Norris School District

January 15, 2006

What our teachers are reading! High school teachers are participating in faculty Learning Teams second semester.  The learning team approach emphasizes small group inquiry around a shared topic or topics identified through educational research as pertinent for school improvement.  Each learning team has a specific title the members read in common.  The teams follow a reading and meeting schedule of meetings before or after school and teachers are responsible for getting this professional reading done outside the classroom.  We thought you might be interested in learning what these books are.  Some of the books we are reading this term on learning teams include:

Whatever It Takes: The subtitle of this book is How Professional Learning Communities Respond When Kids Don’t Learn.  This book by Richard DuFour and his collaborators describes how schools can establish and sustain a ‘pyramid of interventions’ to assist students who are in danger of academic failure.  Without intensive support from teachers and administrators, DuFour explains, some students will be doomed to failure.  However, DuFour says that if we view student learning as the constant and teaching strategies as the variable, then we can always find ways to do things differently to promote student success for all.  DuFour et al provide insight from model schools across the country.  The authors explore such pertinent topics as how teachers can work together to provide timely interventions for strugglers, why shared data analysis about student achievement is so crucial, and why a clearly articulated and aligned (grade to grade, course to course) curriculum has become essential. Mr. Skretta is leading this learning team.

The Myth of Laziness: This book was authored by professor and pediatrician Mel Levine.  Dr. Levine has worked extensively with students and parents in addressing young peoples’ learning challenges.  Levine’s work helps teachers understand how to be more attentive to students’ individual learning needs in the classroom by offering multi-mode instruction (audio/visual/tactile/kinesthetic, etc.).  Levine’s works have received a number of awards and this book received national exposure when it was recommended for parents on Oprah Winfrey’s syndicated talk show.  This learning team is facilitated by special education teacher Mary Schlieder.

Get Out Of Your Own Way: This book was written by Robert Cooper, leadership consultant to Fortune 500 companies.  Cooper describes in depth how the brain is our biggest ally (no surprise there!) and also our biggest obstacle in setting and achieving meaningful goals.  He identifies how long-entrenched thought processes may deter us from pursuing loftier aims.  Amongst other things, Cooper describes how readers can improve their focus on essential outcomes, how rational analysis and intuition can be balanced, and why the research suggests multi-tasking is not very effective.  The book’s assertions are anchored in current research on the human brain and learning.  This learning team is co-led by science teacher Jan Zink and physical education teacher Ann Schroeder. 

Permission to Forget: Written by educational consultant and former teacher and school principal Lee Jenkins, this book examines root-cause problems in the American educational system and how schools can address these, including ‘cramming’ for testing and how schools can alleviate this phenomenon by focusing on core content area concepts.  This book was adopted as a learning team after Shirley Montgomery and several other Norris teachers attended one of Jenkins’ workshops in Nebraska.  Business teacher Mrs. Montgomery is the leader of this learning team. 

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon: Written from the viewpoint of a fifteen-year old with autism, this novel has implications for how educators work with autistic students and enhances our understanding of their special needs. The author teaches creative writing at Oxford University and has experience working with autistics.  This learning team will be led by special education paraprofessional Lisa Brown.

The learning team approach leverages the intellectual talents of our teachers by working collaboratively.  The learning teams are on a third quarter timeline.  Each learning team has between 8 and 12 members.  Each team will glean ideas from the books that they will then share with the entire faculty and integrate into classroom practice to improve student learning.