High Reliability Schools 1997

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Responding to Teachers as Individuals... n Mentors can help teachers to learn and to develop independently and thus encourage teachers to do the same for their students

Mentors as Counselors... n Mentors who adopt a counseling orientation usually do not subscribe to a laissez-faire attitude of teacher growth; nevertheless, they accede to individual differences in their acceptance of the teaching environment n This is an environment in which the goals and objectives for teaching are established and controlled primarily by the teacher

n Person-centered humanistic mentors draw upon individual differences, such as perceptions of teacher warmth and openness, to minimize teacher frustration or failure and to look for abilities and aptitudes that determine successful teaching n Such mentors view growth and development mainly as the responsibility of the teacher

n Person-centered approaches concentrate mainly on the personal needs of the teacher, not the teacher’s technical skills of delivering instruction

n Because mentors who function as counselors typically use nondirective approaches, they may frustrate teachers seeking more direct advice and guidance

Teacher Efficacy n Teacher efficacy is believed to be one of the most significant social- pyschological factors influencing teachers’ work n Teacher efficacy is defined in many ways n It has been equated with empowerment and connoted with knowledge about practice

n Teacher efficacy has been synonymous with teachers’ sense of responsibility for past student learning n It has been view both as a broad construct and as a narrow concept that distinguishes among individual, organizational, and professional dimensions

n An element common to many definitions of teacher efficacy is personal teacher efficacy-- the beliefs that individual teachers hold about their own capacities or abilities to act in ways that bring about student learning and development

Bandura contends that self- efficacy develops from... n 1- actual performance attainments n 2- vicarious experiences-- seeing or visualizing other similar people perform tasks both successfully and unsuccessfully n 3- verbal persuasion-- attempts of others to lead individuals to believe that they indeed possess the capablities to perform particular tasks n 4- physiological indices-- trembling, sweating, etc.

Functions of self-efficacy n Self-efficacy influences individuals’ decisions regarding choice of activities, tasks, and social situations. n Self-efficacy is related to how much effort individuals will extend and how long they will persist in the face of obstacles or aversive experiences n Self-efficacy influences how individuals think about and react emotionally to others and to their environments

Research Speaks on Training... n A number of training components have been identified as contributing to the impact of a training sequence

Presentation of theory n Studying theory can provide the rationale, conceptual base, and verbal description of an approach to teaching or instructional technique n Level of impact: presentation of theory can raise awareness and increase conceptual control of an area; however, alone, it is not powerful enough to achieve much beyond the awareness level

Modeling or demonstration n Modeling involves enactment of a teaching skill either through live demonstration, or through television, film, or other media n Level of impact: modeling appears to have a considerable effect on awareness and some effect on knowledge. Demonstration also increases the mastery of theory

Practice under simulated conditions n Practice involves trying out a new skill or strategy; simulated conditions are achieved by practicing either with peers or with small groups of children under circumstances which do not require management of an entire class n Level of impact: when awareness and knowledge have been achieved, practice is a very efficient way of acquiring skills and strategies

Structured feedback n Structured feedback involves learning a system for observing teaching behavior and providing an opportunity to reflect on those observations n Level of impact: taken alone, feedback can result in considerable awareness of one’s teaching behavior and knowledge about alternatives; it has reasonable power for acquisition of skills and their transfer to the classroom situation

Coaching for application n If constant feedback is provided with classroom practice, a good many, but not all, will transfer their skills into the teaching situation n For many others, however, direct coaching on how to apply the new skills and models appears to be necessary n Coaching involves helping teachers analyze the content to be taught and the approach to be taken, and making very specific plans to help the student adapt to the new teaching approach

n The most effective training activities will be those that combine theory, modeling, practice, feedback, and coaching for application

Coaching

n The culture of most school faculties has been highly individualistic, with nearly all interaction over day-to-day operations n Without collective action, schools have difficulty addressing problems that cannot be solved by individual action n Various models for team teaching have included forms of a collegial, inquiry- oriented notion.

n The extensive use of study teams and councils to facilitate learning is recommended n Each teacher and administrator has membership in a team whose members support one another in study n Each person can have membership in a coaching team of two or three n Each team is linked to one or two others, forming a study group of no more than six members

n The principal and the leaders of the study group in a school form the staff development/school improvement council of that school n A representative from each school within a district cluster serves on the District Cluster Network Committee, which coordinates staff development efforts between schools and the district and works directly with the director of staff development

n The coaching teams and study groups are the building blocks of the system n Team members support one another as they study academic content and teaching skills and strategies

Transfer... n Transfer refers to the effect of learning one kind of material or skill, or the ability to learn something new n Teaching, by its nature, requires continuous adaptation; it demands new learning in order to solve the problems of each moment and situation

n Horizontal transfer refers to the conditions in which a skill can be shifted directly from the training situation in order to solve problems n Vertical transfer refers to conditions in which the new skill cannot be used to solve problems unless it is adapted to fit the conditions of the workplace

n Setting up arrangements for the trainees to develop a self-help community to provide coaching is regarded as essential if transfer is to be achieved n Ideally, “coaching teams” are developed during training

Coaching involves three major functions: n 1- provision of companionship n 2- analysis of application n 3- adaptation to the students

Provision of Companionship n The first function of coaching is to provide interchange with another adult human being over a difficult process n The coaching relationship results in the possibility of mutual reflection, the checking of perceptions, the sharing of frustrations and successes, and the informal thinking through of mutual problems

n The companionship not only makes the training process technically easier, it enhances the quality of the experience n It is a lot more pleasurable to share a new thing than to do it in isolation

Analysis of Application n Among the most important things one learns during the transfer period are when to use a new model appropriately and what will be achieved by doing so n During training, the coaching teams need to spend a considerable amount of time examining curriculum materials and plans and practicing the application of the model they will be using later

Adaptation to the Students n Successful teaching requires successful student response n One of the major functions of the coach is to help “players” to “read” the responses of the students to that the right decisions are made about what skill training is needed and how to adapt the model

n Successful use of a new method requires practice n One of the principle jobs of the coaching team is to help members feel good about themselves during the early trials