Garrison+Forest+School



Since its founding in 1910, Garrison Forest School has offered an indelible educational experience  designed to help students achieve their fullest potential and live lives of purpose.

**Garrison Forest School PLPeeps** 2010-2011 PLP Cohort || || || Team Leader || lanaconte@gfs.org || Upper School, Math Teacher || lanaconte || contelana || Lana's Blog || || ||
 * Name || email || Division/Subject || Twitter || Delicious || Blog ||
 * Chris Shriver || christineshriver@gfs.org || Pre-School Associate Teacher, Lower Division (K-3) Technology Coordinator || ccshriver || ccshriver || The Learning Curve
 * Dana Livne || danalivne@gfs.org || Lower Division, Fifth Grade Teacher || dlivne || danalivne || My Learning Blog
 * Rachel Herlein || rachelherlein@gfs.org || Middle School, English Teacher, Academic Resource Center Coordinator || rherlein ||  || In Light of all This
 * Lana Conte*
 * Beth Ruekberg || bethruekberg@gfs.org || Upper School, Chair History Dept, History Teacher || bruekberg || bethruekberg || Ruekmusings
 * Renee Hawkins || reneehawkins@gfs.org || Director of Instructional Technology, Chair Technology Dept, Lower Division Technology Coordinator || rhawk || rhawkins20 || The Flying Trapeze

**Action Research Project**

**"We need to move beyond the idea that an education is something that is provided for us,** **and toward an idea that an education is something that we create for ourselves."**

**~ Stephen Downes**

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In order to build a sustainable model to meet the professional development needs of a 21st century faculty, Garrison teachers need to embrace active learning and professional sharing. We define active learning as taking responsibility for one's own process of learning, asking what do I need to know; where might I go to learn; how can I apply what I'm learning? We define professional sharing as being faculty-driven, with opportunities to discuss pertinent topics relevant to the interests and needs of faculty, sharing an expertise, a learning experience, or bringing back information from an outside professional development, opportunities to seek guidance or advice from colleagues. Huge challenges face today's educators which can only be overcome with an intentional plan to develop as professionals through a Personal Learning Network and a Professional Learning Community. Operating from the principle of "you learn better what you can teach others," Garrison teachers are moving to become a community of experts who can teach and share a variety of skills and expertise with one another. We believe we can set a high bar on our own and support one another in a collaborative, professional way to achieve our objectives. =====

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While Garrison supports faculty professional development by generously funding participation to conferences and workshops, and by providing teachers with the necessary release time, there is little opportunity for professional sharing in our community. Our classrooms are closed off and teachers who want to share have few opportunities to communicate what they learned to the broader faculty. New initiatives and innovative thinking often withers on the vine without a forum to move beyond an individual's classroom. Our community isn't making good use of the wide range of experience and expertise in our faculty, or finding practical, consistent ways to grow professionally. =====

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Our objective is to create the culture of a Professional Learning Community that values active learning and professional sharing. We want teachers to have a variety of opportunities within the limits of the daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly schedule to foster this culture. To gauge our progress, we have surveyed our faculty, observed attendance at weekly PD opportunities, conducted informal conversations, and followed activity in the GFS Teaching and Learning Ning.=====

1) Create and maintain opportunities for face-to-face sharing:

 * =====The Lower and Middle School now have a weekly gathering of teachers called "Breakfast Boosters" where the main focus is learning about and discussing innovative teaching practices and instructional technology. Faculty sign up to present on an area of expertise;=====
 * =====The Upper School has a weekly gathering called "Food for Thought" where a topic of discussion in announced in advance and teachers come prepared to discuss;=====
 * =====Instead of bringing in a paid speaker for the all-school Professional Development Day, teachers from all three divisions planned and implemented workshops in an area of expertise for which others could register to attend;=====
 * =====A workshop is being planned for teachers outside of the Garrison Community to attend where GFS faculty will teach effective uses of Moodle, our online curriculum management system.=====

2) Encourage sharing in the Garrison Forest School NING:

 * =====After being presented and discussed at the opening faculty meeting, Breakfast Boosters and Food for Thought, 85% of GFS faculty are members of the Ning;=====
 * =====Resources and follow up discussions from the Lower Division's Breakfast Boosters and Upper School Food for Thought meetings are placed on the NING;=====
 * =====Contributions to the NING have not yet reached the desired level, but anecdotal we know teachers are visiting while not contributing;=====
 * =====In a poll taken in early May 2011, clear evidence indicated improvement in faculty sharing since the start of the year (see below).=====

3) Create a network of faculty "experts":

 * =====The summer prior to beginning our PLP experience, teachers gathered for a "Moodle Moot" where faculty "experts" led training workshops for their colleagues, sharing their knowledge and expertise with educational and technological tools;=====
 * =====Faculty who have volunteered to present at Breakfast Boosters and at the all school Professional Development Day are identified as teacher leaders;=====
 * =====Highlighting the effective use of technology in the classroom and giving recognition to teachers pioneering technology initiatives at the Professional Development Day helped the faculty to put a face to the colleagues they could approach with questions;=====
 * =====Teacher leaders created resources which are housed on Moodle that colleagues use to review what has been learned during PD opportunities.=====

February 18th PD Survey
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**Lessons Learned **

 * =====Faculty ARE willing to share, learn, and collaborate; =====
 * =====We all need more time to share, learn, collaborate and implement ideas in our classroom; =====
 * =====Teachers are more open to sharing, and we see evidence across divisions that teachers are using digital tools in the pursuit of improved learning outcomes; but it is hard to measure if they are actively learning; =====
 * =====Teachers are returning to our MoodleMoot and February PD Moodle course pages to review resources on their own time; =====
 * =====They visit the GFS Ning to review what is shared during Breakfast Boosters as well as posts linking to videos and articles; =====
 * =====It is imperative to have programs, professional development, and sharing times in place so that teachers are more inclined to want to share; =====
 * =====Professional Development does not mean that paid outside experts have to be brought in; actually it has been beneficial to have in-house professional development so that teachers can go to their colleagues on their own time to learn more about what is presented; =====
 * =====If discussions are too open-ended and not directed by research-based information, articles or videos, or concrete examples, the sharing does not move us forward in practice; =====
 * =====Some faculty fear that sharing means they have to use technology. Once we are able to get them into settings where the focus is on learning, their resistance eases in many cases; =====
 * =====We have incredible faculty with amazing ideas. It has been a true gift to open many of our collective doors and share our experiences and ideas. =====

**Future Outcomes**

 * Develop a Professional Development Task Force, working in coordination with Division Heads and the Head of School, to design thematic learning opportunities for teachers;
 * Schedule time for full faculty collaboration, interdisciplinary, and cross-discipline curriculum development.
 * Instruct and support teachers in finding experts in their own disciplines and how to develop their own PLN ;
 * Continue to use our faculty as resident "experts," taking advantage of what they learn in their own independent professional development;
 * Create the expectation that learning that takes place "outside" of our community, be brought back to our community with scheduled opportunities to share with other teachers;
 * Support the increasing use of digital tools by promoting the teachers and students using them;

** Samples of the GFS shift: **
Instead of preparing a research paper, PLPeep Beth Ruekberg asked her students in her Peace Studies elective to create a multimedia presentation. The presentation was the culmination of semester-long research on individually selected topics for which students created and enacted a Peace Action plan.

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Janet Blatchley, Eighth Grade Algebra teacher, creates screencasts for her corrections. Students can watch these on their own time and class time can be used for further instruction.
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Lisa Rein, Upper School Physics teacher, provides screencasts for blended learning and snow days!
[|Snow Day physics]

After reading a novel where the main character was in foster care, Fifth grade students were inspired to research foster care and created a public service announcement Animoto video to help make others aware. This was the culminating projected that included collaborative team work, a KWL prep handout, and a class wiki. Foster care wiki: http://reading-fostercare.wikispaces.com/

This, our first TPACK lesson was designed by Dana Livne and Chris Shriver, and was inspired by a PLP TPACK elluminate lesson delivered by Bill Ferriter.

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====The Fifth Graders have been using VoiceThread as a presentation tool. This tool enables students to practice oral speaking and enables their peers to take the time to listen to them, replay their comments and give appropriate feedback and make connections. It allows all the students to be heard at the pace of their peers.====

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**Intra-Faculty Professional Development Topics** ====Faculty identify the topics and facilitate discussions during a mutual free time. We have had to be creative to make the time possible. Sometimes we ask faculty to read a short article or watch a short video in advance of our discussions. Food is an ever-present supplement to our discussions.====

__Lower Division: Breakfast Boosters__

 * ==== Making learning stick ====
 * ==== What are you reading? ====
 * ==== Prezi ====
 * ==== Bulletin boards ====
 * ==== Reader’s Theater ====
 * ==== Yoga in the classroom ====
 * ==== Khan Academy ====

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 * ==== The teacher-student connection ====
 * ==== Differentiated instruction ====
 * ==== Brain-based tools for teaching and learning ====
 * ==== Reading and writing through the curriculum ====
 * ==== Assessments: Tools for Learning ====
 * ==== The blended learning environment ====
 * ==== 21st century skills ====
 * ==== Before During and After: The Reading Process ====
 * ==== Foldables: 3-D Graphic Organizers ====
 * ==== Embracing disequilibrium in the classroom ====
 * ==== Ready, Set, Engage: ACTIVE LEARNING IN THE CLASSROOM ====
 * ==== Socratic Circles: sparking deep discussions ====
 * ==== The Middle School Independent Reading Program ====
 * ==== Student Engagement: 4 Main Student Motivators ====
 * ==== Grading to Communicate: A discussion on Grades ====
 * ==== Student Interest Rubric as a guide for curriculum design ====

__Upper School: Food for Thought__

 * ==== Nurturing your professional soul ====
 * ==== Needs of 9th graders ====
 * ==== Senioritis ====
 * ==== Differentiation ====
 * ==== Plagiarism ====
 * ==== Tip, tricks, tools, and favorite lessons using technology ====
 * ==== Assessment Integrity ====