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Differentiating Learning for Teachers Posted by jjohnson on 8/15/11 • Categorized as Best Educational Practices 36Share A few weeks ago I “attended” Principal Lyn Hilt’s session: “Differentiating Learning: It’s Not Just for Students!” at the  Reform Symposium Worldwide E-Conference. A common comment/complaint I’ve heard from other administrators is that their teachers have become complacent, lost their spark or are stuck in their old (teaching) habits.  After attending Lyn’s session, I started to wonder: Why have they become complacent? Why are they not continuing their own professional learning?  Have we given teachers an environment in which they have had an opportunity to continue to grow as professionals? Have we given them the autonomy to expand their knowledge/skills and take risk in the classroom? We are all too familiar with professional development being something that is done to you.  It may have been an outside speaker that came in for what I call a “drive by” in-service or top-down professional development that teachers had no input on.  Maybe you attended a conference and then didn’t take the time to reflect and implement what you learned. What I am learning about professional development is: 1. It must include differentiation for staff 2. It must include deep reflection When an educator is learning something new this is the concrete experience part of the experiential cycle. This could be while reading about

When an educator is learning something new this is the concrete experience part of the experiential cycle. This could be while reading about a new strategy, observing another classroom, or learning at a conference. Next they need to try to implement this in their classroom with students.  Then, the teacher needs to have an opportunity for reflection. I’m sure we’ve all been in a conference/training in which we were asked to jot down a thought on an exit slip or a post-it note at the end as a method of reflection (I’ve asked my teachers to do this). While this is better than nothing, it is not enough.  Reflection needs to be deep and involve analysis.  You need to dig deep: this could be blogging, discussing with others. Reflection needs to be systemic and is an expected part of the process in order to be powerful.  Then you will be ready to make conclusions and generate conclusions on the effectiveness of your strategy and its impact on student learning.