Professional Learning Specialist
PHILOSOPHY OF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
Effective professional learning has a positive impact on educators and on students. It results in shifts in teacher mindset and practice followed by improvements in student learning.
Characteristics of high-quality profession learning
Educators individually and collectively drive the learning.
Learning experiences are job-embedded.
Structures and strategies of effective next-generation learning design are modeled.
Learning takes place in community.
Learning is on-going with sustained support for educator and student success.
Reflection and processing are built-in both for the learning facilitator and for the learners.
FUTURE READY COACHING COHORTS
In order to support districts in their implementation of digital learning I developed and implemented ESC Region 11's Future Ready Coaching Cohorts. The Future Ready Coaching Cohorts are job-embedded, year-long professional learning opportunities built on a foundation of instructional coaching. I started the program as a single coach partnering with a 12 teacher cohort in a small, rural district. Under my leadership and design, the Future Ready Coaching initiative has grown to 5 coaches who have impacted 23 cohorts of teachers and their students in 15 school districts.
The ESC REGION 11 FUTURE READY COACHING website includes summaries of our work in districts, our coaching approach, future ready model, and frameworks we utilize in districts.
PROJECT-BASED LEARNING ACADEMY
I created the ESC Region 11 Project-Based Learning Academy based heavily on the work of Buck Institute for Education, but also pulling in strategies and ideas from the High Tech Network and several other PBL models. The academy started out as a 3-day face-to-face active workshop in which I led the learners through the PBL process and they designed their own PBL unit. Our current iteration of the PBL is four days spread over time with each educator being matched with a Project Based Learning coach who visits them in the classroom. We also utilize an online "home base" for online collaboration. We started with a Google Site home base, but are not using a closed Canvas course which allows for collaboration and dialogue.
GOOGLE SESSIONS AND MINI-CONFERENCES
In answer to district requests, I developed a 1-day Google mini-conference which our team hosted at the service center and in various districts around the region. When we were in districts, we asked for subject requests and adapted our hands-on sessions for the district. In addition to developing the schedule, I designed and facilitated requested sessions. Each Google-palooza began with an energizing opening session. An example of one Google-palooza schedule is here.
ELEMENTARY CON
As we evaluated professional learning offerings around the Dallas Fort Worth area, we discovered that few events or sessions were focusing on K-5 teachers. To fill the void, we formed a team of area teachers to design and offer a two day elementary conference, Elementary Con. I led the charge, developed the schedule, recruited teachers to present, and brought in Angela Maiers to keynote.
OTHER SAMPLE SESSIONS
I regularly design and facilitate professional learning. Though I believe in job-embedded, sustained, personalized professional learning, we are often called on to provide what I call "sparks." In these one-time professional learning experiences, my goal is to provide new strategies and tools that will reignite educator's passion for teaching and learning.
TCEA
Elementary Conference
Elementary Conference
