Professional Learning
Supporting educators with implementing HQIM requires a system of ongoing professional learning and collaboration that increases teacher agency and growth.
OEI professional learning included curriculum-based professional learning workshops and sustained support during implementation, including virtual cross-site PLCs and supports for in-school PLCs.
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Professional learning should be sustained over time with a mix of modalities:
Curriculum-based Professional Learning Workshops
Sustained support during implementation
CURRICULUM BASED PROFESSIONAL LEARNING (CBPL)
K-12 science instructional materials and classrooms have traditionally looked very different from the vision called for in the Framework and NGSS (NRC, 2015). Therefore teachers deserve ongoing support as they shift to new roles for themselves and their students. Curriculum materials that embody these shifts are important, but simply providing curriculum materials is not enough. Professional learning anchored in curriculum materials that provide explicit guidance about teaching with those models is more effective than providing teachers with teaching methods or curriculum alone (Lynch et al., 2019).
MASSACHUSETTS-ADAPTED
PROFESSIONAL LEARNING MATERIALS
Each round of PL includes whole group and unit-specific sessions. The materials assume that between each round of PL, a new unit has been taught. For example, after Round 1, participants go teach their first unit, then come back to Round 2 to debrief how that went and to prepare for their second unit, which they would then teach before coming back to Round 3.
Round 1 - Curriculum Launch
In this four day PL session, participants will experience and analyze examples of the Anchoring Phenomenon Routine to launch their first OSE unit. Additionally they will build the storyline for a unit, experience key student investigations and discussions from the unit, and reflect on how the curriculum and teacher support coherence for learners. Participants will also experience and reflect on establishing classroom norms to support a culture of figuring out. In collaboration with other participants they will analyze, experience, plan for, and rehearse key sensemaking discussions. Lastly we will identify assessment opportunities and supports in the unit, analyze student work from an assessment, and reflect on how these support student learning.
Round 3 - Equitable Discussions
This two day PL session offers participants opportunities to analyze OSE classroom videos considering features of classroom culture and resources for the three main discussion types. Additionally this session Identifies key strategies and tools for planning, developing and maintaining classroom norms that support idea development and student engagement.
Round 4 - Universal Design for Learning
During this two day PL participants identify ways that OSE lessons are designed to address the principles of UDL. Time is spent identifying instructional strategies that align with the UDL principles to support student learning. Additionally participants analyze lessons to identify goals, potential barriers, and ways to use the UDL principles to remove barriers and create flexible paths to learning as well as identify strategies for Emergent Multilingual Learners (EML) that align with the UDL principles.
Round 5 - Assessment
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During this two day PL participants will consider the purpose and types of assessments in the OSE assessment system and examine student work to provide feedback and support students’ learning. Additionally, participants will consider models for grading that align with the instructional model and use assessment guidance to reflect on and prepare for lessons in their next unit.
Round 6 - Making Thinking Visible
This two day PL focuses on analyzing lessons to understand the focus, role, and varied opportunities of writing and drawing for sensemaking in OSE. Participants will examine examples from OSE lessons that show the student resources and progression of student ideas and practices over time as demonstrated through their writing and drawing.. Additionally we will consider how to customize OSE materials in ways that support our students and align with the key goals of OpenSciEd.
SUSTAINED SUPPORT DURING IMPLEMENTATION
Formal professional learning is an important component of successful implementation, equally essential is building in opportunities for teachers to interact, debrief, and collaborate between PL sessions. OEI's support model included the Teacher Learning Network (a virtual PLC forum), sample meeting agendas covering various topics for in-person district collaboration time, and support on site.
Teacher Learning Network PLC Series
These series of PLC meetings center around specific topics that teachers have found tricky while adopting high-quality instructional materials. Each module includes 4-5 sessions with slides and resources to facilitate conversations among teachers.
PLC #1: Assessment and Grading
This 5-session series focuses on the purposes for the use of different assessments, how to use the assessments built into the units to create grades, and looking at student work to examine and evaluate what we learn from the assessments we use.
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PLC #2: Equitable Discussions
This 4-session series focuses on leading equitable discussions, finding supports for discussions in the units, and selecting specific strategies for supporting student as they engage in discussions.
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PLC #3: Supporting Emerging Multilingual Learners
This 4-session series focuses on supporting Emerging Multilingual Learners, finding the supports that are already built into OSE units, and deciding where and how to add supports for our students.
Sample Meeting Agendas
The following sample meeting agendas have been created for use during in-school collaboration time (ex. in-house PD days, CPT time, PLCs). We encourage educators to copy and edit these resources for their own context when implementing OSE units.
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Unit Launch: The Anchoring Phenomena
Two options for a September meeting for a team just getting started with anchoring phenomena and DQBs.
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Fine-tune support for student sensemaking without removing sensemaking opportunities.
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Grading and assessment opportunities directly from the OSE materials without writing your own.
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Make the most of your lesson planning time to be better prepared for teaching OSE lessons.
Support on Site
Between professional learning sessions, teachers will require individualized support. Leaders will need to listen carefully to teachers to learn about and respond to their needs.
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Details on the OEI support model can be found on our Curriculum Adoption and Instructional Leadership pages.