The beginning of school has always been exciting for me--it's new, it's full of possibilities, and it begins a new year of experiences that will guide my future path. I'm already beginning my reflective process now and thinking about the things that I want to guide me in my practice this coming school year.
Because I'm working with teachers on many different projects and with many different resources, challenges, and abilities, I like to try to maintain strong pedagogical frames around the work I do. That said, these are my goals for the coming year with all of the staff development and curricular activities I'll be supporting:
- Based on recent conversations with colleagues, with teachers, with administrators, and with my Virtual Learning Community, I'm seeing the value in being "data-informed" rather than "data-driven." I think it's important to appreciate all of the pieces of the puzzle to develop direction and make the biggest differences in what people know and are able to do.
- I want to continue to facilitate conversation and collegiality with those I work with. Conversation is the most important part of REALLY and TRULY making a difference.
- I want to help teachers understand that evidence is a good thing. Evidence for the Skills and Content that are taught are another important piece of "data informed" learning.
- I want to continue to develop quality versus quantity, meaning that I want to continue to build sustainability and continue to help teachers build their own capacity.
- I want to continue to develop a framework around supporting intern teachers, particularly with 21st century skills and the development of truly helpful learning communities.
Here's to good beginnings! I hope you all have a great 2009-2010!
-Mike
commenting on #2: is it the conversation that makes the difference, or the action that comes after the conversation that is more important? Just talking the talk in a curriculum meeting doesn't produce results in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteConversation is just the beginning step. Action is based on continued conversation and vested interest in a collegial approach (which develops as a result of conversation.) Talking the talk in a curriculum meeting is great, but it's a developmental process, versus a one time event. Conversation breeds ideas, those ideas slowly turn to practice, and that practice (with continued conversation) turns into making the difference...
ReplyDeleteWould love a post that elaborated on the difference between being data-driven and data-informed, Mike. What does each look like in practice? I think people may have different perceptions around what this means. I'm eager to learn more about what this means to you.
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