Teaching and Learning Forum TRIADS: Creating powerful learning communities for all

2 Key Objectives That we all understand the TRIAD as a structure for building a powerful professional learning community characterised by ongoing and embedded reflection, learning and growth for all teachers. That we have alignment between individual learning and growth goals and faculty and college academic priorities.

Framework for Building Individual and Collective Teacher Efficacy The TRIAD: Framework for Building Individual and Collective Teacher Efficacy Provides opportunities to: examine and analyse evidence of student learning and the efficacy of instructional practices employed, engage in peer observations and self-reflection engage in substantive dialogue that challenges us to consider “problems of practice” and ways to improve “student learning” share and experiment with new strategies, practices and approaches to learning Give and receive constructive feedback on their initial and ongoing attempts to use and embed new practices into their developing repertoire of skills.

“collective teacher efficacy” WHY is this important? John Hattie’s most recent research argues that of all the strategies schools can employ that are known to make a difference to student learning outcomes “collective teacher efficacy” has the highest “effect size” in terms of impact on student learning

What works? Note that the “effect size” of “Collective Teacher Efficacy” is over twice that of providing feedback, over 5 times that of setting homework and 3 times the measured impact of student motivation and student engagement.

What is collective teacher efficacy? “a staff’s shared belief that through their collective action, they can positively influence student outcomes, including those who are disengaged and/or disadvantaged. Educators with high collective efficacy show greater effort and persistence, a willingness to try new teaching approaches, set more challenging goals, and attend more closely to the needs of students who require extra assistance. In addition, when collective efficacy is present, staff are better equipped to foster positive behaviour in students and in raising students’ expectations of themselves by convincing them that they can do well in school.” (Hattie)

How do schools build “collective efficacy”? Provide opportunities for teachers and teaching teams to build instructional knowledge and skills. Create opportunities for teachers to collaboratively share skills and experience. Focus teachers on gathering evidence of impact Build teacher capacity to interpret results, and Provide actionable feedback on teachers’ efforts.

“Building Collective Efficacy at STL” shared understanding and belief that “children grow into the intellectual lives of those around them” and that “deep learning and understanding are explicit outcomes of quality thinking” then we must build our collective efficacy to provide powerful learning opportunities for students to develop as capable thinkers and learners. If we develop a …

Reflecting on and questioning what we currently do? Given that learning and understanding are explicit outcomes of quality thinking we must continually ask ourselves: How effectively are we - both as individual teachers and as members of a collective staff - nurturing the capacity of our students to think and understand? How effectively are we providing rich, creative and intellectually challenging learning environments for our students? How effectively are we developing student agency – assisting them be more independent and resilient in the learning process? How effectively are we helping our students to believe that, with the right mindset and dispositions, they can become successful learners? Growth mindset

Developing a growth mindset Academic Priorities 2017 Teaching for understanding: conceptual ideas that are important to the lives that students will lead. Developing student agency, personal responsibility and independence in the learning process Developing a growth mindset

Academic Priorities 2017 ELC-4 Responsibility Creativity Resilience 2017 Faculty Goals Alignment with College Goals 2017 Personal Goals Alignment with faculty goals TRIAD

How do we ensure that the learning we do in our TRIADs is… challenging and pushing each of us out of our comfort zone about taking risks to try something new (strategies that have been shown to be effective in improving student agency, thinking and understanding) measuring the impact we are having on student learning and growth building both individual and collective efficacy?

Learning and Improvement Creating a Culture of Learning and Improvement How do we get better at things we care about? http://www.ted.com/talks/eduardo_briceno_how_to_get_better_at_the_things_you_care_about?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2017-02-04&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_content=talk_of_the_week_button The TRIAD design should offer us a safe place to learn.

Imagine… Imagine if … we all believed that we can all improve we all want to improve we all understand how to improve, and we are all willing to create a professional learning community where we can challenge and learn with and from each other in ways that are safe to innovate and allow us to “spiral to ever increasing capabilities.” WE can grind through this and tick the boxes to comply with school expectations but this will serve no purpose at all. WE need to bring this to life and make it meaningful and alive.

Putting theory into practice Who will you choose who to work with in 2017? What are your goals and priorities for 2017? How do these align with your faculty and the College academic goals for 2017? What deliberate practice will you work on this year in your triad? How can we work together in TRIADS in ways that challenge our thinking, while also feeling safe to grow and learn? How will you know whether your strategies have had an impact on student learning? How will you share your findings with your colleagues? (copies of your IPLPs completed in 2016 are with your HOL)?

Next Steps At your tables, clarify your faculty goals and how your personal goals align with these. Once you have aligned your goals with those of the faculty then click on the link to the TRIAD planner that I have sent by email. Complete the planner details then submit.*** Meet with your TRIAD members to plan how you will progress your TRIAD Some of you may need more time to finalise the details of your TRIAD. If so, please meet with your team and submit the TRIAD planner by 4pm Friday. Your HOL will get copies of these planners that will allow them to have conversations with you throughout the year. Discuss how you will share with your colleagues beyond the TRIAD, the progress and learning that has taken place for you.