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Are you confused by terms that educators use? The Lexicon of Learning might be just what you need.
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Professional Development for Educators |
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Professional Development Introductory Essay
One cannot teach mathematics well without a thorough understanding of content and knowledge of pedagogy. Carpenter, Blanton, Cobb, Franke, Kaput, and McClain (2004) said, "The most critical things that teachers need to learn revolve around content knowledge and the student learning trajectories specific to that knowledge" (p. 11). Further, "[l]earning specific content and learning how students learn that content" (p. 11) should be central to professional development efforts for teaching for learning with understanding. In fact, the National Mathematics Advisory Panel (2008), which reviewed studies on teachers' mathematical knowledge stated, "it is clear that teachers’knowledge of mathematics is positively related to student achievement" (p. 37). In order to increase teachers' effectiveness in the classroom, the Panel recommended strengthening the math preparation of elementary and middle school teachers via preservice teacher education, early career support, and professional development programs. "[T]eachers must know in detail and from a more advanced perspective the mathematical content they are responsible for teaching and the connections of that content to other important mathematics, both prior to and beyond the level they are assigned to teach" (p. 37). Resources for professional development include government agencies, the U.S. Department of Education, your state Department of Education, school districts, private foundations, corporations and education associations (Charp, 2003). There are online instructor led and independent study, self-paced courses to satisfy differences in learning styles, and full online degree programs for teacher education. Your professional development can also be enhanced by attending local and national conferences, audio and video conferences, face-to-face and Internet workshops/tutorials, and informal staff development meetings with colleagues. When attending outside conferences, Rooney (2007) notes that colleagues will benefit from a summary of what you learned and copies of relevant handouts. Reading publications and journals, membership in teaching organizations, and participation in online professional chats with other educators around the country will also benefit you. See CT4ME's sections on Associations and Journals. You can grow professionally through your own action research, participation in case studies, and reflective discussion. CT4ME's Research Corner will give you a good start on how to conduct your own action research. Those who have need to refresh their understanding of theories of learning, curriculum, instruction, assessment, and organization of schools will appreciate the succinct summaries of these topics with additional resources at Funderstanding. Tools Tools exist to help schools and districts to plan, implement, evaluate, and share results from professional development. For example:
The Best Professional Development Various models of professional development exist, including coaching and mentoring, face-to-face training, train-the-trainer, and web-based training (Poplin, 2003). Regardless of method employed, educational professional development should be used to enhance the teaching and learning process. It should be "results-driven, standards-based, and job-embedded," according to the National Staff Development Council, which has developed a list of 12 Standards for Staff Development (http://www.nsdc.org/educatorindex.htm). Curriculum-based professional development "must be intimately tied to the actual tools teachers use" (Schmidt, 2002, p. 8). Further, professional development is more effective in changing teachers' practice when it is organized around the collective participation of teachers (e.g., from the same school, department, or grade levels), focused on content knowledge and active learning activities (teachers are allowed to apply what they are learning), and coherent (aligned with teachers' professional knowledge or community, as well as with state or district standards and assessments). Sustained and intensive professional development is more likely to have an impact, as reported by teachers, than is shorter professional development, according to the ASCD (2003, July 22), which reported on the three-year professional development study of math and science teachers by Garet, Desimone, Porter, Yoon, and Birman (2001). However, the focus of professional development should not be limited to content, teaching methods, and learning outcomes. According to Intrator and Kunzman (2006), teachers leave the profession when their deeper needs are not met. "Teachers yearn for professional development experiences that not only advance their skills and knowledge base but also simultaneously probe their sense of purpose and invite deliberation about what matters most in good teaching" (p. 39). Programs, such as Courage to Teach, help promote that inner reflection by focusing on personal and professional beliefs and how those beliefs affect teaching. The program, which involves a series of three-day retreats, was begun by Parker Palmer in 1994 with a group of Michigan teachers. The Courage to Teach program is at the Center for Courage and Renewal, formerly called the Center for Teacher Formation at http://www.teacherformation.org/. Why should you consider using e-learning and technology for your professional development? According to the National Staff Development Council (2001, p. 7), when properly implemented:
See the Directory of Online Degree Programs, which Education World has compiled for educators.
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Professional Development Programs and Courses for Educators
AIMS Education Foundation provides customized math and science workshops for teachers. AIMS, in cooperation with the Center for Professional Development of Fresno Pacific University, also provides courses via distance learning for college credit. Annenberg Media Learner.org. The Annenberg Foundation and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting have linked to advance excellence in teaching in American schools through their video programs with coordinated Web and print materials for the professional development of K-12 teachers. The programs are designed to help you increase expertise in your curricular field and to improve your teaching methods, and are also intended for viewers at home and students in the classroom. View free educational videos on this channel or online (broadband access recommended) and arrange for graduate credit. There are numerous videos dealing with mathematics, for example. Learning Math is included, which is a series of five multimedia, college-level courses designed to teach mathematics content to elementary and middle school teachers. Organized around the content standards developed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the courses cover Number and Operations; Patterns, Functions, and Algebra; Geometry; Measurement; and Data Analysis, Statistics, and Probability. Mathematics Illuminated, produced by Oregon Public Broadcasting in 2008, is a 13-part multimedia learning resource for adult learners and high school teachers in math and other disciplines. The free on-demand videos (half-hour each) deal with such concepts as primes, combinatorics, infinity, chaos theory, other dimensions, topography, symmetry, randomness, geometries beyond Euclid, game theory, and more. Apex Learning online courses generally take less than 15 hours to complete. Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development offerings:
Classroom Connect's Connected University is an online professional development community that provides educators with courses, learning resources, just-in-time support, and a convenient way to interact with peers nationwide to integrate technology and improve student learning in classrooms. Learners can choose from software tutorials, how-to-tips, and dozens of guide-led and self-paced courses. Many courses are available for graduate credit and Continuing Education Units (CEUs). There are several technology integration courses including computer basics, email, web site design, Power Point in the classroom, basics of HTML, Web quests, and more. Math courses include:
Concept to Classroom, a collaboration between Thirteen Ed Online and Disney Learning Partnership, offers a number of free award-winning workshops on topics in education: multiple intelligences, constructivism, teaching to standards, the basics of the Internet as a tool for the classroom, cooperative and collaborative learning, inquiry-based learning; assessment, evaluation, and curriculum redesign, WebQuests, and more. Workshops feature explanation, demonstration, exploration, implementation, and a possibility to get credit. Curriculum Associates, Inc. has free professional development (see Topics in Education) mini courses on classroom management, differentiated instruction, motivating students to learn, and test preparation strategies. Dakota Wesleyan University Internet Resources in Education contains links to list-servs/discussion lists/newsgroups, professional organizations online, education related legal information, lesson plans, curriculum collections, math, and more. Edutopia is a product of the George Lucas Education Foundation, which documents and disseminates models of the most innovative practices in K-12 schools. Detailed articles, research summaries, and links to hundreds of relevant Web sites, books, organizations, and publications are available to help schools and communities build on successes in education. A video gallery of short documentaries and expert interviews is available. Thirteen topics are arranged in three categories:
IMAGES (Improving Measurement and Geometry in Elementary Schools) is a K-5 professional development initiative of the Pennsylvania State Team of the Mid-Atlantic Eisenhower Consortium for Mathematics and Science Education at Research for Better Schools. This web site contains information and resources to help teachers develop a deeper understanding of geometry and measurement concepts and to assist in designing meaningful instruction for elementary students. Instructional activities and lesson plans are included that address five strands: visual and spatial reasoning, two and three dimensional geometry, coordinate geometry, transformational geometry, and measurement. However, math teachers throughout K-12 will benefit from the content, which includes cognitive and development issues, teaching strategies, assessment strategies, geometric and mathematical terms, a list of manipulatives to teach geometry and measurement concepts, and software and video suggestions. Intel® Teach to the Future is a worldwide effort to help both experienced teachers and pre-service teachers integrate technology into instruction and enhance student learning. Intel's site is rich in professional development materials. InterMath explores technology enhanced mathematics investigations. This site is oriented to professional development for teaching of middle school mathematics, but the topics addressed in algebra, geometry, number concepts, and data analysis are also introduced in elementary school level and would also be appropriate for high school. Materials can be accessed online. The dictionary of math terms and concepts is worthy of note, as is the "Constructionary," which is designed to help users create constructions using Geometer's Sketchpad. Internet4Classrooms Online Practice Modules consist of 13 online tutorials, all of which can be used with students in a classroom or with teachers in professional development programs. Software tutorials address Microsoft Word, Works, Excel, Inspiration, HyperStudio, DreamWeaver, Claris HomePage, and PowerPoint. Learn about the Macintosh or Windows/PC operating systems, Internet Explorer, Netscape, and about WebQuests. Tutorials include step-by-step instructions, assignments, quizzes. This site also contains numerous links to other technology tutorials on the Web. Math Central is an Internet service for K-12 teachers and students. It contains a Resource Room where mathematics educators can share resources, teaching ideas, lesson plans, et cetera; a discussion forum called Teacher Talk; a bulletin board with newsletters and periodicals, a list of mathematics teachers' organizations, conference notices and more.
McGraw-Hill "Math, YES!" is a web-based professional development program for K-6 or 6-8 educators, which can be taken for university credit and at user's pace. The program includes actual classroom videos. Ten content units with activities are standards based and address:
OnlineLearning.net is a provider of professional development courses, offering programs for basic skills, continuing education, and graduate credit. Choose from 20 Teacher Education Neighborhoods. OnlineTeacherEd.com provides an easy to search directory of regionally accredited colleges and universities in the United States that offer certificate programs, undergraduate degrees, graduate degrees and doctoral programs in the field of education in a distance-education format. Bonus features include subject matter resources, monthly eNewsletters about distance education and electronic portfolios, and research and reports on education technology and policy issues. PBS Teacherline, funded by a grant from the department of education, provides teachers with online professional development in mathematics and technology integration. Features include the Virtual Mathematics Academy, facilitated mini-course modules, and a community center for collaboration with teaching professionals across the country. ProfessionalTeacher.com is a free service of Canter & Associates, a Sylvan Learning Systems Inc. division, that offers teachers information about their state's continuing education requirements. The site provides access to necessary state forms, a step-by-step guide to teaching certificate renewal, access to professional development courses, as well as contact information for those who seek additional details. Reflections is NCTM's video-based, professional development Web site. It "is designed to help teachers — individually and collectively — examine their teaching of mathematics. The site’s components are designed to assist teachers in reflecting on the mathematics they teach, and as a tool to systematically observe, analyze, critique, and improve classroom practices. Reflections focuses on algebra in grades 3-8." Seeing Math (Elementary and Secondary) from the Concord Consortium. Education professionals are encouraged to explore the courses free of charge, which were researched and developed from a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Quoting from the website:
Southwest Educational Development Laboratory Library of Free Resources has a collection of resources for improving teaching and learning in mathematics and science among its product categories. Teachscape.com offers professional development in research-based, classroom-tested approaches to effective teaching in literacy, mathematics, and science; topics in classroom management and working with English language learners; and integrated approaches to curricula. Their video-taped teaching cases in mathematics, developed in collaboration with the Concord Consortium, illustrate the NCTM Principles and Standards for School Mathematics. Teacher Education Institute contains a number of online professional development courses in technology integration and human factors (e.g., action research, classroom management, inclusion, whole brain learning). Classroom based and online graduate courses on those topics are also available. Credit is awarded by fully-accredited colleges and universities. Technology integration courses, for example, delve into teachers discovering and integrating computers, multimedia, Web quests, and Microsoft Office into their instruction. Teacher Expectations and Student Achievement (TESA) is based on current research and is available nationally. TESA fulfills the requirement of providing professional development activities for instructional aides, teachers, and school administrators under The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. TESA is a behavioral change staff development program for all educators, grade levels, and subject areas. Staff learn about 15 interactions that emphasize equitable and positive classroom interactions, then practice those strategies, and receive feedback from peer review. Even the most experienced educator will benefit from TESA. Results of classroom research shows that use of TESA interactions improves student academic performance, gender and diversity awareness, attendance, classroom climate and reduces student discipline problems. The Los Angeles County Office of Education has a copy of the regional workshop schedule for the year. Teacher2Teacher, hosted by The Math Forum at Drexel, is a resource for teachers and parents who have questions about teaching mathematics. Teacher-to-Teacher Workshops are brought to you by the U.S. Department of Education. Experience on-demand professional development from a series of free video courses featuring some of the nation's most effective teachers and education experts sharing with their colleagues research-based practices and proven methods of using data to inform instruction. Content, which is primarily for K-8 teachers and their principles, should increase knowledge and skills for improving student achievement in math and science. Other content areas are available. Power Point presentations and handouts from summer workshops of the U.S. Department of Education's Teacher-to-Teacher Initiative are available and can be freely used. Among subjects and topics are reading, math, history, art, foreign language, differentiating instruction, and teaching students with limited English proficiency. Teacher Universe, a member of Riverdeep Interactive Learning, provides professional development courses designed to help teachers raise achievement through integrating technology into the curriculum and classroom experience. Links to funding sources and individual state standards are included. TechLearning.com, produced by Technology & Learning Magazine and SchoolTech Expo & Conference, is an extensive resource for education technology leaders. They feature a weekly section called TechLearning News with archived news. Don't miss the extensive online resource section of professional organizations and professional development links. T.H.E. INSTITUTE is Technology Horizons in Education's provider of consulting services and products to the educational community with a focus on technology and professional development. Courses are designed for continuing education unit credit and some are available for graduate credit. Understanding Teaching, supported in part by the National Science Foundation, IBM, and Intel, was developed by Arizona State University and Technology Based Learning and Research to address the focus and approach to mathematics education. The program uses hypertext, audio, animation, and full-motion video to help teachers recognize, understand, and explain the Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics prescribed by the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics. Interactive learning and observational practice are key elements. Instruction is divided into four learning modules: Professional Development, Teachable Moments, Application, and Assessment. Each module, metaphorically, is a classroom and presents the NCTM Teaching Standards in various classroom situations. The description of this professional development series is listed within the Teacher Education Materials Project (TE-MAT), a database for K-12 math and science professional development providers: http://www.te-mat.org/default.aspx WebMath, a mathematics learning
community for middle school teachers, offers two online courses--Brush up on
Linear Functions and Brush up on Proportions--that help teachers brush up on and
learn two central concepts underlying the NCTM Standards for middle school and
many state math standards. This WestEd project, funded by AT&T
Foundation, is associated with the Middle School Math through Applications
Program, a designated U.S. Department of Education "promising"
program.
References: 107th Congress of the United States (2002). Public Law 107-110: No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Available: http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/107-110.pdf [NOTE: Document has 670 pages with the first numbered as 115 STAT. 1425.] ASCD (2003, July 22). What professional development structures best affect classroom instruction? ASCD Research Brief, 1(15). Available in Archived Issues: http://www.ascd.org/portal/site/ascd/menuitem.03e1753c019b7a9f989ad324d3108a0c/ Carpenter, T. P., Blanton, M. L., Cobb, P., Franke, M. L., Kaput, J., & McClain, K. (2004). Scaling up innovative practices in mathematics and science: Research report. Madison, WI: National Center for Improving Student Learning and Achievement in Mathematics and Science. Available: http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/NCISLA/publications/reports/NCISLAReport1.pdf Charp, S. (2003, June). Professional development. T.H.E. Journal, 30(11), 8. Fox News (2006, January 4). Missouri researchers find world's largest known prime number. Available: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,180503,00.html Garet, M.S., Porter, A.C., Desimone, L., Birman, B.F., & Yoon, K.S. (2001, Winter). What makes professional development effective? Results from a national sample of teachers. American Educational Research Journal, 38(4), 915-45. Intrator, S., & Kunzman, R. (2006). Starting with the soul. Educational Leadership, 63(6), 39-42. National Mathematics Advisory Panel (2008). Foundations for success: The final report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. Available: http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/mathpanel/index.html National Staff Development Council (2001). E-learning for educators: Implementing the standards for staff development. Oxford, OH: National Staff Development Council. Available: http://www.nsdc.org/library/authors/e-learning.pdf Poplin, C. (2003, June). Models of professional development. T.H.E. Journal, 30(11), 38-40. Rooney, J. (2007). Who owns teacher growth. Educational Leadership, 64(7), 87-88. Schmidt, W. (2002, Summer). The benefit to subject-matter knowledge. In A Coherent Curriculum by W. Schmidt, R. Houang, and L. Cogan, American Educator, pp. 1-17. Available: http://www.aft.org/pubs-reports/american_educator/summer2002/index.html U.S. Department of Education (2004). No Child Left Behind: A Toolkit for Teachers. Available: http://www.ed.gov/teachers/nclbguide/nclb-teachers-toolkit.pdf
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Contact Dr. Patricia Deubel: deubelp@neo.rr.com
http://www.ct4me.net/Professional_development.htm
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Last revised 12/16/08 To cite this page, use the following format: Deubel, P. (fill in year from last revised). Professional development [Online]. Retrieved [fill in date] from Computing Technology for Math Excellence at http://www.ct4me.net/Professional_development.htm
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No Child Left Behind
legislation has an impact on the professional development that
educators might need. The act requires every teacher of a core
academic subject to be "highly qualified" to teach by the end of
the 2005-2006 school year (107th Congress, 2002, section 1119, 115 STAT.
1506).
Keeping Up-to Date
Back
in 1994, Dr. Chris Moersch developed LoTi, a framework to
determine your Level of Technology implementation. The
acronym has evolved since then and is now associated with your
Level of Teaching innovation.
The
What
does it mean to be highly qualified to teach?