TeacherDrivenChange

2012-2013 Grant Program is Open

The 2012-2013 Grant Program is open and IFT eagerly awaits applications from CTA members and chapters for projects and programs that demonstrate the efficacy of the strength-based, teacher driven approach to school change. Individual grants up to $5,000 and Chapter grants up to $20,000 are available for next school year. The deadline to submit a grant application is April 30, 2012.

Applications will be reviewed in May by the IFT Grant Selection Committee, composed of teachers from around the state. Awards will be announced in June. In the fall (and again in the spring), members of the Grant Selection Committee will join IFT staff to visit each project location and to meet with team members to discover their learnings.

Project grants are awarded directly to CTA members, although the funds are administered by their local Associations in order to avoid any tax liability to grant recipients.

The IFT Grant Program emphasizes the importance of teachers in school change from a positive, strength-based perspective. Grant proposals are judged based on a strength-based matrix that includes the following seven factors:

• Factor One: Future Oriented - Students have a dramatic, positive image of the future.

• Factor Two: Work Oriented - Work is valued, purposeful, and relevant to students.

• Factor Three: Student Centered - Emphasis is placed on learning over teaching.

• Factor Four: School Family Relations - Parents as strong partners in the teaching and learning process are encouraged to be involved in their children’s education.

• Factor Five: School-Wide Relations - All school stakeholders are responsible for the education of each student.

• Factor Six: Student Relations - Students view other students as supportive and interested in their well-being.

• Factor Seven: Results Oriented - Students understand strength-based thinking increases capacity and resilience to achieve goals.

The CTA IFT Grant Program is for CTA members, teacher teams, and CTA local Chapters. Below are important links for the CTA IFT Grant Program.

• General Grant Information
• Strength-Based Primer
• Frequenly Asked Questions
• Strength-Based Matrix
• 2011-12 Educator Grants
• 2011-12 Chapter Grants
• Grant Online Application (You will be directed to an external site- "CyberGrants")
   

Freedom to Create

John Hunter knows what the creative classroom looks like.  His students create it every single day. Teacher John Hunter puts all the problems of the world on a 4'x5' plywood board -- and lets his 4th-graders solve them. At TED2011, he explains how his World Peace Game engages schoolkids, and why the complex lessons it teaches -- spontaneous, and always surprising -- go further than classroom lectures can. Click here to view the passion and excitement of Teacher Hunter.

Perhaps the most telling comment offered by teacher John Hunter is from his first job interview:

I asked the supervisor, what should I do? She said "What do you want to do?" As a teacher, to be given that kind of open space, that kind of mandate-less position to be in where you can create out of the emptiness, it allowed me to create that kind of template for my students, where I could ask them, "What would YOU like to do today? 

The source for this article is National Board-certified educator Anthony Cody, who taught science for 18 years in inner-city Oakland and now works with a team of science teacher-coaches that supports novice teachers. A version of this post appeared on his Education Week Teacher blog, Living in Dialogue.

The Talent Code

Are there specific behaviors that are more likely to lead to success?  Is it more beneficial to focus on what works as opposed to deficits?  According to Daniel Coyle, author of The Talent Code, greatness is not a mystery but it does take practice.  Coyle explains:

If you distilled all the new science about talent development into two words of advice, they would be “practice better.” The most basic truth is that if you practice better, you’ll develop your talent — and you won’t develop your talent unless you practice better.  

The key is to find out what behaviors need to be practiced more than others.  Visit the IFT Bookstore to purchase a copy of The Talent Code.  Click on the video below to learn more about The Talent Code.   

Theory to Practice - The IFT has been working closely with Merced teachers and students to discover those behaviors and practices that keep students in school.  Using the Positive Deviance (PD) Approach, teachers and students are working together to develop new strategies that lead to student success.  What makes the PD approach unique is that it is driven by those individuals that are directly involved in the teaching and learning process: teachers and students.

 

The Positive Side of Teacher Evaluation

With all the talk about public education problems and teacher evaluation/performance, an idea for possible consideration is to think about what’s working in our schools and classrooms. The fact there are problems in our schools is not to suggest that our schools are the problem for the challenges facing society.   It is not rhetorical to suggest that great and wonderful things are occurring in our schools and perhaps, that’s where politicians and policy makers should focus their attention. 

There is another way!

Most teacher evaluation programs today are deficit based.  The goal is to find what’s broken and then fix it.  This logic may work for a machine but makes little sense for the classroom.  Suggested here is a different logic; logic based on strengths, optimism, and possibilities.  Below are a few strength-based questions which can be used to begin a new conversation on teacher evaluation.

1. Thinking about teacher evaluation, what has worked in the past?  Are there aspects of the evaluation process that you find useful?  How has the evaluation process supported teaching and learning?
2. Thinking about the last few year, describe a time(s) when you felt the most excited, engaged, and successful in your teaching.  What were the key elements that made your teaching successful?
3. Are there some aspects of your teaching that you would like to amplify and expand?
4. When you think about your teaching and learning experiences, are there suggestions you would like to convey to colleagues?
5. What stands out for you in your working relationships with other teachers and parents?
6. What first steps should be taken to make the teacher evaluation process successful for all teachers?

Strength-Based Math Questions

We usually have no problem hearing what students don’t like about a subject.  However, we seldom have detailed conversations about what they really like or enjoy.  One way to create a positive environment around any subject area is to ask affirmative or strength-based questions.  Below are sample strength-based mathematics questions designed to create affirmative storytelling and conversations:

1) Think of a time when you had a really terrific experience with mathematics.  Was there a particular math exercise, problem, or activity that you really enjoyed?  Describe what you consider to be the best way to learn mathematics.  Why do you feel this way?

2) Without being modest, what do you value most about yourself, your greatest strengths, and how your strengths help you in school?  How do these strengths help you with mathematics?

3) Why do you believe mathematics should be a subject in school?  How can mathematics help you with your other subjects?  Do you have friends that are good in mathematics?  Why do you think they do well in mathematics?    

4) If you had three wishes about mathematics, what would those wishes be?  As a mathematics student, what do you believe to be the best way to teach and learn math?

5) Thinking about your mathematics classes, what is the most important thing you have learned?  Why do you feel this way? 

 

Resilience, Research, and Educational Reform

Dr Sara Truebridge, a good friend of the CTA IFT and a major supporter of teacher driven strength-based change, has written an important article on the value of resilience in the school improvement movement. 

November 29th, 2010 by ASCD Whole Child Blog  -  Resilience is one’s ability to spring back from adversity.  Those who engage in resilience research view the world and individuals through positive, protective, and preventive models as opposed to traditional problem-based, deficit, pathology models.  The vast body of resilience research has provided the foundation for many popular movements, such as asset development, positive youth development, strengths-based practice, and positive psychology.

Resilience research in education focuses on healthy development and successful learning, especially with young people facing difficult life challenges in their homes, schools, and communities.  Resilience research emerged over 40 years ago as researchers began asking the question, why do some children who are threatened by exposure to high-risk environments successfully adapt while others do not.  The study of resilience has expanded from an early focus on the individual to a broader, more inclusive focus that situates risk not in children, but rather in a variety of socio-economic systems, institutions, and harmful public and social policies.  Continue reading.

 

Teachers - Tell Your Stories

Race to the Top is a hodgepodge of old, bad and contradictory ideas that appeal to the fears and frustrations of those who search for simple, nihilistic solutions to the highly complex problems and challenges facing the public schools.  The National Education Association suggested that the Obama Administration should develop school improvement initiatives based on research and on what works in the classroom.  Scholars have been even more dismissive.  The education historian Diane Ravitch writes: “What is extraordinary about these regulations is that they have no credible basis in research.  They just happen to be the programs and approaches favored by the people in power.”  Others point to the apparent hypocrisy of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s claims to be a data-driven reformer.

With all the criticism towards the federal government’s Race to the Top, none may be as the dangerous as the government’s desire to change the teaching and learning process: the relationship between teachers and their students. 

The story of the public schools – especially the teacher-student relationship - is a multifaceted and complex one; thousands of stories that form a tapestry of how teachers work, connect, excite, engage, and enrich the lives of children. 

Chimamanda Adichie, on the Blog, Accomplished California Teachers (ACT), beautifully portrays the importance of stories.  ACT is a new teacher leadership network for the state of California.  ACT is funded by the Stuart Foundation and the Hewlett Foundation, and housed under the umbrella of the 
School of Education at Stanford University.

To understand the importance of stories, David B. Cohen brings to our attention “The Danger of a Single Story” delivered by novelist Chimamanda Adichie.  She argues for the importance of literature, the power of narratives, and the risks of perpetuating or accepting a steady stream of non-varied stories that distort their subject matter. 

The message for teachers is to tell your stories about the great and wonderful teaching and learning experiences you are having each day.  Tell your stories every chance you get: to parents, to administrators, to policy makers, to politicians, and most of all to other teachers.

Beyond Superman: A Guest Blog by George Lucas

With all the talk about what’s wrong with our schools, The George Lucas Educational Foundation believes it’s time to have a conversation about what's right with public education, what's working.  The Foundation reminds everyone that there are successes in education every single day and that our children might be better served if we paid more attention to what works than what’s wrong in our schools and classrooms.

In districts of every stripe and demographic make-up, educators are dedicating themselves to providing their students with a high quality

21st century education, and using new technologies to make it happen. They are showing kids how to find and analyze information   .   .   .   These educators are beginning to re-invent the learning process, guiding students through rigorous, real-life projects that integrate core academic topics and personalize the learning experience   .   .   .   Continue reading.

Strength Based, Teacher-Driven Mini Grants

First year of the CTA IFT Mini Grant Program is a major success.  Close to 50 mini grant applications from individual teachers, teacher teams, and local CTA chapters were submitted.  Grants were evaluated on their strength-based, teacher-driven approach, design, and methodology to school change.  Click here to see who received mini grants. 

2010 - 2011 CTA IFT Mini Grant Program for CTA Members and Chapters

Competitive mini grant grants will be awarded in amounts up to $5,000 and chapter grants will be awarded in amounts up to $20,000.   All applications must reflect innovative efforts to achieve school  and district change initiatives that are strength based and teacher-driven.  Click here for a copy of the Mini Grants Strength-Based Matrix. 

Applications must specify how the proposal would improve teaching and learning conditions, how student outcomes will be improved, and what the overall benefit of the proposal is for teachers and the teaching profession.  The application process is open to individual CTA members, small teams of educators, and affiliated local chapters. Click here for a copy of the mini grant application. 

Remember, all mini grant proposals must be strength-based and teacher-driven.  Click here for a copy of the CTA IFT strength-based primer. 

Deadline to apply is April 30, 2011.  More information will be coming soon.