The first is a conference I attended last week in Durham hosted by Rick and Becky DuFour, two of the nations most well-known scholars on the topic of professional learning communities. I've been reading a lot of their writing lately and was thrilled to have the opportunity to hear them in person and develop ways to apply their ideas about education and learning to what we do at Henley. The DuFours truly have a mission to take the ways that educators have traditionally developed our lessons, our instructional strategies, and our assessment of children, and challenge us to look at things in a different light.
Teaching is a notoriously isolating profession. When we close the doors to our classrooms it is very easy to slip into our own world where we think that we have all of the answers and that the way in which we do things is the best. When we sit down to reflect and to assess how well we are preforming as educators, we often ask ourselves questions such as, "How well did I teach that lesson?" and "Am I making sure that I have delivered all of the content that the state and the district requires?" The concept of professional learning communities, in a very condensed description, basically tells us that we will only see true gains from our students when we eliminate the isolation that it is easy to slip into as teachers and, perhaps more importantly, when we stop asking ourselves questions like the ones above and begin asking ourselves, "What have my students learned as a result of my teaching?"
Many times in education we do make the time to collaborate, and the DuFours argue that we often find ourselves collaborating on the wrong things: ways to find chaperones for the next school dance, the lunch period that our classes will have next week, this new principal and his crazy ideas. The DuFours propose that when we collaborate we should instead be asking ourselves four key questions:
- What is it that we expect our students to learn?
- How will we know when they have learned it?
- How will we respond when they don't learn?
- How will we respond when they already know it?
By using these four questions to guide our work together as educators, we develop clear expectations for our students, we work together to see who is learning and who is not, and we are able to develop clear plans of intervention for those who need more assistance and clear plans for those who are excelling. I would say that by doing this, we will be able to leave no child behind, but that phrase seems to be a little bit too divisive today.
I'm excited to be able to try to bring some of the DuFours' ideas to Henley next year.
At the start of this entry I mentioned two things that have been occupying my time and keeping me away from posting. So what's the second? Bringing a close to the saga of Harry Potter. As I write, I've got about 50 pages to go to finally see what happens to the boy wizard and the rest of the gang. How wonderful it is that these books have gotten so many children excited about reading. The fact that many of our Henley Hornets were chomping at the bit to pick up a book this summer that is over 700 pages long and not put it down until they are finished warms my heart. Thank you, J. K. Rowling.
So, I'm off, muggles, to end the saga. I've made it a week without hearing a spoiler and can't wait to see how it all ends. Until next time...Go Hornets!
