National School Reform: A Constructivist Approach

Recently, during a Thursday evening #MEMSPAchat a colleague shared this document on conducting a way to examine student work, developed by Daniel Baron. It makes me wonder if the same process could be used with the teachers in our building as a continued means to develop our practice as a learning community.

1. Teachers bring to a PD session or Staff Meeting bring  an example of the best lesson plan they have ever done. Taught or planned but not executed.

2. Teachers then find 3-5 items that they feel are the strongest about the plan.

3. The group then brainstorms the qualities they found, then condenses the list to three to five qualities everyone agrees are essential to a strong lesson plan.

4. As a group we come to consensus we define 3-5 essential components to a successful building. Next, those 3-5 essentials then become key components in a lesson to be taught before our next time together. (OR we create a “#” to tweet out our observations)

Can’t wait to experiment with this protocol and see how it goes!

Christie