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Powerful Professional Development
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Powerful Professional Development
Building Expertise Within the Four Walls of Your School

Edited by:

Foreword by Stephanie Hirsh



February 2010 | 200 pages | Corwin

"I love, love, love this book! This smorgasbord of professional development strategies maximizes time and on-site expertise. From the perspective of educators hungry for cost-effective, proven ways to promote ongoing, job-embedded professional learning, this is an à la carte menu for building healthy professional development 'meals' based on specific needs and available resources."
—Gail Ritchie, Instructional Coach
Fairfax County Public Schools, VA

"This book offers a menu of practical, integrated, research-based tools and processes that engage and empower teachers and administrators in co-constructing a powerful form of job-embedded professional development that is relevant, focused, and organic, and allows schools to transform themselves into a self-sustaining learning organization."
—Pedro R. Bermúdez, Professional Development Support
Ready Schools Miami, FL

Achieve effective, on-site teacher development without breaking the budget!

This essential guide to job-embedded staff development helps schools and districts move away from reliance on outside expertise, instead drawing on and developing the experience and skills of their own faculty. The authors provide a complete toolbox of school-based professional development (PD) strategies, with recommendations on which tools to use for different times and settings, guidelines for implementation, and extended examples of each tool in action for a full spectrum of proven, cost-effective PD models, including:

  • Book study and lesson study
  • Action research and professional learning communities
  • Coaching and co-teaching 
  • Webinars, podcasts, Open Space Technology, online communities, and much more

 
Foreword, by Stephanie Hirsh
 
Preface
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Authors
 
Part I. What Is Powerful Job-Embedded Profressional Development, and How Can You Make It Happen?
 
1. Cultivating Professional Development From Inside the Four Walls of Your School
So What Is Job-Embedded Professional Development?

 
What Are the Building Blocks for Job-Embedded Professional Development?

 
An Example: What Did Mrs. Oublier Teach Us About Building Professional Knowledge That Facilitates Change?

 
Concluding Thoughts

 
Additional Resources

 
 
2. Creating Space and Reconceptualizing Roles for Job-Embedded PD: Building the Back Porch
What Exactly Is a School's Back Porch?

 
Who Is on the Back Porch? Roles and Responsibilities

 
What Is a Teacher Leader?

 
What Is the Role of the Principal?

 
Concluding Thoughts

 
Additional Resources

 
 
3. Thinking Outside the Clock and Inside the Budget: How to Find Time and Money for Job-Embedded PD
Finding Time

 
Finding Money

 
How to Use Time and Money Creatively

 
An Example: Finding Time and Money for Job-Embedded PD

 
Concluding Thoughts

 
Additional Resources

 
 
Part II. The Professional Development Toolbox: Strategies to Actualize Powerful Professional Development
 
4. Book Studies, Webinars, Podcasts, and Online Video Libraries
Definition: Book Study

 
Definitions: Webinar, Podcasts, and Online Video Library

 
Illustration: From Book Study to Webinar and Back Again

 
What Have We Learned?

 
Some Things to Think About

 
Additional Resources

 
 
5. Research-in-Action and Coteaching
Definition: Research-in-Action

 
Illustration: Research-in Action

 
Definition: Coteaching

 
Illustration: Coteaching?Lead and Support

 
Illustration: Coteaching?Parallel Teaching

 
What Have We Learned?

 
Some Things to Think About

 
Additional Resources

 
 
6. Conversation Tools: Protocols, Open Space Technology, and the Knowledge Cafe
Definition: Conversation Tools

 
Illustration: Conversation Tools

 
What Have We Learned?

 
Some Things to Think About

 
Additional Resources

 
 
7. Lesson Study
Definition: Lesson Study

 
Illustration: Lesson Study

 
What Have We Learned?

 
Some Things to Think About

 
Additional Resources

 
 
8. Teacher Inquiry/Action Research
Definition: Teacher Inquiry/Action Research

 
Illustration: Teacher Inquiry/Action Research

 
What Have We Learned?

 
Some Things to Think About

 
Additional Resources

 
 
9. Coaching Models: Peer, Culturally Responsive, and Content Focused
Definition: Coaching

 
Illustration: Peer Coaching

 
Illustration: Culturally Responsive Coaching

 
Illustration: Content-Focused Coaching

 
What Have We Learned?

 
Some Things to Think About

 
Additional Resources

 
 
10. Professional Learning Communities
Definition: Professional Learning Community

 
Illustration: Inquiry-Oriented PLC

 
What Have We Learned?

 
Some Things to Think About

 
Additional Resources

 
 
Part III. Using Your Toolbox: Tips for Developing a Successful Job-Embedded, Professional Development Program
 
11. Making the Match: Aligning Data and the Right Tools With Your Particular Needs
What Factors Should I Consider in the Matchmaking Process?

 
Illustration: Sixth-Grade Language Arts Teacher Keisha Wagner

 
What Is a Theory of Change, Why Do You Need One, and How Do You Get One?

 
Illustration: Elementary School Teacher Leader Kevin Smith

 
Tips for Making the Perfect Match for Professional Learning

 
Concluding Thoughts

 
 
12. Effective Professional Development Within Your School Walls: Lessons Learned
Ten Lessons for Making Job-Embedded Professional Development a Success at Your School

 
Parting Comments

 
 
References and Additional Reading
 
Index
Key features

Included in this volume:

  • Tips on how to make time for professional development (PD) and accomplish effective PD on a curtailed budget
  • Suggestions for matching each PD tool with the specific needs of a school or district
  • Definitions, descriptions, and illustrations of many different job-embedded PD options

Sample Materials & Chapters

Foreword by Stephanie Hirsh

Preface


Purchasing options

For large school/district orders, volume discounts, availability and shipping times contact customer service at 800-233-9936
or order@corwin.com.

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ISBN: 9781412979757
$40.95

For large school/district orders, volume discounts, availability and shipping times contact customer service at 800-233-9936
or order@corwin.com.