Bringing It Back Home Mimi Baer, CAIS Executive Director Sandee Mirell, CAIS Director of Professional Development

What Makes Us Stay? Experienced Teachers Intellectual stimulation & challenge Intellectual stimulation & challenge Autonomy & community Autonomy & community Bonding & feedback from students Bonding & feedback from students Freedom to be creative & initiate change Freedom to be creative & initiate change A sense of mission A sense of mission The renewal of outstanding teachers so vital to their continued enthusiasm & commitment is a spiritual issue. - Jackie S. Williams, Ed Leadership May 2003 Beginning Teachers Collaboration and teamwork Collaboration and teamwork Support from expert veterans Support from expert veterans Access to leadership roles Access to leadership roles - Project Next Generation Harvard University

Professional Cultures in Schools Veteran-Oriented High congeniality High congeniality Low collegiality Low collegiality Little or no collaboration Little or no collaborationIntegrated Collaboration Collaboration On-going professional conversations On-going professional conversations Formal mentoring Formal mentoring No-risk help requests No-risk help requests Teacher leadership Teacher leadership The ABIT A utonomous B rilliant I diosyncratic T eacher Howland & Picciotto

Research Says.... Adults Learn Best self-initiated & directed self-initiated & directed connected to experience connected to experience collegial & collaborative collegial & collaborative job-embedded job-embedded sustained over time sustained over time Most Effective PD learner-centered learner-centered reflective inquiry reflective inquiry collaboration collaboration problem-solving problem-solving ongoing, site-based ongoing, site-based

Informational Changes what you know Two Kinds of Learning Transformational Changes how you know understand understand make meaning make meaning see self/others see self/others

Pillars of Professional Learning from Ellie Drago-Severson, Helping Teachers Learn Teaming/CollaborationTeacherLeadershipInquiry/Reflection Mentoring & Peer Coaching

4 Pillars to Transformative Learning Working in teams - inevitable sharing of different points of view with opportunity to define & refine one’s own Inquiry, Reflection - possibility of examining your assumptions underlying practice, your hierarchy of values Teacher Leadership - seeing from larger perspective and modifying one’s more limited point of view Mentors & Peer Coaching - formal agreements to observe and provide mutual feedback

What Do We Need to Grow? Laurent Daloz, Mentor Support - recognizing & affirming how we and our colleagues make sense of our experiences Challenge - exposing ourselves to new ways of thinking/feeling, going beyond our comfort zones Vision - “Is school good for the soul?”

A Professional Learning Project A first step I could take... A colleague-partner could be.... Possible challenges/obstacles I foresee... What I’ve got going for me... What I think will be a personal challenge...