How Can You Create Lessons that Foster Active, Intellectual Engagement of All Students?

plan for, monitor and reflect on their professional development. Learners will then be able to investigate and

Our professional development sessions are conducted weekly in a variety of subject areas, and the monthly school-wide session, using interactive reform activities, align with the Danielson Framework for Teaching (Danielson, 2013) to showcase best practices of teachers and to develop grade-level performance tasks, looking at students’ work to provide individual feedback that is aligned with the teaching rubric in order to show academic progress and growth in the target areas of ELA and Math.

Professional Development measures the degree to which teachers value continuous personal development and school-wide improvement.

Engaging students in the classroom can be a difficult task. Understanding the process of how students learn can help a teacher adapt the lesson to meet the needs of all students. I will encounter students that are not intrinsically motivated so I will need to find different ways to motivate each and every student. Understanding how my students learn can provide me with insights as to how to help each student learn which will minimize classroom management problems.

This professional development plan encompasses all professional development provided by the district using ANY source of funds. Plan may be submitted for up to 2 years.

The Volusia County School Board has sought to improve teacher performance and student learning with the introduction of the Professional Development System. This system encourages teachers to engage in continuous professional learning to increase their

Throughout this year I have been given various amazing opportunities for professional development. Being a reading anchor classroom has given me a variety of opportunities to complete professional development. Two of the most impactful pieces of professional development that I received were, training on the architecture of a mini lesson and creating a demonstration notebook. These two pieces have significantly helped me to increase student engagement for my whole class as well as in small groups and individual conferences. I have also worked very hard to consistently be aware of the level of engagement in my classroom. When I notice students aren't engaged I try to change my approach in order to increase engagement. After a math observation

My theory of action was if I help teachers build instructional capacity by developing and improving their backwards planning or curriculum mapping (identifying essential standards) and enhance their data analysis approach, will they make a shift from following a script to making effective instructional decisions based on the specific needs of students. My strategic actions were to plan and design professional development opportunities that would enhance the teachers’ instructional practices and differentiate my support for them through professional learning communities, informal walkthroughs, and formal evaluation processes.

The professional development also needs to expand. Utilizing the online classroom/communities is one way teachers can get the necessary tools to help their students engage in PBL. These types support will give educators the ability to gain knowledge and support from their peers. It is also an opportunity for them to share best practices. This environment the teachers are learning provides a model for their students whereby the students witness their teacher being engaged and collaborating with their peers, which shows the pupil that their teachers are engaged in their world. ("eduviews: Teaching in the 21st Century," n.d.)

Professional development is a requirement in order to guarantee that current teachers are able to provide students with the tools necessary to succeed in school. For years, professional development has been limited to mandating that all teachers receive the same, exclusive training methods. Research has

Today I had the opportunity to partake in leading a professional development on effective of PLCs. The purpose of this professional development was to bring awareness and support to assessment and evaluation, related research about organizational change, and the correlation between PLCs and school culture. The opening of my presentation consisted of the KWL chart where the teachers and administration were asked for three things they knew about assessment and evaluations in the classroom. I thought that part went extremely well. Both teachers and administration were completed involved and participated in healthy discussions on this matter.

Traditionally, teacher development typically occurs through trial and error in the isolated confinements of each teacher’s classroom with some periodic whole-group professional development (Goddard & Goddard, 2007). Within the past few decades, many schools and districts, including ours, have considered and experimented with Professional Learning Communities (PLC) as an alternative framework in guiding a more efficient development program for their teachers. PLCs are focused on enhancing student learning through developing teacher practices. The concept of PLC relies on using structured collaborative sessions amongst teachers within the school to build internal capacity. Through PLCs, teachers critically reflect on current

Richards and Farrell (2005) believe that professional development should be under control. They suggest the following guidelines that show the role of institutions regarding a professional development planning for its teachers.

annual individualized professional development plan with their supervisor and use it to inform their continuous professional development”. The National Association for the Education of Young

Professional development principles Ben embraces are Rigor, Relationships, Relevance and Realness. Mr. Rhodes continually emphasizes that work needs to have relevance and rigor in assignments and that the relationships teachers build with students is essential for success. Specific content used for staff development goals are Glenn Singleton’s work (Equity), National Achievement Gap, High Performing Schools, 90/90/90 Studies, 21st Century Skills, Marzano’s Instructional Strategies, and Heidi Hayes Jacobs’ literacy work. A variety of activities for teaching new skills to teachers occurs throughout the year. These include study groups, guest speakers, ERO (staff development classes), open classroom visits, master teachers sharing best practices in literacy, differentiated instruction, , math, and culturally responsive teaching, conference opportunities, mentors, district content area inservices, building inservice days, monthly district content area meetings, partnerships with universities, Collaborative Action Research for Equity (C.A.R.E.) cadre, and monthly building equity meetings. Mr. Rhodes uses the district Teaching Learning Cycle (Plan-Teach-Monitor- Adjust) to evaluate and assess the learning goals and make improvements. Ben also meets with Ben and the leadership team about the goals and creates the timeline to provide training and analyze progress. Evaluation of the learning goals using the SIP (as a living document) and individual goals are important