Laboratory Classrooms
for Teacher Leaders
A
program that develops and sustains
teacher leaders and supports
principals through job embedded
professional development
opportunities within the classroom
setting, to train, view and discuss
best instructional practices focused
on literacy.
Links
to Content:
Demonstration Site:
The East Bay
Educational Collaborative (EBEC) on behalf of the eight
districts in the East Bay region (Newport, Tiverton, Little
Compton, Middletown, Portsmouth, Bristol Warren, East Providence
& Barrington)
The mission of the East
Bay Educational Collaborative is to share, coordinate and
combine selected resources of its eight member districts in
ways that:
- Support the development of all its teachers, administrators
and other professional personnel into world class educators
- Support the development of all its schools into world
class educational institutions
- Provide administrative services that are more cost
effective, of higher quality – or both
- Better serve the needs of selected special needs populations
…for the success of all its learners in ways that maintain
the individuality of each district.
Target Population:
K-12 literacy coaches, K-12 classroom teachers, Department Chairs
and interested teachers of English Language Arts, Social Studies,
Math, and Science, aspiring principals/administrators, practicing
principals/administrators
Need and Intent:
To create and sustain instructional leaders and provide job-embedded
professional development. The common focus in all lab classrooms
is on the following three best practices for instruction:
Gradual
Release of Responsibility Model;
The
Workshop Format; and,
Thinking
Strategies for Readers. The lab classrooms have been so
successful that they are now in the plan for all eight East
Bay districts and are part of the districts’ response
to the state’s emphasis on job-embedded professional development,
especially because it allows principals to stay in their own
building. The next phase will involve developing lab classrooms
across the four content areas.
“Professional development wasn’t
changing what was happening in the classroom. A huge gap was
there. The accountability piece was missing. The principal as
instructional leader is the linchpin. The principal must know
what’s going on or they can’t lead it. We are a
research organization and learned that lab classrooms were working
elsewhere. It does not mean model classroom, it means research
in action with willing participants that are not hand picked
but apply. Principals have a say but we encourage teachers to
apply who are willing to become learners and will partner with
another professional [the coach]. The leadership paradigm has
moved and will continue to move from a management model to an
instructional leadership model.”
- Dr. Edward G. Doucette, EBEC
Literacy Professional Development Specialist
Synopsis:
The EBEC
Literacy team has visited the Public
Education and Business Coalition three times to learn how
they support the Denver Public Schools as they create and sustain
laboratory classrooms for grades K-12. In 2004, EBEC
had an existing cadre of 70 literacy coaches across four districts.
Each coach had had nine full days of training a year in best
practice for two years. EBEC
also had an existing leadership series of four half-day workshops
per year. In October 2004, EBEC
developed a plan for laboratory classrooms with ties to the
leadership series and the Master’s Degree Program in Educational
Leadership sponsored by Rhode
Island College and housed at EBEC.
This plan was endorsed by the district superintendents, curriculum
directors, and principals and consisted of the following provisions:
- EBEC
and the districts will work together to create lab classrooms
in volunteer K-12 schools by building on the existing network
of trained literacy coaches.
- EBEC
will provide nine off-site full-day professional development
experiences on best practice for the lab coach and teacher
partners. The coach and teacher will then implement the strategies
they’ve learned in the classroom.
- The lab teacher agrees to open his/her classroom once in
the second part of the year to at least four visitors.
- EBEC
staff will provide school site support as needed.
EBEC then
sent the
lab
classroom teacher application packet, the
teacher
and coach job descriptions, and the
"Nuts
and Bolts" on Laboratory Classrooms document to all
East Bay principals for distribution.
EBEC evaluated
the applications and selected laboratory teachers for a total
of 100 teachers and coaches. The books, 7
Keys to Comprehension and Bird
by Bird were purchased and distributed to
all literacy coaches and lab teachers. The
Literacy Principal was purchased and given to all lab
classroom principals and aspiring principals. These materials
became job-embedded study group material. In January 2005, Ellin
Oliver Keene (Mosaic of Thought)
presented at a kickoff workshop focused on supporting content
literacy. Participants included literacy coaches, lab teachers,
principals/administrators, aspiring principals, district curriculum
directors and other central office administrators. In January,
one district opened eight lab classrooms and then in April/May,
29 more lab classrooms opened throughout the other East Bay
districts.
In June 2005, reflective journals and summary evaluations were
collected and reviewed by EBEC
staff. (Click
here to read the 04-05 reflections and
here
to see the end-of-year reflection form.) A new plan was
then presented to the districts which extends the lab classroom
model more prominently into the secondary schools, creates new
sections for coach/lab teacher training to differentiate newer
coaches/teachers from more experienced coaches/teachers, and
differentiates elementary from secondary. Additionally, EBEC
proposed that secondary department chairs in ELA, Social Studies,
Science and Math along with an interested teacher and administrator
attend five full day Instructional Leadership meetings in order
to come to a common understanding of school reform and instructional
issues. (This model will eventually allow for lab classrooms
in each core content area at each middle and high school in
the East Bay).
In September 2006, lab classroom teachers and coaches swelled
to 140 participants and the Instructional Leadership meetings
designed for department chairs accommodated over 100 participants
in content specific sessions. These participants are expected
to take the work back to their individual secondary schools.
The book, 7 Keys to Comprehension
was purchased and given to new literacy coaches and lab teachers,
and Writing about Reading was
purchased and given to experienced coaches and lab teachers
for their professional development focus on the writing process.
Principals were provided with the book, What
Works in Schools: Translating Research into Action,
which became the focus of four half-day professional development
sessions. In April/May 2006 the lab classrooms opened for year
two.
Click
here to read about EBEC’s possible next steps.
Implementation Guide:
Coaches and Teachers:
The EBEC
uses various models of coaching and has been training coaches
for a number of years. Coaches are typically professionals who
were removed from teaching duties either full or part time.
Literacy coaches work with teachers on best practices that support
literacy and numeracy development in their students. (The focus
of Rhode Island’s accountability system is reading and
writing across the curriculum.) Coaches come from all content
areas, though most were reading specialists.
Coaches and teachers partner to co-plan, demonstrate/model
or observe in the classroom, and to debrief what was seen and
heard. Some of the applying teachers have had some training
in
The
Workshop Format, others get trained by EBEC.
Coaches and teachers must follow
the
three-part protocol, maintain a reflection journal, and
fulfill all other
requirements
of their role in order to receive the stipend.
Implementation Process:
Pre-Brief:
For a half hour to 45 minutes, the teacher and coach explain
what the visitors will see, referring to the three best practice
documents as guidelines for the observation. The teacher explains
which
thinking strategy for readers will be used and, in the style
of a consultancy
protocol, may articulate an instruction issue with which
they want the visitors’ help.
Observation and Note-Taking:
Usually the teacher is teaching when the visitors are there,
but if it is in the early stages, the coach might be doing the
teaching because the teacher is observing and learning. Visitors
are asked to look for evidence of
the
workshop format and take notes on what they see, hear
and wonder.
De-Brief:
During the de-brief, the visitors’ conversation should
be focused on instruction.
Tips for Implementation:
- The ability and desire to plan together, observe, demonstrate,
and debrief are keys to successful coach/teacher teams.
- It is recommended to choose willing, exemplary teachers
in any content area who understand good teaching and learning
in any content.
- The East Bay schools allow no more than four visitors per
session but the range is left up to the teacher to decide
how comfortable they are. They may also want to restrict visits
to their own district only for the first year.
- Once the students are experienced with visitors, it is
best to allow no more than one visit per week.
- Lab classrooms should always be part of a more comprehensive
professional development program.
- Teachers should visit a lab classroom at least four times
per year and should visit across different grade levels.
Case Study: One
K-5 school receives the services of a highly-trained reading
specialist/literacy coach who has actively and successively
co-planned with, modeled for, observed and given feedback to
willing teachers for the previous four years. The coach received
researched-based professional development in best practice at
EBEC. Beginning
in September of 2004 the literacy coach paired herself at these
trainings with a volunteer third grade lab teacher from her
building. They worked closely together and were able to open
their classroom to visitors in advance of the projected April
2005 date. The principal of this building had been a passionate
supporter of the project; especially after every student in
this classroom either met of exceeded the standards in reading
on their May 2005 assessment.
The principal reorganized the schedule so that each grade level
was able to visit this lab classroom monthly using the suggested
three-part protocol of a guided pre-brief with the coach and
teacher, an observation including what they see, hear, and wonder,
and a de-brief facilitated by the coach. Professional development
funds are used to pay for substitutes during these visits. The
school-wide conversation is completely focused on best practice.
Their plan includes creating a second lab classroom the following
year.
Program Components and Materials:
Attachments:
Books:
- Angelillo, Janet. (2003). Writing
About Reading: From Book Talk to Literary Essays, Grades 3-8.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
- Booth, David and Jennifer Rowsell.
(2002). The Literacy Principal: Leading, Supporting and
Assessing Reading and Writing Initiatives. Markham, Ontario:
Pembroke.
- Lamott, Anne. (1994). Bird by Bird:
Some Instructions on Writing and Life. New York: Pantheon.
- Marzano, Robert. (2003). What
Works in Schools: Translating Research into Action. Alexandria,
VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
- Zimmerman, Susan and Chryse Hutchins.
(2003). 7 Keys to Comprehension: How to Help Your Kids
Read It and Get It! New York: Three Rivers Press.
- Zimmerman, Susan and Ellin Oliver Keene.
(1997). Mosaic of Thought: Teaching Comprehension in a
Reader’s Workshop. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Recommended Resources:
Contact for More Information:
Name: Dr. Edward G. Doucette
Job Title: Literacy Professional Development Specialist
Role in Project: Co-Coordinator
Phone: (401) 245-4998 x326 or x327
E-mail: godric1@cox.net
or edoucette5252@hotmail.com
Address: 317 Market Street, Warren, RI 02885