Enhancing Professional Practice

Describes a framework for teaching based on the PRAXIS III criteria which identifies those aspects of a teacher's responsibilities that promote improved student learning; exploring twenty-two components, grouped into the four domains of planning and preparation, classroom environment, instruction, and professional responsibilities.

Ready-to-use forms and instruments offer sound advice and step-by-step procedures for how teachers and other school staff can incorporate the framework for professional practice into their work. Includes guidance and tools for evaluation by self, mentors, and supervisors.

With its clear definition of the elements of good teaching, the framework for teaching, designed by Charlotte Danielson, is used by educators around the world for professional preparation, recruitment and hiring, mentoring and induction, professional development, and performance appraisal. This action tool can guide you in applying the framework in your own classroom or school and strengthening your professional practice with proven strategies. Broken down into the different domains, components, and elements of the framework, each section provides examples of best practices for the higher levels of performance, followed by a variety of tools that teachers can adapt and incorporate into their instruction. Self-assessments at the domain and component levels help you analyze your own practice. And the activities for each element can be used in your planning or with students, helping you develop the techniques that strengthen your practice. Whether you use the tools on your own or with colleagues in a study group or professional learning community, implementing the framework for teaching can help you become a better teacher. Charlotte Danielson is also founder of the Danielson Group.

Since the original publication of Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching in 1996, thousands of educators in the United States and around the world have used the framework and its clear definition of the components of good teaching to structure their professional conversations and guide their practice. Building on those diverse experiences, Charlotte Danielson now provides specific guidance for teacher educators, teachers, administrators, and others who seek to use the framework to improve their programs and practice. The Handbook for Enhancing Professional Practice offers sound advice, step-by-step procedures, and practical tools for using the framework in * Teacher preparation, * Teacher recruitment and hiring, * Teacher mentoring and peer coaching, * Self-directed professional inquiry, * Professional development, and * Teacher evaluation. The ready-to-use forms and other instruments in this book transform the framework for teaching into a mechanism for teacher support that emphasizes two key goals: quality assurance and professional learning. Grounded in practitioners' wisdom, this handbook demonstrates how the framework for teaching can inform professional growth throughout a teacher's career—from preservice training through the attainment of the skills and knowledge that characterize distinguished teaching. Charlotte Danielson is an international education consultant and presenter based in Princeton, N.J.

How do expert teachers do it? How do they enhance student learning? How do they manage the dilemmas and tensions inherent in working with 25 different students in every lesson? Internationally respected teacher educator John Loughran argues that teachers’ knowledge of what they do is largely tacit and often misunderstood. In this book, he distils the essence of professional practice for classroom teachers. Drawing on the best research on pedagogy, he outlines the crucial principles of teaching and learning, and shows how they are translated into practice using real classroom examples. He emphasises that teaching procedures need to be part of an integrated approach, so that they are genuinely meaningful and result in learning. Throughout, he shows how teachers can engage their students in ways that create a real ‘need to know’, and a desire to become active learners. What Expert Teachers Do is for teachers who want to become really accomplished practitioners.

Put into action, instructional frameworks help teachers locate their current level of fluency, focus on the key dimensions of professional judgment, and take their practice to the next level. Discover how to accelerate teacher growth by taking the “insider’s view” of practice, articulating key dimensions of professional judgment to create clear growth pathways for teachers at every level of fluency. Teacher leaders, administrators, and instructional coaches will gain a replicable process for: Identifying the most promising areas of focus Drafting and piloting an initial framework Getting input and feedback from teachers Articulating a vision for exemplary practice Building momentum and overcoming resistance to change Contents: Introduction Part 1: What Are Instructional Frameworks? Chapter 1: Defining and Developing Instructional Frameworks Chapter 2: Making Shared Expectations More Specific Chapter 3: Instructional Frameworks in Action—Case Studies Part 2: How to Develop Instructional Frameworks Chapter 4: Choose a Focus Chapter 5: Bounding Your Improvement Focus Chapter 6: Identifying Key Components Chapter 7: Articulating Levels of Fluency Chapter 8: Getting Started and Getting Input Part 3: Instructional Frameworks in Action Chapter 9: Using Instructional Frameworks for Teacher Growth Chapter 10: Broader Applications for Instructional Frameworks Chapter 11: Supporting Organization-Level Initiatives With Instructional Frameworks Conclusion: Coming Full Circle Appendix A-Q References and Resources Index

Enhancing Practice through Classroom Research is an accessible introduction to understanding and improving teaching and learning through a process of reflection, research and action. Written by teachers for teachers, it offers a straightforward guide to classroom research and considers issues central to effective professional development. Including questions for reflection and illustrated with case studies and vignettes of the authors’ own experiences of undertaking classroom research, it offers a step-by-step guide to beginning your own research: identifying an area of professional concern or interest articulating your own educational values developing a better understanding of your practice thinking critically about educational practices depicting practice as it is and as it evolves finding a research methodology providing evidence of improved practice developing theory from practice. Acknowledging the busy nature of classroom teaching and focussing on personalising professional development, this friendly, sensible text offers support and guidance for all student and practising teachers interested in research either for your own professional development or to pursue postgraduate studies in your area of interest.

Understanding and researching professional practice is crucial both to enhancing the quality of professional learning and to improving professional education more generally. Yet professional practice remains something that is little known, theoretically and philosophically, despite a longstanding interest in what might be called the meta-field of professional practice, learning and education. The contributors to this book, drawn from fields such as education, allied health, psychology and business, explore different aspects of practice in the professions, professionalism, and research. This includes engaging with the burgeoning literature on practice theory and philosophy, including the increasingly influential neo-Aristotelian tradition, and taking account of growing interest in practice thinking across contemporary scholarship. It considers issues such as the primacy of practice, the nature of professional judgement, the role of ‘experience’, ethics, context, and the practitioner standpoint. As such, it raises important and timely questions about practice ontologies, epistemologies and methodologies, and also praxis and politics. This is especially needed in a context otherwise increasingly organised by neoliberalism, economic rationality, anxious managerialism, and what some see as a general drive towards de-professionalisation and new nuances and intensities of regulation.