Building Leadership Capacity for Professional Development

Professional development for teachers and school administrators is essential to enhancing student learning and supporting school improvement. This workshop series is designed to build leadership capacity for planning and facilitating effective professional development at the school level. These workshops are intended for teachers and school administrators who will serve on the school-based PD committee. Participants will learn the skills and processes needed to develop and implement a comprehensive PD plan for their school.

Workshop 1. Participants will discuss the role of professional development throughout the professional life of teachers and school administrators. Using collaborative processes, participants will develop a vision for effective professional development at the school level that considers teachers’ professional growth needs, curriculum implementation and school improvement. Each school team will generate the terms of reference for a school-based PD committee including the role, committee membership, responsibilities and procedures for supporting professional development at the school level.

Workshop 2. Using data collected at the school level, each team will create a comprehensive PD plan. Participants will draft program goals and select strategies that support ongoing professional development. The comprehensive PD plan will include formative and summative measures that will support implementation of the plan. Using a collaborative process, participants will use dialogue and critical reflection to improve each school’s comprehensive PD plan.

Please contact Michael Podlosky, coordinator, for more information.

Leading Professional Development for School Renewal Series
This program is delivered in a series of three half-day sessions. The seminars are designed ideally for school teams of a teacher committed to school-focused professional development and a teacher with an administrative designation. The focus on school teams recognizes the importance of context and culture in professional development planning at the individual, school and system levels. The overall goal of the program is to promote and enhance effective, ongoing, school-focused professional development. Some of the specific objectives include:

to prepare school-based personnel for leadership roles in professional development planning and implementation with a specific focus on the essential components of effective professional development,
to connect school-based PD with school development planning and school-based decision making,
to examine the process of change and professional development as change, and
to develop PD action plans for schools based on a variety of assessments.

Real Learning First: A Three Part Series: Examination of Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century [NEW]
The three sessions will examine how teachers determine curriculum emphases, design instructional and learning activities, and develop and administer evaluations. Good classroom assessments improve learning and support teaching by motivating students to learn better, by helping teachers make important instructional decisions and by involving students meaningfully in setting goals for their learning. The research shows that the teacher's professional judgment of student progress is a much stronger predictor of future success than performance on single large-scale examinations such as provincial achievement tests.
The series will examine three key questions:

What does society want from and expect of its schools?
How do we know if we are being successful in meeting these desires and expectations?
What kind of teaching and learning will we need in the next decade?

Teacher Leaders for the 21st Century (Levels I & II)
This program is delivered in a series of two to three half days. The seminars, designed for school teams of a teacher and an administrator, provide participants with a unique opportunity to explore the concept of leadership and examine opportunities for teacher leadership. The focus on school teams recognizes the importance of context and culture in developing leadership capacity at both the school and system level. The session will focus on the following themes:

Leadership, school reform and school renewal
An examination of current models, constructs and conceptions of teacher leadership
The role of the school principal in nurturing and developing teacher leadership