Smacking of Deception...

In a recent conversation about the grading practices in many schools, one of my colleagues said, "Sounds like "all the children are above average" syndrome to me, which smacks of deception, not accomplishment."


What a great phrase, huh? Does anyone else believe that the grades that teachers on your hallway give "smack of deception?"

Here's why I ask: over the course of my career, I come to believe that the grades that we put on report cards smack of deception. In my experience, the A or B or C is rarely based on academic knowledge alone. Instead, it is a Gourdian knot that consists of a mix of content mastery, work behaviors like task completion, "pretty-fying" the paper, and teacher interpretation.

In my opinion, mixing all of these factors together into a magic potion that spits out a letter grade decieves parents and students because they never get a true picture of a child's academic ability or work behaviors. Instead, they have to decipher what the As and Bs their student earned really mean.

How do we ensure that parents understand the true abilities of their kids? What can we do to make "evaluation" of students more reliable and consistent across a hallway?

Why don't teachers push for this kind of work? Is it because we can't defend our letters or numbers? Because we don't have the time? Because we don't want to?

Does this resistance cheapen our standing as professionals? After all, we claim to be the experts in evaluation----but in most classrooms, that "expertise" remains an unexplained mystery.

Interesting questions, huh?

A Plan for Influence....

During a quick conversation with a Teacher Leaders Network colleague of mine named Lori who I happened to cross paths with here in Denver---I picked up some really valuable advice about influencing change from the classroom after asking Lori how she embeds herself in the work of her school and community.

Lori described a systematic approach which I found to be simple---yet brilliant. Here it is:

1. Identify what issue is important to you: In education, there are always going to be hundreds of competing interests. Focused attention on one at a time is more likely to be a manageable task than trying to get your irons in multiple fires at once!

2. Identify who controls the decisions related to your issue of importance: This may sound obvious, but it's harder than it looks. Education is so complex that oftentimes issues will have competing interests and require shared decision-making on the parts of multiple players. Before you can be influential, you have to know who the players are that you're trying to influence!

And let's face it----those players are almost always in positions beyond the classroom. Whether we like that or not, it's the reality of the profession in which we work.

3. Identify what about your issue overlaps with the areas of interest for the decision-maker: Decision-makers have their own agendas that they are driven to pursue---and often held accountable for fulfilling. Looking carefully for areas where your interest overlaps with the agenda of the decision-maker increases your chances of being successful in influencing their decision. Remember that in this phase, it's not about what YOU value---it's about what in your project or idea will be valued by those who make the decisions.

4. Frame your issue around the issues important to the decision-maker: When making your "sales pitch," help the decision-maker to recognize the inherent connections between your area of interest and concern and their own personal areas and concerns. The more connections that you can identify when making your case, the more likely you are to be convincing.

5. Always connect your issue back to student learning: Again, this step should have been obvious, right? If your issue isn't driven by your desire to improve student learning in your classroom, school or community, then you shouldn't be spending your time--or your system's dime---on the effort! In the end, the common ground between teachers and decision-makers is a shared interest in seeing students succeed academically.


What do you think about Lori's plan? Does it resonate with you? Is it something that you recognized long ago? Would you add anything to her list?

Which step do you think is the most important? The most overlooked? The most bothersome to you as a professional?

NBCT Reception Comments...

One of my responsibilities at this summer's NSDC Conference on Teacher Leadership is to help introduce a new effort that is in the planning stages at the NSDC. Known as the Institute for Teacher Leadership, it is designed to support NBCTs in their work beyond the classroom. During a reception for NBCTs held on Tuesday night, we're asking NSDC members that are also Board Certified to complete a survey on the kinds of leadership roles that they're motivated to pursue and the kinds of leadership skills that they have yet to master.

In introducing the survey, I made the following remarks:

One of the things that I like to do anytime that I'm speaking to a group of NBCTs is to make sure that everyone in the room is really "board certified." I guess it comes out of my desire to protect our accomplishment a bit.

So I've developed a short survey over time that I think does a nice job verifying someone's certifiability. What I'll ask you to do is raise your hand each time you hear a statement that resonates with you.

Let's start with an easy one: Raise your hand if you thought the little blue box that arrived on your doorstep one fall afternoon seemed relatively harmless at first.

Now raise your hand if your mind changed round about February when your spouse and children were distant memories and your computer had replaced your best friends.

Yup----Board Certified Teachers.

Raise your hand if you're still trying to figure out what a "big idea" in math and science really are or if the phrase "assessment center" gives you nightmares.

Raise your hand if you had at least one moment of sheer panic after sealing one of your entries in those indestructible mailing envelopes because you just weren't sure that you'd included your "final, final" copy.

Sure sign of an NBCT!

Now raise your hand if you drew some stares at the post office when you refused to leave until you physically saw the mailman put postage on your box---and then you insured that thing for like ten thousand bucks!

(I think the only people in our town who know the National Board submission schedule better than teachers are the mailmen....they know how important that box is!)

Raise your hand if you began to obsessively check the NBPTS website at about the beginning of October even though the site clearly stated that results wouldn't be available until the end of November or the beginning of December.

Thought so----NBCTs! Teachers that I know will hit the refresh button a thousand times a day as "results day" draws near.

Now raise your hand if you beamed for about a week after finding out that you had certified because you knew that your practice had stood up against the most rigorous definition of accomplished practice in our profession.

Yes sir---I'm in a room full of NBCTs! And you know what---you had the right to beam for about a week because you'd proven that you are a master teacher.

So did every other person in this room! Take a look around. That person in front of you...the one to either side of you....the person behind you...they've all proven that they've got a deep understanding of the content that they teach---and that they know how to make that content approachable for children.

They're on the cutting edge of instruction, constantly reflecting on and improving what they do in the classroom. They're passionate and driven. They can differentiate for a wide range of student ability levels. And most importantly, they have great potential as leaders within our profession.

In fact, they're probably already working as leaders. How many people here are mentors for new teachers?

Who takes on student teachers?

Who works on school, district or state level leadership teams?

Whose working in their professional organizations?

Who makes presentations or writes for journals?

Whose working beyond the classroom in instructional coach positions?

Heck---who simply drives conversations about effective teaching and learning in their schools and communities?

I'm always blown away by the wide range of work that we do on behalf of children each day.

But learning to lead isn't easy, is it? Has anyone else ever felt completely overwhelmed by a new task that you tried to tackle beyond the classroom? I know that I have! And no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't convince my principal that I was unqualified for the new work that he was asking me to do. There was just this flawed assumption that I could do anything because I was board certified.

That one assumption led to the most painful professional failures in my entire career.

That's why I was completely jazzed to learn about a new effort of the National Staff Development Council called the Institute for Teacher Leadership---which is tentatively being scheduled in conjunction with next summer's Teacher Leadership conference in Orlando. The goal of the Institute is to support NBCTs in the work that they are doing beyond the classroom. Essentially, the NSDC wants to pair what we know about accomplished teaching with what they know about effective staff development and school leadership.

Sounds like a powerful combination, doesn't it?

And you can help to make it even more powerful. You see, we've developed a survey that we'd like you to complete that is designed to focus the efforts of Institute planners. We want to know what kind of leadership roles you're already filling---and which you're driven to pursue. We want to know what types of leadership skills you've mastered and which you're still struggling to learn. We want to know what your passions are so that we can design a professional learning opportunity that respects who you are---and who you want to be---as professionals.

So take a few minutes to complete our survey and leave it with an NSDC staffer before leaving---and then sprint to your personal calendars and mark off a block of time to attend the Institute next summer.

It's an opportunity that you're not going to want to miss!

Define Teacher Leader...

My brain hurts right now. For the past fifty minutes, I've wrestled with the idea of what makes a "teacher leader," and I'm not sure that I've come to any consensus in my own mind at all---which is interesting because I've spent the past four days at a conference on Teacher Leadership.

Here are some questions that are rumbling around my mind:

1. Can you remain a "teacher" leader after you've left the classroom for other roles? I often hear the phrase "teacher leader" used to describe people who are working in instructional coach or curriculum assistance positions----but do you lose some measure of credibility when you don't work with a group of kids on a regular basis?

2. Should teacher leaders demand fair compensation for the work that we do beyond the classroom? Ninety percent of my efforts are informal and unrewarded----am I cheapening what I know and can do by just giving it away? Can we build ourselves as a profession if we don't properly value our own work?

3. If you had to write a job description for a "teacher leader," what would it include? What knowledge and skills do you think are essential for teachers who want to be leaders? Can you be a leader without a formal title?

4. Is one of the weaknesses that we face as "teacher leaders" the fact that there is no clear job description? Are the lack of formalized roles holding us back and allowing "the powers that be" to dismiss what it is that we can bring to the table? Do decision makers like to tell us that we're teacher leaders just to make us feel good----with no real intention of allowing us to have influence?

5. What are the connections between power and influence? Which do we have as teacher leaders? Which is more important?


This post feels unfinished to me----but that's definitely because my thinking is unfinished. I'd love to hear your thoughts on a topic that I thought I had mentally mastered!

Five Fun Facts....

Want to know the five most interesting things that I learned yesterday here at the NSDC Summer Conference on Teacher Leadership?

Here they are, in no particular order:

1. In the session titled In God We Trust, All Others Bring Data--led by Courtney Carter and Linda Rerucha--I learned that research done by the AFT has shown that only 11 states have strong alignment between their standardized test questions and their state standards. What implications does that have for the way testing is used to judge the success of students and schools?

2. In the session titled Closing the Male Achievement Gap in Literacy---led by Dawn Ryan and Kelley King---I learned that girls outperform boys in literacy tasks in the 35 most industrialized nations of the world. What implications does that have for educators worldwide?

3. I also learned from King and Ryan that "pecking order" is very important to adolescent boys and that boys who are low in the pecking order are often the most academically fragile. Will that change how you view the students in your classroom next year?

4. I learned from Jane Marie Marlin, Mary Evelyn Hollaway and Lisa Shaddix of Birmingham, Alabama---who led the session Under Construction: Building Learning Communities from the Ground Up---that being task oriented is really important for novice professional learning teams. Having clear tasks to complete can help to reduce the ambiguity that often comes from learning to collaborate---making the work more efficient and appropriate.

5. I picked up a neat phrase from a participant in the Under Construction session. When describing the work of PLTs, she said something along the lines of, "It's important to remember and to reiterate that what teams learn over time in highly functioning PLCs will change---but the fact that we are learning from one another should never change. It is the constant in the learning community experiment."


What were the top five things that you learned while attending Converging Forces? Leave a comment and let's share what we've learned!

Developing Team Norms...

Here's a simple question for you:

Does your team have a set of norms? You know---accepted operating procedures that address topics ranging from when meetings will start and end to what kinds of actions members will take when working through conflict or trying to build consensus?

That's a trick question, isn't it?!

After all, every team has norms---whether they are stated or not! Norms are the behavioral patterns that teams fall into over the course of their work----and a critical first step taken by highly functioning learning teams is making those norms public. Early during a school year, teachers define exactly how collaborative work will look. More importantly, groups revisit norms regularly and hold one another accountable for living up to the agreed upon expectations of the group.

I picked up a neat norm-setting idea in a session today delivered by a group of teachers from the Mountain Brook School System in Alabama. When teams begin to work collectively in Mountain Brook, they are asked to consider word pairings that reflect the kinds of shifts that occur when schools restructure as learning communities. Possible shifts include:

1. From student blame to teacher responsibility
2. From individual success to collective success
3. From a focus on teaching to a focus on learning
4. From isolation to collaboration
5. From management to teacher empowerment
6. From independence to interdependence
7. From remediation to intervention

Then, teams are asked to fill in a simple sentence frame for each of these shifts. The sentence frame looks like this:

If a learning community is a shift from _____________ to _________________, in my practice, I will ______________________________________________________.


Here's the frame that my table brainstormed as a sample during the session:

If a learning community is a shift from student blame to teacher responsibility, in my practice, I will need to begin reflecting on data and actively responding to results.


Working through this simple process of reflection can help to encourage teachers to embrace change----and can serve as an ongoing reminder of what it is that is important to a team of teachers. Statements can be posted in team meeting rooms and referenced whenever a team is working through critical conversations with one another or trying to come to consensus around a difficult decision.

What do you think? Are shift statements something that you might try to establish norms of behaviors in your school? Why or why not?

How else can teams work through a norm-setting process?

Unexpected Lessons Learned...

I've got a confession to make that may surprise you---although it wouldn't surprise the members of my learning team:

I am a pretty selfish person.

Now, there are more polite ways to say that----you might describe me as "solitary," or "driven by his own thoughts." You might even say that I'm a "make-it happen guy" or a "decisive man of action." But in the end, no matter how much polish you put on it, I'm selfish. I'm often convinced that I'm right, I'm stubborn to a fault, and I'm almost always willing to act whether anyone else is ready or not.

I think my selfish streak first became apparent to me when a colleague gave me a gag gift for Christmas called an, "I'm Always Right" card. It ended with the following statement:

Arguing with me is futile. I'm right, I'm always right and that's just the way it is. As soon as you learn that, you'll be a happier person and we'll be able to move forward!

How's that for a vision of collaboration?!

But I'm also intelligent enough to recognize that in education, teachers can't really afford to be selfish. You see, we have very little organizational power. We are rarely the members of a school community that "have the last word" when it comes to key decisions. Instead, our influence relies on the quality of the relationships that we have with others. We have to be coalition builders, reaching out and making connections that can be used to leverage change.

Knowing this, I'm spending at least as much time in my sessions here at the NSDC Summer Conference taking notes on the facilitation skills of the presenters as I am on the content of their presentations. I've noticed interesting ways to get participants to interact with one another and ways to grab the attention of a group. I've watched as differing viewpoints are embraced and as the cognitive positions of individuals are challenged respectfully.

And I've found myself wishing that someone had taught me these kinds of skills years ago.

Has anyone else found themselves in my position? What are your districts and states doing to support teacher leaders in their work beyond the classroom? Have you ever had training opportunities that made facilitation skills transparent to you? How were they structured? When were they delivered? How were participants selected?

Do our systems waste our potential when they fail to prepare us for work beyond the classroom?

Lovin' Data a Little Too Much?!

I'm a bit ticked at Nancy Love this morning. She's the presenter from Research for Better Teaching who facilitated an all day session on data driven dialogue yesterday. You might remember that I praised her work in an entry here on my blog earlier.

What made me change my mind about Nancy?

Perhaps it's the fact that I haven't stopped thinking about data since her session ended! I couldn't turn my mind off yesterday. Walking through the streets of Denver checking out sites that I may never see again, I was thinking about how my team of teachers can use Nancy's structured dialogue process to move our work forward. Sitting over dinner at my new favorite pizza joint---Two Fisted Marios in LoDo---I was jotting notes that I knew I had to capture before they fled my mind.

Worse yet: As I was watching the sun set over the front range of the Rocky Mountains from the sky lounge on the 27th floor of my hotel---a site only rivalled by watching the sun rise over the Atlantic---I had my laptop open, shaping a document that outlined Love's work for my colleagues.

That's kind of sad, isn't it?

Not to me! You see, for the first time in years, I'm relatively convinced that data is doable---and that's exciting stuff.

I've done a bit of searching on the web this morning and found a great NSDC article where Love details much of her work. It's an article that I plan on sharing with everyone I know----so I decided to start with you. Here's the link:

http://www.nsdc.org/library/publications/jsd/love254.cfm

Need a provocative quote to catch your attention?

Try this one:

Schools are gathering more and more data, but having data available does not mean the data are used to guide instructional improvement. Many schools lack the process to connect the data they have with the results they must produce. The Using Data Project focuses on developing professional developers, administrators, and teachers who can lead a collaborative inquiry process and strengthen the collaborative culture of their schools or departments. The aim is to influence school culture to be one in which educators use data continuously, collaboratively, and effectively to improve teaching and learning mathematics and science.

Looking forward to hearing what you think about Love's process---and the role that data plays in your own schools.

Amplifying Energy...

My wife's grandfather is an amazing man born in the early 1900s who lived through the depression, the space age and the computer age. He's literally been around for events that I would love to have experienced---the first television, the first cars, the first commercial airline flights. He's seen both women and African Americans earn the right to vote. He's heard Martin Luther King speak and listened to "The King" live.

But no one event is more important to him than World War II----and regardless of the topic of conversation, he'll find a way to connect it back to his war experiences. "T.E.," I'll ask, "What do you think of the Braves chances of making it to the World Series?"

"Oh, they've got a good chance," he'll say. "Their manager knows how to train men. Training men is a unique challenge. During World War II, we did a good bunch of training...."

Hoping to change the subject back to something the ladies might be interested in, I'll try to change the topic: "Hey T.E., have you tried any of that new Tabasco sauce yet? It's green but it's good!"

"Not yet," he'll answer, "but during the war, we all used to carry our own bottles of seasoning because Army meals are no good. You know, this one time...."

I guess T.E. is really no different from the rest of us, though---we talk about our passions. The things that are important to us are what we're driven to share and to tie into any conversation that we are a part of. It's what we know and what we care about, so climbing up on "the soapbox" just plain feels right.

Which is what makes our NSDC gathering out here in Denver so exciting for me---almost 2,000 people have dusted off the biggest teacher leadership soapbox of all time! Passionate conversations about the role that teachers should play in driving school change are happening in every corner of the city.

Walking along the streets, you overhear teachers discussing new instructional or collaborative practices that they plan to bring back to their schools. The lobby is full of small groups of educators reliving the sessions that they've attended. Meals---always spent together at NSDC conferences---are full of quick introductions followed by rich dialogue shared between like minds.

That's cool...

What it's got me wondering, though, is whether the energy that's generated by a conference like this can carry over when our time together comes to an end. Will the synergy that we feel spread to our peers in our own schools and districts? Will the changes that we envision ever become a reality?

If not, why? What is it about teaching that forces us to feel that professional excitement can only happen at destination presentations where we spend days immersed in our work? Is time the ultimate barrier---denying teachers the opportunity to experience the kinds of meaningful interactions that happen over three intense days each summer?

Is it proximity-----is imagining change from thousands of miles away easier than actually trying to "make it happen?"

I guess what I'm asking is what are the best ways to amplify the energy that surrounds professional conferences?

Confessions of a Data Train Wreck...

I'm going to say something here that I've said dozens of times over the past few years even though no one seems to take me seriously:

I'm completely useless when it comes to making "data driven decisions."

And that's putting it gently! I literally don't even know where to begin, even though administrators and colleagues regularly dismiss my assessment of my abilities in this area. "Oh, Bill," they'll say, "You're just being humble. As a master teacher, you use data without even knowing it."

My response is always the same----As a master teacher, I'm also fully aware of my own personal strengths and weaknesses! I don't know what kind of data to collect or what kinds of actions to take once I've collected it. You could drop a pile of data in my lap and I wouldn't know what to look for? Analysis sounds good, but is superficial whenever I'm at the data table.

That's why I was completely geeked by the first session that I attended here in Denver. Nancy Love of Research for Better Teaching facilitated a session titled Using Data and Getting Results through Collaborative Inquiry. In it, she outlined a four phase process that teachers could use during data driven dialogue.

In the first phase of data conversations, teams make predictions about what they believe that they will find when looking at the data. This predictive phase serves to "surface experiences, possibilities and expectations." Essentially, predictions engage participants in the process. Much like having students make predictions about what will come next in a story to provide motivation for continued reading, predictions in data conversations keep teachers motivated and engaged.

Perhaps more importantly, however, predictions also bring to the surface assumptions that teachers and teams have about student performance---assumptions that often drive the actions and decisions of teams. By surfacing assumptions early in the process, teams can either verify or revise their long held beliefs.


After predictions have been made, teams move into Phase 2, which Love calls "Go Visual." In the go visual stage of a data conversation, teachers are encouraged to make simple graphs of the data that has been collected. This might include line graphs showing progress made by various student populations over time or bar graphs showing mastery levels of different objectives.

The key to going visual, Love would argue, is allowing teachers to make large, colorful representations of the data to be analyzed---which can then be hung up and looked at from a distance. While it may seem simple, this physical separation of the data from the group helps to mentally separate people from practices. Conversations focus on "that data over there" rather than on individuals----helping to increase the level of safety felt by participants.

Phase 3---Observations---ask teachers to list measurable conclusions that can be drawn from the data available. Teams are asked to consider questions like "What are some patterns or trends that are emerging," and "What seems to be surprising or unexpected." The key to stage three is resisting the temptation to attach meaning to the observations. Words like "because" and "why" are forbidden in phase three!

In Phase 4, teachers generate a list of possible explanations for the observations that they have made as a team. These questions become a "To-Do" list for teams, serving as starting points for continued research and study about instruction. A team's goal is to look for answers to their own questions----which are based on observations drawn from data.

During our session, I found myself excited about data for the first time. You see, I finally have a structure that I can grab on to and use when talking about data with my learning team. No longer are "data driven decisions" an unsolvable mystery.

I also found myself frustrated because my learning team has been stalled by our inability to use data effectively for years now. "How would our instruction have changed had we used a structured process all along," I thought, "Would we have reached more students? Experienced less frustration? Whose job was it to show us what 'data-driven' looks like?"

I think what I'm learning is that we have a false assumption that teachers will automatically know what to do with data---and this assumption is limiting the impact that collaborative teams can have on student achievement. Until we build the capacity of our teams to be critical manipulators of data, frustration is likely to be the only by-product of data driven conversations.

What kinds of good things are being done in your schools and districts to support the effective use of data by teachers and teams?

Converging Forces meet in Denver...

I’m lucky enough to be writing from Denver today, where I’m participating in the National Staff Development Council’s Summer Conference on Teacher Leadership. It’s titled Converging Forces for School Based Professional Learning—and that title couldn’t be any more appropriate because the people here are true forces within their schools and systems.

They’re teacher leaders of every bent here—instructional coaches, mentors, data specialists, policy wonks—and they’re driven by nothing more than the desire to see students succeed. Sitting in one room that simply brims with accomplishment is an extraordinary—and somewhat humbling experience.

I guess what I’m left to wonder is how do we best tap into this vast potential? How can we take what our best educators know and amplify it? Why are teacher leaders overlooked—because the ones that I’m spending time with are nothing short of remarkable.

Do you think that teacher leadership is really valued in your school, district or state? What kinds of actions prove your position to be true? How are things different in a district where teacher leadership is carefully cultivated?

Interesting questions, huh?
More later on the sessions that I’m attending. It’s bound to be a heck of a week!

Professional Learning Community Suggestions

I was asked by my administrator to put together a list of books that may be helpful to the learning teams in our school yesterday. Thought you guys might be interested in my list----so here it is:

On Teaming

One of the challenges that many learning teams face is understanding the different stages of team development. Mastering positive habits is essential for any group of teachers that are committed to collaboration, and yet these habits are elusive and poorly understood in a profession where isolation has been the norm. These titles will help teachers and teams to understand what teaming looks like in action and provide strategies for improving efficiency:

Camel Makers: Building Effective Teacher Teams Together
109 pages. Copyright 2003
http://tinyurl.com/2jxum9

This title, written for the National Middle School Association by Daniel Kain, is a great read for teams that are still working through the storming and norming process of community building. Written partly in fable form, it tracks the work of an imaginary team working to develop the world's first camel. Teachers will clearly see the successes and struggles that teams must work through as they grow to know one another as collaborators. The end of each chapter draws from extensive research on team development to make suggestions about behaviors and practices that lead to success.


The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
227 pages. Copyright 2002
http://tinyurl.com/3c3mkm

This title, which has been widely embraced by corporate America as a tool for developing highly productive teams in any organization--also uses the story of a fictional team as a foundation for exploring the kinds of issues that teams must work through in order to be successful. Most interesting is a conversation of the important role that trust plays in a team's successful development. Healthy conflict is also introduced and explored in detail. Perhaps most valuable are ancillary materials that are readily available in the book and online that teams can use to assess their own development.


Teacher Teams that Get Results
248 pages. Copyright 2007
http://tinyurl.com/2owt3o

This new book, released by Corwin Press, contains a collection of 61 practical strategies that teams can use to improve their efficiency and to establish practices that are likely to bring success. The strategies offered are approachable and easy to understand---and are broken into categories like "Building Resilience," "Creating Solutions," and "Determining Priorities." While many of the ideas in this book may seem basic to professional developers, they will strike teachers new to teaming as valuable for creating the structures necessary for teamwork.


On Student Development

Professional Learning Teams remain committed to ensuring the success of every student. In order to be effective, this commitment must be centered on an understanding of the nature of the student populations served. These titles will help teachers to better understand the unique characteristics of middle school children:


Not Much, Just Chillin: The Hidden Lives of Middle Schoolers
267 pages. Copyright 2003
http://www.notmuchjustchillin.com/

This title, written by a Washington Post reporter who followed a group of middle school students through one complete year, is an engaging look into the lives of children written from the perspective of an outsider. While it doesn't directly deal with the development of professional learning communities, it draws the needs---both social and academic---of middle grades children into focus, driving conversations about instruction tailored for students of this unique grade grouping.


The Myth of Laziness
270 pages. Copyright 2003
http://tinyurl.com/2dtauu

In this title, Dr. Mel Levine---expert on learning disabilities from the Center for Development and Learning in Chapel Hill---makes the case that student failure can often be tracked back to 7 learning challenges that can be identified and addressed through specific strategies taken by parents, students and teachers. Written through the lens of students that Levine has worked with in his career, each chapter will resonate with teachers who will recognize students struggling with similar problems. Most valuable, however, is a checklist that can be used to identify which learning challenge individual students are struggling with. Without a doubt, this title is a must read for teachers interested in beginning to serve struggling students well.



On Documenting Practices that Work

A central focus of any learning team should be identifying and then amplifying instructional practices that work. By documenting our teaching, we can--as a group--begin to more effectively serve students with teaching ideas that work. What's more, we can eliminate practices that are inefficient! These titles will help teachers to better understand how teachers can engage in reflective study of instruction:


Teacher-Researchers at Work
295 pages. Copyright 1999
http://tinyurl.com/3ymxk4

This title---published by the National Writing Project---outlines the specific steps that teachers working through action research should take to collect information about practices and to document the impact of their instruction. Topics covered include tools used to record steps taken while researching, data points that can be used to evaluate the impact of instructional practices, strategies for observing the impact of teaching, and structuring your findings for public review. Also valuable are a collection of research reports completed by teachers in several content areas that serve as samples of what qualitative research looks like for classroom teachers.


Guiding School Improvement with Action Research
Copyright 2000. 216 pages.
http://shop.ascd.org/productdisplay.cfm?productid=100047

by Action Research Guru Richard Sagor, this title begins by making the case that teachers must document the impact of their instructional practices in order to elevate their status as professionals and to establish ownership over their work. Without making efforts to document impact, teachers are often pushed aside in instructional decision making by those who believe that standardized testing is a more effective measure of student learning---and teacher performance. Sagor then goes on to outline the steps that teacher researchers should take to identify instructional practices that work. His text is approachable and easy to understand, leading teachers through the process of action research step-by-step.


On Instruction

Teachers working in isolation often find themselves relying on familiar practices that they find comfortable rather than stretching their collection of instructional strategies. The following books can serve to introduce teams of teachers to new practices that are worth experimenting with:


Summarization in Any Subject
Copyright 2005. 225 pages
http://shop.ascd.org/productdisplay.cfm?productid=104014

Summarization is a critical thinking skill that requires students to wrestle with their understanding of content introduced by teachers across all disciplines. While often associated with reading teachers, effective summarization practices will increase student learning and retention in any classroom. This title, written by an accomplished teacher from Virginia, introduces readers to 50 specific strategies that can be used for summarization in any subject.

Each strategy is described in 2-3 pages, complete with rationale, process for implementation and variations. What makes this title particularly interesting is that strategies are grouped by categories including those that are quick, involve artistic expression, involve movement, or those that rely on writing and verbal expression.


Socratic Circles: Fostering Critical and Creative Thinking in Middle and High School
Copyright 2005. 162 pages
http://tinyurl.com/6ucah

One instructional practice that has been proven to move students beyond simple memorization of content are seminars. The challenge for teachers, however, is learning to structure seminars that are engaging and meaningful to students. This title makes that process approachable and easy. Beginning with a rationale for seminars, the author then moves on to provide templates and tools that can be used to introduce students to the process, to evaluate student performance during seminars and to provide feedback after seminars have been completed. By far one of the most practical titles on structuring seminars, this book will change your instructional practices in a profound way.


Deeper Reading: Comprehending Challenging Texts, Grades 4-12
Copyright 2004. 223 Pages
http://tinyurl.com/2jolxg

One of the mistakes that educators often make is assuming that reading instruction begins and ends at the elementary level. In reality, meaningful reading instruction must continue throughout a child's K-12 career. This title works to provide practical pre, during and post reading strategies to teachers of all content areas and grade levels. What makes it particularly valuable is that the strategies offered are simple yet engaging, requiring small changes on the part of classroom teachers yet yielding remarkable results in a short period of time.



Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms
Copyright 2006. 148 pages.
http://www.corwinpress.com/booksProdDesc.nav?prodId=Book228840

The children that we serve in today's classrooms are some of the first to have spent their entire lives connected. They are comfortable with digital learning in ways that most educators aren't. What's more, they are some of the first who must become comfortable with technology to succeed in a world that is sprinting towards a future that will see global connections creeping into every profession. Despite this reality, technology use in most classrooms remains simple. This title, written by a widely respected classroom technology expert, seeks to provide the technological "know-how" necessary for educators to become more adept at using Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. It provides practical strategies and step-by-step suggestions for introducing blogs, podcasts and wikis into your instruction.


Hope these tools help you as much as they've helped me!