Category Archives: transfer of training

Trauma informed practices and social/emotional protocols for returning to school

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Photo of pre-school children sitting on the playground in a square designated by chalk lines on the ground. Each child is seated separately.

“The fear of these past few months as Covid-19 has taken over the world will no doubt take some time to get over. Hesitance to return back to normal too quickly is likely a normal reaction, therefore. Aside from the health factors at play, however, we have a real chance now to build back better, rather than to rush back to normal.”

As the school year finishes in many parts of the world, begins in others, and is contemplated and speculated about, my sole concern is about the social and emotional effects of it all. How are we going to cope with the past few months of curfews, stay at home, lockdowns, and an uncertain future? Are we prepared to discuss and deal with it? How are we going to make sure we are all comfortable and feel secure in a totally different school environment than the one we used to know? I’m not so sure. I hardly hear or read of any plans for training educators in trauma informed pedagogy or even focusing on how traumatic this time has been for everyone. I am worried; worried that we will be taking care of the “not getting COVID-19” part of the return to school, but not the social and emotional trauma it has caused. And that means we will try to “do school” with physical distancing and wearing a mask but immediately go back to teaching content that we assume has been lost over the past five months.

We are in an emergency situation that is ongoing and very traumatic. There will be long lasting emotional effects on us all and especially on our children. In fact, just the thought of students going back into a classroom that has them spaced six feet apart, requires them to wear a mask, wash their hands frequently, and eat alone makes me wonder how we can ignore the social and emotional discussions that need to happen before any learning can start. I have failed to read an article about reopening schools anywhere in the world that places emphasis on how they are going to deal with the emotional toll of COVID19 situation on teachers, administrators, parents, and students. Many are concerned about what school will look like, the cost of the “new normal”, and the economic consequences in capitalist societies of not getting back to school so parents can get back to work. I think we need to change our priorities. We should begin looking at trauma informed practices and social/emotional practices for teachers to learn and practice with their students when and as schools reopen.

“MOEs also need to anticipate and prepare for additional challenges resulting from the direct and indirect consequences of COVID-19 and prolonged social isolation, on both the education system and on the school community. These include learning loss, increased risk of dropout, the exacerbation of existing and new inequalities, and the loss of education personnel. UNESCO has been monitoring education responses to COVID-19 globally, collecting and analyzing information and facilitating policy dialogue and experience sharing. Key policy issues include the timing, the conditions and processes for school reopening. The effectiveness of these policy decisions and reopening strategies will depend on the level of preparedness of the education system in terms of infrastructure (health and sanitary measures); teaching staff (ability to provide both psychosocial and academic support); pedagogical preparedness (offering remedial action and alternative modalities to meet learning objectives); learners, families and communities (ability and willingness to return to school and readiness to continue learning.” https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000373401

I’d like to provide some resources for administrators and teachers to consider as they plan for return to school or as they review what is already happening as school reopens.

One excellent resource is from the Center for Social Emotional Learning (CASEL). As part of their CASEL Cares initiative during COVID-19, resources have been collated and created specifically to address the current crisis. In its initial guide, Leveraging the Power of Social and Emotional Learning: as You Prepare to Reopen and Renew Your Community, the authors offer a framework with guidelines for the community, with all stakeholders represented, to prepare a comprehensive plan for returning to school.

“While much uncertainty surrounds how and when school will reopen, we know that social and emotional learning (SEL) will be critical to re-engaging students, supporting adults, rebuilding relationships, and creating a foundation for academic learning. This unprecedented shift to a new type of learning experience may have a lasting and profound impact on young people’s academic, social, emotional, and life outcomes. School leaders will need to bring together administrators, teachers, school staff, families, youth, and community partners to co-create supportive learning environments where all students and adults can enhance their social and emotional competencies, feel a sense of belonging, heal, and thrive (p. 3).”

On page 4, they note that “(t)he guidance below is organized around four critical actions, which are adapted from what we have learned about systemic SEL in collaboration with researchers and practitioners:

4 critical actions CASEL.org suggests based on researchers and practitioners for returning to school after COVID-19

Each critical action is then described in detail including how all stakeholders can put it into practice. In addition, links to related resources are provided. Although this framework was created with a focus on the United States, all school systems can benefit from this research and practice based guide.

Another important source of guidance for coping with the COVID-19 effects on the social and emotional wellbeing of parents, teachers, and students is the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE.org). The work of the INEE spans over many years and supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal-SDG #4 promoting the fundamental right to education for all. While its work is primarily focused on marginalized populations including refugees, there is a wealth of ideas and research based on practice in the field that can be applied to the current situation related to COVID-19 since it is “emergency education” we are dealing with and not “business as usual”.

The advocacy brief recently released by the INEE, “highlights some of the potential impacts of school closures on children, with a focus on the most marginalised, including those already living in crisis and conflict contexts. It provides recommendations for governments and donors, together with partners, to ensure that safe, quality and inclusive learning reaches all children and that education systems are strengthened ready for the return to school.” (https://inee.org/system/files/resources/Learning%20must%20go%20on%2C%20COVID-19%20advocacy%20brief_v20200409.pdf)

The INEE also has a specific set of resources including webinars that focus on education during COVID-19. “Schooling may stop, but learning must not.” https://inee.org/covid-19

Deliberate Practice does not equal Automaticity

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My previous post provided teachers with practical steps to become more reflective. Reflecting on one’s accomplishments and areas for improvement is all well and good, but only half the way to becoming an effective teacher. The other half is deliberate practice-using reflection to change what we do. In fact, the keynote speaker at Education 2020 Conference in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Dr. Linda Price, made an interesting observation about the word reflective. She noted that ‘reflective’ means to ponder or think about one’s actions without necessarily acting on them, but ‘reflexive’ implies using reflection to change what we do. So how can we be more reflexive after reflecting?
According to the Oxford Dictionary, deliberate means, “done consciously and intentionally; fully considered, not impulsive”. In an article entitled, “Deliberate Practice: How to Develop Expertise”, Dr. Richard Jenkins (2012) states, “the best practice demands that the learner be attentive to his or her errors, weaknesses and deficiencies, and consciously work to remedy them”. Dr. Robert Marzano (2012) relates the success of several famous musicians, athletes and businessmen to their perseverance at practicing a specific skill (p. 7) and become more proficient. “Research has shown us time and again that the more we utilize certain neural pathways for building skills – such as throwing a ball or multiplying by fives or recalling all fifty state capitals – the more effectively we ingrain those patterns in our brains.” (Jenkins, 2012) Jenkins has a point, but we must be careful not to associate expertise with ‘automaticity’ of the skill (Marzano, 2012, p. 7). I disagree with Jenkins about the skill becoming automatic. In education, the art of deliberate practice is not in making the skill automatic, instead we must always be mindful of the action; we must think about our thinking related to our increasing expertise in a skill. In fact, monitoring all students in the classroom requires a deliberate mindset. Once we begin to do things automatically, we are less likely to pay attention to what is going on around us. For example, have you ever gone through a traffic light and then wondered if it was green? Once a behavior is automatic, it is easier for our mind to wander.
Being mindful and deliberate about classroom practice allows teachers to continue growing and learning; even master teachers. The bottom line is – teachers must be reflexive – focus on student needs and plan/practice deliberately; the most effective way to increase their students’ achievement.
Do you reflect and act, or reflect and intend to act? Feedback welcome!

Self-reflection: First Step to Effective PD

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In the first post of my series about effective professional development, I discussed the concept of training transfer. In today’s post, I will focus on the first step to training transfer: self-reflection. More specifically, I will focus on the steps to becoming a reflective teacher. Recently, while conducting professional development workshops, I discovered that reflection is the first and most important step toward changing and improving what we do in the classroom each day. I don’t suppose that the idea of reflecting on one’s life is new or different, especially at this time of year when we are entering a new year and reflecting on what we accomplished in the past year.

The Merriam Webster online dictionary (2013) defines reflection as a “thought, idea, or opinion formed or a remark made as a result of meditation’ or ‘consideration of some subject matter, idea, or purpose’. In theory, this concept is quite simple; a teacher considers his/her lessons on a particular day and thinks about whether they were successful or not. In reality, this is much more difficult in practice. Teachers are busy people and at the end of the day, the last thing they want to do is think about how their day went. And even if teachers take the time to reflect on their day, how do they create an action plan? For reflection to be effective, teachers must become deliberate in their planning and daily instruction, or outline clear steps to make changes in the classroom. Here’s a step-by-step guide to reflection that leads to action.

1. At the end of each day, set aside 10-15 minutes to journal. The journal entries could be a set of bulleted items that are divided into “successful” and “not so successful”, or a narrative that reflects on what went well and what missed the mark. Note that I did not use the word “failure” since there is always something positive that results from a lesson.
2. Look at each comment or bullet point and decide why the lesson was successful or not so successful (give yourself focused feedback). Reflect on whether you used a strategy at the wrong time, or if you didn’t know what strategy to use.
3. Decide on “next steps”; how can you do the lesson differently/better next time? Do you need to learn a strategy suited to that particular situation/lesson?
4. Come up with a plan and implement it. Ask yourself, ‘How can I accomplish this?’ Three quick ways are: ask a colleague, read more about the topic, or ask an expert.
5. After you try the strategy, reflect again.
6. Get into the habit of reflecting regularly. Only then will your practice become deliberate.
I will say more about deliberate practice in my next post.

Why not make daily reflection one of your New Year’s resolutions.

References:
Marzano, R. M., Boogren, T., Heflebower, T., Kanold-McIntyre, J. & Pickering, D. (2012).Becoming a Reflective Teacher. Marzano Research Laboratory: Bloomington, IN

How can we tell if PD is effective? Part 1

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This is the first in a series of blog posts about effective professional development and training transfer.
What is training transfer and why should it be the most important idea you learn about today?
Training transfer is not a new term, but it is rarely heard in education; it is a phrase used mostly in human resource development (HRD) and refers to the use of training in the workplace. You may be wondering why this is the topic of my second blog post; let me explain. School organizations struggle to find the time and finances for professional development, so isn’t it surprising that once a workshop or training is complete, little follow up is done to find out whether or not the training made its way to the classroom? I suppose an administrator might check for it during an evaluation, but how often does that happen?

In reality, I believe that an assumption is made that a teacher who is motivated to learn something new, or has been directed to improve how he teaches, will automatically use the learning to change his practice. Unfortunately, unless the teacher is highly motivated, or supported afterward with ongoing PD, the learning will end up as a certificate in a teacher’s portfolio and never make its way to the classroom. As noted in my doctoral dissertation (2013) “…investment in time and resources for teacher professional development does not automatically translate into improved classroom practice (Drago-Severson, 2007; Penuel, Fishman, Yamaguchi & Gallagher, 2007). Training becomes a learned behavior when it is used in the job context and sustained over time and is considered effective professional development (Baldwin & Ford, 1988; Burke & Hutchins, 2007)”.
In my first post of this series, I will make the case that an essential component of all schools must be effective professional development that increases teacher effectiveness. In fact, we cannot expect achievement from our students without it. I define professional development as training conferences, peer-led workshops, seminars, and model lessons that aim at developing one’s knowledge and improving skills, and whether it is effective depends on its transfer to the classroom. School leaders who support teachers by providing continuous professional development (CPD) as a priority in their schools, and teachers who value learning about their practice and improving how they teach, will reap the benefits of successful training transfer.
Let me give you two examples of training transfer; one with a successful outcome and one not so successful. I recently attended a conference where one of the speakers is well-known in the education community and has written a number of books to help teachers understand their craft. I was very excited to attend her session since I have read her work and know that she has a lot to offer teachers. However, instead of an interactive and hand-on workshop, I experienced 90 minutes of listening and reading as the presenter spoke and showed wordy power point slides the whole time. I kept hoping to have a chance to use what I learned, either through discussion or an activity, but was never given the opportunity. I (and probably many others) walked out of the session thinking that my time was wasted because there was no chance that I would use the information with students if I wasn’t able to use it and clarify any questions I had during the session.
The second example is much more hopeful. I attended another workshop during the same international conference. It was presented by another eminent education expert. There were plenty of opportunities to use the knowledge we were learning during self-reflection, group discussions and hands on activities. I left that workshop with specific ideas about how I could use the information to help other teachers because I had experienced the learning myself. Was the transfer successful? Yes, I have already used my learning to teach others about the subject and those teachers are already using it in their classrooms.
Effective PD begins with the learner interacting with the new knowledge and having time to reflect and clarify. This supports transfer, but does not guarantee it. In subsequent posts, I will discuss how educators can make sure that training transfers to the classroom.
References
Baldwin, T.T. & Ford, J.K. (1988). Transfer of training: A review and directions for future research. Personnel Psychology, 41, 63-105.
Burke, L.A. & Hutchins, H.M. (2007). Training transfer: An integrative literature review. Human Resource Development Review, 6(3), 263-296.
Drago-Severson, E. (2007). Helping teachers learn: Principals as professional development leaders. Teachers College Record, 109(1), 70-125.
Penuel, W.R., Fishman, B.J., Yamaguchi, R., & Gallagher, L. P. (2007). What makes professional development effective? Strategies that foster curriculum implementation. American Educational Research Journal, 44(4), 921-958.

Why are they leaving?

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After almost 20 years working in education, I have come to the following conclusion: Teaching is an underfed profession. Yes, I said underfed. If you look up the synonyms for underfed you will find ‘undernourished, starving, hungry’. Out of all the words in the English language the word ‘underfed’ describes teachers’ current state of affairs. First of all, teachers are starving for support. They are hungry for ideas to reach each student in their classroom. The system has left them undernourished as they ply the classroom of the 21st century without the prerequisite knowledge and support to keep up with the latest scientifically supported research on how the brain learns, what, how and why to use technology in the classroom, and preparing students for a world that hasn’t even been created yet. They are neglected by school administrators, who spend most of their time managing rather than leading. How often are teachers receiving valuable feedback that will improve their practice? How many teachers are evaluated with the intention of connecting that evaluation to professional development and support to improve their practice? How is it that the teacher, who is the probably the most important variable in whether students achieve or not, is left on her own to find ways to reach students who are increasingly unfocused and disengaged?
An oft-cited statistic that one third of teachers leave the profession after 3 years and 46% leave after 5 years is staggering. A recent article by Cynthia Kopkowski of the National Education Association (USA) cites a 2012 report by the National Center for Education Statistics based on more than 7,000 former and current teachers that outlines a number of reasons for the “revolving door” including lack of support for –
-teacher professional development and time for collaboration with colleagues
-handling classroom discipline
-providing necessary program resources
-lack of respect for their opinions or input
The solutions seem simple, but if they were simple, then why hasn’t anything been done? Without the will to make changes in the system of education, teachers will continue to languish. How can all constituents collaborate and find solutions? I would love to hear your comments.