Tag Archive for: Professional Practice

Long Term Curriculum Planning

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11 November 2020


Planning is very important to learners’ developing and growing in the knowledge and skills they need. An effective teacher thoughtfully plans lessons ahead of instruction, defining goals and objectives, and developing engaging learning activities. Yet lesson plans only are one type of planning. They look at the short-term. Let’s not forget about the long-term view for curriculum over a whole school year or term. Is there a way to plan for how all your daily and weekly plans fit together? A long-term curriculum plan is a great tool to help you plan your school terms with the end in mind and set the route for how learning will take place. 
 
The Value of Long-Term Curriculum Planning
A long-term plan is a general outline of how to accomplish major curriculum goals of the school year. It gives a big picture view, with the beginning of the school year or term as your “starting location” and the end of the school year or term as your “destination.” Think of it as a navigation plan that you might use to get to a store. A long-term plan, with major curriculum goals placed along the path, allows you to know where you are going and how you will get there. It is helpful in that you do not have to have every detail of the plan or pathway figured out for it to keep you focused and on-track towards your destination. It is not limited to one type of educator, and it becomes a reference tool for the remainder of the school term for which you planned.
 
Making a Long-term Curriculum Plan
To begin, you will need to gather supplies and make initial decisions. Be prepared for spending an hour or more developing your long-term plan. First, decide on the time frame of your plan. Will you plan for the whole year, a semester, or a few months? Second, gather supplies needed. Locate your school’s curriculum documents (e.g., scope and sequence, unit or chapter titles) that guide what you are expected to teach during this time frame. If you do not know where to find these, ask your school leadership or a fellow teacher. You’ll also want access to a regular calendar, your school calendar, a way to record your plan, and a writing utensil, if using paper. I suggest using a format that is easily changeable. My favorite way to make my long-term plan was using small, colored sticky notes and my lesson planning book. Find what works best for you; it may take some time. The focus is on making a plan that is practical and available for use throughout the time period you’ve decided on. You will come back to your long-term plan multiple times.
 
After gathering supplies, mark off on your calendar all school holidays, days off, days with special events, and end of term days. This allows you to know the number of instructional days available as well as disruptions to the flow of your teaching times. Next, look at your curriculum documents and identify topics or units of study to cover. You may need to decide the length of time to spend on each, or perhaps there is guidance from school documents. Either way, begin placing these topics in your plan, keeping in mind available instructional days. Remember, you are only looking at the topics or units you will be teaching. You are not considering individual lessons or your daily lessons. This is an overview, so you can focus on those aspects later. If you have multiple subjects or disciplines, repeat this process for each respective unit. Now, take a deep breath and do a little celebration dance or something to recognize this hard work!
 
Using a Long-Term Curriculum Plan
Remember, a long-term plan is a guide, meaning it is flexible. It provides the structure you need but allows you to create daily lesson plans based on your students’ needs and other needs that arise. In her article, Kristen Moreland emphasizes the benefits and use of a long-term plan when she says, “A mentor of mine long ago once told me, ‘You can’t be spontaneous unless you are expertly planned.’ When you know where you are going, you have the freedom and flexibility to respond to students’ needs and interests and not be frustrated by the unexpected.”[1] This is key in the life of a transformational teacher because it allows room for the Holy Spirit to guide you. Invite the indwelling Holy Spirit to be your guide as you implement your long-term plan into daily lessons. He knows the needs of your students more than you do. He gives you the freedom, flexibility, and strength to carry out the daily tasks of instructing and guiding learners’ hearts towards God. Together with God, a long-term curriculum plan is a powerful tool in the hands of educators focused on bringing transformation to the lives of their students.
 
Amanda Ferris, M.Ed. Curriculum Services Coordinator, School Services
TeachBeyond Global
  [1] Moreland, Kristen. “The Purpose, Planning, and Personal Connections That Will Sustain You All Year.” ASCD Express. ASCD, 23 Aug. 2018, www.ascd.org/ascd-express/vol13/The-Purpose-Planning-and-Personal-Connections-That-Will-Sustain-You-All-Year.aspx.
Photo Credits: MAPS.ME App via Wikipedia. Planning/Creating via Shutterstock.

Boundaries for everyone

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I’m not sure what your daily life looks like right now. Maybe you are overwhelmed with suddenly homeschooling all of your children, adapting to teaching online, or leading your school into a new phase of learning. Maybe you have more free time since the virus has put a halt on what you can do in your role. Whichever position this season has put you in, healthy boundaries are so important for you and for those around you. As this season of our lives stretches longer than a week or two, let’s move forward as best as we can. With wisdom from God, and grace for ourselves, this season of life can still be one of growth.

Why are boundaries important?

Everyone is craving boundaries and expectations right now. There has been an upheaval in our lives, our schedules don’t exist as they once did, and each day may feel like it is blurring into the next. Many of us have never worked from home or even desired to. Setting boundaries and expectations for this season is crucial for accomplishing our goals and more importantly having our families, friends, and students feel safe and secure in the knowledge of how and when they can count on us in this time. A lack of boundaries confuses the people in our lives. With the countless uncertainties right now, it’s important for those in our lives that depend on us to know when and in what capacity we can be depended on.

Ideas on boundaries to set:[1]

  • Have office hours with an automated response that includes FAQs. This can prompt others to problem solve on their own and not depend on getting answers from you at any hour. This also helps others know when they can expect to hear back from you.
  • Set screen time limits. Of course, it’s not only for the kids! Removing certain news apps or turning off notifications for your work email may give you the space and time to breath that you didn’t know you needed. Allot certain times to watch the news once or twice a day and that’s it!
  • Keep things simple. Most of us weren’t designed or prepared to live out our lives or jobs in this way. It’s okay to keep things simple. You can always add once you have patterns and schedules in place. This goes for you, your family, and your students.
  • Have a consistent workplace. Designating a work spot provides your family/roommates a visual signal that you are working and allows them to respect your work time.
  • Set times & spaces for your different roles throughout the day. Where and when do you help your kids with school work? Workout? Have your quiet time with God? Watch Netflix?

The absolute hardest part of healthy boundaries is upholding the boundaries you have set and communicating those boundaries to everyone involved. We tend to want to give everything to our students, our kids, and our friends, but we simply can’t. This is a unique time where we are all hurting and impacted in some way. “Boundaries are a part of self-care. They are healthy, normal, and necessary.”[2] We must take care of ourselves in order to be able to properly and lovingly take care of others. This is a good practice in every season and something good to model and implement for our children and our students as well.    

I can offer advice, but at the end of the day, there is one who has ultimate wisdom and will give us discernment on what our days can look like. The Creator of this world—who isn’t surprised by any of this—wants to speak into our days and give us creativity, joy, and strength to carry on.

 “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” James 1:5

I pray that you seek out the wisdom of God in how to live out this season.


Morgan Newcomb

Special Education Specialist

TeachBeyond Asia

Morgan Newcomb is a special education teacher from Chicago IL. She is currently serving in South East Asia as a special education consultant.


Photo Credits: calendar, RL Hunsberger. Online Learning, via Shutterstock.

[1] Conover, Carrie. “Building Healthy Boundaries.” educators2educators, Apr. 2020, www.educators2educators.com/healthy-boundaries.

[2] Martin, S. (2018). Quotes to Inspire Healthy Boundaries. Psych Central. Retrieved on April 6, 2020, from https://blogs.psychcentral.com/imperfect/2016/06/quotes-healthy-boundaries/

Teaching Beyond

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Beth[1] taught a world history class. When she came to the section on Korean history, she realised she was out of her depth. She connected with several of her Korean students and their Korean School teachers. They worked out a joint project where the Korean students taught this material to the rest of the class. This initiative served to build bridges between the international school and the larger Korean community.

Dan coached high school girls’ basketball. Because of the school’s size and location, the team ended up playing the same few schools multiple times a season. During one game, Dan and his girls discovered that a starter on the other team was pregnant and would be out the rest of the season. The next time the two teams met, the girls on Dan’s team presented the mother-to-be with a number of baby-shower gifts. The relationship between rival schools was radically changed that day.

Jenni taught middle school Bible class. As the students were studying the prophetic books of the Old Testament, Jenni emphasised God’s heart for the poor and the oppressed. In the country where Jenni served, Asian women were frequently duped into taking service jobs that promised to pay more than those in their home country. Unfortunately, once they arrived, they often found themselves in abusive and unsafe situations. As a part of their study of the prophets, Jenni and her students raised over $500 which they donated to an organisation that rescues these women and helps them to return to their passport countries.

Lara and her second-grade students were studying volcanoes as a part of their science curriculum. They lived in a country with several active volcanoes. One of the parents at the school worked as a pilot for Mission Aviation Fellowship. Lara reached out to him, and as result her students were able to fly over one of the volcanoes and get a birds’ eye view of what a volcano actually looked like. Then they learned from the pilot how his job was impacted by volcanic activity in the region.

What do all these scenarios have in common? In each instance, the teacher or coach leveraged their connections within the local community. They invited their students to look beyond the school walls and invited those outside the school to come in.

One of the distinctive values of TeachBeyond is “our commitment to the idea of “teaching beyond.[2]” We want our students—and our schools—to be “always thinking beyond to the world and its needs,[3]” and one of the ways we can do this is by proactively reaching out into our local community.

As you begin this new school year, I challenge you to think about ways that you can invite others in the school and local community into your classroom. What resources or expertise can parents, church members, or local neighbors bring into your students’ learning experience?

I also urge you to think about ways that your students can look outward and have an impact in the local community. Are there opportunities for you to serve or encourage or simply to love those outside the school walls? What would it take for this to happen?

Jesus instructed his disciples that “by this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another[4].” When we create opportunities for our students to connect with others in the local community both inside and outside our classrooms, we provide the chance for them to look beyond themselves and love others. We enhance the curriculum beyond what we alone can teach. And we build bridges to the local community, signaling we care about our neighbors, rather than walls which can create suspicion and hostility. It’s a win no matter how you look at it!

So, how will you teach beyond this coming school year? Please drop us a line at onpractice@teachbeyond.org and let us know.

Becky Hunsberger
Coordinator of Teacher Education Services
TeachBeyond Global

Photo Credits: Basketball. Franchise Opportunities, via Flickr, CC-02. Volcano. ZackClark. wiki-media. Public Domain. Field trip. Arbor Christian Academy, 2019. 

[1] Names of all teachers have been changed for the sake of this article.

[2] TeachBeyond Distinctive #2.

[3] Ibid.

[4] John 13:35

Principles of Curriculum Planning

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If you’ve never done it before, the very mention of planning your yearly curriculum can be enough to throw you into a panic. However, curriculum planning–whether for a full year or simply a unit–doesn’t need to be scary. Here are a few key principles to keep in mind as you approach planning the curriculum for your course.

  1. The longer the amount of time covered by a plan, the broader (more general) it will be.  Thus a yearly curriculum plan will have far less detailed than a unit plan, which will be less detailed than a daily lesson plan.
  2. Curriculum plans of all levels are living documents. It is not a bad thing to make changes and adjustments as you go along. It is a good idea to keep track of these changes so you have them to use in the future. (No matter what you think, you won’t remember everything!)
  3. Curriculum plans are helpful for tracking time but also for tracking resources available. Keeping resource lists as up-to-date as possible is helpful.
  4. When you are first starting out, your curriculum guides will be less detailed than those of people who have been teaching for years. That’s okay. You can flesh yours out with time.

As an example of how to get started in curriculum planning, let’s look at a medium-sized curriculum guide–the Unit Plan.

Unit Planning
At the start of each unit, you want to use your yearly curricular plan to help you determine how many instructional days that you have to cover the material in the unit.
Step 1: Determine the content and skills that you need to cover during the unit and what resources you have available to help you do this.
What do your students already know? Need to learn?
Which standards will be addressed in this unit?
Are there any mandatory field trips or activities you need to be sure to include?
Step 2: Write broad instructional objectives for your unit. By the end of this unit, what do your students need to know and be able to do?
Write your objectives.
Consider how you will assess these objectives. If possible, design your final assessment for the unit at this stage. If time is an issue, at least be sure you have outlined a workable plan for the final assessment.
Step 3: Using the number of instructional days you have allotted to the unit, determine how many days will likely be needed for students to reach these objectives. At this stage, you might consider the following:
Have you left 1-2 days at the end of each unit “open” so that you have some wiggle room if you need to go back and reteach a concept?
How much time is necessary for students to complete the unit assessment? This is especially important if you are assessing through:
presentations (How many students can present in a class period? Have you left enough days for this?),
projects (How much time do students need to complete the project after having been taught the material?) or
performances (How much class time do you need to set aside for students to rehearse?).
Are there any interruptions in your instructional time, and how will this affect the students ability to succeed? (Is it fair for half the class to present their projects on Friday and the rest on Monday? Is there a holiday or other non-instructional day right before the unit assessment?)
Step 4: Lay out your unit plan, collect resources, and schedule the time for the final assessment.
Lay out a tentative schedule of your lesson objectives on the calendar.
Consider the final assessment. What content, tools, skills, practice do your students need to master before they will be able to succeed?
Have you built in time for supplemental activities such as field trips, lab work, etc.?
Consider outside factors that could affect the scheduling of these things. You may have to shift the order of your unit around slightly to accommodate factors outside of your control.

Use this plan to help pace your individual lessons. Keep it handy, and make notes on it as you actually teach the lessons. Which lessons (objectives) took longer to teach (master)? Which went faster than you expected? What should you consider adding/dropping from the unit? What new ideas do you have for the next time you teach it?

Keeping track of these unit plans and updating them at the end of the school year can be a very helpful exercise. Not only is this a quick way to assess whether all the mandatory material for the course has been covered, it also is helpful for preparing yourself and/or subsequent teachers to teach the course in future years. A little time spent now can save a lot of time (and worry) in the future.

Becky Hunsberger
Coordinator of Teacher Education Services
TeachBeyond Global

Photo Credits: Planner. By Evgeny Karandaev, via Shutterstock. Teacher’s Desk. by User:Mattes – Own work, Public Domain, Link.

Tags: Professional Practice, Resources

God’s Rubric for Excellence

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Excellence: Whatever we do, we do it wholeheartedly to the best of our ability and for the glory of God alone. (from TeachBeyond Identity Statements)

Excellence – the last in the list of TeachBeyond core values – is a concept that conjures up a myriad of thoughts and emotions. Perhaps you have memories of basking in the glow of a job well-done…or feeling completely frustrated because you could never please a taskmaster teacher.

As an educator and a musician, I’ve struggled with this concept in many arenas of my life, as well as in my classroom. What does excellence look like? Does it look the same for all teachers, all students and all schools in every situation? How do we recognize excellence in ourselves, students, and institutions? As transformational educators, how does the concept of excellence impact what and how we teach?

The root word, excel, carries with it the sense of going beyond or surpassing. But what is it that we are going beyond? Where is the standard that we are attempting to surpass? The world, our teacher training, the Bible – they all give us standards and aspirations. The TeachBeyond statement (reprinted at the top of this article) says “to the best of our ability,” not to meet a particular standard. How can we know what excellence is? The statement says that our actions are “for the glory of God alone,” not our fame and reputation or that of others. As people who long for transformation in ourselves and others, we look to God for His standard while being motivated by the desire to bring Him glory in all that we are.

Rubics are often used as a tool by educators to communicate expectations of excellence. Since OnPractice is for educators, included here is a “Rubric for Excellence”. While this is a tongue-in-cheek effort and not intended for use with students or teachers, it captures some of the major issues we all need to wrestle with as we consider what the core value of excellence means in our classrooms and lives.

RUBRIC FOR EXCELLENCE
Topic Meets Expectations Does not meet Expectations
Orientation + Views excellence as action, a striving toward the next level, or a continual improvement (I Thess. 4:1). + Views excellence as a goal, resulting in stagnation, complacency, and/or pride.
Model + Uses Jesus Christ as a model (1 John 2:6). + Focuses on human models, resulting in a skewed perspective.
Perspective + Vertical – Views excellence as between self and God without comparing self to others (Gal 6:4) + Horizontal – Constantly compares self to others resulting in pride, discouragement, and/or burnout.
Motivation + Seeks only God’s glory + Craves attention, awards, advancement, and complements.
Intensity + Offers best effort “as unto the Lord” (Col 3:23) + Does whatever is necessary to receive the recognition, regardless of the consequences to self or others.
Or
+ Makes just enough effort to get the desired recognition.
Or
+ Says, “Why should I even try?”
Boundaries + Recognizes human limitations of time and space, doing what is possible and leaving the rest to God
(Prov. 3:5,6). + Obsesses over tasks, expending time and energy and ignoring God’s leading.
+ Gives minimal time to task so there’s more time for entertainment.
Focus + Pursues both outward demonstrations and internal character development. + Cares more about looking smart or talented than learning or growth.
Or
+ Completely focused on inner life with no desire to meet expectations.
Mindset + Demonstrates a growth mindset, believing that hard work develops intelligence or talent (See Carol Dweck’s work on mindset.) + Believes and protects labels of “smart” or “not talented” rather than working to learn and grow by developing what God has bestowed.
Equipping + Relies on God’s power through the Holy Spirit when encountering difficult situations. + Does not trust God.
+ Relies completely on own strength.
+ Looks for short-cuts or the easy way out of difficult situations.
+ Expects others to rescue them.

So how do you rate on this rubric? How would you evaluate your students? As the first attribute highlights, excellence is a process. What looks like excellence at one time in one place is different than excellence in another situation. An excellent second grade science report is not the same as one completed by a PhD candidate.

Our role as educators is to model for our students while we disciple and inspire them to seek excellence as a way to bring praise and glory to God our Father. Everything we and our students do should be an act of worship that brings joy to our Heavenly Father. A friend of mine wrote a worship song that sums it up, “I was made to worship You, to bring You joy in all I do. ”

[1] Carol Dweck, Mindset https://mindsetonline.com/whatisit/about/

[1] I Was Made to Worship You by Jody Abboud

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=new+song+kids+I+was+made+to+worship&view=detail&mid=EA868F566FFC61F57199EA868F566FFC61F57199&FORM=VIRE

Partnering with Others

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Cooperative learning is widely recognised as valuable for students, but cooperative teaching isn’t so widely valued. It seems to be easier to visualise how working with others and sharing gifts and resources can benefit other people, but sometimes our personal habits of autonomy and independence can keep us, as teachers, from seeing the value of partnerships.

Educational partnerships are an excellent way to model a humble spirit that acknowledges that God has designed people to work in dependence on Him and in cooperation with others. The New Testament uses the metaphor of a body to describe our relationship to Christ and everyone who is a child of God. Everyone is needed, although different parts of the body have different roles. Partnerships are concrete expressions of this kind of inter-relationship.

There is a temptation to function as if we didn’t need the gifts of others, but the Bible is clear that the Holy Spirit doesn’t give all His gifts to any one person. No one can contribute more than a fraction of what is needed in any situation and there is always a temptation to think too highly of ourselves. The more an individual has, the harder it is to recognise that without Christ—and the rest of His Body—we can do nothing. Partnerships recognise our dependence in specific situations, demonstrating to a watching world that our interdependence is more than a theoretic construct.

Educational partnerships can take many different forms including small group accountability, classroom observation, team teaching, multi-class assignments or projects, professional development workshops, and many more. Each form has different levels of risk and different kinds of relationship, but all require an individual to work with others to be successful. Some partnerships will be easier than others, but it is likely that all will require committed effort to move beyond an initial period of discomfort or awkwardness. Partnerships are great ideas, but they are no magic solution to minimise the amount of work that is necessary. Working with others requires us to learn about them—and ourselves—as we navigate a project together. As anyone who has run a three-legged race can tell you, working in sync with others doesn’t come automatically. And when we add crossing cultures to the mix, the learning curve steepens.

The key to success is recognising the benefits of partnership and then committing to the process through all its stages from the “honeymoon” through difficulties to maturity and fruitfulness. But for any sort of a partnership to occur, we have to risk taking that first step. Here are some ideas to get started:

  • Develop a small group of colleagues and/or friends with whom you share struggles and successes. You can get used to talking about what happens in your classroom and will likely gain important insights as you verbalise your experiences and hear the experiences and insights of others in the group.
  • Have someone observe your teaching. This requires more vulnerability, but there is also more objectivity since you aren’t filtering the reports and the observer can see in your blind spots.
  • Team teaching can bring the strengths of multiple teachers together, but it is easier to do this for short, focused units rather than planning to use this for a whole year.
  • Collaborate on a topic or even a specific assignment like a history of science essay that involves history, language arts, and science teachers in the evaluation. This can help students gain a more integrated picture of what they are learning without changing a lot of instructional strategies, so it might be considered a good “starter” partnership.
  • Share your experience and insights with others in a workshop. You’ll learn in the preparation and interaction and they will benefit from the journey God has taken you on.

Every gift given by the Holy Spirit is not for our personal well-being, but for the service of others. This is as true of our teaching as every other area of our lives.  It is a lot harder to draw attention to God’s goodness and greatness when we are working successfully “on our own.” Even if we aren’t consciously drawing attention to our personal goodness and greatness, it is harder for others to see our dependence if we’re working without visible support. Taking the time to consciously develop collaborative partnerships is a concrete way we can demonstrate this dependence for a watching world. And as we know, our students are always watching.

Harold Klassen
Teacher Education Services
TeachBeyond

Photo Credits:   Holding Hands. Pexels.  Pixaby. cc. Teacher Collaboration.Sullivan, Laurie.10 Dec. 2014.  Flicker. cc.

Harold and his wife, Betty, have served with TeachBeyond since 1977. From 1998 to the present Harold has been an educational consultant working with teachers worldwide. He has written a book, The Visual Valet: Personal Assistant for Christian Thinkers and Teachers, and his website, www.transformingteachers.org, has resources to help equip teachers for Christ-centered, transformational education.

Reflecting on Transformation

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Here in the global offices of TeachBeyond, we spend a lot of time thinking about, discussing, and seeking to find ways to implement practices that will help foster transformational education in the classrooms, schools and communities in which our teachers serve. We are constantly reflecting on how we can support our members to live out this critical element of TeachBeyond’s mission.

As the school year draws to an end, we want to encourage you to engage in some reflection of your own. Here are some questions[1] to prime the pump. We’d love to hear feedback from you as you reflect on this. Drop us a line at onpractice@teachbeyond.org.

As you reflect back over this past school year, how have you seen the Holy Spirit directing you in regards to the three elements of the TB vision prayer: serving the Father’s world, loving Jesus, and seeing individuals & societies transformed by the Holy Spirit?OP

  1. As agents of transformation, we ourselves must be transformed. What are some personal transformations that God has done in you during your journey with Him? How have these affected your classroom practices? Are there thoughts, attitudes, and/or behaviors that God wants to transform in your life? What is a next step in that process?
  2. How has your understanding of transformational education developed over the course of your service with TeachBeyond? What are some next steps you can take to continue deepening your understanding of this concept? How will you practically apply what you’ve learned to your ministry assignment?
  3. Transformational education looks different in different contexts. What are some of the key elements that remain the same regardless of cultural contexts? How do you see these elements lived out in your particular context? What are some of the challenges you face? How are you addressing these challenges?
  4. When was the last time you looked at the TeachBeyond Distinctive Characteristics? Which of these have you embodied in your ministry? Which might you like to grow in?
  5. What has it looked like in your context to live and teach from a Biblically integrated worldview? What areas would you like to invite the Holy Spirit to transform in you and align more closely to His perspective? What are some of the challenges you are likely to face in this process?

If you are looking for some resources to challenge your thinking about transformational education this summer, here are a few suggestions from our TeachBeyond global staff.

  • What If Learning: “What if Learning is a ‘distinctively Christian’ approach developed by an international partnership of teachers… Its aim is to equip teachers to develop their distinctively Christian teaching and learning strategies for their own classrooms.” This approach is appropriate for Christian teachers in all types of schools.–Helen Vaughan, School Services
  • Fostering a Reflective Culture in the Christian School (John Van Dyck): This book is written in story form to encourage Christian school staff to think together about foundational principles, reflect in the midst of daily activity, and then carefully process everything after it happens. A reflective culture helps everyone actually put into practice the principles that are often only talked about. –Harold Klassen, Teacher Education Services
  • The Courage to Teach (Parker Palmer): It’s probably dated, but still good stuff. It’s about integrity, authentic living and being, connectedness, and… I don’t know what else to say. Palmer put words to what I knew but couldn’t verbalise about teaching being so much more than good techniques.—Pam Sanderlin, Communications
  • Teaching and the Christian Imagination (David I. Smith and Susan M. Felch): What happens if you “re-imagine” the classroom and learning? How might this help you to better understand education in light of the gospel message? These and other questions are addressed in this very thought provoking book. Though it isn’t a difficult read, this is a book you’ll want to take your time with as it challenges you to rethink everything you thought you knew about classroom metaphors. -Becky Hunsberger, Teacher Education Services

[1] These were initially developed for TeachBeyond New Member Orientation to help those starting their time on the field connect their own personal call to the mission and vision of TeachBeyond. We’ve adapted them here for those of you already serving in the classroom.

Finding Educational Resources On-line

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When you moved overseas you left behind your store of resources and now you need ideas for your classroom. Where do you go? We are fortunate to live in the digital age, and most of us have access to that wonderful resource of all resources—the internet. But where do you even start in your quest for that perfect lesson plan, classroom organisation idea, or curricular tool? Here are a few suggestions:

Educational Blogs:
Blogs can be a great resource for finding ideas.  Some of our favourites include:

  • Voices 4 Christian Ed: sponsored by Christian Schools International, this blog offers insightful articles and case-studies that challenge readers to discern how to walk out their professional lives in a manner consistent to their biblical understanding of the world
  • Cult of Pedagogy: “an online magazine for anyone who teaches anything — that means high school geometry teachers, elementary school special ed. teachers, golf instructors, homeschoolers, corporate trainers, English tutors, preschool teachers, medical school instructors”
  • Teach 4 the Heart: offers a wealth of resources about all aspects of education
  • Teach Preschool: great for those working in early childhood education
  • The Source: a newsletter/blog from Independent School Management that offers excellent insights into the running of private-independent schools. If you are in school leadership, this blog’s for you.

And speaking of blogs, do you know that you can access the archives of OnPractice though the TeachBeyond website? Issues are organised chronologically, or you can find what you are looking for by searching the tags.

Transforming Teachers:
This website, curated by TeachBeyond’s Harold Klassen, houses an extensive collection of resources on Biblical worldview and transformational education.

How It’s Best Used: Search the site by topic or category to find articles, books, and other resources—often in multiple languages. Consider this your go to library for understanding the worldview and philosophy behind transformational education.

Yammer:
Yammer is an internal (to TeachBeyond) discussion board. All you need to access this resource is a TeachBeyond e-mail address.

How It’s Best Used: If you are looking for a specific resource, have a question, or simply would like to get feedback on an idea, Yammer is a great place to start. You will find groups such as Early Childhood Education, TEFL Idea Exchange, Science & Math Teachers and Educational Technology which exist to encourage TeachBeyond members to share ideas, resources and expertise. If there isn’t already a group for your subject or specialty, feel free to start one.

Pinterest:
If you already use this social media site, you’ll be happy to know that TeachBeyond has over 20 different boards covering a wide range of educational themes.

How It’s Best Used: Essentially on on-line bulletin board, Pinterest is a place to find and catalogue ideas. The communications and education services teams have curated several collections of teaching resources for your use. We also recommend boards by Kim and Michael Essenburg (Okinawa Christian School), Cult of Pedagogy, and Jessica Weaver (TeachBeyond TEFL).

If you have developed an idea or resource that you’d like us to pin, just let us know.

Compfight:
Looking for non-copyrighted images to use in presentations? Compfight “is an image search engine tailored to efficiently locate images for blogs, comps, inspiration, and research.”

How It’s Best Used: Type in a keyword or two and let this search engine look for pictures for you. You can refine your search to ensure that you are only finding images that are registered under the creative commons license and thus are free to use (with or without alterations).

For other open source image banks, check out this article by the global digital citizen foundation. (The article can also be found in the Educational Technology group in Yammer.)

Where else do you go to find resources?  We’d love to hear from you. Shoot us an e-mail, or post your suggestion on Yammer. The more we share, the more our students benefit!
Becky Hunsberger, M.Ed.
Coordinator of Teacher Education Services
TeachBeyond

Knowing our Stories- developing healthy self-awareness

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So off went the Emperor in procession under his splendid canopy. Everyone in the streets and the windows said, “Oh, how fine are the Emperor’s new clothes! Don’t they fit him to perfection? And see his long train!” Nobody would confess that he couldn’t see anything, for that would prove him either unfit for his position, or a fool. No costume the Emperor had worn before was ever such a complete success. “But he hasn’t got anything on,” a little child said.

“We have met the enemy and he is us.”—Walt Kelly emperorsnewclothes3

In the classroom, sometimes the greatest impediment to learning is not our students, but ourselves. A healthy awareness of our our strengths and weaknesses allows us to consider and manage these issues while in the classroom. As much as we think that we are able to hide our personal issues and problems, our students are often quick to see through our façade.

We don’t want to be like the emperor in The Emperor’s New Clothes.[1] His aversion to critique and pride led the emperor to make a complete fool of himself. Instead, we need to seek out others to speak into our professional lives. If we openly address our strengths and weakness with others, it allows us to be authentic and transparent and holds us accountable as we seek to improve. It can also be a catalyst for transformation.

Brookfield recommends the teacher using four lenses to increase their self-awareness: autobiographical lens, students’ lens, the lens of literature and, the lens of co-teachers.[2]

Lens of our Autobiography

  • Examine our personality: Understanding ourselves and defining what things are sources of frustration for us professionally is important. Once we identify these areas of frustration, we can ask what steps we can take to grow in these areas. This type of self-awareness is a first step in understanding our students.
  • Examine our personal biography: Sometimes things that trigger us can often be traced back to an incident in our past. What do we do with these situations? It can be helpful to develop an action plan to use when these incidents arise.
  • Examine our educational background: We tend to teach as we were taught, not how we were taught to teach. We unconsciously have picked up both good and bad practices from our teachers. As we understand why we teach the way we do, we can adjust for our weaknesses.
  • Examine our values: We operate and teach out of our values, even if we are not consciously aware of them. We need to be willing to ask ourselves what values we reflect in the classroom, and how this might challenge students who have different value sets.

 

Lens of Students’ Perceptions

  • Ask the students: Our students spend more time with us than anyone else in the profession and we can certainly learn from their feedback. Several times during a term, invite the students to write one positive comment about the class and one improvement that can be made. Collect these statements, tabulate the results and see what is going well and what can be improved.

 

Lens of Literature

  • Read and consider current literature: Exposure to new understandings pertaining to educational theory and critical reflection can be helpful in evaluating our own practice. As lifelong learners we know that there is always room for growth. What does the current research say and what can we learn from this?

Lens of Colleagues Perceptions

  • Invite observation: Asking fellow teachers or administrators into the classroom to observe us teaching can be very helpful. We can invite their critique and feedback based on what they observed.
  • Consider co-teaching: Working closely with another professional offers a natural accountability system as well as a collaborative emphasis. As we learn from each other we all have opportunities to grow.

 

Teaching is a highly personal act that often takes place behind closed doors. This can limit the amount of feedback we receive, hindering our self-awareness and ability to grow. Not only does this do a disfavor to our students, but also ourselves.[3] Taking time to invite professional feedback will help us avoid the fate of the proud emperor, and will open up avenues where lasting transformation can take place.

Debbie Kramlich, Ph.D. Candidate

TeachBeyond, Thailand

Photo Credits: The Emperor’s New Clothes, Pam Sanderlin. Collaboration.
technolibrary2014 via Compfight cc.

[1] Hersholt, J. (2015, August 11). The Emperor’s New Clothes. Retrieved May 12, 2016 from http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/TheEmperorsNewClothes_e.html

[2] Brookfield, Stephen. Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher. The Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series. 1st ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1995. xiii.

[3] Schollaert, R. (2002). In search of the treasure within: towards schools as learning organisations (No. 8). Garant.

 

 

I am in a Professional Learning Community.

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“The most valuable resource that all teachers have is each other. Without collaboration our growth is limited to our own perspectives.” – Robert John Meehan

Sometimes as an educator it feels as if the PLC ideal is unattainable. It is a nice thought, but executing a beneficial PLC seems impossible…especially with all of the other things you have to do! Hopefully this article will provide you with enough of a push in the right direction so you are able to finally catch the ever elusive, successful PLC! As someone who has been a part of more than one functioning, well-oiled PLC machine, let me assure that it is possible AND, most importantly, worth the investment. The benefits for you, your fellow teachers, and ultimately your students, are countless!

So, here are five quick tips to help you create a valuable PLC: kitchen_timer

  • Keep your PLC 30-45 minutes. Remember, this is not a time to socialise with one another or share the hilarious thing one of your students said that day. By all means, do those things and do them often…just not during your PLC. If your meeting takes over an hour, you might want to evaluate how much each teacher is taking away from the meeting.
  • Have a clear agenda. Nothing is worse than attending a meeting with no clear direction, right? The verbal processors are talking, the internal processors are brooding, the introverts aren’t saying anything, and the extroverts are making plans for the weekend! I, of course, say this in jest but I’m sure you have been to a chaotic meeting where most people don’t even know who is running the show. Know exactly where you are going with your meeting. If additional questions arise that require discussion, deal with them outside of the meeting or add them to the next agenda.
  • Come prepared. Whether you are expected to take notes to email to the other PLC members, bring student work, or have grades to share, be prepared. Don’t waste your time or the time of your fellow teachers by not being ready to get right down to business.
  • It doesn’t matter if you are a long-term sub, first year teacher, or a 30-year veteran, you have things to contribute. Don’t make the mistake of thinking the veteran teachers have all the answers, or the equally poor mistake of thinking newbies don’t have much to offer. Also, and this might be the most important part, all teachers should share the student work or grades they have been asked to bring! After all, the point of the PLC is collaboration.
  • Keep your focus on the students. Don’t think of your PLC as just another thing to do. Think of it as a way to hone your skill as an educator so student learning can increase, making them more successful. If you aren’t discussing outcomes and best practices, you are simply doing it wrong. While we do benefit from the PLC as educators, our students should be the ultimate beneficiaries.
  •  Trip to the Zoo Oct 2013

Please remember, this is by no means a comprehensive look at PLCs. Something like that could take a book, or three![1] This article is meant to help you identify where your PLC might be going wrong, what it is doing well, and, most importantly, to remind you of why they are so worth it!

Andrea M. Craddock, M.Ed.

School Services

TeachBeyond

 

Photo Credits:  Timer, kitchen_timer.jpg. SCS Bolivia TeachBeyond, 2015.

[1] For more information about PLCs, you can check out this website from ASCD, To see an example of a PLC in action check out this Youtube video. DuFour and Eakers are two well respected authorities on PLCs.  A number of books can be found written by them both together and with other authors.  If you don’t have time to read one of their books in full, here is a brief summary one teacher put together of the book Professional Learning Communities at Work.