The importance of evidence

Not just data.
Its been strange in many ways, but the more involved we have got with our Professional Learning Plans, the stronger I feel about the importance of gathering evidence when researching the plan's focus.
I had a conversation with one of our language teachers and she could see that it wasn't just her own development that was important but the development of her students. She highlighted the issues she was having with teaching Year 9s. How disengaged they were and how many she had sent to our focus room during the lessons.
My conversation steered her towards this: why not make resources that help these students become more engaged with the subject. Get them up using the IWB, get them involved. BUT FIRST she had to find out how much they were learning NOW. How engaged were they now. I asked her to conduct an 'exit pass' where they students had to indicate three things they had learned during the lesson before they could go to a break.
One she had done that a few times, she could then focus on the lessons that were not working, and find an alternative (i.e. IWB) approach to the lesson. So, what could happen is that she learns how to use the IWB and her students are more engaged. Nice theory!
Another teacher was quite stung by the question I wrote on his plan. Again,what evidence do you have that this is an issue. So he decided to do an analysis of the students 'visiting' our withdrawal room (the Focus Room). It was pretty comprehensive, and very convincing that there was an issue of disengagement with our boys.
Now, he and his partner need to talk to those boys and find out WHY they are not engage and WHAT they would prefer to do. Then they can decide what action to take.
In both cases, when I talked to the teachers, my 'beliefs' in importance of using evidence to make decisions was strengthened.
I am now challenged to fully role model this belief for my own plan - what is moderation, how does it work now, will an online course management system allow it work even easier, and, very importantly, will students benefit.

An email sent today

"Hi all

Just a reminder that these meetings are on this Wednesday after the staff meeting.

Could I ask that you spend some of the meeting time reworking your plans (if necessary). I would like them back before the end of the term for final approval.

Thanks to those who have already resubmitted.

I would suggest that you revisit the Method in your plan for this week's meeting. Hopefully your ideas have begun to crystalise and you are clearer about what procedures you will use to implement your plan.

I would further suggest that Term 2 should be a time for research, reading, planning, writing surveys, journal writing, and conducting the interviews that were mentioned in a lot of the plans.

I would like all teachers to present a provisional summary of the above research that you have completed by the end of Term 2. The first meeting in Term 3 then should be a short presentation of that provisional research to your team.

Finally, I just want to remind you that it is not up to the leaders of your team to decide on what you will do in the team meeting. They are facilitators and are not there to run professional learning sessions.

Having said that, they are all quite generous with their time and will help people where they can. However, the idea of doing the Professional Learning Plan is so that each teacher can identify what learning / action research they are going to do and how they are going to do it. You should then spend the 12 hours (now 10) of the PL Team meetings and the 15 hours expected of you in the current EA carrying out your PLP as proposed."

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