Professional Development

Overview

PD is sustained: a 3-year program for each cadre.

• PD begins with a 4-day implementation workshop in August,
• continues with weekly meetings during the first academic year,
• followed by monthly meetings during years 2 and 3.
• Collaborative action research enhances and sustains PD.

All teachers in each cadre are from the same school.

• All PD activities are on-site, soon after the school day ends.

PD taught by project PIs, using & modeling TEFA pedagogy

Participating Teachers

• Each cadre contains about 10 teachers, from
• both high & middle school, math & science (mostly HS science).
• There will be 3 cadres: 2 so far, one more starting next January.

Typical Weekly PD Lesson & Homework

Checking in: Teachers talk about how they are doing (with technology, with question design, with managing discussion, etc.), what they have been trying, and what is on their minds.

Sample question cycle: Instructors model how a typical PRS question/discussion/closure cycle might look, and introduce new question styles.

Theoretical underpinnings: Instructors provide some structure and pedagogical theory to help teachers understand TEFA pedagogy and apply it consistently.

Working on new questions: Teachers collaborate in small groups to develop questions for their own use during the upcoming week, and to get feedback on them.

Homework: After each meeting, teachers reflect on their practice (make a journal entry; read, summarize, and react to an article; predict what will happen when they ask a certain question in class; etc.).