Job-Embedded Professional Development

Answers by Dayle Timmons

1. Your school, Chets Creek Elementary, has become a model of job-embedded, teacher driven continuous professional development. Could you offer a brief description of your school and how it uses job embedded professional development?

Chets Creek is a high performing K-5 elementary school with over 1300 students. We have about 20% free and reduced lunch and about the same minority. We offer job-embedded, teacher driven professional development. To me job embedded professional development means that training is offered on the clock as part of the regular teaching day. It is directly applicable to what a teacher is teaching. Teacher driven means that the training is directly related to what individual teachers need and want. The training is differentiated, depending on the needs and interests of the teacher. So… what does that look like? At our school one example would be our Teacher Meetings. We have grade level/ subject area professional development once a week during the teaching day. The entire grade level is free for planning/training at the same time 4 times a week. We give one of those planning times over to professional development which is about 50 minutes a week. Each Teacher Meeting is run by a lead teacher. Lead Teachers meet as part of the Leadership Team twice a month. One week the Math Council meets, one week the Reading Council meets, one week the Science Council meets and then the final week each month, everyone meets together. While the lead teachers are meeting for an hour and a half each week to plan their Teacher Meetings on the clock, their classes are treated to an extra Resource (P.E., Music, Art, Character Education, Media). During these Council meetings, challenges are addressed and agendas are discussed and set. The meetings model what the teachers are to do at their own grade level meetings. The content of each Teacher Meeting might be different at each grade level depending on the needs of the grade level, the needs identified from the grade level data and the interest of the teachers themselves. The groups act very much like professional learning communities. What you wouldn’t find at a Teacher Meeting is discussion about the holiday party or what food items we are suppose to bring to the Teacher of the Year Breakfast or problems with bus students. This is a time for professional development, for teaching and learning.

2. You write for two blogs, "Timmons Times” and “She’s the Apple of my Eye.” What prompted you to start these blogs and how have they enriched your experiences with job embedded professional development?

“Timmons Times” is my effort to archive what goes on at a high performing school. Twelve years ago we were a part of the America’s Choice School Design, a process to make a good school a great school. After the contract was complete, we had so many visitors and questions about what we had done. I really felt a need to share our journey to sustain at such a high performing level. That’s what I write about. I am a “looping” teacher so I spend a year in kindergarten and then loop up with that group of students to first grade. I am also the Literacy Lead each year for the grade level that I teach. I think you have to write about what you know, so I write about the grade level where I am teaching and leading. In a way, the blog itself is a form of professional development. We have twelve teachers on my grade level and it’s hard for us to really stay up with what is going on in each of our classes so my blog is a way to share the good news within our school and to the many who follow our work.

“She’s the Apple of My Eye” is a labor of love - a blog that I share with my daughter who is a first year teacher. For the past ten years, I have been working with beginning teachers at Chets Creek to help provide support as they try to put into practice what they have learned in college. One of the things I have learned along the way is that every new teacher needs support to feel successful. Because Courtney has begun her teaching in another city, I don’t have the opportunity to just stick my head in her classroom and see what she needs. When I first suggested we do this blog, I told her it was a way for us to share with a broader audience her trials and tribulations but also her solutionsShe jumped at the idea. She has a mentor, of course, at her school but the blog has been a way to reach out to a larger audience for support and help. It’s like her own little teacher driven professional development! I think we have both enjoyed the experience. I’m thinking we will continue for at least three years – which is how long I think it usually takes for a newbie to get her balance.

3. What are some of the advantages to job embedded professional development? What are its disadvantages?

I guess the biggest advantage of job embedded professional development is that you don’t feel like you’re wasting your time. What you are learning applies directly to what you are going to do in your classroom tomorrow. We have all been to professional development that was boring because it had no application to what we are doing. We’ve all been to training that was a one-shot presentation where something new was presented, but when you had questions along the way while implementing, there was nobody to ask so you abandoned what may have been a good idea. “Spray and pray” has never been effective in changing practice. Job embedded professional development holds you accountable. You learn something that you usually have decided you need or want to learn. You implement it. In fact, someone is going to drop by and help you by teaching with you until you get it and then invite you to show someone else. The training is collegial – we’re going to help each other until we figure it out – instead of being punishing (I’m going to get you if you don’t do it right) or competitive (let’s see who can get it first because they win). It’s learning in a supportive environment where the doors are open and we realize that our best teachers are the ones that teach beside us everyday.

I’m not sure there are disadvantages. However, the ability to implement this type of professional development is based on relationships and trust. You have to have an administration that realizes that its all about the school’s culture. When we started we had the same faculty that everyone has. We had the naysayers and those that frankly needed to retire. But as the culture began to support learners and risk takers, the critical mass began to support learning, sharing and supporting. As we reached the tipping point, the naysayers began to leave. The culture actually pushed them out. We hired new people, not because of their knowledge and ability coming in, but because they wanted to learn and be a part of a professional learning community. Now we have 100% buy-in. How often in education do you have that? Teachers don’t come to our school unless they want this type of collegial atmosphere and are willing to open their door to learning.

4. Your school uses technology as part of the professional development program. Bloggers Café, bring your own laptop and wikis are just a few examples of how your school combines the two. Could you elaborate on these programs, how they enhance the professional development experience and how they are used in the classroom?

The Bloggers’ Café is simply a space where teachers come to learn. It’s a open space with wireless Internet and the best technology that we have to offer (it may not be state of the art hardware because we’ve had to wheel and deal to get it outfitted, but the thinking is state of the art!) It’s a place where a few teachers or individual teachers can hang out during free time or a place where small groups can meet for specific training on a schedule or unscheduled “on the fly” learning from a friend.

“Bring Your Laptop” is a specific time to meet in the Bloggers’ Café – usually before or after school. You just bring your laptop and our Instructional Technologist, Melanie Holtsman, who is a Google Certified Teacher, brings her laptop and will teach you anything you want to learn. If you let her know ahead of time she might invite a couple of others that also want to learn the same thing to learn with you. But basically, if there is anything you want to learn or ask questions about, then that’s the time to go and find out what you want to know! How cool is that!

“Geeks at the Creek” – Last year we started every Early Release (every other Wednesday our county is released an hour and half early for professional development) with someone that had something new to share about technology. It was a teacher “show and tell”. If you were selected for the next Early Release, you got to wear a little mouse necklace until the next person was selected. This professional development is documented on our blog, “Geeks from the Creek."

Wikis- Wikis have become a way of life at Chets Creek. Each grade level has their own wiki to house lessons and resources. Kindergarten and first grade wikis are public. Other grade levels have not released their publically but use them in-house. The principal has a book-of-the-month wiki that houses each of the picture books that she uses to teach the faculty a specific strategy and each class response to using the strategy. The principal now uses a wiki to house all important information for the staff such as a roster, all forms, faculty addresses and phone numbers, master calendar, etc. Teachers have used wikis for students to log books they are reading… the list is endless and growing!

Google Docs – Our teachers are very familiar with Google Docs. They have been used to write a series of lessons together, as a place to house agendas that can be added to by multiple members of a group, as a place to add weekly items to a school weekly Memo from the principal and many other ways. Teachers have begun to say, “We need a google doc for that!”

5. What is “vertical demonstration,” and how is it used at Chets Creek?

For years, teachers have opened their classrooms for colleagues to observe on a regular basis. Once a week, in year’s past, we have offered WOW days (Working on the Work) focused on a full day of professional development around a particular topic for a specific grade level. Each day started with a demonstration lesson which is a lesson taught by a teacher for the rest of the grade level to watch and discuss. Generally, the day’s topic was the focus for the lesson offering a great beginning for deeper conversation. After the lesson, teachers adjourned into a conference room and debriefed the lesson by discussing the “warm comments” about what they loved and the “cool comments” which are wonderings or questions they still have. After hearing from their peers, the demonstrating teachers reflected on the lesson and often shared ideas for what they would tweak or teach differently the next time. Finally, each participant shares the one thing that they would carry away from the lesson to use in their own classroom instruction.

WOW days presented horizontal opportunities across one grade level that met our needs for many years. However, to move learning to the next level, we considered it necessary to have vertical demonstrations and dialogue across all grade levels. So, this year, we put forward a topic and teachers voluntarily sign up to participate based on interest. The participants represent all grade levels, offer a balance of veteran and novice teachers, and bring a varying level of content knowledge to the discussion. We’ve held four days; Shared Reading ,Interactive Skills Block , Science Workshop, and Co-Teach with Small Group Instruction. Each day offers two or three demonstration lessons around the selected topic, and includes primary and intermediate lessons. Each lesson is debriefed in the fashion mentioned above. In addition, at some time during the day, there is generally some type of professional reading such as a chapter from a book or a magazine article with a chance for teachers to read and discuss.

Word of the value of these days has spread like wildfire since our first vertical demonstration and though others could talk about the lesson, it wasn’t the same as seeing the lesson. Therefore, we decided to tape each one so teachers would at least have the virtual opportunity to learn with us. These lessons can be viewed on our Ning which has over 900 members nationwide. It’s not the same as being there in person but it is better than Wouldn’t that be impressive if we could prove that by demonstration, areas of weakness within our building could become strengths? not having the experience at all. Our last vertical demonstration evite went out and less than four hours later thirty teachers were eager to participate. We had fifteen slots to fill, first come first serve, so we had to temporarily turn the others away.

The participating teachers most commonly comment that the vertical demonstration and discussion has given them greater clarity about expectations below and above their grade levels and has allowed them to see why certain components or concepts are so important to teach. They internalize the connection among content areas and gain new ideas for not only their struggling learners but for their high achievers as well. It is not uncommon to have participating teachers show up days or weeks later in the coaches office to share ways they have implemented their learning in their own instruction. And, we know that nothing changes until the instruction in the classroom changes.

Of course, we are never satisfied with what is. We are always looking for ways to improve, and we have realized through much reflection that these vertical demonstration days could be even more powerful if they tied directly to our School Improvement Plan which highlights the areas we are challenging ourselves to improve based on our data.

6. How does professional development enhance the overall learning experience for Chets Creek students? Does it have any particular benefits for students at the elementary level or more specifically in special education?

Our professional development has certainly had an impact on the way that Special Education is viewed in our school. We really try to match our most talented teachers with our inclusion classes. Although that may not be said publically, teachers know that when they are asked to take the inclusion class that it is an honor because the Leadership has identified them as an exemplary teacher. Therefore, it is often our inclusion classes that are highlighted in our demonstration lessons, so as teachers are watching their peers teach, they have to be saying to themselves, “If she can do this with 10+ Special Education inclusion students, then surely I can do it in my class.” There can be no excuses.

Just the fact that we truly practice putting our strongest teachers in inclusion makes a difference for our Special Education students. 4 of our 7 Special Education teacher are NBCT so we have very strong Special Education teachers teaching beside general education teachers. This makes for its own professional development as Special Education teachers share from their rather large bag of tricks.

I think this type of embedded professional development makes a difference for our students in general because teachers can go directly to a training and then back into their classroom the very next day and try something new and different and know if they have difficulty that the answer to their questions is right up the hallway. Students get a stronger experience because teachers are continuing to learn. Teachers are modeling lifelong learning. Teaching and learning are transparent. Best practices are not a secret kept by a few teachers but are open to all teachers to learn, practice and discuss.

About Dayle Timmons

Dayle Timmons is a lifelong Special Education teacher and has been Nationally Board Certified since 2002. For the past 10 years, she has split her time between teaching in a K-1 classroom and serving as a Literacy Coach. Her friends have affectionately referred to her as the "Queen" since she served her state as the "2004 Florida Teacher of the Year." Her number one mission has always been simply "to make a difference." She currently writes for two blogs "Timmons Times” and "She's the Apple of my Eye." Dayle is a member of the Teacher Leaders Network (TLN).