What an amazing class we had last week! I am so impressed by all of the contributions of our new group of Teacher Leaders. In case you missed it, I hosted our first UTLA (Urban Teacher Leadership Academy) class for the 2016-2017 school year. The course, Professional Development for Teacher Leaders, combined eight members from last year's TL Cohort with eight new members from across the Urban Teacher Residency Partnership Program's partnership schools.
Bringing together old and new has been a challenge in past cohorts, so I felt it were imperative to bridge the unfamiliar through community building activities. We started with a Gingerbread activity - giving each person an opportunity to identify their own self. How better to be able to talk about oneself until one understands oneself? The discovery of each person led to fantastic conversations and immediate connections amongst classmates.
We then had the opportunity to set goals for the course, for the individual schools, and across the partnership utilizing a protocol from Ballock's A Facilitator's Guide to Self Study (2007). Through this protocol we identified the strengths of the group and areas in which the group will look to grow throughout the course of the school year.
After a short break, we examined the role that inquiry plays in Teacher Leadership. Once again, I challenged each cohort member to look at their own self through the North, South, East, West protocol - allowing for teachers to examine what type of learner and leader they are and what this can provide a community of teacher leaders. We tied this activity into our inquiry focus and developed a sense of the gifts (talents and treasures) each of us brings as we begin our inquiry process.
Our focus after lunch was on research-based text, Yendol-Hoppey & Dana's Powerful Professional Development (2010), in which we read, discussed and debriefed the concepts of being a "teacher leader" and creating a "back porch" both at our schools and across our partnership work. It was in this space that cohort became a leadership team - because once they heard the words "back porch" and realized it's significance in this group, they had an immediate understanding of what UTLA really means!
I cannot wait for our first class when students are back at school and they begin working with our residents! Check back soon!
Bringing together old and new has been a challenge in past cohorts, so I felt it were imperative to bridge the unfamiliar through community building activities. We started with a Gingerbread activity - giving each person an opportunity to identify their own self. How better to be able to talk about oneself until one understands oneself? The discovery of each person led to fantastic conversations and immediate connections amongst classmates.
We then had the opportunity to set goals for the course, for the individual schools, and across the partnership utilizing a protocol from Ballock's A Facilitator's Guide to Self Study (2007). Through this protocol we identified the strengths of the group and areas in which the group will look to grow throughout the course of the school year.
After a short break, we examined the role that inquiry plays in Teacher Leadership. Once again, I challenged each cohort member to look at their own self through the North, South, East, West protocol - allowing for teachers to examine what type of learner and leader they are and what this can provide a community of teacher leaders. We tied this activity into our inquiry focus and developed a sense of the gifts (talents and treasures) each of us brings as we begin our inquiry process.
Our focus after lunch was on research-based text, Yendol-Hoppey & Dana's Powerful Professional Development (2010), in which we read, discussed and debriefed the concepts of being a "teacher leader" and creating a "back porch" both at our schools and across our partnership work. It was in this space that cohort became a leadership team - because once they heard the words "back porch" and realized it's significance in this group, they had an immediate understanding of what UTLA really means!
I cannot wait for our first class when students are back at school and they begin working with our residents! Check back soon!