Appreciative Inquiry Citations

Here is the peer reviewed article as requested.  Thanks Janine.

RYAN, F., SOVEN, M., SMITHER, J., SULLIVAN, W., & VANBUSKIRK, W. (1999). Appreciative inquiry: Using personal narratives for initiating school reform. Clearing House, 72(3), 164. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.

Another easy read which assists in the understanding of the 4d’s is this one.

Elleven, R. (2007). APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY: A MODEL FOR ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT IN STUDENT AFFAIRS. Education, 127(4), 451-455.

Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.

Best of luck J and we will compare notes.

Cheers, Glenn.

Planning for a year without the IWB.

I am presently planning for a year without the IWB I have enjoyed for the past 18 months.  Using the IWB has demonstrated the importance of technology and engagement in our classes.

Through my research I have been increasingly impressed with a change management theory called Appreciative Inquiry (AI).  If you Google or you tube the term there will be links to follow to give you an introduction. However, my studies have taken me into the nitti gritti of the theory.

I came across an outstanding peer reviewed journal article outlining how AI is being used to plan for welfare and academic achievement in the classroom.

I can certainly see how this theory could be used in my class to enhance the implementation of the QTF and help sustain our involvement in the National Partnerships.

The use of AI and the QTF will certainly be a major part of the programming in my class without the IWB and a consistent theme for this blog through 2010.

I am certainly looking forward to some action research focusing on this.

Glenn.

NPP and Focus on Reading

I have had a question from an overseas colleague regarding National Partnerships and Focus on Reading 3-6.

One question that is easy to answer is ‘where do you buy the Focus on reading kit?’ – The answer is, it is not a kit.  It is a paradigm shift in thinking about how we teach reading and comprehension.  The content focuses on teacher pedagogy, not a kit you pull out of box and distribute to the students.  The training will take place over a 12 month period.  The implementation phase will be a 2 year period.

I will add links to this post of researchers and practitioners providing the theoretical basis for this program.

The second question was ‘What are National Partnerships?’  To put it simply a federal and state agreement on funding for schools which were considered at risk after extensive analysis of the 2008 NAPLAN data.  Funding is provided to develop the skills of the teachers to enrich their pedagogy and turn around the performance in the target areas.

Cheers,

Glenn.

Lesson Study Evaluations

There have been requests for the lesson study evaluations to be posted. Here are some early bird evaluations from two extremely dedicated practitioners.  The responses really demonstrate how lesson study adds value not only to the teacher’s professional learning, but also develops a deeper and richer content base.

Initial Lesson Study Evaluations

Appreciation again to our Lesson Study team.

Glenn.

Let’s not forget pedagogy in ICT pt 2

After re-reading Hattie (03) and once again considering the effect size and the source of influence on student performance of which 8 of the top 10 are teacher based, it will be an interesting study to review where we can influence the effects using IC Technologies.

The effects in order of influence.

1. Feedback: Effect size 1.13
2. Instructional Quality: Effect size 1.00
3. Direct Instruction: Effect size 0.82
4. Remediation and feedback: Effect size 0.65
5. Class environment: Effect size 0.56
6. Goals: Effect size 0.52
7. Peer tutoring: Effect size 0.5
8. Mastery learning: effect size 0.5

As Hattie (03) states ‘Therefore, the focus is to have a powerful effect on achievement, and this is where excellent teachers come to the fore – as such excellence in teaching is the single most powerful influence on achievement.’

The Professional Learning Forum at LMPS will be considering how we can manipulate the effects over the next 4 weeks as part of our TPL process.  We will be using the Hattie coding framework as previously posted as a launch pad.

Glenn.

Let’s not forget our pedagogy and ICT

Now that I have been teaching with a IWB for a solid year now, with some very challenging students and supervising teachers who also use IWBs, I thought it timely to post some benchmarks our team have developed.  I have just spent the last week browsing through my 2008/9 diary and day-books again.

When I first got the board I went straight to the net and bashed the ICT link sites to death.  I must have downloaded every link posted, spent countless hours trawling the relevance of each piece of software.  From there, lobbed the software on the board and was so proud of the oohs and ahhs from the class.  This strategy lasted about 3 weeks. I was down hill from there.

From my professional learning and self reflection I undertook from that Friday afternoon in 2008, some benchmarks became apparent.  These are the critical 10 values our team work towards with ICT.

1. Our core business is teaching and improving all student outcomes, not spending countless hours trawling the net for link sites or that wonderful piece of software.
2. I repeat ‘Our core business is teaching and improving all student outcomes’, not spending an inordinate amount of time designing the flashiest piece of notebook software that has a life span of one or two lessons.
3. Question, question, question….  a visitor or an ‘expert’ on the web recommends a site or piece of software.  Have they actually used the product in anger ie: over an extended period of time in a classroom situation to test its legitimacy? Do they offer a review of the product from a classroom perspective or from afar?
4. I repeat again ‘Our core business is teaching and improving all student outcomes’.  We must remember that IWB’s and wiz bang software are tools we use to enhance our pedagogy.  They are not replacements to effective, rich and engaging content.
5. Content is prime.  Integrate ICT through the content, not in isolation as so much proprietary software demands.  Students and the appropriate content drive our pedagogy, not the technology at our disposal.  ICT does not differentiate the curriculum, we do.
6. Collaborate, share and have an ‘open source’ mindset.  What we design could be developed further or in another direction by a colleague.  A collective mindset of design will drive the innovation.
7. Seek expertise.  Using ICT is a dynamic and fluid experience.  It changes daily; new technologies emerge and die rapidly.  Start conversations with colleagues.  Seek knowledge.
8. Review, review and review. A review framework based on the tenants of lesson study is not a bad start.  ICT is just one resource we can review on a regular basis.
9. Keep a journal of your learning.  It is a great place to review your professional development in the use of ICT through your teaching.  Re-read your journey regularly.
10. Consolidate your personal pedagogy prior to radical risk taking.  Take risks, but be mindful that you are risk taking with a tool not your content.

This is by no means exhaustive, but these are values that can guide an integrated approach to ICT in a teaching program.  Glenn

Lesson Study Interview Questions

Questions I will use when interviewing our participating Lesson Study teachers.

1. Were you exposed to this process in your undergraduate teacher study?
2. Had you ever used a framework such as lesson study prior to this process?
3. Prior to this process, can you outline how, if at all, you undertook self reflection of your pedagogy.
4. Could you outline any fears or the like you may have had prior to undertaking this process.
5. What expectations did you bring to the initial lesson?
6. Did you find the four key questions useful when reviewing the lesson?
7. Were major modifications made after your reflections?
8. Did you find yourself dynamically if you like, ‘self reflecting’ during the revised lesson?
9. Did the process heighten your awareness of outcomes 1.2.1 and 1.2.3 and embedding the QT Framework in your pedagogy?
10. Did the design of the process assist you in reflecting on each lesson, with emphasis on the deep knowledge that is addressed in the revised lesson?

Forum responses will be posted on September 12.

Glenn.

A Reflection

The Credit Belongs

The credit belongs to those who are actually in the arena, who strive valiantly:

who know the great enthusiasms,

the great devotions,

and spend themselves in a worthy cause;

who at best, know the best of high achievement;

and who, at worst, if they fail, fail while daring greatly, so that their

place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither

know victory nor defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt

I think this sits nicely with my post on why we do what we do at qtatlmps.

The efforts and the results we have seen over the last 16 months are etched into those words.

Glenn.

The Quality Teaching Framework Reference Check.

I have had a query from a colleague in the Riverina region on how we make sure we include the QT framework into our teaching. I will outline how I embed the QTF into my teaching. I use this method for all of my program (spelling, guided reading, writing, maths, Cogs etc….whatever) attached is the doc.

QT Reference Check

This is a simple doc that I identify where I am addressing the 18 elements throughout the unit of work. Using this method I can identify if I am heavy in some elements and pretty weak in others. One thing that I insist on is that you cannot try to treat every element in a single lesson unless you are part of a formal collegial Lesson Study process.

See Lesson Study tag

I write on this doc. It is a working document just like your program. It is fluid and can change at any time. At the end of the unit it will have notes and scrawls all over it. This means you have revised and altered your pedagogy. Not a bad habit to own!

I also have the copies of Quality Teaching to support the NSW Professional Teaching Standards Part A and B next to me when I am undertaking a QTF review. They are great docs. No one can remember all the nuances of the framework inside out every second of the day, well I can’t! These docs keep me on track.

You can download the pdfs at the Prof Learning and Leadership Directorate. I have a link on this site.

Hope this helps Daniel.

Good luck and take care.

Glenn and all at LMPS.

Lesson Study: Numeracy – Sample Reflections

Here are some sample reflections based on The Quality Teaching Framework.

Sample Reflection 1

Sample Reflection 2

Sample Reflection 3

Reflections against NSW Institute Standards 1.2.1 and 1.2.3

Standards Reflection

Published Title Page

Thanks to Loz G & H and C for their agreement to publish this on our qt site

Glenn.