific policy components need to be in place. Peer coaching must be recognized as a legitimate and useful form of ongoing professional development. Teachers need to receive release time, pay and credit to participate in a coaching program."

Running Head: Passive or Passionate Participation in Mathematics.

Gottler, R. (Ed.). (2010). Running head: passive or passionate participation in mathematics. Marygrove College Detroit, MI

This very interesting article discusses the results of a study conducted with 5th grade students in a mathematics class to determine if student participation affected the overall understanding of the material taught. The author, like most teachers is striving for excellence in his craft and determined that students who were not participating in class during his mathematics lessons and as a result “were less likely to find meaning in their learning”. The research was undertaken using a sample study of 24 students and was conducted over a 3 month period. The first part of the study had the teacher lecturing to students after which an inquiry-based teacher model was implemented and this was used with student participation. Gottler used quantitative and qualitative data to determine how students participated, and in what capacity. The inquiry-based method of teaching seemed to encourage students to participate more than the lecture-based teaching. This article was basically unable to prove or disprove the notion that improved student participation in lessons leads to improved understanding of the content being taught to students. Crucially what the study did prove was that changes in teaching habits and methods do result in increased student participation.

Quotes:

“Changing one's mode of teaching is a methodical process that takes a great deal of effort, planning, and experience. Therefore, success may be the result of trial and error. All of this was considered when analyzing the results of the action research project. As a teacher of mathematics, it was the goal of the researcher to promote a positive attitude toward mathematics, help students gain confidence in their problem solving abilities, and engage them so that they were actively participating in their learning” (4).


“Active involvement and participation in mathematics is key to achieving this reality. It was also important that the students realized the value of asking questions, and getting involved in the learning process” (4).

Sources:

Tuska, A., & Amarasinghe, R. (2007). The effects of participating in lesson studies on practices
of teaching mathematics. Proceedings from Ninth International Conference: The Mathematics Education into the 21st Century Project. Charlotte, NC: UNCC.


Tomlinson, C.A. (2001). How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability classrooms (2nd ed.).
Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Institutional Structures and Student Engagement. Research in Higher Education

Porter, S. (2006). Institutional structures and student engagement. Research in Higher Education, 47(5), 521-558.

This chapter in Porter’s book entitled Institutional Structures and Student engagement is an examination of how college structures result in either increased or decreased levels of student engagement during lectures. Although it is not that well aligned with my examination of student engagement in a high school classroom I still found it to be a fascinating read. Porter remarks that student engagement is affected by the “human, social, and cultural capital that students bring to college”. He also says that engagement is affected by the size of the college and classes that students attend. This is very apparent to me as I recently moved from a large public school to a smaller private institution which has smaller classes. The fairly obvious result has been an increase in student engagement in the classroom, and in school life in general. What I have experienced is something that Porter also mentions in this chapter and that is that a smaller institute with a greater emphasis from the school community on the individual student tends to result in a greater student engagement in school life, as well as during class time. The 3 main reasons for this are described by Porter as being student –faculty ratio, the mission of the school, and the selectivity of students who attend the institution. Porter also remarks that the role of peers in higher education has a large affect on student engagement.

Quotes:

“The role of peer effects in higher education is important because it explains why institutional selectivity affects student outcomes in general and engagement in particular” (525).

“Despite its prevalence in the literature, there has been surprisingly little discussion as to why size should matter. Instead, most discussions of size refer to its deleterious effects in a variety of areas; in other words, large institutions are associated with negative outcomes (528).

Sources:

Johnson, M. K., Crosnoe, R., and Elder, G. H. (2001). Students' attachment and academic engagement: The role of race and ethnicity. Sociology of Education 74: 3 1 8-340.

Hu, S., and Kuh, G. D. (2002). Being (dis)engaged in educationally purposeful activities: The influences of student and institutional characteristics. Research in Higher Education 43(5): 555-574.

Active Learning - Creating Excitement in the Classroom

Bonwell, C, & Eison, J. (1991). Active learning - creating excitement in the classroom. Washington DC: The George Mason University, School of Education and Human Development.

This book examines active learning and why it is considered to be important in the classroom. A large part of the initial section of the book focuses on what active learning actually is. Bonwell suggests here that active learning goes beyond students actually listening actively, but constitutes an attempt by students to be involved in reading, writing, discussion, and problem solving. He also says that students must be involved in analysis, synthesis, and evaluation during lesson time.

Bonwell shows that active learning is superior to all other types of learning because it involves students in “doing things and thinking about what they are doing”. The book also shows through studies that students prefer strategies that have them “doing” and that this has a significantly positive impact on their learning. This source examines how active learning can be incorporated into a classroom and it also provides a thorough examination of the barriers that exist to incorporating active learning into a classroom.

Quotes:
Anyone who has taught a large class is aware of the physical and emotional constraints upon both the instructor and students… it is not surprising that, in these circumstances, professors who might otherwise use methods encouraging active learning revert to presenting formal 50-minute lectures without significant discussion” (14).

“Because large classes decrease the possibility of individual participation, some instructors ask for written questions, while others successfully use various options for holding discussions with a small portion of the students in the class” (17).

Sources:
Astin, Alexander W. 1985. Achieving Educational Excellence. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Bligh, Donald A. 1972. What’s the use of Lectures? Baltimore: Penguin Books

Enhancing Teacher Quality: Peer Coaching as a Professional Development Strategy

Wong, K., & Nicotera, A. (2003). Enhancing teacher quality: peer coaching as a professional development strategy. Informally published manuscript, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN. Retrieved from www.temple.edu/lss/pdf/publications/pubs2003-5.pdf

The authors recognize how the use of effective professional development strategies has become a major focus in education around the country. This focus is in part due to the additional funding granted by NCLB to schools who develop mentoring programs for teachers and devote time for teachers to investigate standards, assessment and curriculum. In this article, the authors talk about the resources that have gathered on effective professional development strategies.

The authors provide a table that shows the different approaches taken by different schools and can be classified into four broad categories: (1) establishing a culture of standards and expectations, (2) improving instructional capacity, (3) supporting a process of ongoing evaluation, and (4) connecting classroom practices to policy context. One controversy they found is whether or not peer coaching should incorporate feedback and risk feeling evaluative or not. Most of the research they read argues that peer coaching should remain distinct and separate from evaluation.

There is also a list of components necessary to have a successful peer coaching program and these include: trusting relationships; administrative support (emotional, organizational and financial); faculty recognition for the need to improve and learn; clear expectations; assessment for measuring outcomes; release time; and funds to pay for training and personnel. The major problems that occur in peer coaching models are insufficient training, limited resources and a lack of evaluation. They conclude that peer coaching can be an effective strategy and has clear potential to promote a culture of collaboration and professionalism. It can in some cases improve the level of implementation of new instructional techniques and curriculum.

I found the chart at the end as a helpful tool to evaluate the effectiveness of an existing peer coaching model. It has categories with specific targets for each category. The categories include: development of a professional culture, building instructional capacity, ongoing support for evaluation and linking classroom practices to policy context.

How Administrators Support Peer Coaching

Garmston, R.J. (1987). How administrators support peer coaching. Educational Leadership, 18-26.
www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/ed_lead/el_198702_garmston.pdf

The author of this article illustrates the differences between technical, collegial and challenge coaching and instructs administrators on how to select a coaching model for his/her staff and how to actively support the coaching process. Garmston argues that a coaching model can have significant positive impacts on a school culture if an administrator selects an appropriate model to fit the school goals and takes steps to show how he/she values and supports the coaching relationships and process.

Technical Coaching Model:
"Technical coaching helps teachers transfer training to classroom practice, while deepening collegiality, increasing professional dialogue, and giving teachers a shared vocabulary to talk about their craft." There are many positive impacts for adopting a technical coaching model. These include teachers: practicing new strategies more frequently and increasing capacity; using new strategies more appropriately; retaining knowledge of new strategies for longer periods of time; teaching the new strategies to their students; and understanding the purposes behind such strategies. There main drawback or cost associated with this model is time and resources. A large time commitment is required since teachers often need from 20-30 hours of instruction with new strategies, 15-20 hours of practice time, and 10-15 hours of coaching sessions. There is also evidence that this type of coaching may inhibit collegiality and dialogue and creates a more evaluative dynamic between coach and coachee.

Collegial Coaching Model:
"The major goals of collegial coaching are to refine teaching practices, deepen collegiality, increase professional dialogue, and to help teachers to think more deeply about their work. The model assumes that teachers acquire and deepen career-long habits of self-initiated reflection about their teaching when they have the opportunities to develop and practice these skills." In the collegial coaching model, it is most often done in partnerships and each teacher develops the areas he/she wishes to concentrate on and improve. It is not pre-determined by a set of school goals or an instructional method. The peers need to consistently observe and provide feedback to one another around the self selected focus. It is a good choice for administrators who wish to impact the culture of the school as it increases the work environment, professional community, and professional dialogue. The largest cost of this model is training. Collegial coaching is more effective when the teachers receive training on how to facilitate thinking processes, how to refine coaching skills and how to identify practices that impede movement and promote student achievement. It also requires patience as it may take years for measurable growth.

Challenge Coaching:
"Challenge coaching helps teams of teachers resolve persistent problems in instructional design or delivery. The term challenge refers to resolving a problematic state. The model assumes that team problem-solving efforts by those responsible for carrying out instruction can produce insightful, practical improvements." This type of coaching often evolves from other forms since it requires collegiality, trust and norms. It is different from the other types of coaching in that it uses a set process and focuses on identifying a persistent problem and bringing all of the stakeholders to help solve it. The authors provide several examples including a group of math teachers who want to streamline their ability to effectively teach students subtraction with re-grouping.

Additional Important Quotes:
"Administrators develop and maintain peer coaching in their schools in five ways. The most critical action is (1) selecting a coaching model most likely to produce the outcomes the school deems important. Thereafter, administrators support peer coaching by (2) demonstrating that they value it, (3) providing a focus for coaching activity, (4) providing training for coaches, and (5) modeling positive coaching behaviors."

"Administrators support peer coaching programs by giving teachers a structure for gathering data and providing feedback, by targeting a particular instructional content, and by ensuring frequency of coaching."

"Training in coaching is essential... a little training is not enough. Good training uses the best available information about adult learning providing teachers with theory, information, and demonstrations; addresses teachers' concerns about giving and receiving feedback; and helps teachers develop and refine specific coaching skills... During each actual coaching session, coaching teams also evaluate their own processes."

The Evolution of Peer Coaching

Showers, B., & Joyce, B. (1996). The evolution of peer coaching. Educational Leadership, 53(6), 12-16.

The authors of this article argue that peer coaching teams will enhance staff development and offer support for teachers as they implement new strategies in their classrooms. They began their research in the 70s when they determined that less than 10% of teachers engaged in staff development focused on instructional strategies and curriculum implemented what they learned. Even when teachers had volunteered to be a part of the development, they often did not apply what they were taught. As a result, despite being delivered on well-researched instructional strategies and curriculum, it did not impact student learning. In the 80s, these researchers began to look at how peer coaching sessions could better impact student learning. In the coaching sessions, teachers would focus on implementation in their individual rooms and analyze together what was happening, especially in terms of the student work and student responses. They saw consistently that these peer coaching sessions positively impacted what happened in classrooms. The teachers developed collaboration skills and eventually sought to organize entire faculties that would use peer coaching teams to help one another improve their instruction and curriculum design.

In the article, the authors "examine the history of coaching, describe changes in the conduct of coaching, and make recommendations for its future, including its role as a component of staff development that drives organizational change." Throughout the 80s, they realized that for teachers to experiment with and master new curriculum and new instructional strategies, they would need ongoing technical assistance in their very classrooms with their individual students.
They came to understand through their studies that coaching after an initial training would result in better transfer to the classroom level than the training alone. When teachers developed coaching relationships with a peer, they were more likely to practice new skills and strategies more frequently. Often this relationship meant that teachers would plan together and pool their experiences and not to observe one another. Teachers who were involved in their peer coaching groups showed long term retention of applying the new strategies and implementing new teaching practices over time. Their initial research was with individual teachers and small groups but in the 90s and more recently, they have studies entire schools whose staff volunteer to be a part of the peer coaching.

The model they encourage schools to use is not similar to the collegial coaching model at HTH. The main difference is that the teams do not observe and give one another feedback. They found that "when teachers try to give one another feedback, collaborative activity tends to disintegrate. Peer coaches told us they found themselves slipping into 'supervisory, evaluative comments' despite the intentions to avoid them... Remarkably, omitting feedback in the coaching process has not depressed implementation or students growth, and the omission has greatly simplified the organization of peer coaching teams. Learning to provide technical feedback required extensive training and time and was unnecessary after team members mastered new behaviors." They hope teachers on their teams will learn from one another while planning instruction, developing instructional materials and watching one another work with students and thinking together about the impact of their interactions on student learning. It is not about providing technical feedback on a specific lesson. Their goal is to best help teachers teach students and to build "intellectual independence; reasoning and problem-solving capability; competence in handling the explosion of information and data; and, with the help of technology, the ability to navigate the information age." Their recommendations for schools include: (1) providing time for collaboration; (2) form peer coaching teams from the beginning to focus on instruction, curriculum and planning; (3) use formats and structures for the collaborative planning time; and (4) plan how to monitor the implementation of their new initiatives and determine the impact of each initiative on student achievement.

Additional Quotes:

"We have been convinced throughout that peer coaching is neither an end in itself nor by itself a school improvement initiative. Rather, it must operate in a context of training, implementation, and general school improvement. There is no evidence that simply organizing peer coaching or peer study teams will affect students' learning environments. The study of teaching and curriculum must be the focus."

"Numerous staff development practices are called "coaching." These include "technical coaching," "collegial coaching," "challenge coaching," "team coaching," "cognitive coaching," and uses of peer coaching" to refer to the traditional supervisory mode of pre-conference/observation/post-conference. None of these should be confused with, or used for, evaluation of teachers."

Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

Pink, Daniel. (2009). Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us.
New York: Riverhead Books.

Book’s main ideas/arguments:
This book emphasizes the need for a restructure of how we currently motivate people to do quality work. Pink states that “motivation 2.0” as he calls it is based on stick and carrot method of motivation and it is time for an upgrade. He argues that paying people more isn’t the right kind of incentive to motivate people, in fact can have a hindrance on overall performance. Instead of external motivators we should instead upgrade to “Motivation 3.0” which has three core elements: Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose.
Autonomy is essentially being self-directed. People should have a choice in what they do, when they do it, how they do it, and with whom they work on it with. The idea that people don’t need to be managed in order to do quality work is contradictory to motivation 2.0 but essential for the new motivation 3.0. People need choice and freedom in what they do in order to stay engaged and reach their optimal abilities.
Mastery: Once one is engaged in one’s work it is possible to push toward mastery. The mindset of mastery is to continuously become better at something. Mastery is something that is impossible to reach but one can always push toward.
Purpose: Pink emphasizes that businesses that incorporate purpose maximization often in the long run out perform companies that incorporate profit maximization. People have to have a purpose, a reason why they are doing their job. People yearn to find meaning in their lives and with what they do. We all want to make a mark on the world and this is done through having a purpose.
Quotes and questions:
When talking about personal fulfillment and accomplishment
“It requires resisting the temptation to control people-and instead doing everything we can to reawaken their deep-seated sense of autonomy. This innate capacity for self-direction is at the heart of motivation 3.0.” (Pink, 89)
This is a reminder of how our classrooms can seem like management. As the teacher we manage students. We control what they are learning, how they learn it, and how they spend their time for that one to two hour period. This may not be the optimal way in which students reach their potential. A more autonomous approach with clear learning goals seems to be a more sensible way of letting student learn.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

The Activeclass Project: Experiments in Encouraging Classroom Participation

Ratto, M, & Shapiro, R. (2003). The activeclass project: Experiments in encouraging classroom participation . Computer Support for Collaborative Learning, 1-10.

Classroom participation has dropped as we have entered the 21st century and according to this article the phenomenon can mostly be attributed to a change in the way in which students think and process information. University lecturers have found that with a lack of student participation their lectures have become difficult for students to follow and that this can mostly be blamed on increased class sizes and students feeling that they are not able to ask questions or comment on something due to the large class sizes. Students feel that they will hold up the class by asking personal questions and this becomes more unnerving for students as the size of the class grows.

To counter decreased classroom participation this article gets interesting when the authors explain how they have developed something called ActiveClass a type of software that allows the user to participate in the classroom setting using their PDA’s. The students simply use their personal devises to ask questions, take polls, and give feedback on a lecture. Once the system had been implemented the results showed that the users were more willing to ask questions due to the veil of anonymity that this system brought to the class. It also allowed lecturers to choose which question to answer, rather than simply responding to a raised hand. The article does not explore that idea of which types of students are actually participating using the ActiveClass system. In other words, are the students who are typing questions during lectures the same students who would ask questions anyway? Another issue with using this system might be that having it in place could simply stop all traditional interaction in the classroom between students and teacher. Although this article and software program would seem to be best suited to the university setting where the lecturer usually has a teacher’s assistant who can answer the typed student questions, it does get the reader thinking beyond the conventional ways in which teachers strive to get students to participate more in class.

“Fundamentally, we found that ActiveClass was perhaps not addressing issues of shyness, but rather was broadening discourse. In particular, there was no evidence that more people (i.e., shy people) were asking questions. Now we are investigating the hypothesis that people disinclined to participate are also less likely to experiment with technology, at least in the (public) classroom setting. Although the failure to gain the participation of disenfranchised students is a failure, the broadening of discourse is a significant gain” (2).

“University professors have noted a precipitous drop in participation in the classroom. With a growing number of unasked questions, a professor’s lecture may grow increasingly senseless to students. At the same time, without interaction, inferior passive learning modes emerge. One theory is that increased diversity and growing class size have created classroom dynamics that discourage participation. For some, asking a question may be challenging authority or simply impolite. For
others, the prospect of embarrassing oneself in front of fellow students is too much to bear in such an impersonal setting. Some fear that they will hold up the class (i.e., a huge number of people) with their personal question” (1).

Text Sources:
Abowd, G. D. (1999). Classroom 2000: an experiment with the instrumentation of a living educational environment. IBM Systems Journal, 38(4):508–530.

Brand, S. (1995). How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re B