This Quarter's Focus: NCTE Supports Teacher Teams
Teacher Learning Communities ... Teacher Teams ... Communities of Practice ... no matter what name it is given, NCTE recognizes the importance of professional learning groups as places where teachers can grow in their instructional skills, develop creative, effective teaching strategies, and collaborate with colleagues.
Teachers Organizing for Change
Author: Cathy Fleischer
This book offers teachers and teacher educators a practical, hands-on guide to effecting positive change in their own learning communities and in the larger social community.
Teacher Study Groups
Authors: Barbara Birchak, Clayton Connor, Kathleen Crawford-McKinney, Leslie Kahn, Sandy Kaser, Susan Ropp, Kathy Short
Includes many practical suggestions for organizing, facilitating, and dealing with group dynamics within a study group.
Research shows that teacher learning communities enhance teacher quality, and teacher quality is the most important factor in enhancing student achievement.
NCTE Policy Research Brief, 2010 “Teacher Learning Communities”
Pathways Professional Development Program
Pathways
is a powerful resource to support teachers and learning communities committed to continuous improvement in response to students' learning. Focusing on hot-topic issues such as Adolescent Literacy and 21st Century Literacies, the programs provide affordable professional development that advances student achievement in every subject by focusing on teachers' instructional practices and questions.
Connected Community
NCTE's Connected Community is a friendly, productive digital space for literacy teachers to come together online to gain easy access to each other’s best ideas and support one another’s efforts. Enjoy the benefits of networking with some of the best minds in literacy education today!
AND ANNOUNCING …
The new Literacy in Learning Exchange, going live this month, is a digital resource like no other that will support literacy learning in all content areas by making visible the work of successful school teams.
NCTE Journals
-Journal article: http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/EJ/0952-nov05/EJ0952Secondary.pdf
-Our Annual Convention and other meetings allow for gatherings of large communities
-Our Constituent groups and Affiliates allow for English language arts professionals to join communities of practice based on their geographical proximity (Affiliate link), their level of interest (example of section link), or their professional philosophy (WLU link).
-Also, if it’s not too crowded, maybe a photo of Sarah Brown Wessling and a quote from her 9-12 CCSS book:
“As [we] have mentioned … planning and teaching are collaborative processes strengthened by the support of colleagues. … [Y]our ability to positively affect student learning is largely influenced by the relationships you foster with colleagues, as well.”
Teacher of the Year 2010-11, Sarah Brown Wessling, Supporting Students in a Time of Core Standards: Grades 9-12 , by Sarah Brown Wessling, with Danielle Lillge and Crystal VanKooten.