In response to Kathy’s query, can I direct people to some excellent resources and research on writing put out by the NRDC in the UK?

 

http://www.nrdc.org.uk/publications_details.asp?ID=24 and http://www.nrdc.org.uk/publications_details.asp?ID=88 

 

Regards, John

 

John Benseman 

 

Director of Research & Evaluation, Upskilling NZ

(based at Department of Labour)

 

   john.benseman at criticalinsight.co.nz

   0064 9 627 4415

0064 9 627 4418

Cell  027 454 0683

 

 

 

 

A question for the list: Who are some of the key players in current

research and practice in the teaching of writing?

 

 

Kathy Knall

Researcher/trainer

SW ABLE Resource Center

444 W. Third St. 12-201

Dayton, OH 45402

937-512-5364 

 

 

-----Original Message-----

From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov

[mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marilyn

Gillespie

Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 11:15 AM

To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List

Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1379] Re: from Cris,job-embedded

professional development

 

Mary,

 

These resources look great! Thanks for the tips. One of the issues K-12

teachers who are preparing students to take writing tests are coming up

with is that students often don't know how to read and understand what

is required in the writing prompts. The National Writing Project has a

team working on training materials to help students understand writing

prompts. I think one of the best ways to help teachers (and students) is

to have them look at and understand the rubrics used to evaluate their

writing. Then you can target the problems. Is it responding to the

prompt, organization and transitions, sentence fluency, word choice,

grammar-punctuation-spelling, or "voice"? The Arlington Refugee

Education Program (REEP) has developed some great rubrics for adult ESOL

and a training model for teachers. www.arlington.k12.va.us There is also

a new book out by Steve Graham and Charles MacArther called /Best

Practices in the Teaching of Writing /(2007) that gives very practical,

research-based suggestions for practitioners (K-12 but it applies to

writers in general). Vicky Spandel's book on the six trait writing model

/Creating Writers Through 6 Trait Writing Assessment /also has some

helpful tips that would be useful for professional developers. There is

also *6**trait*s.blogspot.com based on her model.

 

As an aside, George Hillocks has recently written a book called /The

Testing Trap: How State Writing Tests Control Learning. /I think a lot

of writing researchers are concerned that students are only being taught

to write a 5 paragraph formulaic essay and missing out on all the other

kinds of writing they need. In adult education we need to be concerned

about preparing students to meet the writing demands of community

college. I am really hoping I can find a way to research what teachers

in the field are doing with respect to writing instruction and what

students need to succeed in entry-level community college courses. 

Anyone else interested in this? Feel free to contact me at

marilyn.gillespie at sri.com

 

Marilyn

 

mmingle at comcast.net wrote:


> About job-embedded professional development and adult ed . . .



> Having done a little work in K-12 professional development before 



> returning to an adult ed professional development program, I was 



> familiar with the concept of job-embedded professional development 



> and, more specifically, the technique of examining student work to 



> address achievement issues and refine curriculum.



> I think it was your article that brought it back to mind and got me 



> thinking about how we could use this approach for adult 



> education/literacy programs in our region of PA.



> So . . . I'm actually going to give it a try . . . I'm going to 



> attempt to introduce the concept of examining student work to a group 



> of practitioners in a literacy council as a form of *_on-going_* 



> professional development for the program.



> By examining assessment data, this particular agency has noticed 



> students struggling with GED essay writing. Agency staff members have 



> attended general workshops about the GED essay, how it is scored, and 



> how to prepare adults to write GED essays.



> But the agency still faces the issue of students not passing that 



> portion of the GED.



> Rather than attempt to provide another generic essay writing workshop,


 


> the only thing I could think to do was to ask the teachers to bring 



> samples of student writing and, as a group, examine the work and see 



> if the instructors can figure out where students are having the most 



> difficulty.



> I see my role as a facilitator of the process -- not the expert on GED


 


> essay writing.



> I want to introduce some templates, processes, frameworks for 



> examining student work and talk about why we are going to give this a 



> try and then just let the teachers "have at it" using one or more of 



> the techniques.



> I found some excellent resources on examining student work and would 



> love to get many more examples, research, etc. Here are just some of 



> the resources I have so far; please recommend more . . .



> The Looking at Student Work Web Site



> www.lasw.org <http://www.lasw.org>



> Teachers Learn From Looking Together at Student Work



> 



> Education World



> 



> http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr246.shtml Accessed June 19, 



> 2007



> 



> Learning Teams



> When Teachers Work Together, Knowledge and Rapport Grow By Joan 



> Richardson, Tools for Schools, August-September 2001



> 



> http://www.nsdc.org/library/publications/tools/tools8-01rich.cfm



> Accessed June 19, 2007



> 



> Mary



> --



> Mary Mingle



> Central Northeast Professional Development Center



> 8 North Grove Street Suite 1



> Lock Haven, PA 17745



> 



> mmingle at comcast.net



> Phone: (570) 893-4052



> Fax: (570) 748-1598



> 



>     -------------- Original message --------------



>     From: Marilyn Gillespie <marilyn.gillespie at sri.com>



> 



>     > Chris,



>     >



>     > One thing I've been seeing lately in some K-12 settings is that


one


>     > teacher becomes a "master teacher" with some of his/her time



>     freed up to



>     > help organize the job-embedded staff development. Then the


master


>     > teachers also coordinate with master teachers at other schools



>     and bring



>     > back ideas. Do you think this could be a way for more


experienced


>     > teachers to grow within their jobs? Has anyone tried this



>     successfully?



>     >



>     > Marilyn



>     >



>     > Taylor, Jackie wrote:



>     > >



>     > > PD List Colleagues, Please see the message from Cristine Smith



>     Below.



>     > > Thanks! Jackie Taylor



>     > >



>     > >



>     ----------------------------------------------------------------



>     ------ --



>     > >



>     > > *From:* Cristine Smith [mailto:cristinesmith at comcast.net]



>     > > *Sent:* Monday, July 09, 2007 2:40 PM



>     > > *To:* professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov



>     > > *Subject:* job-embedded professional development



>     > >



>     > > Cristine Smith here. Glad to join the discussion this week.


Like


>     > > Marilyn, I'm also interested in site-based professional



>     development,



>     > > or, as we called it in our article, "job-embedded professional



>     > > development". The idea is that teachers from the same program



>     come



>     > > together in a group and look at a particular topic of interest



>     over



>     > > time. The difference is that, rather than getting trained



>     "from the



>     > > outside", the teachers look at what are called "student



>     artifacts":



>     > > student writings, student answers on assessments, students



>     diagnostic



>     > > evaluation of reading skills, etc. The point is first t o focu



>     s on



>     > > student learning, not on teachers' teaching. What can a group


of


>     > > teachers learn from each other and from looking at student



>     work that



>     > > will give them ideas and strategies for improving instruction?



>     Then,



>     > > the teachers may go to the research, may call in an outside



>     advisory



>     > > to give them information about new approaches, may go on the



>     internet,



>     > > may read books or articles and then may decide on trying out a



>     new



>     > > plan of action. Teachers try it out in their classes, and then



>     come



>     > > back to the group with more student artifacts of how it


worked.


>     > >



>     > > This type of professional development is called "job-embedded"



>     because



>     > > it is literally part of the job of figuring out how to do



>     instruction.



>     > > It happens right in the program, so teachers don't have to



>     travel, and



>     > > it involves extensive teacher sharing. It is bec oming more



>     and more



>     > > common in K-12 but is fairly uncommon in adult education



>     (although I



>     > > know CalPRO in California has done some innovative work around



>     > > job-embedded professional development...could someone involved



>     in that



>     > > let us know what you did and how you thought it worked?)



>     > >



>     > > My question is: how viable is this for adult basic education,



>     adult



>     > > literacy, adult ESOL and GED practitioner professional



>     development



>     > > (both teachers and administrators)? Would it work with tutors?



>     > > Generally, it helps if there is a facilitator to get the group



>     > > started, to help set up mechanisms for sharing work (which can


be


>     > > kinda scary) and teaching approaches. But it's meant to be



>     teacher



>     > > controlled. What do you think would stand in the way of more



>     adult ed



>     > > programs using this type of professional development?



>     > >



>     > & gt; Looking forward to more discussion... Cris



>     > >



>     > > Cristine Smith



>     > >



>     > > Assistant Professor



>     > >



>     > > Center for International Education



>     > >



>     > > University of Massachusetts



>     > >



>     > > 285 Hills House South



>     > >



>     > > Amherst, MA 01003



>     > >



>     > > 413-545-2731



>     > >



>     > > cristine at educ.umass.edu



>     > >



>     > >



>     



> ----------------------------------------------------------------------



> --



> 



>     > >



>     > > ----------------------------------------------------



>     > > National Institute for Literacy



>     > > Adult Literacy Professional Development mailing list



>     > > ProfessionalDevelopment at nifl.gov



>     > >



>     > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go


to


>     > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/professionaldevelopment



>     > > Email delivered to marilyn.gillespie at sri.com



>     > >



>     > > Adult Literacy Professional Development List -


Topic-of-the-Month


>     > > http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Topic-of-the-Month



>     > >



>     > > Research on Professional Development and Teacher Change -



>     Guest Discussion



>     > Archives



>     > >



>     >



>     



> http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Research_on_Professional_Develo



> pment_and_



> 



>     > Teacher_Change



>     > >



>     > > Professional Development section of the Adult Literacy



>     Education Wiki



>     > >



>     



> http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Adult_Literacy_Professional_Dev



> elopment



> 



>     >



>     > ----------------------------------------------------



>     > National Institute for Literacy



>     > Adult Literacy Professional Development mailing list



>     > ProfessionalDevelopment at nifl.gov



>     >



>     > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go


to


>     > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/li stinfo /professionaldevelopment



>     > Email delivered to mmingle at comcast.net



>     >



>     > Adult Literacy Professional Development List -


Topic-of-the-Month


>     > http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Topic-of-the-Month



>     >



>     > Research on Professional Development and Teacher Change - Guest



>     Discussion



>     > Archives



>     >



>     



> http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Research_on_Professional_Develo



> pment_and_



> 



>     > Teacher_Change



>     >



>     > Professional Development section of the Adult Literacy Education



>     Wiki



>     >



>     



> http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Adult_Literacy_Professional_Dev



> elopment



> 



> 



> ----------------------------------------------------------------------



> --



> 



> ----------------------------------------------------



> National Institute for Literacy



> Adult Literacy Professional Development mailing list 



> ProfessionalDevelopment at nifl.gov



> 



> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 



> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/professionaldevelopment



> Email delivered to marilyn.gillespie at sri.com



> 



> Adult Literacy Professional Development List - Topic-of-the-Month 



> http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Topic-of-the-Month



> 



> Research on Professional Development and Teacher Change - Guest 



> Discussion Archives 



> http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Research_on_Professional_Develo



> pment_and_Teacher_Change



> 



> Professional Development section of the Adult Literacy Education Wiki 



> http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Adult_Literacy_Professional_Dev



> elopment



> 



>   


 

----------------------------------------------------

National Institute for Literacy

Adult Literacy Professional Development mailing list

ProfessionalDevelopment at nifl.gov

 

To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to

http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/professionaldevelopment

Email delivered to kathy.knall at sinclair.edu 

 

Adult Literacy Professional Development List - Topic-of-the-Month

http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Topic-of-the-Month

 

Research on Professional Development and Teacher Change - Guest

Discussion Archives

http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Research_on_Professional_Developm

ent_and_Teacher_Change 

 

Professional Development section of the Adult Literacy Education Wiki

http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Adult_Literacy_Professional_Devel

opment

----------------------------------------------------

National Institute for Literacy

Adult Literacy Professional Development mailing list

ProfessionalDevelopment at nifl.gov

 

To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/professionaldevelopment

Email delivered to john.benseman at criticalinsight.co.nz 

 

Adult Literacy Professional Development List - Topic-of-the-Month

http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Topic-of-the-Month

 

Research on Professional Development and Teacher Change - Guest Discussion Archives

http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Research_on_Professional_Development_and_Teacher_Change 

 

Professional Development section of the Adult Literacy Education Wiki 

http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Adult_Literacy_Professional_Development

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/professionaldevelopment/attachments/20070712/28504d48/attachment.html