scholarly journals Creating Collaborative Literacy Teams To Increase Reading Achievement In Urban Settings

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlene Zakierski ◽  
Alice Siegel
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Reading Achievement ◽  
Poverty Line ◽  
Reading Program ◽  
After School ◽  
Dramatic Improvement ◽  
Home Reading ◽  
Multiple Strategies ◽  
Professional Development For Teachers ◽  
Collaborative Literacy

The purpose of this article is to provide a detailed example of effective professional development for teachers that resulted in positive changes to the effectiveness of the school’s reading program. This study describes the results of an intervention school-wide program that was conducted in a large urban school with a majority of minority students whose families were below the poverty line.   With the implementation of continuous professional development of exemplary literacy instruction, dramatic improvement in reading achievement occurred. The article depicts how poorly students performed on state exams and details the multiple strategies developed and used by the authors - analyzing test results, realigning the curriculum, coaching, after school tutoring, and the implementation of a nightly home reading program, all of which were closely monitored by these researchers. This model can be replicated anywhere because it is achievable without any additional cost to the participating schools.

The Role of Technology in Higher Education

IJOHMN ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dr. A. SUBRAMANIAN
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Information Systems ◽  
Distance Learning ◽  
Educational Achievement ◽  
Traditional Education ◽  
Developmental Potential ◽  
Professional Development For Teachers ◽  
Paper Technology ◽  
Educational Field

Present status and use for educational purposes, technology is fulfilling an ever increasing role in both the traditional education field, and in other fields which are utilizing technology for educational purposes. Within the educational field we can see technology as a means of removing barriers for students and teachers alike. First, technology can remove financial and geographical barriers through distributed learning. This allows students and teachers to experience educational opportunities that they might have otherwise never been able to encounter. Second, technology is bringing about a new focus on problem and skill based learning. Information databases are being used to assist teachers in the acquisition of new knowledge and provide professional support outside of the traditional professional development seminar. In regards to future action, we should continue to utilize the successful trends in education as a means to fulfil their developmental potential and see increased impacts on our field. In particular, we should continue the use of distance learning as a means of professional development for teachers, by providing more opportunities aimed at improving their job related performance. Distance learning for students should also be an area of focus by providing software that allows for increasing authenticity in simulations, multimedia content, and social connections. We should continue to focus on technology that allows students to interact with other students and environments located outside of their current environment, locality, and culture. Information systems are also in need of continual investment. Information systems perform two important roles for the educational system: Focus on this paper, technology has already served an important role in education in multiple fields. Specifically, technology has been of great use to the educational field in terms of its focus on improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the educational experiences of both students and teachers. Continued use and development of technology can serve to further benefit the educational field and recommendations based on the development of existing trends in education should be pursued for great gains in educational achievement..

scholarly journals Fluency-Oriented Reading Instruction

2005 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven A. Stahl ◽  
Kathleen M. Heubach
Keyword(s):  
Reading Instruction ◽  
Program Implementation ◽  
Grade Level ◽  
Repeated Reading ◽  
Reading Program ◽  
Second Grade ◽  
Basal Reading ◽  
Home Reading ◽  
Instructional Level ◽  
Teachers Attitudes

This paper reports the results of a two-year project designed to reorganize basal reading instruction to stress fluent reading and automatic word recognition. The reorganized reading program had three components: a redesigned basal reading lesson that included repeated reading and partner reading, a choice reading period during the day, and a home reading program. Over two years of program implementation, students made significantly greater than expected growth in reading achievement in all 14 classes. All but two children who entered second grade reading at a primer level or higher (and half of those who did not) were reading at grade level or higher by the end of the year. Growth in fluency and accuracy appeared to be consistent over the whole year. Students' and teachers' attitudes toward the program were positive. In evaluating individual components, we found that self-selected partnerings seemed to work best and that children chose partners primarily out of friendship. Children tended to choose books that were at or slightly below their instructional level. In addition, children seemed to benefit instructionally from more difficult materials than generally assumed, with the greater amount of scaffolding provided in this program.

scholarly journals Challenging Teachers’ Pedagogic Practice and Assumptions about Social Media

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen C. Cartner ◽  
Julia L. Hallas
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Pedagogical Practice ◽  
Critical Reasoning ◽  
Professional Development For Teachers ◽  
Effective Technology ◽  
The Relationship

This article describes an innovative approach to professional development designed to challenge teachers’ pedagogic practice and assumptions about educational technologies such as social media. Developing effective technology-related professional development for teachers can be a challenge for institutions and facilitators who provide this support. To contend with this challenge, we drew on Bain’s (2004) “baker’s dozen” questions to guide the design of an online postgraduate course for teachers. This article discusses the design of the online course and what teachers came to understand about the relationship between social media and teaching as a result of completing the course activities. This small-scale case study utilised qualitative data from three cohorts of participating teachers and found that teachers do change their pedagogical practice and assumptions about social media for their own teaching contexts when they engage in course activities that challenge their existing mental models and encourage critical reasoning and reflection on learning.

scholarly journals Teaching the Possible: Justice-Oriented Professional Development for Progressive Educators

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mollie A. Gambone
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
The United States ◽  
Professional Organization ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Progressive Pedagogy ◽  
Conference Theme ◽  
Professional Development For Teachers ◽  
Systemic Problems ◽  
Education Network ◽  
A Site

Providing justice-oriented professional development for progressive educators has historically been a site of tension. To address this, The Progressive Education Network (PEN), the leading professional organization of progressive educators in the United States, brought together over 800 educators for its 2015 National Conference, titled “Teaching the Possible: Access, Equity, and Activism!” This article documents PEN’s framework for facilitating an opportunity for educators to engage in dialogue about areas of social injustice throughout education and within their own schools. Findings derived from a discourse analysis of workshop abstracts published in the conference program suggest that the conference provided professional development in three areas: 1) workshops were designed by teachers to share useful methodologies relevant to the conference theme with other teachers; 2) workshops encouraged attendees to critically examine how problematic issues in education are commonly understood, then reframe them to consider the issues from different perspectives; 3) doing so gave rise to an understanding that in order to imagine innovative solutions to systemic problems, one must first be able understand how different groups of individuals experience the problems. This analysis establishes that by aligning the conference with a critical, justice-oriented theme, the workshops were designed to provide attendees with opportunities to investigate their own roles in producing, changing, and interpreting socially-just learning and teaching in their own school contexts. This is important because it advances the study of equitable access to progressive pedagogy, while at the same time utilizing Desimone’s (2009) framework for judging effective professional development for teachers.

GIS professional development for teachers: lessons learned from high-needs schools

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 292-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerry T. Mitchell ◽  
George Roy ◽  
Stephannie Fritch ◽  
Brandy Wood
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Professional Development For Teachers ◽  
High Needs Schools
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