THE LEARNING EDUCATOR

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THE LEARNING EDUCATOR
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Principle1 PRINCIPLES

• Important
• Principles may and
• must be inflexible
• -Abraham Lincoln

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Principle 1 PRINCIPLES

• Principles
• Shape our thoughts,
• Words, and actions.
• Hirsh, S. and Killion, J. (2007) The learning
  Educator.
• OH NSDC

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Groups that are too much alike find it harder to
keep learning, because each member is bringing
less and less new information to the table.
Homogenous groups are great at doing what they do
well but they become progressively less able to
investigate alternatives.Surowiecki, J. (2005)
The wisdom of crowds.New York Anchor
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Principle 3 LEADERSHIP

• Leaders matter.
• - Dennis
  Sparks

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Principle 3 LEADERSHIP

• Leaders are responsible for building the capacity
  in individuals, teams, and organizations to be
  leaders and learners.
• Hirsh, S. and Killion, J. (2007). The Learning
  Educator
• OH NSDC

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Like (President Kennedys) moon mission, a true
BHAG is clear and compelling and serves as a
unifying focal point of effort often creating
immense team spirit.Porras, J., Emery, S.,
Thompson, M. (2007). Success built to last
Creating a life that matters. Upper Saddle
River, NJ Wharton School Publishing
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Principle 5 FOCUS

• The main thing is to keep the main thing the
  main thing.
• - Stephen Covey

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Evaluation is important because if educators are
going to get the staff development they need to
help their students perform proficiently, they
will have to demonstrate that adult learning can
significantly increase student achievement.Mizel
l, H. (1997, December 9). Is staff development a
smart investment?
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Principle 7 EXPERTISE

• Never become so much of an expert that you stop
  gaining expertise. View life as a continuous
  learning experience.
• - Denis Waitley

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Principle 7 EXPERTISE

• Communities can solve even their most complex
  problems by tapping internal expertise.
• Hirsh, S. and Killion, J. (2007). The Learning
  Educator. OH NSDC

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Acknowledging that, unless teams of teachers
improve together, schools never will stresses
the cultural approach toward improvement and
change. The goal of professional development is
the enculturation of a continuous improvement
philosophy among teams of professionals rather
than individual teachers.Sparks, D. (2004,
December). The looming danger of a two-tiered
professional development system. Phi Delta
Kappan, 86(4), 304 306.
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Our Vision
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FromIndividual learning
?
To Team-based and school-wide learning
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Learning is both an individual and a social
process. Capturing individual learning for the
benefit of the group enterprise depends
structures that support interdependence in
serious, substantive ways.
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FromStandardization
?
High standards for teaching, professional
learning, and student learning.
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FromIncreasing the number ofstaff
development days or periods
To Restructuring the workday of all educators to
ensure daily learning experiences
?
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A school isnt likely to have a collaborative
culture without a consistent time each week for
teams to work together during the school day.
Principals should protect the collaborative time
for teamwork just as teachers protect students
instructional time.
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FromSeparate individual teacher, school,
district professional development
plans?ToEffective professional learning
embedded into team, school, and district
improvement plans
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The alignment of the pedagogical and leadership
practices of the school with its commonly held
beliefs determines the integrity of the school
and the possibility of equitable outcomes for all
students. Professional development programs that
do not align with the core values and vision of
the school are doomed to failure.Baron, Daniel
(2007) Critical Friendship Leading From the
Inside Out. Principal Leadership
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From Improvingteacher
practice ? To Improving
teaching quality and student learning

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We cannot afford to keep relearning that
improvement of students learning depends on
skillful teaching and that skillful teaching
depends on capable teachers and what they know
and can do.Ball, D.L. (2003, February).
Mathematics in the 21st century. What
mathematical knowledge is needed for teaching
mathematics. Washington, DC. U.S. Department of
Education Secretarys Summit on Mathematics.
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From Relying on outside
experts ? To
Tapping and building internal
expertise
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Teacher expertise is at the foundation of
increasing teacher quality and advancements in
teaching and learning.York-Barr, J. Duke, K
(2004). What do we know about teacher
leadership? Findings from two decades of
scholarship. Review of Educational Research.
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FromA single career path for
teachers ? To Multiple
options for teachers to become leaders
in schools
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Teachers who become leaders experience personal
and professional satisfaction, a reduction in
isolation, a sense of instrumentality, and new
learning all of which spill over into their
teaching. As school-based reformers, these
teachers become owners and investors in the
school, rather than mere tenants. They become
professionals.Barth, R.S. (2001). Teacher
leader. Phi Delta Kappan 82(6), 443
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From Inservice education
andstaff/professional development ?
To Professional learning
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Every teacher must be learning virtually every
day. Individual and collective professional
learning, getting better and better in the
setting in which you work, must be built into the
culture of the school in both its internal and
external interactions . . . Most schools,
structurally and normatively, are not places
where virtually every teacher is a learner all
the time.Fullan, Michael (2006, November)
Leading professional learning Think system
and not individual school if the goal is to
fundamentally change the culture of schools. 10
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