For more information visit- National Writing Project at WVU

Great stuff happening in the PDSs related to the National Writing Project.

Toman are incorporating a community-interview project into their English classes starting in October, 2009. Jessica and Sarah hope that place-based projects will be part of their professional development, too, as they plan the focus for their Professional Learning Community.

Jessica Garcia, a teacher at Fairmont High School in Marion County, was also inspired by David Jolliffe’s workshop. She and colleague Sarah Place-Based Writing at Fairmont High (Marion County)

The principal at Grafton, Pam Knight, has been given the charge of improving WESTEST scores by 2%. At the same time, Mrs. Knight also wants faculty to have more of a role in planning and implementing school PD efforts. To that end, we are facilitating Professional Learning Communities. Each of these groups is formed by teachers (not assigned). The groups, of which there are six, construct their own plan designed to meet the school goal, while allowing faculty to work together in areas they feel will provide the best avenue for raising test scores. PLCs have formed around ideas such as mentoring, Positive Behavior Support, and cross-curricular units of study. These PLC groups have already met and have constructed plans for the year, considering goals and support structures. Grafton High School, under the guidance of their administration, and supported by the Benedum Collaborative, is on the way to sustaining a job-embedded professional development program that can support school-based, student-learning needs.

Students at Suncrest Primary participated in their first “Arts Club” on October 19. Instructors included artists, Jo Watson and Dina Muttillo representing The WOW Factory, as well as artists Larry Buchman and Susan Witt. First, second, and third graders had choices of clay formation and painting, experimenting with resist painting, and making watercolor bookmarks. Future clubs will include music and science. West Virginia University graduate student, Heather Schneid, and WVU education liaison, Kaye McCrory, facilitated the exciting afternoon sessions.

The Vision
“We are a community of inquiry where school and university-based educators collaborate to benefit the learning of all.”

Defining What We Mean…

We – West Virginia University, its students, its faculty and its administration. Each of the PDS, their students, their faculty and staff, and their school-based and county-based administration.

Community of Inquiry – A partnership in which all stakeholders engage in research to further their own professional development and the learning of all stakeholders.

Professionals – All university and PDS faculty, the Deans of both The college of Human Resources and Education and The Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, principals, assistant principals, superintendents, and any other PDS-based or university-based stakeholders who wish to further our shared vision.

Collaborate – All stakeholders working together and understanding that simultaneous renewal requires that improvement of one requires improvement of all.

Learning of All – We focus first on student learning; from students in pre-kindergarten to students in graduate school. We also focus on the professional development of all of our stakeholders including faculty, staff and administrators.

The Mission
In light of our vision, a changing educational climate, and constant changes amongst the stakeholders which make up the Collaborative, we collaborate to meet the vision set forth. This includes our ongoing attention to rethinking our work in ways that maximize vitality and sustainability. We will strive to share an understanding of our vision and we believe that our work is noble.

The mission is to work collaboratively in the achievement of our shared vision. To do this we will:
• Acknowledge the vision and our role in its realization.
• Act on opportunities which serve to realize our vision.
• Be Accountable to other stakeholders for the work we do.

On July 15th I had the privilege of meeting with Sylvia Cooper a retired teacher from Morgantown High School. We are in the process of doing a study of Morgantown High as the school was one of the original PDSs and has indicated an interest in renewing their long-term commitment. As a PDS researcher, I was equally interested in understanding the MHS story.

What an amazing woman! I had the opportunity to hear about the energy and empowerment that the original PDS work created at MHS. She talked about teachers, school leaders, and university faculty working together to improve student learning around five self identified strands (e.g., critical thinking, technology, student learning, restructuring). They worked with university faculty and created university courses for MHS teachers that were delivered on site. The created “Snow Days”. They engaged in research and exploration of the literature related to Block Scheduling. They created time for this collaborative work by going to each other’s homes, meeting before or after school, working with the principal to carve out school-based time, and the list goes on….

In our discussion she indicated that money was not the reason for the collaboration and energy at Morgantown High School. She even mentioned that the teachers on her planning team returned their stipend so that they could buy smiley face cookies for the teachers in the building. Finally, Sylvia’s story clearly identifies the essential role that the principal plays in supporting and facilitating PDS work.

Thanks Sylvia for your institutional memory!

By Carol Malcolm

What a wonderful experience we had at Penn State. Participation in all the sessions and listening to the keynote speakers certainly validated the work we do with and for our pre-service teachers at WVU. We also brought back with us a since of renewal and recommittment to make our programs better.

One idea fresh out of Penn State are the PLC’S for the upcoming school year and how to use what we learned to create them. How much better we will be professionally and as mentors but most importantly what an impact we will all have on student learning.

The Art’s Festival and the ice cream from the Creamery were an added bonus! What fun!!!

By Jenny Santilli

The Penn State PDS Conference was fantastic. In many respects, an outsider wouldn’t know it was their inaugural attempt. I was impressed with the open sharing and constructive criticism. In the course of a conversation, it was not evident who came from the perspective of classroom teacher, administrator or university staff. I learned more about the nature of effective collaboratives, how vital our work is and information to improve my work as a teacher and a doctoral student.

Aside from the educational benefits, the food was great, the service at the hotel/convention center excellent and the Arts Festival beyond words. Scheduling was tight but included classes, collaboration, visiting, planning and culture. A perfection combination!

I’m glad the Benedum saw enough value in this conference to pay our registration fees. Thank you so much from a grateful coordinator, doc student and single parent. Thanks also to Dan and Sarah for driving Miss Jenny!

By Lucretia Hubler-Larimore

As a graduate of a MAC Program (Masters and Certification), I have often pondered the usefulness and frankly the need for a PDS program versus those of traditional teacher preparation programs and MAC. After attending the PSU Conference (as well as participating as an instructor for the Benedum Collaborative), it has become quite clear that the need for such programs to exist and the need for attendance at conferences such as the PSU Summer Conference for Partnerships and Professional Development Schools is vital for enhanced student achievement. It is only through sustaining PDS programs, we are able to provide preservice teachers and teachers the necessary inquiry skills to seek out changes, reflect critically upon their teaching, and share their findings with their colleagues and students. This conference provided such wonderful research, enriching literature, and renewed excitement for PDS programs. I now believe there is a need for all traditional teacher preparation and MAC programs to draw on the lessons learned from PDS programs.

Here is a great idea that Jeanne Taylor uses at Suncrest Middle School during her site meetings. Thought you might enjoy looking at this!

“I subscribe to Benedum Blog and read it regularly through my reader. I also try to use it as a source for my guiding questions in my Benedum Site meetings. I always have it up on our big screen when we have meetings.”

By Kaye McCrory

I have just returned from an exciting two days at the Penn State Summer Conference for Partnerships and Professional Development Schools. Patricia Best, who recently retired as the Superintendent of the State College Area School District, but still feeling such a commitment to the work of professional development schools, she accepted a keynote invitation to lead the first general session entitled “Sustaining a PDS.” Her enthusiasm was a wonderful beginning to the other sessions I attended. Equally inspiring speakers followed throughout the next couple days. Bruce Field from the University of South Carolina gave some historical background of “The State of the PDS Field”, Audrey Kleninsasser of the University of Wyoming talked about “Developing Leadership Capacity for Partnerships”, and Jim Nolan of Penn State encouraged us with “Important Issues in Sustaining High Quality PDS Work.”
Although I attended other sessions, I was extremely proud of three presentations given by “our own” West Virginia University representatives.

David Hoppey, Special Education instructor at West Virginia University and Stephen King, principal at Mountainview Elementary presented an extremely informative session of “Using Research in the PDS to Implement RTI Effectively.” There were many interested teachers and administrators at that session.

Jenny Santilli, teacher education coordinator at South Harrison Middle/High School presented her doctoral study research on “Does Hosting Pre-service Teachers Affect In-Service Teachers?” I was especially interested in Jenny’s study as it relates to both our mentor and preservice teachers.

Sarah Steel, Coordinator of Field Services, Diane Yendol-Hoppey, Director of the Benedum Collaborative, Jenny Santilli, Teacher Education Coordinator, Lucretia Hubler-Larrimer and Jason Smith, doctoral graduate students reported on the “Development of a Teacher Leadership Program in the Context of a Partnership.” This presentation was well received by other participants who envied their innovative and collaborative work.

An added feature of attending this conference was the opportunity to meet on two different occasions with all 12 of the West Virginia University representatives who attended the conference. We discussed critical issues that need to be solved as well as celebrated the success of the Collaborative.

Penn State University is a beautiful campus and the weather was superb. I enjoyed the companionship of all the conference attendees as well as the Festival of Arts which was occurring on campus. I continue to be proud of West Virginia University!

Dear Benedum Collaborative,
I found the PSU conference to be an invaluable experience. I really enjoyed hearing about the diverse processes which guide PDS work at the various universities. Clearly we are at a crossroads with respect to the Collaborative. I feel that in an effort to empower all stakeholders to share leadership, we have crafted a culture where conversation is frequent but action is not. I think now is the time to reconsider the roles of all of our stakeholders. Do we have governance because we want shared leadership, or do we instead have structures in place that represent a mutual distrust. I wonder; if our work is noble and our goals are shared, shouldn’t then we trust that the work will get done.

I believe the new vision discussed by our team is a great first step to making substantive change that will allow us to advance the Collaborative in the next few years. I feel that by framing our work as attention to the learning of all stakeholders, we consider the importance of simultaneous renewal to PDS. If we make this our primary concern, then teacher education, professional development, research, etc. will all naturally follow from our efforts. Moving one step further, if we allow the learning of all stakeholders to be guided by inquiry, than we should have a dynamic which allows us to work towards each of the 9 Essentials, and allows this work to happen in each and every PDS.

Thank you for devoting resources to sponsoring our attendance at the conference. I feel that by bringing representative from across the Collaborative to one place to consider best practices in PDS work, discuss these practices, and then apply them to our own partnerships, we made progress towards creating a space for PDS work that will allow us to sustain the Collaborative well into the future.

Sincerely,
Jason

Hi Benedum Collaborative!
The 2009 Penn State PDS Conference provided some great learning experiences for our team. I was particularly struck with a session I attended where the presenters described how they applied some of the co-teaching principles from Special Education to the work of mentor teachers and their preservice teachers. I’m eager to try this out! I also really enjoyed a session from our colleagues in the West Virginia State partnership on using Hip-Hop as a culturally responsive way to teach. They had a wonderful session where they had the audience experimenting with the Audacity program to create Hip-Hop songs to teach different content. Cultural diversity is a strand in the Five-Year Program and I thought how ideas like this could be really useful to us. The Benedum Collaborative was well-represented at the conference. Our team took the opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations – both at the conference and on the van ride there and back. We learned – and laughed – together. What a great collaboration!

Sarah Steel