Tips for Supporting Teacher Development

One of my biggest learnings from leading summer professional development for teachers? If you want a culture of feedback, you have to intentionally do so. The first step is to have short and sweet surveys (daily for summer PD, weekly thereafter). Most leaders do this. But to ensure the survey truly builds a culture of feedback and continuous improvement, I've learned three things: ✅ Ask focused questions. Simply, we get the data that we ask for. Ask both about the content and the general format of PD. For content, a few questions can be: What is one practice you are excited to try?; What is one thing you remain unclear on? What is one thing you know you will need further support on? For format, a simple Keep-Start-Stop can be super helpful. ✅ Review the data with your leadership team- This will allow you to process the feedback, add any additional color based on observations, and design a game plan. This can include differentiating groups, shifting a summer PD schedule or changing up future case studies and role plays to better address where the team is at. During the year, it will help you focus your observations. ✅ Respond to the feedback-It's not enough to make changes to the day based on the feedback. If you are giving people surveys, you must discuss the trends you saw and address these so that folks know they are being heard. Articulate how you are shifting things or if you can't, address where concerns or confusions will be addressed. When folks hear how their feedback is being heard they are more likely to be honest in the future. For concerns or feedback that only 1 or 2 folks have? Follow up individually. The time invested early on will pay dividends later. I know these tips don't only apply to school leaders, though Summer PD is definitely top of my mind. What are your tips and 1% solutions in building a culture of feedback and continuous improvement?

Achievement not where you want it? Most leaders respond with more change and more programs. We've got to change the curriculum, add a tier 2 intervention block, remix the schedule for flexible intervention groups, ensure objectives are posted each day, really double-check this year that the best work board is A+ each month. My experience is that all of that is just "noise" that gets in the way of the core. I wouldn't add or change anything about staffing, curriculum, or schedule until the following are true: - Teachers understand how the curriculum is structured for daily instruction ... and what the most important parts of each lesson are. (Hint: In reading, it's the part where you actually read and annotate and then answer rigorous questions about the text. In math, it's the part where you practice problems with teacher feedback.) - Teachers know the critical time stamps for each part of a lesson (e.g., the do now should be done by minute 4, there should be at least 15 minutes for independent practice before the exit ticket) - Teachers take the unit assessment before each unit and discuss what will be challenging for students and what are the most important standards, helping them identify the power lessons of the unit. - Teachers consistently intellectually prepare (IP) for lessons -- doing ALL the student work, identifying the 2-3 meatiest portions, creating criteria for success for these meaty portions, and pre-planning responses to misconceptions. And they teach with this IP in hand. - Leaders share a clear vision of great teaching that includes classroom environment, rigor, feedback, and thinking. - Leaders set aside two hours/week to review and give feedback on intellectual preparation to ensure excellence - Leaders book one hour/day for real-time coaching of all teachers in their portfolio, supporting them in real time to - Leaders lead a one-on-one, practice-based coaching session for all teachers in their portfolio based that focuses on one action step - Leaders lead a staff-wide, practice-based PD each week that centers in on one action step of great teaching Leaders have a choice this summer. They can continue tinkering with the doom loop of low achievement, hoping that this new program or initiative will finally make the difference. Or they can double-down on the clear, simple, effective strategies that great schools use to rapidly improve teacher practice in service of student achievement.

How best can we support teachers in their adoption of Generative AI? This is a question I'll try to answer at tomorrow's Stanford's AI + Education Summit. Here's my answer based on the work we have done training teachers on GenAI over the past 6 months.   First, the reality is that even a year after the launch of ChatGPT we are still very much in the early stages of adoption.   • Per a recent EdWeek survey, 2/3rds of teachers have NEVER used AI in their classroom and only 2% have used it “a lot.”   Second, the current perceptions of GenAI run the gamut.     • Fear and uncertainty are common with nearly 50% of teachers saying they’re uncomfortable with GenAI.     • Cheating (72%) and the potential negative impact to learning (60%) are prevalent fears     • But there is also enthusiasm about GenAI’s potential - half said they were “excited or optimistic” about the potential of these tools.    We see all of this in every workshop we have run regardless of audience. By the end of our sessions, we often see that the same educators who are concerned about AI’s downsides are the same ones who light up when they see the tools in action.   So what’s the best path forward for responsible adoption?   At AI for Education Education, our focus is on building capacity and finding value, not becoming experts.   Here are our 5 top strategies:w   1. Comprehensive AI Literacy Training:    Educating the entire school community is vital for understanding AI's wide-reaching impacts and potential, fostering future readiness, enhancing learning, and enabling the informed decision-making that will help guide the future of AI.   2. Job-Embedded GenAI Applications    Focus on integrating AI directly into educators' daily tasks and responsibilities, showcasing practical uses of AI in educational settings that drive productivity and quality of instruction.   3. Strong Guidance on Responsible Use   We stress the need for clear guidelines on the appropriate use of GenAI by students and teachers, ensuring that AI tools are used in a manner that augments a user's ability and is deployed in an ethical manner is key.   4. Safe/Reliable GenAI Tools for Students   We must develop and implement student-focused GenAI tools that are both safe and reliable, fostering a secure learning environment.   5. Dedicated Resources for Innovation    We advocate for dedicated resources to support experimentation and innovation, encouraging continuous development and improvement of GenAI tools and methods in education.   Of course, none of this can be done without a strong change management strategy and dedicated budgets - but with these keys we believe it's possible to support teachers adoption of GenAI. For the link to the study: https://lnkd.in/eHz6883G #aiforeducation #aieducation #teachingwithAI #GenAI #responsibleAI