Beyond Reflection: Keeping Your Focus

Toni Enloe
Sep 06, 2010

How do you maintain your focus on continuous improvement after a Learning-Focused training?

It is vitally important that teachers continue their conversations after completing even one day of Learning-Focused training. The reflection meeting is one of the first steps in keeping the lines of communication open between teachers and administrators. During these meetings administrators are able to make connections with teachers by listening, offering personal observations and providing much needed support. However, the conversations should not end with the reflection meetings.

Seven More Ways to Maintain Focus - Ideas for Moving Toward Consistent and Pervasive:

1. Establish building wide Professional Learning Communities (PLC). PLCs will give teachers and administrators the oppor tunity to collaboratively plan units and lessons, share successful teaching strategies, evaluate student achievement data and seek solutions.

2. Revisit your School Improvement Plan or Title I plan. Ask: How are we incorporating the Learning-Focused Strategies Model? What kind of results are we seeing?

3. Provide opportunities (PLC?) for vertical conversations among subjects and grade levels. Through vertical articulation, teams of teachers may work collaboratively using the language of Learning-Focused to develop and plan well aligned units of instruction with a focus on providing smooth transitions from grade to grade.

4. Using school data, identify two to three problematic stat e standards, benchmarks, GLEs, etc. and develop rubrics to a! ssess th em during the school year. Make sure that you assess them 3 to 4 times before the next state test. Remember that the percentage of questions on many state tests that require students to extend their thinking will increase.

5. Model the Acquisition or Extending Thinking Lesson plans during faculty meetings, PLCs, team meetings and/or weekly coaching meetings.

6. Designate a portion of each faculty meeting for time to share. Teachers take turns sharing strategies that have had a positive impact on learning in their classrooms. Make sure that the activities are aligned to standards.

7. Conduct your own action research in your classes to test the impact of new strategies.