You are here

Powerful Professional Development
Share
Share

Powerful Professional Development
Building Expertise Within the Four Walls of Your School

Edited by:

Foreword by Stephanie Hirsh



February 2010 | 200 pages | Corwin

"I love, love, love this book! This smorgasbord of professional development strategies maximizes time and on-site expertise. From the perspective of educators hungry for cost-effective, proven ways to promote ongoing, job-embedded professional learning, this is an à la carte menu for building healthy professional development 'meals' based on specific needs and available resources."
—Gail Ritchie, Instructional Coach
Fairfax County Public Schools, VA

"This book offers a menu of practical, integrated, research-based tools and processes that engage and empower teachers and administrators in co-constructing a powerful form of job-embedded professional development that is relevant, focused, and organic, and allows schools to transform themselves into a self-sustaining learning organization."
—Pedro R. Bermúdez, Professional Development Support
Ready Schools Miami, FL

Achieve effective, on-site teacher development without breaking the budget!

This essential guide to job-embedded staff development helps schools and districts move away from reliance on outside expertise, instead drawing on and developing the experience and skills of their own faculty. The authors provide a complete toolbox of school-based professional development (PD) strategies, with recommendations on which tools to use for different times and settings, guidelines for implementation, and extended examples of each tool in action for a full spectrum of proven, cost-effective PD models, including:

  • Book study and lesson study
  • Action research and professional learning communities
  • Coaching and co-teaching 
  • Webinars, podcasts, Open Space Technology, online communities, and much more

 
Foreword, by Stephanie Hirsh
 
Preface
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Authors
 
Part I. What Is Powerful Job-Embedded Profressional Development, and How Can You Make It Happen?
 
1. Cultivating Professional Development From Inside the Four Walls of Your School
So What Is Job-Embedded Professional Development?

 
What Are the Building Blocks for Job-Embedded Professional Development?

 
An Example: What Did Mrs. Oublier Teach Us About Building Professional Knowledge That Facilitates Change?

 
Concluding Thoughts

 
Additional Resources

 
 
2. Creating Space and Reconceptualizing Roles for Job-Embedded PD: Building the Back Porch
What Exactly Is a School's Back Porch?

 
Who Is on the Back Porch? Roles and Responsibilities

 
What Is a Teacher Leader?

 
What Is the Role of the Principal?

 
Concluding Thoughts

 
Additional Resources

 
 
3. Thinking Outside the Clock and Inside the Budget: How to Find Time and Money for Job-Embedded PD
Finding Time

 
Finding Money

 
How to Use Time and Money Creatively

 
An Example: Finding Time and Money for Job-Embedded PD

 
Concluding Thoughts

 
Additional Resources

 
 
Part II. The Professional Development Toolbox: Strategies to Actualize Powerful Professional Development
 
4. Book Studies, Webinars, Podcasts, and Online Video Libraries
Definition: Book Study

 
Definitions: Webinar, Podcasts, and Online Video Library

 
Illustration: From Book Study to Webinar and Back Again

 
What Have We Learned?

 
Some Things to Think About

 
Additional Resources

 
 
5. Research-in-Action and Coteaching
Definition: Research-in-Action

 
Illustration: Research-in Action

 
Definition: Coteaching

 
Illustration: Coteaching?Lead and Support

 
Illustration: Coteaching?Parallel Teaching

 
What Have We Learned?

 
Some Things to Think About

 
Additional Resources

 
 
6. Conversation Tools: Protocols, Open Space Technology, and the Knowledge Cafe
Definition: Conversation Tools

 
Illustration: Conversation Tools

 
What Have We Learned?

 
Some Things to Think About

 
Additional Resources

 
 
7. Lesson Study
Definition: Lesson Study

 
Illustration: Lesson Study

 
What Have We Learned?

 
Some Things to Think About

 
Additional Resources

 
 
8. Teacher Inquiry/Action Research
Definition: Teacher Inquiry/Action Research

 
Illustration: Teacher Inquiry/Action Research

 
What Have We Learned?

 
Some Things to Think About

 
Additional Resources

 
 
9. Coaching Models: Peer, Culturally Responsive, and Content Focused
Definition: Coaching

 
Illustration: Peer Coaching

 
Illustration: Culturally Responsive Coaching

 
Illustration: Content-Focused Coaching

 
What Have We Learned?

 
Some Things to Think About

 
Additional Resources

 
 
10. Professional Learning Communities
Definition: Professional Learning Community

 
Illustration: Inquiry-Oriented PLC

 
What Have We Learned?

 
Some Things to Think About

 
Additional Resources

 
 
Part III. Using Your Toolbox: Tips for Developing a Successful Job-Embedded, Professional Development Program
 
11. Making the Match: Aligning Data and the Right Tools With Your Particular Needs
What Factors Should I Consider in the Matchmaking Process?

 
Illustration: Sixth-Grade Language Arts Teacher Keisha Wagner

 
What Is a Theory of Change, Why Do You Need One, and How Do You Get One?

 
Illustration: Elementary School Teacher Leader Kevin Smith

 
Tips for Making the Perfect Match for Professional Learning

 
Concluding Thoughts

 
 
12. Effective Professional Development Within Your School Walls: Lessons Learned
Ten Lessons for Making Job-Embedded Professional Development a Success at Your School

 
Parting Comments

 
 
References and Additional Reading
 
Index

“This book pulls together critical elements necessary for schools to harness and harvest the talent that exists within their walls. The authors offer a menu of practical, integrated, research-based tools and processes that engage and empower teachers and administrators to co-construct a powerful form of job-embedded professional development that is relevant, focused, and organic. In so doing, schools transform themselves into a self-sustaining learning organization.”

Pedro R. Bermúdez, Professional Development Support
Ready Schools Miami, FL

“The structure of this book makes it the perfect resource for any school team or leader striving to implement job-embedded professional development resulting in improved teacher practice and student learning. The authors not only provide all of the tools for our work as district leaders, principals, teacher leaders, or coaches, they also present illustrations from educators in the field to demonstrate application of the tools.”

Carla Williamson, Executive Director of Professional Development/Teacher Leadership
West Virginia Department of Education

“I love, love, love this book! It’s a veritable smorgasbord of strategies for professional development that maximizes time and on-site expertise. From the perspective of an educator hungry for cost-effective, proven ways to promote ongoing, job-embedded professional learning, this is an à la carte menu from which to build healthy professional development ‘meals’ based on specific needs and available resources.”

Gail Ritchie, Instructional Coach
Fairfax County Public Schools, VA

"Yendol-Hoppey and Dana recognize our 'reality of the moment' and offer solutions that will allow us to continue in our quest to make good teachers great."

Terry Campanella, Coach
Broward County Public Schools, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Key features

Included in this volume:

  • Tips on how to make time for professional development (PD) and accomplish effective PD on a curtailed budget
  • Suggestions for matching each PD tool with the specific needs of a school or district
  • Definitions, descriptions, and illustrations of many different job-embedded PD options

Sample Materials & Chapters

Foreword by Stephanie Hirsh

Preface


Select a Purchasing Option


Rent or Buy eBook
ISBN: 9781452271279

Paperback
ISBN: 9781412979757
$39.95

This title is also available on SAGE Knowledge, the ultimate social sciences online library. If your library doesn’t have access, ask your librarian to start a trial.