Learning From The Field

Please consider contributing to this regular column on the Learning Forward Colorado website. Send your essays about learning and professional learning to Joan Watson at watsonj2@comcast.net.

Re-Invigorating Writing Instructions
An Interview with Lory Courtney, Director of Professional Development,
and Kathi Jo Walder, Professional Development Coach,
St. Vrain Valley School District by Joan Watson

Lory Courtney is in her first year as Director of Professional Development in the St. Vrain Valley School District, and as I talked with her, she kept coming back to the expertise and talent of the coaches with whom she works. She introduced me to Kathi Jo Walder who related the following story about her work with fellow coach Traci Haley delineating how to establish a writing program in an elementary school which empowered teachers to view themselves as good writing instructors.

At the beginning of the school year, Traci sat with John Wahler, Principal of Sanborn Elementary School, and asked one of her usual beginning of the year questions: "If you could have your dream professional development, what would it be?" John unhesitatingly identified writing instruction as an important concern: scores were low, kids didn't write well, and, sadly, they didn't like to write. Traci and her colleague, Kathi Jo, went to work designing a long-term plan to improve writing instruction at Sanborn. What follows is a brief description of the steps they devised, and Principal Wahler's response to their work.

Before they began working with the Sanborn staff, Traci and Kathi Jo honored the old adage, "Go slow to go fast." They spent time with Pricipal Wahler and teacher leaders to carefully analyze what was needed to move the school forward in writing instruction, and how best to engage and honor the staff with this work. According to Principal Wahler, in a letter written to Lory Courtney, they "carefully laid out a path for teachers to 'discover' areas of strength and areas of need. This was not a 'here is what you do and here is how you do it.' It was a reflective process that really energized our staff."

After this analysis, Traci and Kathi Jo started with two full days of training. The K - 2 teachers spent a day together examining their students' writing data, discussing the district writing curriculum based on Lucy Calkin's work, and writing agreements as to what they could commit to in writing instruction, and what they were willing to hold their fellow teachers accountable for in writing instruction. This was followed by a similar day with the 3 - 5 teachers. Once finalized, these agreements were posted.

One revealing sentiment uncovered by this work was the inadequacy some teachers felt as writing instructors. "I don't write well; how can I teach my students to write?" Traci and Kathi Jo were successful in having teachers realize that they knew more than they gave themselves credit for; they absolutely could teach young learners how to put words on paper in a correct and pleasing fashion.

Next, Traci and Kathi Jo facilitated conversations between grade levels about what was essential for students to know as they began a new grade, and what the grade level teachers had been emphasizing in their teaching. Was there a match? Teachers had deep conversations about how they could adjust their curricula to better prepare students for the next grade level. This new clarity and direction was energizing for each teacher and began to build a plan of cohesive writing instruction that made sense.

In order to use writer's workshop as it was intended, Traci and Kathi Jo continued coaching individual teachers on student conferencing, including how to compliment student work as well as identify a teaching point and delivering that teaching point. They also worked on how to effectively determine what to teach in a mini-lesson and how to see if students applied mini-lesson instruction to their writing.

In his letter to Lory Courtney, Principal Wahler also said this about Traci and Kathi Jo's work with his staff:

We have talked as an administrative team for years about the "future of staff development." Clearly, forward-thinking staff development needs to include:

• A needs analysis of the audience. What exactly does the audience
  need, what are their strengths, what can we build upon?

• Sustained effort - The one-stop workshop has proven to be ineffective without follow-up actions.

• A well-laid plan that is thoughtful, reflective, and encourages ownership by the audience.

This is exactly what we are receiving from Kathi Jo and Traci.

Traci and Kathi Jo will be in classrooms throughout the year to help, to coach, not to judge. They plan to gather data on two important measures of growth: 1) Do teachers feel more confident in their ability to teach and improve writing skills, and 2) Do the writing scores improve. If Principal Wahler's evaluation is any indication of success, there will be profound advancement in both measures.