Brandee Spencer

March 4, 2016

EDAD 5323

Chapter One Reflection paper

Resources

Guskey, T. R. (2009). The principal as assessment leader. Bloomington,

IN: Solution Tree Press.

When teams set learning targets and monitor their own

progress, they are able to identify their specific learning

needs, which can then be addressed with targeted mini-

lessons. What are some ways that leaders can create time for

teams to engage in this form of professional development?

When teams begin to set SMART goals for themselves as

professionals, the need to monitor their progress becomes imperative.

However, in order for this progress monitoring to be affective the

reflection must be done in a timely manner. Once gaps have been

found the next step would be to address them through professional

development, but this too must be done in a timely manner. Not only is

time of the essence but also purpose. Old fashioned one-size fits all

professional development is no longer effectively supporting

educators. We would radically transform the current practice of

professional development if we designed mini-lessons to focus on one

aspect of quality at a time, responding in time, as needed (Guskey,

2009, Pg 22). Lack of time in the world of education is always a topic

of conversation, and so to magically find more time is in deed a hat

trick for leaders.

While it may take some creative thinking, finding and making

time for specific professional development based on teams needs, is

not impossible. Teachers could renegotiate their time; if I stay 30

min, later today I will leave 30 min. early tomorrow. Another option

would be for someone to cover a class so that that the teacher could

observe or attend some sort of professional development. I happen to

work on a campus where this is readily available if we need it. This

year alone I have been fortunate enough to have people for district

come in to teach science and math for me so that I can simply observe

some of their strategies. The other two people on my team were also

offered coverage to attend and our instructional coach joined. We then

had time after so that we could discuss and ask questions. Another

common practice at my school is to create common time. Every

Tuesday at planning is what we call JAG time. This is 50 min. set aside

to focus on things we as a team feel we need to focus on. We create

the meeting agenda and can ask for all sorts of professional

development topics to be covered, or for specialist to join our

meetings. This gives us great opportunity to quickly address a need we

may be having in our classrooms. Another, more costly option is to

hire substitutes, so that teams can come together to address their

needs during the school day. While it does not happen often, we are

fortunate enough to have 4 days a school year of day planning and/

or professional development. So, while time is always of the essence,

with some creativity and flexibility it can always be found. And, when

you do find it, making it as purposeful and helpful to the individual

teachers will be of most value.