Sulma's+Pre-Conference+and+General+Session


 * Thursday 3/24 and Friday 3/25: 101Tools and Techniques To Improve Teacher Quality**

Effective teachers = student achievement; nothing else does this. This business is about teaching and learning.

Why do we need good teachers?

No research, no evidence, no reform.

Do teachers have an impact on student learning? All teachers are not created equal. Two characteristics of a profession: 1) specialized body of knowledge and 2) must be able to monitor our own ranks (be able to distinguish good, from bad teaching)

Evidence: Which factor is a strong predictor of student achievement gains? school resources and classroom heterogeneity (marginal influence) do not make a difference; class size has some influence but not a great influence. If you reduce class sizes from 24 to 15 will have a 7-8 % gain in student achievement.

Teaching is more complex than subject matter knowledge. Teachers have the greatest impact on student achievement.

1) 1 year study on 5th grade students - prediction scores vs. actual; controlled for as many variables as possible; were able to track back to teachers and the kids scoring higher were grouped w/ the same teachers. More variability within a school on teacher effectiveness than between school district.

2) For evaluation - cannot base teacher effectiveness on benchmarks - maybe growth is better - but not sure. novice teachers tend to not be as effective - research suggests this. Often times we put the novice teacher with the kids who need the most help - not smart way to utilize expertise. Still concern about using growth -those for kids that are v. low in achievement and those that are v. high on achievement. Still remains to be seen what is best.

3) Solutions: When you hire a teacher it is a 2-3 M investment over 20-30 year period. Don't hire the poor teacher and if you do, then it is our job to help them grow and improve. Create something like a residency program. For some reason we think we can fix anybody - the solution is not a 28 year improvement plan; When people cannot get better and won't - then get them off the bus! Because kids are being harmed.

Which statement is true? Ineffective teachers are ineffective across the board not matter what kind of students.

30 percentile difference in achievement on students between ineffective and effective teachers

Factor Influence on student achievement - students then teachers

More growth when increase improvement of teachers (30%) compared to reducing class size (8%)

Why have we left ineffective teacher in so long - administrators are accountable. Need to take advantage of the first few years of hire. high stakes accountability flowing into the classroom. eliminate tenure - seniority does not count. unions do not want bad teachers in the building - they may defend but do not want them.

Research shows 5% of teachers are incompetent; the only personnel item that shows up on these folks files relates to transfer.

Union: deals w/ salary and working conditions- not on student achievement

$25-$30K to replace a teacher. Need more incentives for teachers to stay.

Bad mentoring practices often take place - could be a strong resource if done correctly.

Need to combine student achievement and observation for evaluation.

Stop looking at teachers - start looking at kids. Need to know where kids start - can't just use end of the year course exams.

Skill checklists, writing rubric, big concepts and skills - trust teachers more and build capacity on assessments; these are other ways to look at achievement that is not measured on standardized tests.

What is an effective teacher? we focus on inputs (certificates etc.) as opposed to what is going on in the classroom.

Subject matter focus/content knowledge IS important- degree in the are of subject.

Students from Canada do better - why, and how are the teachers different?

We tend to want to spend the most time in what we are interested in teaching - but there is now standards based accountability. (e.g. state exam) - this is taking place in Canada (provincial exams)

What makes an effective teacher in a classroom:

able to engage students and has relationships; positive interactions with students - in tune to needs emotional and academic, high expectations, passion for kids, what are the underlying skills that students have and do not have, helping students through social/emotional is a link to academics.

assess = to sit beside not looming over

Slide "Qualities of Effective Teachers" - Background 1) Pre-requisites 2) The Person; Job Responsibilities and Practices: 3) Classroom Management and Instruction 4) Organizing Instruction 5) Implementing Instruction 6) Monitoring Student Progress and Potential

Can't really influence the background (1 and 2) 1) Pre-Requisities for teaching: We have to know what is good teaching. Teaching experience - no direct correlation between teaching experience and student achievement. It only matters in the first 3 years. How long can we endure until someone is proficient? If you haven't seen gains in 2-3 years then don't hope the teacher will get better. Can't practice on students indefinitely. Question to ask yourself - when it is time to renew contract ask "can I find someone better?" In general professional research, someone can become "master" within 10 years but not conclusive research and not related to education. it takes a while to reach proficiency - somewhere between 3-10 years it plateaus - not sure where though. There is some evidence that suggests that effectiveness goes down near end of career. Grade specific experience is related to teacher effectiveness. Content knowledge does make a more effective teacher. certification in content area for high school DOES have impact on student achievement


 * WE MAY NEED TO LOOK AT THIS FOR COMPENSATION and EQUATE TO NBCT*. Standard certification does have impact (license to teach). What is the alternate teaching licensing programs (i.e. teach for america) - data is out on this still - not sure about longevity. Content matter knowledge matters but it isn't the ball game. Teacher experience, level of education and certification only marginally make a difference on student achievement (3%). THIS MAKES ME QUESTION AMOUNT OF $ for NBCT certification.

In canada only 7 steps on compensation faculty. No influence on a masters degree compared to a bachelors degree. beyond a Masters degree there is NO study that shows any relationship. Board certification does not guarantee teacher effectiveness. Best teachers may not be certified.

Background Characteristics only 3%; 97% teacher characteristics

A good recruitment tool has both effective teachers and diversity. Young teachers leave the profession (the best and worst teachers) - b/c of lack of support they receive from administration, money.

YouTube - Drive, Pay for Performance

Communication is an essential skill for teachers.

Background: 2) Teacher as a Person. Measure teacher's disposition for teaching (do they have the believe that all students can learn, can they build a positive classroom environment) - most memorable teacher: Cared about me, made learning fun, pushed me to succeed.

My perspective: everything he is talking about is reflected in Danielson. High ability teachers change their techniques 7-8 times in a lesson. Many good models on instructional strategies. Good teachers communicate well. Plays a dynamic role in instruction. Student engagement**.**

Take away points: The damage it does to a child if they have an ineffective teacher for a few years (cumulative effect); We need to look at recruitment, selection, and growing. At some point need to make that difficult decision and be able to counsel the teacher out of the profession.
 * Reflection for 3/24/11 and 3/25/11 **

We were able to view a lot of footage of teachers in action and discuss what we would talk about w the teacher. I think this is a good method for supervisor training and inter rater reliability. It is also good for teachers to analyze and learn from others, each other, and themselves.

Chip Heath - Made to Stick I read the book and Chip's session was an overview of his book and really well done. Humerous. I would recommend reading the book.
 * General Session #1 Saturday March 26, 2011**

Chip Heath is a Professor of Organizational Behavior in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. He is the co-author of the book //Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die//, which has been a //New York Times//, //Wall Street Journal//, and //BusinessWeek// bestseller. Chip is also a columnist for //[|Fast Company]// magazine, and he has spoken and consulted on the topic of "making ideas stick" with organizations such as Nike, the Nature Conservancy, Microsoft, Ideo, and the American Heart Association.

Change is hard." "People hate change." Those were two of the most common quotes we heard when we began to study change. But it occurred to us that if people hate change, they have a funny way of showing it. Every iPhone sold serves as counter-evidence. So does every text message sent, every corporate merger finalized, every aluminum can recycled. And we haven’t even mentioned the biggest changes: Getting married. Having kids. (If people hate change, then having a kid is an awfully dumb decision.)

It puzzled us--why do some huge changes, like marriage, come joyously, while some trivial changes, like submitting an expense report on time, meet fierce resistance? We found the answer in the research of some brilliant psychologists who’d discovered that people have two separate “systems” in their brains—a rational system and an emotional system. The rational system is a thoughtful, logical planner. The emotional system is, well, emotional—and impulsive and instinctual. When these two systems are in alignment, change can come quickly and easily (as when a dreamy-eyed couple gets married). When they’re not, change can be grueling (as anyone who has struggled with a diet can attest).

In those situations where change is hard, is it possible to align the two systems? Is it possible to overcome our internal "schizophrenia" about change? We believe it is. In our research, we studied people trying to make difficult changes: People fighting to lose weight and keep it off. Managers trying to overhaul an entrenched bureaucracy. Activists combatting seemingly intractable problems such as child malnutrition. They succeeded--and, to our surprise, we found striking similarities in the strategies they used. They seemed to share a similar game plan. We wanted, in //Switch//, to make that game plan available to everyone, in hopes that we could show people how to make the hard changes in life a little bit easier. //--Chip and Dan Heath//


 * General Session #2 Sunday March 27, 2011**
 * [|**Peter H. Reynolds**]**

Notes: Artist speaking and how he grew up. Peter Reynolds - make your mark and see where it takes you Twinergy Make non violent video games - big issue; encourage kids to tell positive stories. The responses from his male students are disappointed that Peter does not want violence in the work that they do. Annimationish (tool online) Book "The Dot" - great story. The North Star - another book. ISH "He noticed me" - The Dominos of Destiny Mr. matson did not know what he did for me - and maybe if he did then he would have done it more often. Never Say "I can't draw" esp. in front of students. Never say "I can't"

1) Environment for Creativity 2) The Invitation - The blank page 3) Tools to Express - no tech, low tech, high tech. The wacom baboo tablet and pen 4) Time and Freedom 5) Leadership: visionary, enlightened and engaged 6) Love - let every child know that they exist, they matter

Promise me: Be kind to your own art; express who you are - bravely; don't let anyone squish your ish; Be kind, be generous, be creative.


 * General Session #3 Monday March 28, 2011**
 * [|**Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot**]**

Wonderful story-teller. Spoke about folks entering their third chapter in their lives which certainly pertains to our eligible retirees.