Notes from Linda Darling-Hammond Keynote Address

Linda Darling-Hammond Keynote Address

K-12 & Higher Education:

A Shared Responsibility to Impact Teaching Practice

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These are my notes and interpretation of the keynote address

 

Session Notes

-What do effective and equitable teachers know and do?

• high level of structures
• high level of planning
• belief in what students are capable of achieving

-kids construct academic identity influence achievement and engagement

• for example calling students scientists in a lab class or historians in social studies

-how do we prepare teachers to mentor students to be independent learners

• work is explicit in classrooms in Finland, Singapore
• it is part of the accountability system K-12

-Effective Teachers

• engage teachers in active learning
• create intellectually ambitious tasks
• use variety teaching strategies
• assess student learning to adapt teaching to student needs
• create effective scaffolds
• clear standards, constant feedback (students can define own strategies), opportunities for revising work
  • achievement impacted by information part of feedback process
  • end of feedback process is the chance for students to revise
  • educators have to create space in curriculum for revision opportunities
• develop and effectively manage collaborative classroom

-Equitable Teachers

• learn to see, hear and understand the child
  • always trying to find out child's strengths
  • reinforcing confidence and competence
• continually develop culturally responsive pratices
• reach out to families
• culturally connected and caring

*think about these qualities as we design schools

• do teachers have the time to connect with students in meaningful ways
• do we provide opportunities for students to reflect and think about learning and their needs

-teacher effectiveness- individual person has certain qualities (based on large study in North Carolina)

• strong academic background
• quality preparation to entry
• certification in field taught
• experience national board certified

-what about high quality teaching

• effectiveness of peers- gains when teachers work in teams, teaching is a team sport
• student availability for learning
• available resources
• well-designed PD can improve practice and increase student achievement (must be consistent)

*Finland teacher preparation program

• extensive focus on teaching students with special needs, know deeply how to support others to learn
• do research, conduct a thesis about teaching (studying children and teaching)
• spend a year in a model school
• explicit curriculum to learn how to teach, merger of course work and clinical work

-teacher more effective

• looping- spend time with students beyond one year
• teach same course more than one year
• access to high-quality curriculum materials
• chance to learn from expert peer
• work with a team to plan curriculum

*How does this influence teacher preparation and continually professional growth?

1. carefully develop student teaching
2. courses in content and pedagogy
3. focus on learning specific practices and applying in clinical experience
4. study local district curriculum
5. portfolio or capstone project tying to theory to practice
6. program coherence and common vision
7. School- university partnership that support that vision and create a clinical curriculum

*learning about practice in practice

• looking at student learning and deconstructing what is observed
  • How often do teachers get a chance to observe a class?  Structure established where teachers get observed but rare when examine students and peers in non-teaching role

-performance assessment of teaching

• evaluate teachers  and preparation programs with performance assessments (California, Connecticut)

*idea of professional development schools and teaching residencies

• do we need to more mirror medical school process
  • tiers of performance measures

*influence of teacher preparation due to Common Core and coaching experienced teachers

• interdisciplinary learning
• problem-solving
• reading and writing across the curriculum

*professional development schools- rethinking partnership between higher ed prep programs and K-12 for student teaching experience

• data sharing between organizations
• professional development between organizations
• collaboration between organizations