As I prepared for this school year, I thought about the books and other texts that I want or need to read to support further developing my professional practice. I focus on books and other print or digital written texts because reading is one of the primary ways I engage in independent professional learning. I also focus on books and other print or digital texts because reading is my preferred method when I want to build my knowledge in certain domains because I’m more readily able to retain and recall information, while also make connections between different concepts and ideas. Reading may be one of the primary ways that other educators learn while others may prefer to listen to podcasts, engage in professional conversations with colleagues, take additional qualification courses, attend professional learning sessions, watch videos, or combine some or all these methods. Whatever your primary or preferred method(s) for engaging in professional learning, the questions and tips below should still provide some insights to support your work.
To begin, I’ll share that I’m anticipating that this school year will be busy like others because I’ve just come to accept that the school year is a busy time. Therefore, I’m thinking about how I can be more intentional with what I choose to read so I best use my time and focus my energy. To help me think about how I can be more intentional with what I choose to read, I’ve been asking myself the following questions: What books or text do I want or need to read to further develop my professional practice? Why do I want or need to read them? What insights, ideas, or information do I hope to gain from what I plan to read and how can that knowledge support my work with students and colleagues? In sum, what are some gaps in my professional knowledge, how do intend to fill them, and in what ways can my professional learning translate to improved student learning?
I share these questions remaining aware that there are some texts that I know I/we will be required to read such as Ministry curriculum documents, board correspondence, Ministry and board policy documents, Ontario student records, and union memos. However, in this post I’ll share three tips that I plan to apply to my optional reading material to ensure I engage in professional learning with clear intentions that helps to further develop my professional practice. Hopefully others find these tips and insights useful and can apply them to their professional practice.
Tip 1: Identify Gaps in Your Professional Knowledge
When I think about what I want or need to learn to support my professional practice I first think about the gaps in my knowledge in one or more of the seven broad areas of what I think of as the knowledges related to teaching. I mean let’s face it to be an educator that positively impacts student learning, we need to possess a lot of different knowledges. Some of them include, curriculum knowledge, instructional knowledge, content knowledge, assessment and evaluation knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, knowledge of students’ cognitive development, and of course knowledge of the students’ cultures, identities, values, and their funds of knowledge.
Following a reflection on the gaps in my own professional knowledge I then select an area or areas that I identify are most pressing and develop my knowledge there. For example, this year I’ve committed to developing my instructional knowledge related to providing explicit instruction in the background knowledge students need to comprehend and compose texts. I’m focused on developing my instructional knowledge related to background knowledge because I understand it is an essential contributor to both reading comprehension and writing composition. I also know to effectively teach background knowledge I need to identify and understand evidence-based instructional approaches in this area.
Tip 2: Learn with Intention
Having identified one gap in my professional knowledge and understanding why I believe I need to fill that gap, the next tip is to engage in professional learning with intention. For me this means asking myself questions then finding answers to those questions. For example, when I first began reading about background knowledge some initial questions that guided my learning included, what is background knowledge? Why is it important? Meaning how does background knowledge contribute to students’ comprehension and composition of texts? How do I help students gain the background knowledge they need to comprehend and compose the texts I use to teach? Specifically, how do I know or figure out the background knowledge that students already have and further need to acquire so they can adequately engage with certain texts? What’s the difference between background knowledge and prior knowledge?
Having found some answers to the questions listed above from reading books and research articles (See my previous two posts where I share what I’ve learned about background knowledge), I’m now focused on finding more evidence-based instructional strategies to support providing explicit instruction in background knowledge. To help, I plan to read the article, Building Background Knowledge by Susan Neuman, Tanya Kaefer, and Ashley Pinkham, where the authors identify five instructional strategies to support students in developing the background knowledge they need to comprehend and/or compose texts.
Tip 3: Write for Consolidation and Retention
To consolidate my understanding of the texts I read and to further support my professional learning, I plan to either write a summary or identify one or two insights I gained from reading the texts to affirm my comprehension and support retention. Research on writing has found that when a person writes about what they read, it not only clarifies their comprehension of the text but also supports retaining the ideas. Researchers Steve Graham and Michael Herbert share these ideas in their report, Writing to Read: Evidence for How Writing Can Improve Reading. Writing for consolidation and retention is not only a strategy that I plan to use to support my professional learning but one I plan to employ with students.
