professional learning – Signs of Learning

Using the Literacy Exchange Model to Build the Chinese Literacy Symposium

April 30, 2018 chowam Comments 0 Comment

A few months ago Amanda Jacob, the Elementary Literacy Coordinator at Taipei American School, posted a photo to the Reading and Writing Workshop in International Schools Facebook group of their Mandarin team planning for shared reading in their classes. “It’s fascinating to see how structures I use for teaching reading in English work in Chinese. These teachers found great ways to support character learning and vocabulary building.” The comments started flooding in.

Teachers in the region had questions. Others shared how they were investigating how other balanced literacy structures traditionally used in English classes might benefit student engagement and learning in Mandarin lessons. With a nudge from Erin Kent, our friend and fellow literary coach, to bring people together to share their work, willingness to help from a few literacy coaches, and strong support from the leadership at Taipei American School, the first Chinese Literacy Symposium was born.

Amanda and I started planning together using the work from the Middle School Literacy Exchange to help us frame out the weekend. We set up a Google Site and gathered information regarding what people wanted to learn and share in connection with balanced literacy elements in Mandarin language classes.

From there, we created overarching goals.

Build community
Learn from and with each other
Create a shared understanding of workshop and balanced literacy
Make time to plan and create together

We looked back at our notes from the MS Literacy Exchange and worked to build from our reflection.

Having most or all of a teaching team participate builds momentum and increased application into daily practice. What would this look like in Elementary/Primary school?

In order to encourage teaching teams or partners to attend together, we were able to make this a free event (again, thanks to strong support from the TAS leadership). This was successful with many schools sending two or more participants, so teams were able to think together about the weekend’s learning fit their context.

Having a common starting point in our learning across schools allows the learning to be relevant to all participants.

While all the participants were not coming from the same starting point with trying out balanced literacy in their context, we were within a similar band of a year or two in our work. This meant that whole group instruction was relevant and small groups could zoom in the pieces they were ready for at this time.

Having common pedagogy rather than common curriculum allows the learning to be practical and hands on. What would this look like for Math or Science?

This was true for us as the focus was the pedagogical practices of balanced literacy components and how these have been or could be used in Mandarin language classes. There were some organic side conversations around curriculum and assessment that were useful for those who wanted to think more about these pieces.

Having coaches who can facilitate the exchange creates a clear, focused learning experience.

We had three literacy coaches lead whole group sessions and facilitate the learning across the two days. Then we had two additional literacy coaches help with the responsive planning and delivery of the day-two small groups based on day-one exit tickets. We also had three rounds of mini table presentations put on by the participants, so they could share their experiences with the group.

Overall, it was an exciting weekend of learning and exploring with each other. Participants came ready to learn and their noticings and questions throughout the symposium demonstrated critical and creative thinking as they considered how this learning could support students’ language learning and engagement. Here are some of the things the group noticed and questions they had.

How are you addressing these ideas and wonderings in your context?

The Literacy Exchange: One Model for Collaborative Professional Learning

November 29, 2017 chowam Comments 0 Comment

Our Middle School English department recently joined two other international Middle School English departments for our 3rd annual Literacy Exchange. Our mission: To facilitate sustainable, meaningful, and affordable professional development designed for teachers by teachers.

It all started over four years ago when our three department heads met each other in NYC at one of the amazing Reading and Writing Summer Institutes put on by Columbia Teacher’s College. They began meeting online a few times each year to share and collaborate. Eventually, the idea to bring our departments together for a two-day-home-grown learning experience was born.

Because we were designing the learning for our teams, we were able to create relevant learning experiences for our teachers based on their strengths and areas for growth – much like we do for our students. The first year we had a strong focus on conferring with readers. We had a day of study and then a day of practice mixed in with reflection and sharing tools. The second year we focused on nonfiction reading with the framework of text sets. Once again, we had a day of study and then a day of practice in classrooms and study. As we prepared for this year’s Literacy Exchange, we all felt our teachers were ready to be pushed into more hands-on practice.

So this year, we had a “Lab-site-palooza.” Day one we had three lab sites: one to model a read aloud and small groups, one to model a mini lesson and small groups, and then finally one for teachers to practice either the read aloud or the mini lesson and small groups. The next day, teachers had two more lab sites to practice.

We wanted to make sure that each teacher was able to practice the skills that built on their strengths but also pushed them to their next steps in revising and refining their practice. One of our team members, Scott Riley, drafted a self-assessment learning progression for teachers to use to reflect on their skills and practice as literacy teachers. As a team, we revised the document so it better matched the work in each of our schools. Teachers used this to reflect and then set a goal for the two days of the Literacy Exchange. They found a goal partner from their own school to share and coach each other into how they would work towards this goal.

Then, throughout the Literacy Exchange, teachers used their goal to frame their observations and their practice. Before each practice lab site, they named their goal to their team and asked them to watch for specific skills or behaviors to give feedback on afterward. We framed our feedback conversations on the structure of a research-decide-compliment-teach conference.

We wrapped up our time together with some independent, reflective writing and then brief celebration with a popcorn share. Each teacher shared out with the group a specific compliment for their lab site partner. It was so fun to see teachers’ smiles as their partner named their intentional work toward their goal and how they had grown in their practice.

The team is now looking to next year and coordinating school calendars to choose dates. But we are also wondering how this model could be transferred to other departments and other schools. Our conversations are focused on asking, “What are the elements that make an exchange like this work?” We are still thinking about this, but here are some of our initial ideas:

Having most or all of a teaching team participate builds momentum and increased application into daily practice. What would this look like in Elementary/Primary school?
Having a common starting point in our learning across schools allows the learning to be relevant to all participants.
Having common pedagogy rather than common curriculum allows the learning to be practical and hands on. What would this look like for Math or Science?
Having coaches who can facilitate the exchange creates a clear, focused learning experience.

While these common elements seem to be important for an exchange, we have also recognized that the diverse voices and experiences each school brings are equally important.

What would an exchange look like for your team? Who might you connect with to investigate potential shared starting points?

Keeping the Momentum Up After Professional Learning

May 31, 2017 chowam Comments 0 Comment

How many times have you attended a great professional learning event and left with all kinds of ideas that you wanted to try only to find that list, untouched the next year when you are cleaning out your desk? Or maybe you did try a new tool or strategy but quickly slipped back into the business of your daily routine and forgot to come back to it. This happens to all of us.

This year, one of the questions I have kept at the front of my mind is, “How can we help teachers keep the momentum gained during professional learning up once they return to their normal routines?”

One way we can do this is to bring teachers back together to share and collaborate on next steps. It would be fantastic if our budgets allowed for this additional time, but most of us don’t have that luxury. As a workaround, I suggest offering teachers some nice food.

Here are my steps for trying this out:

I looked at possible times when teachers might be able to get together two weeks after a weekend conference.
I emailed a teacher in each section of the school (all very different schedules) and ask for their input on three possible meeting times.
From their feedback, I choose the best time.
I sent out calendar invites for all the teachers who attended:

“I’d like to invite you to an informal sharing and collaboration with the participants from ReThinking Literacy. This is an opportunity for us to share our takeaways and try-its with each other, to collaborate on possible next steps, and encourage each other.

I’ll have a few light breakfast snacks to share; please bring your own coffee or tea.

Looking forward to learning more together!”

I made multiple copies of a three column chart: Take Aways (new learning and reminders), Tried? Say more…, Collaborate on next steps? Say more…
I emailed those who said they were coming and those who hadn’t yet responded the day before with a reminder and a note that I was baking muffins.
In the morning, I pulled a few of my tables together to create a shared table for ten people, set out the food and the charts, and turned on some music.
As teachers came in, we chatted a bit then I invited them to work with someone or on their own (it was 7:30 am after all) to add to the charts, making sure to include their names so we could follow up.
After about 10 minutes, we rotated charts, read, and added new thinking.

Throughout, some teachers shared ideas with the whole group or with just a partner.
Everyone expressed interest in visiting each other’s classes to see some of this new learning in action.
Next, I typed up their charts and shared them with the group.
As the Literacy Coach, I now have several places to follow up with this group of teachers.

How do you keep up the momentum after professional learning? Do you have strategies that work for you as a learner? For you as a leader?