The document outlines an approach to embedded professional development for teachers focused on improving writing instruction. It describes analyzing student performance data to identify an instructional focus on daily small group writing instruction. Teachers then engage in a cycle of collaborative planning, lesson implementation, formative assessment, studying student work, and staff meetings to align their professional development with the instructional focus. The goal is for effective, ongoing and job-embedded professional learning to directly link activities to higher student writing achievement.

1. Begin at the Roots
EMBEDDED PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
IN WRITING
SoMIRAC 2015
Dawn Little
Dawn_M_Little@mcpsmd.org

2. PD Inventory
Jot down the various ways you participate
in professional development
Jot down the various ways you collaborate
with your colleagues

3. Our Journey
Master Schedule
Instructional Focus
Collaborative Planning
Assessment
Data analysis
Staff meetings

4. We had the components, but they were all jumbled together.

5. We needed an alignment

6. Cha-Cha-Changes. . .
Change initiatives are not typically centered around a
single innovation but rather a bundle of innovations
(Zmuda, Kuklis, & Kline, 2004; Hall & Hord, 2001)
The goal, then, is to bundle a handful of innovations
and implement them simultaneously rather than
sequentially. (Zmuda, Kuklis, & Kline, 2004)

7. Dig Down to the Root Cause
 Analyze the “big rock”/summative
data
Identify specific group(s) of students
whose learning needs are not
currently being met
Ask WHY question about the
performance of the identified
students
Brainstorm responses to the WHY
question

8. Dig Down to the Root Cause
Eliminate responses that are not
within control of the school
Gather data concentrating on the
students identified
Analyze data to determine
correlation between response and
WHY question
Identify an instructional focus to
address student needs

9. Instructional Focus
Students need daily opportunities for
explicit, small group writing instruction
tailored to their individual needs, across
content areas.

10. Align our PD
opportunities
to our
instructional
focus
Master
Schedule
Collaborative
Planning
Assessment
Data
Analysis
Staff Meetings
(PLCs)
Instructional
Focus

11. Embedded Professional Learning in
Writing
Effective professional development is “ongoing,
with a sustained focus; job-embedded, with
teachers learning as they engage in their daily
work; and results oriented, with activities directly
linked to higher levels of student learning”
(Dufour, Educational Leadership, 2014)

12. Cycle of
Embedded
Professional
Development
Collaborative
Planning
Lesson
Implementation
Formative
Assessment
Study Student
Work
Staff Meetings

13. Collaboration
The most valuable resource that all teachers
have is each other. Without collaboration our
growth is limited to our own perspectives.
~ Robert John Meehan

14. Master Schedule

15. Quarterly Planning

16. Teaching Progressions

17. What do teachers and students need to
know and be able to do?

18. Evidence of Proficiency Based on the
Grade Level Standard

19. Lesson Implementation

20. Formative Assessment
Formative assessment is a process used
by teachers and students during
instruction that provides feedback to
adjust ongoing teaching and learning to
improve students' achievement of
intended instructional outcomes
(Popham, 2008).
Formative
Assessment
Formative
Assessment

21. Formative Assessment
Why did the northern colonies develop differently than southern colonies?
What evidence do we have of rapid or slow changes to Earth’s surface? How has the Earth’s surface changed
over time?

22. Study Student Work
We need the perspective of others. . . to help
us to see aspects of the student and the work
that would otherwise escape us, and we need
others to help us generate ideas about how to
use this information to shape our daily practice
(Brown Easton, 2009)
Study
Student
Work

23. Study Student Work

24. Your turn. . .

25. Staff Meetings
Macro learning experiences are those
that occur at the broad level. . . Staff
engages in these experiences to
acquire knowledge and skills. (Curry
and Killion, 2009)
Staff
Meetings

26. Staff
Meetings
Macro learning

27. Staff
Meetings
Macro learning

28. Staff
Meetings
Macro learning

29. Cycle of
Embedded
Professional
Development
Collaborative
Planning
Lesson
Implementation
Formative
Assessment
Study Student
Work
Staff Meetings

30. Where are we headed?
Collaborative
Planning
Formative
Assessment
Data Analysis
Staff
Meetings

31. Around the
Web. . .
www.slideshare.net/LinkstoLiteracy
www.dawnlittle.com
@Dawn_M_Little
www.teachingwithpicturebooks.wordpress.com
Teaching Comprehension with Nonfiction Read
Alouds (Scholastic, 2010)