Professional+Development

 

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT To ensure that graduate teachers are fully supported and have adequate skills and are prepared to deal with new initiatives and change, professional development is essential. Although being exposed to new ideas and practise external to the school and may be beneficial at times, it doesn't necessarily guarantee the transfer of skill into the classroom. As Elmore’s second law of professional development proposes ,  __ ** “The effect of professional development on practice ** __ __ ** and performance is inverse to the square of its distance ** __ __ **from the classroom.”** __ Richard F. Elmore However, it is not enough to just send teachers off for a day of professional development and expect them to be able integrate new knowledge into the classroom. Graduate teachers need to be given mentoring and time to integrate new knowledge into their teaching practises.  __ ** EFFECTIVE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING NEEDS TO BE: ** __ Collaborative NOT Isolated Ongoing NOT Episodic Specific NOT General Internal NOT External Relevant NOT Irrelevant Valued NOT An add on __ ** MENTORING ** __ Mentoring is a poular strategy used by many school to supprt graduate teachers. However, mentoring needs to be valued and those giving support to graduate teachers as mentors need to be given adequate time and resorces to ensure success. It is important that graduates have a support person or critical friend that they feel comfortable with and that yhey can approach for advice and guidence.
 * Please click onto the following articles for more information about mentoring.**

__ ** COACHING ** __ A Professional Learning Model that could be used to support graduates is coaching. It could be used with graduates if they have strong self efficacy and confidence in their ability, but it may be more relevant to use with teachers who mentor graduates to help them support and encourage effective learning for students. Few educational innovations achieve their full impact without a coaching component. Joyce and Showers (1988) found that only when the component of coaching was added was the innovation internalized, valued and transferred to the classroom. Deprivatisation enhances the intellectual capacities of teachers, which, in turn, produces greater intellectual achievements in students.

Teacher coaching is a highly sophisticated form of school based professional reflective practice. It is a series of conversations designed to assist teachers to extend their personal and professional learning to improve student achievement. (Julie Boyd, 2000)

__ ** THE COACHING CYCLE INVOLVES ** __



COACHING is beneficial because it is; Ongoing, Internal, Relevant to practise, Focused on student outcomes, Collaborative, Evidence based and data driven, based on best available research on effective teaching and learning, Linked to pedagogical practise.


 * Please click onto the following articles for more information about coaching. **



**PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS ** Anna Bennett – A Survival Guide for Beginning Teachers This practical workshop is an essential guide for beginning teachers (first 3 years). It will focus on giving beginning teachers the tools and skils to successfully navigate the world of teaching. It wil cover areas such as; creating a classroom learning environment, managing a classroom so that it i not a constant battle ground, handling difficult parents, handling students who say they are bored, avoiding spending nights and weekends marking students work, adding burn out and knowing what is important about a school environment. This workshop will allow teachers to share their experiences with others who are in similar position, in a safe and supportive environment. More information available from – [|www.acer.edu.au/proflearn] Anna Bennett – from L Plates to P Plates This practical workshop is an essential seminar for teachers about to start their first year of teaching. This workshop will focus on giving beginning teachers the tool and skills to successfully tackle their teaching duties. It will cover areas such as; What should I be doing before school starts? How should I tackle the first few weeks of my teaching? What are some strategies for keep students on task? What are some of the things they don’t tell you at university? What should I access to support me? How do I stop burn out? More information available from – [|www.acer.edu.au/proflearn] Alistair Gumley - Podcasting Without Pain Explore and reflect on the use of podcasting across the curriculum, learn by doing a podcast, develop a practical understanding of podcasting software, develop strategies to integrate podcasts into your own teaching. More information available from – [|www.firbank.vic.edu.au] Paul Mears - Digital Story Telling For Primary and Middle Years Teachers Engage reluctant readers and writers using Microsoft Photostory, which is freely available. Each participant will leave the session with the necessary skills to integrate digital story telling into their classrooms the next day. More information available from – [|www.firbank.vic.edu.au] Joanne Blannin - Early Years Literacy Using your Interactive Whiteboard Learn how to create engaging, interactive literacy activities for your Early Years classroom using your interactive whiteboard. Create units if work that develop students’ understanding. Enjoy a hands on productive afternoon. More information available from – [|www.firbank.vic.edu.au] Paul Smith - Early Years Numeracy Using your Interactive Whiteboard Learn how to create engaging, interactive numeracy activities for your Early Years Classroom using your interactive Whiteboard. Create units of work that develop students’ understanding. More information available from – [|www.firbank.vic.edu.au] Paul Mears – Freeware Effective Free Software and Web based Resources If you are interested in discovering some great Free resources available on the net that you can use immediately in your classes. Covers Photostory, Audacity, Google Picasa, The Learning Federation, Wikis and Blogs, del.icio.us. More information available from – [|www.firbank.vic.edu.au] Protective Behaviours Training in the protective behaviours Program will provide practical strategies for staff to: enhance student resilience and problem solving capacity, promote a culture of safety in the school, teach students to ask for help, consider a broad approach to bullying and violence prevention, take a primary approach to child abuse. More information available from – office@childwise.net ph – 96458911 Michael Carr-Gregg – Cyber Bullying Cyber Safety This seminar outlines the nature and extent of the problem, the latest research and practical strategies to deal with problematic behaviours online and mobiles. A large section deals with what schools can do to keep the community safe and reduce the risk of litigation. More information available from – [|[[http://www.criticalagendas.com.au/|www.critical]]] agendas.com.au   **Darryn Kruse - Habits of Mind in the Middle Years (Yrs 5-9) ** Art Costa's work on “Habits of Mind” has had a significant impact on the way many classrooms and many students focus on thinking and learning in the middle years. This session will explore the use of the 16 Habits of Mind, with a focus on practical activities for the classroom. Some key areas to be covered include: Introducing Habits of Mind to students, Using the Habits to help students understand themselves as learners, Assessing and reflecting with Habits of Mind, Developing and improving students' Habits of Mind, Using Habits of Mind in lesson and curriculum design. Participants will leave this session with a range of teaching strategies that can be immediately implemented in the classroom. <span style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: windowtext 1pt solid; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">
 * <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16pt; mso-themecolor: text2;">THAT MAY SUPPORT IN SCHOOL PROFESSIONAL LEARNING **
 * <span style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: windowtext 1pt solid; color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-themecolor: text2; msoborderalt: solid windowtext .5pt; msothemecolor: text2; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">Darryn Kruse - Planning to Assess: Building Assessment Practices into Unit/Course Planning ** <span style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: windowtext 1pt solid; color: #1f497d; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-themecolor: text2; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">

This program will feature a wide range of assessment strategies in context. It will explore strategies for determining prior knowledge, for monitoring and evaluating levels of understanding throughout a unit, and for helping students reflect on their learning -- both during and after the experience. It will examine processes for evaluating both product and process, for involving students in all aspects of the assessment process, and for assessing a broad range of types of learning. It will focus on practices related to assessment of, for and with learning - with an emphasis on the formative value of assessment. Most importantly, it will take a unit planning perspective, examining which assessment practices might fit best at various points of a “unit of work.” The emphasis in this program will be on planning assessment as an integral part of planning students' learning experiences. Participants are encouraged to bring course outlines and other material relevant to their programs with them, but this is not essential. This will be a highly practical, classroom focused program.

**<span style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: windowtext 1pt solid; color: #1f497d; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-themecolor: text2; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">Darryn Kruse - Thinking Tools and Strategies in the Inquiring Classroom **<span style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: windowtext 1pt solid; color: #1f497d; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-themecolor: text2; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"> Effective inquiry learning requires effective thinking. Because students are working with new and challenging content and concepts, because they are actively engaged in pursuing and examining complex answers to important questions, and because they are involved in planning, reflecting and evaluating, the inquiry process at once relies upon and helps develop students' thinking processes. It asks them to be critical (or convergent) thinkers; it asks them to be creative (or divergent) thinkers; and it asks them to be reflective (or metacognitive) thinkers. Using the inquiry process as an organising framework, this program explores a broad range of effective tools and strategies for developing students' thinking skills in the middle years (years 3-9) classroom. It is organized into two discrete days: Day One: Thinking Strategies in the Inquiring Classroom. This day focuses on classroom strategies that teachers can use to stimulate their students to infer, analyse, evaluate, decide, create, and reflect. They are generic strategies that can be applied across the curriculum, and that can be adapted for use with students of most ages. Day Two: Thinking Tools in the Inquiring Classroom. This day focuses on specific thinking tools that students can use independently throughout school and life in general. Full descriptions of each of these programs are available from @http://www.criticalagendas.com.au/conferences.php?state=VIC <span style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: windowtext 1pt solid; color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-themecolor: text2; msoborderalt: solid windowtext .5pt; msothemecolor: text2; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">
 * <span style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: windowtext 1pt solid; color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-themecolor: text2; msoborderalt: solid windowtext .5pt; msothemecolor: text2; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">Glen Pearsall - Curriculum Solutions for Classroom Management Problems **

Shaping positive student behaviour through an engaging and rigorous curriculum is a key skill for maximising student achievement and reducing unnecessary teacher work load. This seminar offers practical and effective strategies for maintaining a productive and enjoyable class room environment. We will explore: Games that teach students to use their class time effectively and stay on task, Engaging activities for 'turning around' difficult or dysfunctional classes, Group work activities that help students learn to work productively with each other, Emergency lesson planning ideas for creating engaging activities for challenging groups, Exercises that encourage students to take ownership of their work in areas where performance is closely linked to behaviour such as homework, the maintenance of personal resources and lateness to class. Ways of modelling class work that properly acknowledge those students who are working to the best of their ability and aid the development of their leadership skills. Complete details available from : @http://criticalagendas.com.au/conferences.php?state=VIC <span style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: windowtext 1pt solid; color: #1f497d; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-themecolor: text2; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"> <span style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: windowtext 1pt solid; color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-themecolor: text2; msoborderalt: solid windowtext .5pt; msothemecolor: text2; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"> **<span style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: windowtext 1pt solid; color: #1f497d; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-themecolor: text2; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">Restorative Practices in Schools ** To provide teachers with current research data associated with Restorative Practices, To promote whole-school approaches, To review/develop proactive policies, To promote classroom strategies which encourage student-lead responsibility, To provide a framework, which is ongoing, supportive and sustainable.

Complete details available from : @http://www.criticalagendas.com.au/images/courses/RestorativePract.cwk_WP.pdf

**<span style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: windowtext 1pt solid; color: #1f497d; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-themecolor: text2; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">Identifying and meeting the needs of Highly Able Students **

This program is busy, interactive and focussed on providing participants with relevant and practical ways of developing whole school and classroom approaches to teaching highly able and gifted children. This program will prepare teachers to develop the ability to recognise, understand and develop practices and polices to cater for Highly Able and Gifted Learners. Teachers will be provided with tools to identify these students and learn strategies to cater for their social and emotional well being. These understandings are essential for curriculum leaders and teachers of highly able students. Program includes; Identifying the trends in catering for Highly Able Learners, Debunking the myths around the learning needs of highly able children, Understanding how concepts of intelligence have evolved and influenced definitions of intelligence, Recognition of gifted learners, Identification of gifted learners, Social and emotional needs and behaviours of highly able children, Developing a school policy that caters for the needs of highly able children, Identifying the role of school, family and community. Curriculum Models and Classroom Strategies for highly able children, Understanding the Learning styles of highly able children, Practical strategies to develop curriculum models that enrich and extend highly able children, Learning how to differentiate the curriculum to cater for all learners while extending the more able students, How to use Creative Problem Solving, The Enrichment Triad and Problem Based Learning to enrich and extend highly able children, Identifying Assessment strategies that cater for highly able learners. The program outline with the complete details available from:

@http://www.criticalagendas.com.au/images/courses/GiftedED.cwk_WP.pdf

<span style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: windowtext 1pt solid; color: #1f497d; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-themecolor: text2; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">Dr. Ramon Lewis & Pam Burton – Dealing with difficult students <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-themecolor: text2;">. <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-themecolor: text2;"> DAY ONE Dr. Ramon Lewis This program will highlight management skills consistent with the Developmental Management approach to classroom behaviour that is currently being implemented in all school in the Northern Metropolitan Region of Victoria as part of the AiZ project Session 1 Encouraging students to become responsible Participants distinguish between student responsibility and student obedience. They then identify a range of non-verbal and verbal hints capable of encouraging the most responsible students in the class to respect the learning and safety rights of others (Personal Responsibility) and to help their peers to do likewise (Communal Responsibility). For the less responsible students, participants identify ways of recognising and rewarding the effort these students make to act responsibly, and a hierarchy of sanctions for when they don't. Participants practise controlling students' inappropriate behaviour using: Rights-based explanation - Calm reassertion, Explanations, followed by implementation of planned hierarchy of punishments Session 2 Talking with Isolated or Exited students Participants examine how to use discussions as a way of harnessing student good-will and sense of responsibility in solving discipline problems, identify the skills required to negotiate win-win solutions with students and practise such skills as: Stating I-messages - Reflective listening Confrontation,Creative problem-solving. Session 3 Understanding the very challenging students. Participants analyse what motivates repeatedly exited students to behave inappropriately, and focus on these most difficult students, who seem not to respond to normal approaches to discipline. By developing a deeper understanding of these students' reasons for misbehaving, participants evaluate the likely success of alternative teacher responses.

DAY TWO - Pam Burton This practical workshop will explore ways teachers can develop positive student behaviour in the classroom. It will build on Day one by offering additional practical, research based classroom behaviour practices. Teachers will investigate ways of PREVENTING Aggression - Rule breaking - Confrontation -Disengagement Teachers will identify STRATEGIES TO - Improve your use of rules and procedures - Increase your classroom leadership, iIncrease Cooperation - Improve disciplinary interventions, Develop your Emotional Objectivity. Some of the activities in this workshop will include, Reinforcement and Motivation, Medal and Mission feedback and its effect on student behaviour, Students' theory of individual intelligence, its impact on students’ attitudes to learning, Ways for teachers to use empathy to improve student behaviour, Visuals to promote positive student behaviour, Self Assessment Checklist, Physical, Social and Academic checklists that impact on student behaviour, Student acknowledgement survey - to strengthen classroom relationships, Identify ways of decelerating tension in classrooms, Develop a classroom management action plan and lesson plan, Classroom structure and its impact on student behaviour, Checklist for environment, The impact of acknowledgement on student behaviour, Managing ADHD student behaviour.

The program outline with the complete details available from [|www.criticalagendas.com.au] <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Consolas; mso-themecolor: text2; msospacerun: yes; msothemecolor: text2;"> **<span style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: windowtext 1pt solid; color: #1f497d; font-size: 14pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-themecolor: text2; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">Janet Aaker Smith - ACTIVE LEARNING STRATEGIES THAT WORK ** <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-themecolor: text2;">Tried and true teaching strategies for all students that are energising and practical will be presented in this workshop based on brain research and best practices. Each strategy will increase engagement and encourage active learning, which is the best way to empower students, develop social skills, and improve learning outcomes. Leave with strategies to use immediately with your students and be prepared to have FUN! Participants will;Experience a variety of active learning strategies,Recognise each activity's link to brain research and its connection to learners, Learn the best ways to promote the use of creative and critical thinking, Discover ways to motivate student learning, Enhance the joy of learning in the classroom, Maximise student engagement. These brain- linked strategies include: Activating prior knowledge, Challenge and problem solving, Engaging emotions - Feedback, reflection, evaluation, Mind-body links - Pattern seeking - Social interaction, Attention and focus - Choice - Multiple memory pathways - Humour - Novelty – Practice. Educators will leave with a plethora of strategies to motivate even your most reluctant learners!

<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text2;"> <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-themecolor: text2;">Flyer with complete details can be downloaded from:

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