Name of Course/Programme/Seminar:
Accelerating Learning in Literacy WorkshopProvider/Presenter:
Team Solutions ALL Facilitators
If I was to summarise the key things I took away from this Professional Development what would they be and why?
What I took away from this professional development was the understanding the importance of this intervention, creating a plan and following through with it. I enjoyed meeting teachers from other schools that are running the ALL programme and gaining an understanding of how the programme looks like.
Some schools withdraw their ALL group from the class and teach them separately. Usually when the group is being withdrawn from the class, it's to front-load them with information needed for what the teacher will be teaching the whole class in the upcoming lessons. The purpose behind this is to enable the ALL students who are usually quiet and not willing to participate in class discussions, an opportunity to contribute.
I also learnt that the ALL intervention is underpinned by the BES 4 levers of change. The BES model for systemic improvement that leverages evidence and expertise to make a bigger difference for valued outcomes for diverse (all) students” - Alton-Lee, 2012, provides a map for improvement that will lead to this vision.
How has this professional development challenged my thinking?
This PD has challenged my thinking by making me question how effective I am in teaching Writing to the class. I've decided to take the strategies from the ALL intervention and implement it to my whole class teaching. The programme also reinforces the importance of whanau engagement and how a partnership between the school, whanau and the learner is proven to make a huge difference. The ALL intervention implies Epstein's 6 types of involvement framework as a model of how this partnership could be successful.
What aspects of my practice would I consider changing as a result of this professional development and why?
An aspect I am going to change is how I work with my ALL group and how I teach writing as a whole class. Hearing other teachers share how they approach the intervention provided me with ideas on how cycle 2 could look like. Knowing my students have made progress because of this intervention has helped expand the intervention within the school. In cycle 2, 3 other teachers' will be joining in hopes of acceleration of student achievement.