These are resources we will use in our discussions and planning for Instructional Rounds on 11.30.11.
1.According to Richard Elmore what are challenges inherent in formal 'school-based' learning?
2. Now check/complicate what Elmore said against this 3:30 minute video from Springville. They discuss how they have developed a theory of action and are checking it with a problem of practice. (Increase reading comprehension in order to increase student achievement the goal). Please notice the VERBS!!!
Problem of Practice: Are teachers using strategies that contribute to increased student comprehension?
3. A Vision? Personalized learning at a secondary school.
Link to Coburg Senior High School.
Link to Coburg Senior High School.
Contextualizing the Visit for Instructional Rounds at Coburg Senior High School
Some Tasks Ahead (perhaps...)
1. Come to deeply understand the concept and practice of instructional core-- as well as the limitations of seeing/knowing that we each bring to classroom spaces when we observe learners.
2. Notice the tasks. Get underneath the tasks at what is being valued (and not).
3. Collaboratively compose ways of seeing learning within classroom spaces that is:
- descriptive
- disruptive
- attentive to the complexity of teaching and learning
- specific and related to the instructional core
- faulty even as we make it
4. Articulate at the district and at school levels--a theory of action (Start anywhere, follow it anywhere). Consider: What are if/then constructs related to learning you notice, align, come up against? Can the personal and the institutional reside side by side?
5. Think horizontally. Act locally. Can innovation be grown within idiosyncratic practices that are place-based? If so, how does one ensure that those practices represent the community definition of excellence? Who holds power to determine such things?
6. Notice being wrong (often, a lot) until it feels common, like breathing.
7. Court (in)stability.
Some recommended texts:
Berger, Ron. 2003. An ethic of excellence: Building a culture of craftsmanship with students. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Davidson, Cathy N. (2011-08-18). Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn. VIKING ADULT. Kindle Edition.
Jenkins., Henry. (2009). Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century (John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning). Kindle Edition.
Langer, Ellen. (1989). Mindfulness. DeCapo Presss.
Perkins, David N. (2010-02-04). Making Learning Whole: How Seven Principles of Teaching Can Transform Education. John Wiley and Sons. Kindle Edition.
Thomas, Douglas; Seely Brown, John (2011-03-12). A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change. CreateSpace. Kindle Edition.
Wheatley, Margaret; Frieze, Deborah (2011-04-11). Walk Out Walk On: A Learning Journey into Communities Daring to Live the Future Now. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Kindle Edition..
Wheatley, Margaret J. (2007). Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time. Kindle Edition.
Video
Thanks Mary Ann. I watched every one of these video links, and found them helpful (although I do worry a little about the pearson plug in Mimi's video). Thank you for this blog, of which I'm a regular reader!
ReplyDeleteYou are very welcome Glad the videos worked so well for you.
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