Knowledge and Skills of Professional Teaching Project

In our discussions, one of the issues we have raised is that of dispositions and what that might mean/should mean to a teacher operating in a professional culture.  Below is a list of dispositions from Charlotte Danielson’s text:  Danielson, C.  (2006).  Teacher leadership that strengthens professional practice. Alexandria,
VA:  ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development).

It is a lengthy list of dispositions that Danielson highlights in the chapter titled “What Do Teacher Leaders Do.”

*dispositions

-dispositions largely define an individual’s approach to situations; when we thing about a person, we recall less about that person’s skills or even interests than we do about their traits such as optimism and energy; teacher leaders possess certain dispositions that influence their work with both students and colleagues

-teacher leaders are can do people; they do not adopt a defeatist attitude when things go poorly; when the going gets tough, they get busy; but they don’t forge ahead blindly; they weigh options, consider alternatives and assemble colleagues to help solve problems

-deep commitment to student learning

^teacher leaders have an essential focus on the core mission of enhancing student learning

^teacher leaders recognize that the scale by which the school and the efforts of the educators within it is measured is the extent to which it is able to promote high-level learning on       the part of all students

-optimism and enthusiasm

^the actions of a teacher leader are driven by optimism and the belief that any situation can be improved

^teacher leaders tend to look on the bright side of things

^ teacher leaders hold high expectations for themselves and expect the best of others

^ teacher leaders, by taking an optimistic view of life, tend to steer events in a positive direction

^enthusiasm represents energy to pursue a project with vigor and commitment

-open-mindedness and humility

^ teacher leaders are careful not to become stuck in their own ideas; they actively solicit the thoughts of others and ensure that those ideas receive careful consideration

^as a disposition open-mindedness conveys a willingness to consider alternatives rather than approaching colleagues with a full-fledged program t hat they are trying to convince        colleagues to adopt

^open-mindedness is accompanied by humility; teacher leaders don’t assume that their own idea is the best one or indeed that a proposed course of action will turn out o be the best       approach; they are quite wiling to admit that they don’t know everything and that information may surface that would cause a shift in their plan

-courage and willingness to take risks

^at times teacher leaders must go out on a limb; success is not always guaranteed

-confidence and decisiveness

^ teacher leaders are individuals who have experienced success in their lives, frequently through their own hard work; thus they are reasonably confident of success in the future,      provided they don’t make avoidable mistakes

^confidence contributes to both courage and risk taking

^an underlying confidence is essential for teacher leaders

^accompanying confidence is decisiveness; teacher leaders know that when all is said and done, when the extensive discussions have run their course, action is necessary

-tolerance for ambiguity

^projects undertaken b y teacher leaders are rarely planned in detail in advance; instead they are undertaken in response to a need or an opportunity and area subject to multiple      midcourse corrections

^ teacher leaders, in convincing colleagues to participate in a project, are inviting people to join them on a journey

-creativity and flexibility

^ teacher leaders are able to think creatively and flexibly and can encourage their colleagues to do the same

^ teacher leaders don’t become trapped b y t heir idea, sticking with it even in the face of evidence that it should be modified; they are flexible, able to stay true to the goal but willing       to adjust the approach as needed

-perseverance

^although flexibility is important, so is perseverance; a lot of success in implementing a  new approach consists of holding firm even in the face of initial difficulty or resistance

-willingness to work hard

^ teacher leaders know that projects don’t take care of themselves; they must be planned and implemented; good ideas without the hard work of planning and implementation                  remain just good ideas

^ teacher leaders are not only willing to work hard, but they also devise ways to work smart

*the dispositions constitute a cluster of traits and ways of looking at the world that tend to reinforce one another; teacher leaders are confident, open-minded, enthusiastic, optimistic and flexible; they persevere and are willing to work both hard and smart

*the dispositions of teacher leaders as described also contribute to exemplary teaching; in their work with students, excellent teachers are also optimistic, confident, flexible and creative; the dispositions are the same; teacher leaders simply exhibit them in the context of leadership activities with their colleagues

Greetings everyone!  Good to see you all yesterday and Ellen, we missed you.  Also, Ann and Chip, please continue to feel welcome to participate through our online forum.  Both of you were mentioned wistfully yesterday.

The notes from our meeting this week are now posted here: http://jamesliou.com/KSPT/subcommittee-dates-and-notes/

Please pay particular attention to the action steps near the end of the document. See you at our next meeting at Judy’s house! (j/k)

Collaboration drill down (sub-task):
• Open and honest
• effective communication
• sharing
• feedback
• goal-setting
• empathy
• support/nurturing
• action-orientation
• self-regulation
• engagement
• shared learning,

Collaborative teacher relationships are characterized by the following behaviors:

Open and honest communication requires that teachers:
• Accept responsibility for their own actions
• Request feedback on how well the team is working and offer honest feedback to others to help support improvement
• Speak honestly and openly about issues affecting their own success and the team’s collaboration.

Effective sharing of resources and ideas is an essential part of collaboration and is supported when teachers:
• Readily share best practices with one another
• Are active participants in learning from one another
• Offer freely of their time and energy to support each other.

The process of collaboration is best supported when teachers:
• Analyze data on student achievement and set specific goals for improvement
• Develop goals together that are specific and measurable
• Develop and use measurement tools for determining progress toward achievement of goals
• Implement action steps to support goal attainment
• Take corrective action to ensure that goals are achieved.

Effective collaboration is supported when teachers show one another:
• Support and nurturing for each other’s physical and emotional needs
• Empathy and understanding when colleagues face challenges
• Active engagement in all collaborative activities.

Subcategories of Professional Culture: Shared Values – “Responsibility”

I understand our working stance to be that “Shared Values” enables/leads to the beliefs and behaviors that will comprise a positive professional culture. Once we have identified a ‘shared value” considered essential for a positive professional culture, we drilled down to the “sub-task” elements and goals that can realize this value. Then we drilled down further to identify the visible repertoire (manifestations) of the sub-task elements and goals. For example, “Collaboration” was named as a value that teachers in a positive “culture” would share and exhibit. The sub-task features guiding this productive “collaboration” were identified, e.g., open and honest communication; feedback; empathy, etc. The next drill down for “collaboration” was the repertoire of behaviors that would instantiate the sub-task features. For example, for “effective communication, we expected to see “actively listening/genuine sense of listening,” “engagement,” etc.

I, along with Ellen, was given the “big umbrella” Shared Value “Responsibility.” I interpret “responsibility” as how teachers internalize their teaching identity: their obligations to, and hopes/goals for, their students, school and themselves evidenced in their daily work. With this in mind, the “sub-tasks” would be, using Ellen’s sentence stem: “Each educational professional has the responsibility to..” (There is redundancy in my sub-tasks nelow.)

• Create and enact a vision for what they want their students to know and do, short term and long term
• Engage and support colleagues
• Share and reflect on the decisions and rationales of their practice
• Undertake professional activities to get better
• Investigate new theories and practices
• Develop means to assess student learning
• Raise and divulge questions and uncertainties about teaching, learning and school culture
• Uncover impediments and aids to student learning, growing their craft
• Reflect on, inquire into, and experiment with instruction
• Seek to understand and improve student performance and behavior
• Contribute to, engage with, the issues that colleagues and students raise
• Disclose and share professional knowledge and practice
• Develop ways for students to self-assess and express their learning successes and difficulties
• Seek to understand colleague and administrative decisions
• Develop pedagogical expertise
• Inform parents of their child’s progress and problems
• Induct new members into the school culture
• Express successful and troubling instructional and school realities
• Provide a stimulating learning environment
• Set high standards
• Challenge their students and themselves
• Remain open to multiple perspectives and divergent views on teaching

I’m unsure how to express the “drill down” emerging from these “sub-tasks.” Do I want to organize these sub-tasks in terms of what is expected of and seen in “responsible” teachers or what I would see in a building in which teachers and staff were striving for “responsibility.” For example, the teacher-expectation frame would lead to teacher-centered items, as in “teachers form and join colleague inquiry/and/or student groups.” If, however, I see it in school-centered terms of what is present in a “responsible” school culture, I would frame it as “In schools with a ‘responsible’ culture we see ‘colleague inquiry and/or study groups.’ ” Both I think are valid, and Ellen, I think, has used the teacher-expectation frame. I will try the school-centered, “what-I-would see” frame, but use some of Ellen’s thinking.

In schools with a “responsible” school culture, I would find:

• Recurring meetings of teachers to share and discuss their teaching decisions and student work to improve instruction and student achievement
• Opportunities for teachers to visit their colleagues’ classrooms
• Ongoing study and /or inquiry groups
• Teachers engaged in planning, leading and assessing professional development for colleagues
• Teachers regularly communicating with students and parents explaining, criticizing and celebrating student performance
• Teachers developing and administering instruments for students to evaluate their own learning and instruction
• An expectation and process for difficult issues to be shared and addressed
• Multiple ways to assess student achievement to inform instruction
• Teachers making explicit the theories, decisions and rationales that support their pedagogy
• Teachers examining multiple perspectives, ‘actively listening to colleagues’
• An expectation and process for teachers ‘to provide and accept honest, yet tactful feedback’

Happy New Year everyone!

Chip wanted me to post a copy of the following document for everyone to look over. He mentioned that this might be the kind of piece that can guide our thinking (whether in its accessible language or its form), or possibly serve as some kind of narrative template for a preamble of sorts.  I do particularly like the first sentence under the subheading ‘The Profession.’

That document is here:  CHARTER_for_the_Aust_Teaching _Profession

More information can be found by clicking here.

SHARED VALUE: RESPONSIBILITY

Each educational professional has the responsibility to:
o Consistently reflect on one’s own practice
o Engage in professional dialogue with colleagues
o Collaborate with colleagues to ensure best practice
o Participate in lifelong learning opportunities
o Keep current on new practices and emerging technologies and incorporate them into teaching
o Assist new teachers in becoming acclimated to the profession
o Assist in building a positive classroom, school, and district culture and climate
o Compromise and be willing to change when necessary
o Work cooperatively with administrators and community stakeholders to ensure that all decisions are made in the best interest of students
o To believe and practice shared values

Consistently reflect on own practice   (drill down):
o Plan and prepare for lessons while providing opportunities for “teachable moments”
o Ensure that all students have access to curriculum, differentiating instruction for all levels
o Provide pre-assessment opportunities
o Conduct formative and summative assessments consistently to inform instruction
o Use data to gauge student need and guide instruction
o Focus on what’s best for students

Engage in professional dialogue with colleagues (drill-down):
(I think this overlaps with our “effective communication drill-down”)
o Actively listen to colleagues and accept other viewpoints
o Be willing to adjust one’s own thinking and practice
o Ask questions of others and provide honest, yet tactful feedback
o Accept feedback from others (without taking it personally)
o Share resources and ideas willingly
o Always focus on what’s best for students as the priority

hi all,

Mary Ann, I’m copy/pasting your ‘drill down’ example below so other committee members can respond and comment accordingly.

‘Integrity’/ethical framework’ as a shared value to drill down to subtask level.

Integrity/ethical framework drill down:
• Police Self/self regulation
• Police others (report abuses)
• Honest
• Fair
• Maintains confidentiality
• Protect safety and health of students
• Protect and bolster students’ emotional well being (self confidence, self-image)
• Observes appropriate boundaries
• Equitable (in teaching, grading, professional service)/does not discriminate
• Believes all children can learn
• Respects and advances the profession of teaching

Choosing the sub-task of ‘honest’ to further drill down to the ‘repertoire’ level:

• Does not misrepresent professional qualifications of self or others
• Does not knowingly misrepresent, distort or suppress facts
• Uses professional time appropriately
• Does not accept favors/gifts, etc. to influence professional decisions/services.