Over the last two years, our small, rural district has begun to structure opportunities and utilize the expertise of teacher leaders. We were awarded a NYSED Strengthening Teacher and Leader Effectiveness grant which allowed us to really think about our gaps. Where did we need help? Where could teachers' help provide the most impact on student achievement? We set to work. We developed a protocol to nominate, apply, and score applications that lent a sense of legitimacy to the selections. We established partnerships with outside agencies, like the Capital Area School Development Association, and Institutions of Higher Education, like the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, to plan and develop targeted Professional Development. So with our first eight teacher leaders, called Professional Support Providers we got busy assessing both the perceived and real needs of the district. We formed a team, training our building level leaders and our new teacher leaders in important foundational areas like Cognitive Coaching, Understanding by Design, the CCLS Literacy Shifts, Evidence Based Observation, and Data Driven Instruction. We met, we planned, we brainstormed.
We opened doorways of communication with each other and those outside the building, our partners. We collaborated. And our work, worked.
We met some obstacles but many, many more successes-and, not to be cliche but, even our obstacles became opportunities for discussion, articulating our professional decision making, and growth. Our PSPs have offered a multitude of professional development opportunities to all faculty, posting their created resources for those who could not attend. This commitment to owning our own learning and facilitating that in our colleagues has been well received and appreciated. But we didn't stop there. We worked with our partner, SUNY Plattsburgh, to craft a 16 week single placement student teaching experience that brought these candidates the time, mentoring, and feedback they needed to successfully approach the NYS Teaching Standards, navigate the nuances of the culture in the building, and build long lasting and meaningful professional relationships with staff. As we close out STLE 1 and head into the second year of STLE 2; we wanted to share the team's reflections.
You can view our short video here.
We hope you get a few minutes to watch it and enjoy our thoughts, maybe even tap your feet, but most importantly get excited! Get excited about the work that is happening, and the work yet to come. Get excited about the meaningful contributions this type of professional dialogue fosters.
And, ultimately, get excited for your part in elevating our profession!
