Steve Barkley
October 2014

Teaching is a
Team Sport
Teaching is a
Public Act

Source: Model developed by Stephen Barkley

What is your definition of student achievement?

21 st Century Skills Framework
- Economics
- English
- Government
- Arts
- History
- Geography
- Reading or Language
- Arts
- Mathematics
- Science
- World Languages
- Civics
21 st Century Themes
- Global Awareness
- Financial, Economic, Business
& Entrepreneurship Literacy
- Civic Literacy
- Health Literacy

st

Learning and Innovation Skills
Learning and innovation skills increasingly are being recognized as those that separate students who are prepared for more and more complex life and work environments in the 21 st century, and those who are not.
A focus on creativity and critical thinking, communication and collaboration is essential to prepare students for the future.

But once the task called for “ even rudimentary cognitive skill ,” a larger reward “led to poorer performance.”

Tough Choices or Tough Times
• This is a world in which a very high level of preparation in reading, writing, speaking, mathematics, science, literature, history, and the arts will be an indispensable foundation …….
• …comfort with ideas and abstractions is the passport to the good life, in which high levels of education – a very different kind of education than most of us have had – are going to be the only security there is.

…comfort with ideas and abstractions is the passport to the good life, in which high levels of education – a very different kind of education than most of us have had – are going to be the only security there is.

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT GOALS
• ACADEMICS - knowledge and skills to be successful in school and life.
• LIFE SKILLS - aptitude, attitude and skills to lead responsible, fulfilling and respectful lives.
• RESPONSIBILITY TO THE COMMUNITY - attributes that contribute to an effective and productive community and the common good of all.

Source: Model developed by Stephen Barkley

What student behaviors need to be initiated or increased to gain the desired student achievement?

• Reading as choice
• Writing
• Finding problem to solve
• Researching
• Asking questions
• Following a passion
• Persevering/Effort
• Working independently and collaboratively
• Taking risks in learning
• Using technology to research and produce
• Adapting to change

What teacher behaviors are most likely to generate these student behaviors?

Emotional Engagement

Not Bored
Don’t know-don’t care.
Not Confused
Want to know the answer; don't believe they are capable.

Perplexed
Don’t’ know the answer. Want to know and believe they are capable of figuring it out.

Perplexed
Don’t’ know the answer. Want to know and believe they are capable of figuring it out.

• Teach the desired student behavior.
• Model the desired student behavior.

=

What changes need to occur in how teachers work with each other to support the needed teacher behaviors?

• Parallel Play
• Adversarial Relationships
• Congenial Relationships
• Collegial Relationships
Roland S. Barth
Relationships Within the Schoolhouse
ASCD 2006

Individual Franchise Team
My
Work
My
Time
Helping each other
Design together
Implement individually
Shared responsibility for student achievement
Modify
Individual
Behavior,
Consensus on implementation

Source: Model developed by Stephen Barkley

What leadership behaviors are needed to support the desired staff, teacher, parent, and student behaviors?

Changes Needed to Improve Student Achievement
1.
What are the changes in student behavior, performance, choices, effort, etc., that you believe are precursors to the improvement in student learning that you seek?
2.
What changes must occur in individual staff/teacher practices to generate the changes you seek in students?
What changes must occur in parent practices to generate the changes you seek in students?
3.
Are there changes that need to occur in the way that staff members work with each other in order for the desired individual staff members changes to occur?
4.
What are the behaviors/practices of school leadership that are necessary to initiate, motivate, and support these changes?
5.
How do you see your role in the changing behaviors of students, teachers, teacher leaders, and administrator?
YOU

Teacher
Coach Administrator

Trusting the Roles
Coach
Teacher
Administrator
1. no communication between coach and admin
2. admin talks to coach...
No coach to admin
3. Coach shares good news
4. Full… open sharing

What roles do teacher leaders play?

Source: Model developed by Stephen Barkley

Professional Learning Communities judge their effectiveness on a basis of results. Working together to improve student achievement becomes the routine work of everyone in the school. Every teacher-team participates in an ongoing process of identifying the current level of student achievement, establishing a goal to improve the current level, working together to achieve that goal, and providing periodic evidence of progress. (DuFour)

With a colleague or two at your grade level or within your department,
…….. flip through the student work, point out what you notice about students overall, in groups, individually.
……..what questions emerge?

Considering your current assessment of the student work/performance and the importance of the learning standard, what goals would you be setting for groups and individual learners?
(Shorter term/longer term)

What Assessments Along the Way?
October February April

How did the assessment inform your students?
How did the assessment inform you?
What questions did the assessment raise for you?
What are you going to be doing because of the assessment results?

The professional learning community model flows from the assumption that the core mission of formal education is not simply to ensure that students are taught but to ensure that they learn. This simple shift– from a focus on teaching to a focus on learning– has profound implications for schools.
(DuFour)

Teaching
(Can be)
• Neat
• Orderly
• Sequential
• Managed
• Documented

Learning
(Often is)
• Messy
• Spontaneous
• Irregular
• Non Linear
• Complex

Teaching
(Can be)
• Neat
• Orderly
• Sequential
• Managed
• Documented
Learning
(Often is)
• Messy
• Spontaneous
• Irregular
• Non Linear
• Complex

Teachers Must Study
Learning and Student Work
Observe
Experiment Think
Create

Source: Model developed by Stephen Barkley

From a whole class perspective…… What is important for students to experience or do to gain the desired student outcomes?
What teacher actions will instigate, promote, support, etc. those student behaviors and experiences?

What student behaviors and experiences are critical for the more advanced students? For the students whose skill level is less developed?
How will we as teachers individually and collaboratively provide for these learning opportunities?

Educators who are building a professional learning community recognize that they must work together to achieve their collective purpose of learning for all. Therefore, they create structures to promote a collaborative culture. (DuFour)

Vulnerability Trust
Individual Franchise Team
My
Work
My
Time
Design together
Implement individually
Helping each other
Vulnerability ACTION
Modify
Individual
Behavior,
Consensus on implementation
Trust
Shared responsibility for student achievement

Partner with a teacher who works with students before or after you (up or down a grade-level). Share your thoughts on what you explored today. Seek his/her insights and input.

Now partner with someone from outside your grade group or department. Share your thoughts on what you explored today. Seek his/her insights and input.

Fullan (2010)
The power of collective capacity is that it enables ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things— for two reasons:
• knowledge about effective practice becomes more widely available and accessible on a daily basis
• working together generates commitment