Digital Mentor Texts - 0 views
Over the last few years, I have been doing a lot of thinking around the idea of Digital Mentor Texts. I believe strongly in Reading and Writing Workshops to move all students forward in literacy. ...
Differentiating Learning for Teachers
Posted by jjohnson on 8/15/11 • Categorized as Best Educational Practices
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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