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Developing Learning Communities Through Teacher Expertise

By: Giselle O. Martin-Kniep

Forget expensive consultants—use the expertise within your own school for quality professional development!

Martin-Kniep offers practical methods for developing a reflective, collaborative environment where teachers and administrators work together to enhance teachers' practices, increase student learning, and produce valuable school processes. Developing Learning Communities Through Teacher Expertise includes frameworks, templates, and examples that can be employed to determine the value and implications surrounding the use of teacher-designed standards-based curriculum and assessment. Based on work completed at the nonprofit Center for the Study of Expertise in Teaching and Learning, this innovative volume includes:

Examples of teachers' reflections, portfolio artifacts, and student work
Sample standards-based curriculum units for different content areas and grade levels
Discussion questions and recommended readings
Sample rubrics, worksheets, self-assessments, and design tools

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Product Details

Grade Level: PreK-12
ISBN: 9780761946175
Published By: Corwin
Year: 2003
Page Count: 128
Publication date: October 21, 2003

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This book is not available as a review copy.

Description

"No book I have read in the past ten years has made clearer to me the difference between what I am doing as a professional developer and what I should be doing. It is so unremittingly honest about the difficulty of our work, and yet so rich in practical examples that I cannot help but feel inspired to move forward and change the way I teach and learn with teachers."
Richard W. Strong, Vice President
Silver Strong & Associates, LLC

"There are many books on the market covering school improvement and teachers as experts as well as staff development; however, this book is concise, provides excellent templates, and is backed by real experiences and expertise."
Suzanne C. Fonoti, Principal
Flagstaff Arizona Unified School District

Forget expensive consultants—use the expertise within your own school for quality professional development!

Martin-Kniep offers practical methods for developing a reflective, collaborative environment where teachers and administrators work together to enhance teachers' practices, increase student learning, and produce valuable school processes. Developing Learning Communities Through Teacher Expertise includes frameworks, templates, and examples that can be employed to determine the value and implications surrounding the use of teacher-designed standards-based curriculum and assessment, data-driven inquiry, and professional portfolios.

Based on work completed at the nonprofit Center for the Study of Expertise in Teaching and Learning, this innovative volume includes:

Examples of teachers' reflections, portfolio artifacts, and student work
Sample standards-based curriculum units for different content areas and grade levels
Discussion questions and recommended readings
Sample worksheets and self-assessments
Standards-based curriculum and assessment design tools
Sample rubrics for student and teacher development

Developing Learning Communities Through Teacher Expertise offers step-by-step instructions for developing an action plan for incorporating learning communities into a school. Providing numerous real-life examples, Martin-Kniep includes three specific teaching units and supporting material, which illustrate how to identify and capitalize on teachers' existing expertise.

Key features

Professional development with an emphasis on cost-effectiveness
Covers standards-based exemplary curriculum and assessment at primary, intermediate, and secondary levels
Based on authors many years of experience working with teachers through the Center for the Study of Expertise in Teaching and Learning
Includes examples of teachers' reflections and portfolio artifacts and sample student work
Contains sample rubrics for students and for teacher professional development; worksheets, self-assessments, tips & strategies, discussion questions, recommended readings, sample standards-based curriculum units for different content areas and grade levels, and a standards-based curriculum & assessment design tool
Includes step-by-step instructions for developing an action plan for incorporating learning communities into a school

Author(s)

Giselle O. Martin-Kniep

Giselle Martin-Kniep is a teacher educator, researcher, program evaluator, and writer. She is the President of Learner-Centered Initiatives, Ltd., an educational consulting organization specializing in comprehensive regional and school-based curriculum and assessment work. She is also the CEO of the Center for the Study of Expertise in Teaching and Learning, an organization committed to the discovery and dissemination of teacher expertise.

Dr. Martin-Kniep has a strong background in organizational change and has graduate degrees in communication and development, social sciences in education, and educational evaluation from Stanford University. She has taught at Adelphi University, the University of British Columbia, and the University of Victoria. In the last fourteen years, she has worked with hundreds of schools and districts nationally and internationally in the areas of alternative assessment, standards-based design, school change, and action research.

Dr. Martin-Kniep has written extensively. Her most recent books are Why Am I Doing This: Purposeful Teaching with Portfolio Assessment, published by Heinemann; Capturing the Wisdom of Practice: Portfolios for Teachers and Administrators; and Becoming a Better Teacher: Eight Innovations that Work both published by ASCD.

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

About the Author

1. Learning Communities

What Are Learning Communities?

Why Are They Important?

What Do Learning Communities Do? What do They Require to Function?

What Gets in the Way of the Development of Learning Communities?

What Can We Do to Support Learning Communities?

Possible Questions for the Reader

Recommended Books on Learning Communities

2. Standards-Based Curriculum and Assessment Design

What Does It Take to Develop a Standards-Based, Learner-Centered Unit?

How Do We Help Teachers Develop High-Quality Standards-Based Units?

Possible Questions for the Reader

Recommended Books on Standards-Based Curriculum and Assessment Design

3. Data-Driven Inquiry and Action Research

Three Examples of Inquiry

How Can Schools Support Individual, Collaborative, and School-Based Research?

Possible Questions for the Reader

Recommended Books on Action Research and Use of Data

4. Professional Portfolios

What Do Professional Portfolios Include?

Understanding and Use of Standards-Based and Learner-Centered Curriculum and Assessment

Use of Reflection and Data to Improve One's Practice

How Are Professional Portfolios Organized?

How Can Schools Begin to Support the Development and Use of Professional Portfolios?

Possible Questions for the Reader

Recommended Books on Portfolios

5. Developing an Action Plan

Identification of Internal Expertise

Assessment of Needs

Brokering of Relationships Among Teachers

Curriculum and Assessment Design Work

Inquiry and Analysis Work

Professional Portfolio Work

Appendix A: Description of CSETL and Its Mission

Appendix B: Unit Design Template

Appendix C: Application to Become a CSETL Fellow

Appendix D: Professional Portfolio Rubric

References

Index

Reviews

"There are many books on the market covering school improvement and teachers as experts as well as staff development; however, this book is concise, provides excellent templates, and is backed by real experiences and expertise."

Suzanne C. Fonoti, Principal
Flagstaff Arizona Unified School District

"No book I have read in the past ten years has made clearer to me the difference between what I am doing as a professional developer and what I should be doing. It is so unremittingly honest about the difficulty of our work, and yet so rich in practical examples that I cannot help but feel inspired to move forward and change the way I teach and learn with teachers."

Richard W. Strong, Vice President
Silver Strong & Associates, LLC

"This book will benefit all teachers who are interested in professional growth and development, even if their schools might not yet be considered 'larning organizations.' One committed teacher could spark interest in developing a learning community that would enrich the entire school, and this book provides a basic introduction to that process."

NSTA Recommends, November 2004

Other Titles in: Professional Learning Communities | Principalship | Leadership

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Review Copies

This book is not available as a review copy.