As you take a look at this embedded schematic, I hope a new professional development (PD) conceptual framework will leap out at you. Holy cow governor, it’s all connected!!  Yes, Virginia, and this integrated approach to professional development is intended to help you improve your practice and enhance student learning.

For the past several years, LAPDA has been providing professional development to help school districts meet their training needs. What has become apparent to me, as I watch teachers stream into our training sessions, is that everyone who attends does not necessarily see the big picture. In my humble opinion, the question to ask before you show up for the training should be; what really is the point of this training and how does it connect to my professional practice?

A new school year is now under way and the vast majority of teachers and students are excited about their reunion.  While this dynamic student/teacher relationship is essential, it is not sufficient to change instructional practice and it alone will not increase student engagement and learning.  What too often has been missing in the school improvement equation is clarity of purpose around the instructional targets that we are trying to hit.  Richard Stiggins contends that our students can hit any clear target that they can see and that will stay still. Grant Wiggins reminds us that the targets we hold up must also be perceived as targets worth hitting.  He advocates for Schooling by Design not schooling by fiat, convenience, habit or accident!

Today’s students need and want robust tasks and challenging assignments.  They need performance assessments that respect their intellect, peak their curiosity, kindle their creativity and challenge their skill set. “Bring it on”, is often what you hear kids say on the athletic field or in the arcade center, why is this engaged demeanor often left outside the classroom door? Why do so many students see school as a place to socialize but not as a place to pursue meaningful work that will increase their cognition and enhance and augment their natural desire to learn?

When you design your instructional program this year, I urge you to use the Vermont Framework as a beginning point for the instructional targets that you want your students to hit, but by all means, do not limit yourself to these targets as the “end all be all” of a well rounded education! “Valued targets” as the name implies, include those unique interests and talents that students bring to the table, they also include 21st skills and the “right-directed aptitudes” that Daniel Pink has articulated in his book a Whole New Mind. The outer ring of this schematic prompts you to begin your planning with the “end in mind”. You must know what targets you want your students to hit and you must design assessments that are aligned to those targets. Without that intentionality, you can not say that you have a reliable body of evidence to judge a student’s attainment of skills and knowledge (the inner circle).

In the next series of blogs I will write about the remaining circles and triangles that make up this framework.  My partnership with math expert Mahesh Sharma has helped shape my thinking around integrated PD planning and delivery.  Many of the ideas represented in this diagram come from Mahesh, and together we will focus our efforts to help you see how the rectangles, circles, and triangles connect. 

I wish you and all of your students great success in the coming school year.