Enhancing Professional Practice

As Wisconsin gears up for the new Educator Effectiveness framework in 2014, our North leadership team continues to grow ahead of the curve. We just finished the book, Enhancing Professional Practice- A Framework for Teaching, that outlines Danielson's domains of: Planning and Preparation, The Classroom Environment, Instruction, and Professional Responsibilities.

As Principal of Waukesha North, I was able to pilot the new framework with three teachers this school year. It has been most rewarding to focus our improvement efforts on shared definitions and understandings of student learning and student outcomes. After all, our primary mission is to enhance student learning.

In the framework for teaching, PURPOSE is central to engaging students in learning important content and creating situations for them to put this learning into action!  A teacher's role is not so much to teach as it is to arrange for learning. The teacher is in charge of organizing the environment, managing the learning process, and establishing the framework for critical thinking and creative exploration.

If one component of the framework for teaching can claim to be the most important, it is student engagement. The quality of student engagement is the direct result of careful planning of learning experiences. Hands-on activity is not enough; it must also be "minds-on".

Schools with a culture for learning are purposeful and exciting places. Is the Purple Palace that exciting place? Do you feel high levels of intellectual energy?
What is your role to get us there?