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AIM PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Overview
Professional Development Offerings in:
 • Curriculum and Instruction
 • Leadership Development
 • Professional Learning Communities

Overview

Background:
High-quality professional development that results in an inclusive and powerful learning community is key to continuous improvement. Over the past five years, AIM has worked with schools and districts across the county to design professional development that has resulted in improved teaching and learning. Professional development plans that focus on improved student achievement provide the context in which both students and teachers take responsibility for ensuring learning goals are met.

AIM professional development offerings are designed and implemented to help schools and teachers ensure that desired student outcomes are at the core of classroom instruction. To this end, the following design principles guide the development and structure of all AIM professional development sessions:

1. Learning objectives are clearly communicated to students

2. Instruction is carefully designed to meet important learning goals and is relevant to the lives and experiences of students

3. Ongoing and meaningful assessment of student learning enables teachers and students to monitor their progress and take ownership of their learning.

Approach:
AIM recognizes that adults learn in the same way as their students do. This results in a professional development program that employs group and individual discovery, reflection, and engaging activities that allow for each participant to make sense of the content regardless of their learning style.

AIM professional development sessions serve as the gateway to classroom implementation of effective teaching strategies. Participants bring relevant materials to the sessions so that they can immediately apply the learning to challenges they are facing within their own school or classroom.

Offering:
AIM offers nearly 20 different workshops in 3 primary areas:

• Curriculum and Instruction
• Leadership Development
• Professional Learning Communities

In addition, to the professional development sessions, AIM also offers on-site mentoring and coaching to ensure the effective implementation within the school.

AIM Expertise:
Having spent many years in schools throughout the country as teachers, administrators, researchers and evaluators, the AIM staff has extensive experience in K-12 education with a specific focus on the middle grades. Published authors, highly regarded presenters, and lifelong advocates for students, the AIM staff are highly qualified to present on and provide guidance to your school district in the area of teaching and learning. For biographies of AIM staff, please call Glenda Copeland at 617-618-2171.

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AIM PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Curriculum and Instruction

Introduction to Teaching for Understanding
Teaching for Understanding is a framework for designing instruction that promotes student understanding and engagement by focusing on identified learning goals that are meaningful in students’ lives. Participants in this 3 day workshop will be able to answer the questions:

1. What are the benefits to my students of using the Teaching for Understanding framework?

2. How do I identify what is most important for my students to learn?

3. How do I actively engage my students in learning?

Length: 3 days
Maximum Participants: 40
Target Audience: Teams of teachers and administrators from a school or an entire faculty

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Curriculum and Instruction Menu

Teaching for Understanding: Framework for Design
Participants will become knowledgeable about the 3 major components of the understanding by design framework. As they examine their own beliefs about teaching and learning, and deepen their knowledge of effective assessment methods, they will review sample instructional units based on the teaching for understanding framework. As a result of the study, participants will answer the following questions:

1. How can I help my students establish goals for learning that ensure their engagement and ownership of learning?

2. How will my students know that they have achieved their learning goals?

3. What does a Teaching for Understanding classroom look like?

Length: 3 days
Maximum Participants: 40
Target Audience: Teachers and administrators that have completed Introduction to Teaching for Understanding

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Teaching For Understanding: Designing Curriculum
Participants round out their study of Teaching for Understanding by applying the TFU framework in designing an instructional unit. Peer development and review will be employed to facilitate and model the instructional process. Participants identify content and provide materials from their classroom to develop the unit. During the workshop, they will answer the following questions:

1. How can using the TFU framework enable my students to develop understanding?

2. How do I enable my students to demonstrate understanding?

3. How can my colleagues help me teach for understanding?

Length: 3 days
Maximum Participants: 40
Target Audience: Teachers and administrators that have completed Introduction to Teaching for Understanding and Framework for Design.

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Curriculum Mapping for Teaching for Understanding
Traditional curriculum maps are a tool for planning and monitoring classroom activities. In order to be effective, however, the maps must be based on desired student outcomes. Participants learn to develop curriculum maps as a focused plan of instruction for increased student performance. Using their own curriculum materials, they will develop a curriculum map integrating the Teaching for Understanding structures and processes. They will also learn the importance of continuous review and refinement of maps to ensure ongoing relevance to students needs. Participants will answer the following questions:

1. How can curriculum map be used as a tool to increase student performance?

2. What specific strategies are used to integrate teaching for understanding structure into the curriculum mapping process?

Length: 3 days
Maximum Participants: 40
Target Audience: Teachers and administrators that have completed Introduction to Teaching for Understanding and Framework for Design.

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Teaching Mathematics for Understanding—Grades K–8
Based on Teaching for Understanding, a framework that promotes student achievement, participants focus on developing mathematical understanding as defined by the Principals and Standards for School Mathematics by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Participants will answer the following questions:

1. How is a TFU mathematics lesson different from a traditional mathematics lesson?

2. How do students best learn mathematics?

3. How can Teaching for Understating help students master skills assessed on standardized achievement tests?

4. How can innovative teaching strategies enable students to increase their achievement in mathematics?

Length: 3 days
Maximum Participants: 40
Target Audience: Teams of teachers and administrators from a school or an entire faculty

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Literacy for Learning Across the Curriculum
Supported Literacy is a process of making meaning from text in collaboration with others. Participants learn the components of Supported Literacy and how to apply them within a classroom setting. Participants will answer the following questions:

1. What is the meaning making process and how can it help students develop understanding?

2. How do literacy strategies stimulate and guide the meaning making process?

3. How can teachers assess students’ understanding of a text?

4. What does the Supported Literacy process look like in different content areas?

Length: 5 days
Maximum Participants: 40
Target Audience: Teams of teachers and administrators from a school or an entire faculty

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Applying the Meaning-Making Process Across the Curriculum
Within a professional learning community setting, participants will share examples of classroom practice of the Supported Literacy process including their successes and challenges. Peer review and feedback will facilitate the development of strategies for successful use of the meaning-making process. Participants will answer the following questions:

1. How can the mean-making process be modified to accommodate the requirements of different content areas?

2. How can I develop a collegial community to support improvement in my teaching and learning?

Length: 2 days
Maximum Participants: 40-50
Target Audience: Teams of teachers and administrators having completed the session Applying the Meaning Making Process Across the Curriculum

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Curriculum and Instruction Menu

Supported Literacy: How Far Would You Go to Fit In?
This curriculum for students addresses national and state standards for literature writing and language. This unit models the meaning-making process and is designed to engage a whole class in an in-depth study of the novel, The Skin I’m In, by Sharon Flake. Participants will experience activities from the unit and analyze its design. The session will prepare those familiar with the meaning-making process to utilize both the curriculum and the associated instructional processes in their own classroom setting.

Length: 2 days
Maximum Participants: 40
Target Audience: Teams of teachers and administrators having completed Applying the Meaning Making Process Across the Curriculum

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Supported Literacy: Taking Action to Stop Bullying
Using a special blend of literacy and health education, this 12-lesson curriculum, developed for the MetLife Read for Health Program, draws on the motivating power of literature to build middle-grade students’ reading and comprehension skills, and introduce positive skills for healthy living. Participants are introduced to the curriculum and its application in English Language Arts and Health Education settings. Participants will answer the following questions:

1. How can Supported Literacy and the meaning-making process be applied to develop character?

2. How does the development of life skills help to reduce bullying?

3. How can I involve parents in addressing bullying issues within the school and community settings?

Length: 2 days
Maximum Participants: 40
Target Audience: Teams of teachers and administrators having completed Applying the Meaning Making Process Across the Curriculum

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Assessment Strategies to Improve Teaching and Learning
Participants examine their beliefs about assessment and engage in activities designed to help them chose appropriate assessment methods for various demonstrations of student knowledge and skills. After exploring holistic and analytic rubrics, participants create a rubric to evaluate a student product or performance. As a result of this workshop, participants will answer the following questions:

1. How do my beliefs about assessment influence my classroom practice?

2. How do I design a final performance to determine whether my students understand?

3. How can using a rubric help my students take more responsibility for their work?

Length: 2 days
Maximum Participants: 40
Target Audience: Teams of teachers and administrators

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AIM PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Leadership Development

Available workshops:

 • Creating Tomorrow
 • Collaborative Leadership and Team Building
 • Sustaining Leadership
 • Expanding Leadership Capacity
 • Documenting and Presenting Adequate Yearly Progress

Creating Tomorrow
Creating Tomorrow is a process for assessing a schools current performance in relation to established criteria for high-performing schools. Using a variety of interactive teaching, community building, and decision-making tools and activities, participants develop a shared vision of high-performing schools. Between sessions, participants will collect data and input from their school to help identify strengths and weaknesses. At the end of this process, participants should have a deep understanding of and commitment to their shared goals for improvement outlined in their newly developed improvement plan. Participants will answer the following questions:

1. What strategies are available for collecting and analyzing data that can be used to guide the decision-making process?

2. What are the necessary elements for building a professional learning community?

3. How can we ensure open and honest communication between working groups and the larger school community?

Length: 5 days over one semester
Maximum Participants: 10 participants from a single school district up to 40 participants
Target Audience: Representative teams of teachers, administrators and district leadership

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Collaborative Leadership and Team Building
Using a combination of text-based review, simulation exercises, and reflection, participants will examine critical components of professional learning communities. Participants will understand the importance of shared norms and values in a community of learners, focusing on the success of all students, reflective dialogue, shared practice and collaboration. Participants will also examine the change process and deepen their understanding of its complexity. At the conclusion of this workshop, participants will answer the following questions:

1. What conditions are necessary for developing a community of learners?

2. What are the strengths and limitations of a collaborative leader?

3. How does a learning community challenge each other’s current beliefs and assumptions in order to generate new knowledge and co-construct new approaches?

Length: 3 days
Maximum Participants: 40
Target Audience: Representative teams of teachers and administrators and district leadership

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Sustaining Leadership
Participants will explore their beliefs about leadership in order to develop a common vision about the importance of developing shared leadership in a school. By studying Linda Lambert’s Building Leadership Capacity in Schools, participants reflect on the kind of leadership needed to create a high-performing learning organization. School teams plan their next steps for the change process in their school. As a result of this experience participants will answer the following questions:

1. What is leadership?

2. What kind of leadership is needed in our school?

3. How do we sustain improvement efforts?

Length: 3 days
Maximum Participants: 40
Target Audience: Representative teams of teachers and administrators and district leadership

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Expanding Leadership Capacity
Leadership is the process of releasing the energy, intelligence, and participation of the entire school community. Participants will use protocols to explore ideas from Leading in a Culture of Change by Linda Lambert. They will develop strategies to increase leadership participation in their schools including students, parents, and the community. School teams develop a plan of action for sharing and implementing their strategies with their school communities. Participants will answer the following questions:

1. How do we develop participation, create structures that let educators work and learn together, and share leadership responsibilities?

2. How do we learn from each other and work together to increase the leadership capacity of the school?

3. How does the concept of leadership capacity change my role?

Length: 3 days
Maximum Participants: 40
Target Audience: Representative teams of teachers and administrators and district leadership

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Documenting and Presenting Adequate Yearly Progress
Telling the story of school-wide improvement to multiple audiences (state official, district administrators, teachers, students, parents and the community) requires the utilization of data from multiple measures. Different audiences require different presentation formats. Participants will examine types of data collection and analysis methods and will review the needs of various audiences to determine appropriate data collection and presentation formats. Participants will use their own data to communicate their performance to a specific audience.

1. What information is most important for me to communicate about student achievement?

2. How can I use different types of data to share information about my school?

3. What communication tools are most appropriate for my audience?

Length: 1 day
Maximum Participants: 40
Target Audience: School administrators and others who communicate student achievement

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Leadership Development Menu

AIM PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Professional Learning Communities

Available workshops:

Teaming to Improve Teaching and Learning
Participants examine how professional learning communities in schools contribute to increased student learning. They learn the process and expectations for establishing a faculty inquiry team and examine the inquiry process. Participants will answer these questions:

1. What is a faculty inquiry team?

2. How can a professional learning community contribute to student achievement?

3. How do I engage in dialogue and collaborate with my colleagues to bring about high levels of student achievement?

Length: 1 day
Maximum Participants: 40
Target Audience: Teams of teachers from a school

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Professional Learning Communities Menu

Facilitating Collaborative Groups
Facilitation, including establishing norms, setting agendas, and managing participation, enables efficient and productive functioning of collaborative groups. Participants learn facilitation protocols and strategies for ensuring meaningful group experiences including reflection on professional readings and examining teaching practice. They practice use of selected protocols, give and receive constructive feedback on effective facilitation. By the conclusion of the workshop, each participant will answer the following questions:

1. How can the use of protocols ensure more productive meetings?

2. How can colleagues help me improve my practice?

3. How do I determine the appropriate protocols to achieve the desired outcome?

Length: 3 days
Maximum Participants: 12 participants with one facilitator, 24 with 2 facilitators can be negotiated
Target Audience: Teacher leaders and school or district administrators

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Professional Learning Communities Menu

Implementing Interdisciplinary Teams
Interdisciplinary teaming allows schools to work toward academic excellence while being developmentally responsible and socially equitable. Participants examine how interdisciplinary teaming meets the needs of all students. Participants will engage in interactive exercises and will be able to form, implement or improve interdisciplinary teams for grades 5-8. By the end of the session, participants will answer the following questions:

1. What are the key elements required for effective interdisciplinary teams?

2. What are specific processes and tools I can use to conduct and track the progress of interdisciplinary team meetings?

3. How does adult advocacy contribute to social equity, developmental responsiveness, and academic excellence in the middle grades?

Length: 3 days
Maximum Participants: 12 participants/facilitator, additional facilitators can be negotiated
Target Audience: Teacher leaders and school or district administrators

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Examining Student Work
Collaborative review of student work by teachers in a safe and non-threatening environment helps improve student achievement. Looking more closely at how they are teaching and how students demonstrate their learning allows teachers to continuously improve the instructional process. Participants learn how to reflect on and examine student work as a tool for improved instruction. They learn to focus on the work being examined, look for patterns, conduct objective and unbiased review of the work, and listen without judgment. Participants also learn to use this input and review process to guide changes in the instructional process for improved student achievement. Each participant brings student work to be shared with the group and will answer the following questions:

1. How does looking at student work from another teacher improve my classroom practice?

2. What are the key requirements for successfully examining student work?

3. How does student work provide a view of how the school is or is not meeting its goals?

4. How does examining student work help school communities develop curriculum and assessment?

Length: 1 day
Maximum Participants: 40
Target Audience: Teacher leaders and school or district administrators

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Professional Learning Communities Menu

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