Presentation from 2010 NAGC

1. Catherine A. Little
The University of Connecticut
catherine.little@uconn.edu
Elizabeth A. Fogarty
East Carolina University
fogartye@ecu.edu

2. Session Objectives
1. Present teacher case studies illustrating
variation among teacher needs for
professional development opportunities.
1. Overview several methods for providing
research-based professional development
that can be adapted to participants' settings.
Participants will leave the session with practical ideas for
addressing teacher needs through differentiated staff
development opportunities.

4. Trends in Professional
Development from 2010 NSDC
Study
 Teachers are most likely to receive
Professional Development opportunities in
their content focus.
 Decrease in intensity of workshops – shift
from long-term opportunities to more short-
term experiences.
 Teachers rated more intensive professional
development experiences as being
significantly more useful.
(Wei, Darling-Hammond, & Adamson, 2010)

5. Guskey, 1986

6. If our professional development programs
are to recognize the individuality of every
teacher’s learning and practice, then we
must employ a model of teacher growth
that does not constrain teacher learning by
characterizing it in a prescriptive linear
fashion, but anticipates the possibility of
multiple change sequences and a variety
of possible teacher growth networks
(Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002, p. 965).

7. • How do teachers experience the
implementation of a new instructional
framework in reading?
o What topics, experiences, and concerns
are present in teachers’ reflections during
implementation?
o What patterns, if any, are evident for
individual teachers during implementation?

8. • Documenting implementation on a
weekly basis
• Prompts:
o Weekly Reflection:
o What went well this week:
o What I will improve on next week:
o Personal Goals for next week:
o Goals for students for next week:
• Study: Limited to comments regarding
Phase 2

9. Cautions/Points of
Awareness
 Teachers are not socialized to deep
reflection (Attard, 2007)
 Focus of teacher reflections tends to be
more heavily on plans than examining
past actions (Marcos, Sanchez, &
Tillema, 2008)
 Low level of teacher comfort with
implementing new practices as part of a
research study (Pence, Justice, &
Wiggins, 2008)

10. Observations
• Shift from dominant management
concerns to greater relative focus on
instruction and specific aspects of
learning
• Management concerns continued to
be a focus, but emerged in larger
quantities from particular teachers
instead of being widespread across
the group in later periods

11. Four Teachers
 4 different schools, 4 different states, all
implementing SEM-R
Rachel Iris Lenore Heather
Grade
Level
3rd 3rd 5th 3rd
Years
Experience
7 3 5 8

12. Rachel
 Log was used extensively to note
questions, goals, frustrations, successes
 Only category appearing in all time
periods was conference management;
total comments included 7 of the 11
categories
 Reflective leap in November to realize
too many areas of focus and need to
identify and focus on particular goals

13. Quotes from Rachel
 I am still working on sticking to a time and developing a
system for conferences. (Sept)
 What went well this week: Truth? It felt like nothing. (Oct)
 My goals need to be simplified. It seems like I have 4 or 5
goals each week and then I can’t keep track of which ones
are met and which ones to focus on. I think I’ll make a list to
cross out as I go and prioritize them? (Nov)
 I’m referring to my checklist 4 pages back to see what needs
to be improved upon. Things I can take off the list:
uninterrupted SIR is happening now. I’m rockin-n-rollin on
the conferencing time wise. (Dec)
 I need to have students write the answer to conference
questions as it takes so long to get back to another
conference with the student and they can’t remember when
we get back together-this should be included as part of my
“how to come to a conference prepared” mini lesson (Jan)

14. Iris
 Great variety in categories of comments
– among the largest variety of
categories in each time period
 Only teacher in sample to comment in
“teacher comfort” category in all three
time periods
 Moved generally from overall discomfort
with conferences to concerns over book
match to greater differentiation for
student needs

15. Comments from Iris
 Personal goal for next week: work on decreasing
conference times; continue working on comfortability [sic]
with conference (Sept)
 I am finding that I am still having to use conference time to
re-direct kids to books that match. They are either choosing
books too easy or too hard. (Oct)
 The kids are really starting to enjoy conferencing. I have had
a couple of kids ask me when they are conferencing next
because they have so much to tell me. (Oct)
 I feel that I am getting better at conferencing. I think it is a
combination of my comfortability and practice and their
knowledge and experience with the type of questions I am
asking and deeper thinking that I am expecting. (Nov)
 Conferencing improved this week- I am finding that it is
easier to conference with my lower readers. I did use the
bookmarks more when I met with my higher kids and it
seemed to facilitate the conversation a bit more. (Jan)

16. Lenore
 Did not comment on Phase 2 at all until
November and began with feeling
uncomfortable
 Commented in 5 of 11 categories;
frequent focus on behavior and
classroom management toward end of
journal
 Other data indicated decline in teacher’s
attitude about teaching reading.

17. Comments from Lenore
 I really don’t feel comfortable with conferencing. I don’t
feel as if they are as in depth as they could be. I don’t
feel like I know the right questions to ask. (Nov)
 Students were not very focused this week during
Phase 2. (Jan)
 Students were even more unfocused during phase 2
this week. I did not get much conferencing done
because I continually had to speak to kids about talking
and generally not being focused. (Jan)
 Even thought conferences went well this week,
students seem unfocused. I had to do a lot of
redirection in between conferences I hope next week
they will be more focused. (Jan)
 Students were even less focused this week than last
week. I don’t know if it is the mid-year slump or what, I
did not conference with many students this week
because I needed to monitor the whole group. (Feb)

18. Heather
 Consistently focused from the beginning
on student learning and conference
content (commented on these two and
conference management in all three
time periods)
 Began implementing strategy support
(e.g., stickies) and specific instruction
early in conferences, although students
only reading 20 min at beginning
 Focused her goals around using
bookmarks and teaching self-regulation

19. Comments from Heather
 I gave them sticky notes to write difficult/ challenging words,
questions, and comments about their reading, but some need to be
reminded to use the sticky notes and not interrupt during individual
reading conferences. (Sept)
 Many students are using more reading strategies and are able to
discuss them during conferences. However, quite a few of the
readers need to work on synthesizing what they read. Also,
students reading books with little or no pictures need to work on
visualizing. I will model the strategy for the whole group and for
small groups as needed. (Oct)
 Many students are able to easily identify the author’s purpose. A
few are even using laughter as a cue to the author’s purpose. On
the other hand, I had to remind a few students to use their
sun/storm cloud when they have questions and not to interrupt the
conferences. I also had a system set in place for conferencing with
the students, however, several students are absent and so often
that it is threatening to unravel the system. (Dec)
 Students are identifying the reading strategies they are using and
most of them are also beginning to use multiple strategies during
the conferences. (Jan)

20. Excellent Professional
Development is . . .
 Reflective
 Informed
 Collaborative
 Sustained
 Differentiated
From a list of 10 indicators by Tomlinson, 2005

21. Differentiating Professional
Development
 Conduct a needs assessment
 Include observations
 Include student data
 Determine content and pedagogical
needs
 Allow for choice

22. Options for Differentiated
Professional Development
Professional
Learning
Communities
Coaching:
Resources and
In-class
teaming
Facilitated
Reflection

23. High Content and
Process Proficiency
Low Content and
Process Proficiency
High Self-Efficacy
Heather
Professional Learning
Community
Rachel
Reflective Journaling
Low Self-Efficacy
Iris
Professional Learning
Community
Lenore
Coaching/Mentoring
Also, when one encounters cases of inflated self-efficacy paired with
low content and process proficiency, it is recommended that coaching/
mentoring be used.

27. What are Professional Learning
Communities?
 Attribute 1: Supportive and Shared
Leadership.
 Attribute 2: Collective Creativity.
 Attribute 3: Shared Values and Vision .
 Attribute 4: Supportive Conditions.
 Attribute 5: Shared Personal Practice.

28. Coaching and Mentoring

29. Ideas for Keeping Professional
Development Ongoing
1. All three options require ongoing
meetings – create and keep a
schedule. (www.doodle.com)
2. Administrators should ask for updates
at faculty meetings.
3. Administrators should show active
support through participation,
resources, and time.

30. References
Allen, D. S. (2006). The push to excellence:
Teachers focus on professional learning to lift
student achievement. Journal of Staff
Development, 27(1), 56-60.
Clark & Hollingsworth (2002).
Tomlinson, C. A. (2005). Traveling the road to
differentiation in staff development. Journal of
Staff Development, 26(4), 8-12.
Wei, R. C., Darling-Hammond, L., & Adamson, F.
(2010). Professional development in the
United States: Trends and challenges. Dallas,
TX: National Staff Development Council.