1. Mike Steele
  2. Professor
  3. The Milwaukee Master Teacher Partnership
  4. https://uwm.edu/mmtp/
  5. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee Public Schools, School District of South Milwaukee
  1. Barbara Bales
  2. Director, Strategic Initiative and Educational Innovation
  3. The Milwaukee Master Teacher Partnership
  4. https://uwm.edu/mmtp/
  5. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
  1. Craig Berg
  2. Professor
  3. The Milwaukee Master Teacher Partnership
  4. https://uwm.edu/mmtp/
  5. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
  1. Anja Blecking
  2. Assistant Professor
  3. The Milwaukee Master Teacher Partnership
  4. https://uwm.edu/mmtp/
  5. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
  1. Angela Ford
  2. Mathematics Curriculum Specialist
  3. The Milwaukee Master Teacher Partnership
  4. https://uwm.edu/mmtp/
  5. Milwaukee Public Schools
  1. Laura Maly
  2. Mathematics Teacher Leader
  3. The Milwaukee Master Teacher Partnership
  4. https://uwm.edu/mmtp/
  5. Milwaukee Public Schools
  1. Jenny Sagrillo
  2. Graduate Research Assistant
  3. The Milwaukee Master Teacher Partnership
  4. https://uwm.edu/mmtp/
  5. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
  1. Rochelle Sandrin
  2. Science Curriculum Specialist
  3. The Milwaukee Master Teacher Partnership
  4. https://uwm.edu/mmtp/
  5. Milwaukee Public Schools
Public Discussion

Continue the discussion of this presentation on the Multiplex. Go to Multiplex

  • Icon for: Zen Borys

    Zen Borys

    Researcher
    May 13, 2019 | 11:45 p.m.

    Thanks for sharing your work with the video.  We have some similar work in our project where we have teachers study their "problem of practice."  Grounded in action research, the fellows study their problem and possible solutions, then share what they have learned.  I found myself wondering about two features you mentioned in the video.  Could you share more about the microcredentials?  Are they recognized in the district?  What does earning one take? etc.  And, when your fellows share what they have learned, is there an online space to have fellows share what they have learned?  I know I am interested and could picture some of our fellows would be curious, too.  

  • Icon for: Barbara Bales

    Barbara Bales

    Co-Presenter
    Director, Strategic Initiative and Educational Innovation
    May 14, 2019 | 02:16 p.m.

    Hi Zen,

    Our micro-credentials are housed on the Digital Promise platform. Although the district does not recognize the credentials, per se, several districts in the state do have them tied to teachers' evaluation and compensation plans. We design each micro-credential to be the equivalent of one graduate credit. At the end of each 'quarter', teachers share their work internally to the group. Their work is showcased externally at the end of each year. 

     
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  • Icon for: Jenny Sagrillo

    Jenny Sagrillo

    Co-Presenter
    Graduate Research Assistant
    May 15, 2019 | 05:18 p.m.

    Zen - Our four introductory microcredentials are currently available at Digital Promise.  Our second and third year microcredentials (including MCs on leadership, pedagogy, and math/science content) will be available sometime this upcoming summer.  We plan for each MC to take about 10 hours of work.  I love the idea of sharing their work!  At the end of each academic quarter, the teachers share their work to each other and present posters with their results.  I will ask them for permission to share the posters of their results on our website.

  • Icon for: Brian Drayton

    Brian Drayton

    Researcher
    May 14, 2019 | 12:06 p.m.

    I"m interested in Zen's questions, too -- but here's another one:  Are you thinking of similar courses to help STEM teachers gain experience in doing research in their subject-matter field (bio, physics, etc.), so that they build undertanding about the pratices of their field?

  • Icon for: Barbara Bales

    Barbara Bales

    Co-Presenter
    Director, Strategic Initiative and Educational Innovation
    May 14, 2019 | 02:19 p.m.

    Hi Brian,

    A few of the badges we developed, connect teachers to research in their discipline. While some of these are 'summer' projects (e.g., SEPA) it is difficult for teachers to actively engage in ongoing research during the school year.

  • Icon for: Cynthia Callard

    Cynthia Callard

    Facilitator
    Executive Director/Professor
    May 14, 2019 | 07:32 p.m.

    Thank you for sharing your work on this Noyce Master Teaching Fellowship!  I especially appreciated the images from the classroom, and the teachers' reflections on how their practice has changed.  I was also wondering if you could talk a little more about how you support the teachers in their leadership work and how they are influencing others in their schools/district?  Thanks!

  • Icon for: Barbara Bales

    Barbara Bales

    Co-Presenter
    Director, Strategic Initiative and Educational Innovation
    May 15, 2019 | 06:14 a.m.

    Hi Cynthia,

    The teacher leadership component involves three micro-credentials at this time - Designing and Supporting Teacher Learning I, II, and III. The badges were designed to help current teachers understand the theoretical and practice foundations of teacher learning and professional development as two constructs. Drawing on the works of Loucks-Horsley, et al and many others, Teacher Learning I offers teachers the opportunity to learning these foundations while examining student and teacher learning data at their department, school, or district levels. They identify a problem and then design a research-based, data-driven professional development initiative. Teacher Learning II focuses on the implementation and evaluation of that PD initiative, again with a focus on the gathering of teacher and student learning data. Teacher Learning III attends to examining the evaluation data and making adjustments to the original design. We have had some requests to design a Teacher Learning IV and perhaps V micro-credentials to designing a PD pathway toward National Boards for a small subset of teachers within the project.

  • Icon for: Rachel Garrett

    Rachel Garrett

    Facilitator
    Senior Researcher
    May 14, 2019 | 07:44 p.m.

    Count me among those interested in understanding more about your microcredentials! In particular, I'm wondering how the MC approach differs from how you previously taught content and developed instructional skills? Do the teachers choose the MCs that they wish to pursue or do they all complete the same ones? Have you experienced any challenges to the MC approach that others could learn from?

  • Icon for: Barbara Bales

    Barbara Bales

    Co-Presenter
    Director, Strategic Initiative and Educational Innovation
    May 15, 2019 | 06:28 a.m.

    Hello Rachel,

    Many of the micro-credentials we develop are distillation of content from courses or workshops each of us have offered. Some are brand new to us. The teachers often request specific badges - Sustainability, Teacher Learning IV (see above). The primary difference between the courses and workshops is the intentional focus on a self-identified problem of practice and the action-research framework focus on the self-selected instructional intervention they want to try. Other than the first two badges on the mechanics of doing action research (Action Research I and Action Research II), teachers select which badges they want to pursue. This is an important component which they value. As for challenges, teachers are very busy and their work has variations of intensity. They also have very busy personal lives. The intensity of their work and/or their personal lives sometimes pushes against 'our' calendar. When it does, we have to remind ourselves that their first responsibility is to the students in their classrooms and themselves! So we have made adjustments in our 'due dates' to better accommodate their incredibly full lives.

  • Icon for: Jenny Sagrillo

    Jenny Sagrillo

    Co-Presenter
    Graduate Research Assistant
    May 15, 2019 | 05:24 p.m.

    We have developed microcredentials based on both teacher need and interest.  The design follows principles of practiced-based professional development (see M.S. Smith, 2001) and teacher classroom action research.

    We have developed 28 MCs to date.  Of these, five are available at Digital Promise. Another batch will be released to the public this summer.  Our teachers get to choose most of the MCs they pursue, as Barbara said.  By the end of this year, they will have had the opportunity to complete 12 total (with one each academic quarter).  

  • Icon for: Kristen Reed

    Kristen Reed

    Facilitator
    Senior Project Director
    May 14, 2019 | 08:38 p.m.

    I am quite interested in the MC approach as well. Would you recommend this as an approach to other projects? Have you found the MC to be an additional incentive for teacher participation?

  • Icon for: Barbara Bales

    Barbara Bales

    Co-Presenter
    Director, Strategic Initiative and Educational Innovation
    May 15, 2019 | 06:43 a.m.

    I definitely recommend the micro-credential approach for other projects but our research suggests three key pieces to why it appears to incentivize participation.

    First, everyone is able to build a personalize path into the multi-faceted domains for teaching. As experienced teachers, they know what they want to explore. At the same time, they are intrigued by what they do not know. The swath of badges we have developed have emerged from both the team's expertise and the teachers requests. Second. the importance of teacher voice in defining this path is critical. Most commercial or district PD is driven by someone else pedagogically inappropriate. Teachers are bright, professional learners. The importance of their voice cannot be underestimated. Third, the action-research based micro-credential appears essential as they develop and curate their professional practice. Remember, these are math and science teachers, whose brains attend to data. Data from their professional practice serves foundational in their learning and, in turn, the refinement and expansion of their professional practice. 

    We recently presented this research at AERA. Several teachers have presented this work at NCTM and other NSTA forums, as well as in-state arenas. Some will be showcasing their work at the NSTA Forum in San Francisco this summer.

  • Icon for: Raffaella Borasi

    Raffaella Borasi

    Researcher
    May 14, 2019 | 08:39 p.m.

    I'd like to know more about the kind of training/support provided to your participants as they explore their chosen area of practice.  Do you have any formal coursework/PD? Do you offer any kind of mentoring/ coaching? How do participants share lessons learned/ learn from each other? 

  • Icon for: Barbara Bales

    Barbara Bales

    Co-Presenter
    Director, Strategic Initiative and Educational Innovation
    May 15, 2019 | 06:50 a.m.

    Hello Raffaella,

    We try to structure each badge group as a teacher learning community. Some teachers work at the same school and have selected a department problem (e.g., how to improve students' argumentation skills, common rubrics, etc). As noted earlier, micro-credential projected are shared, internally, four times each year and externally at the end of each academic year. Work is also shared as they ready proposals in presentations in professional arenas.

  • Icon for: Deanna Privette

    Deanna Privette

    i3 STEM Grant Coordinator
    May 15, 2019 | 11:53 a.m.

    I love investing in teachers and the idea of them conducting action research in their classroom directly with their students.  Do you have outcomes/data (perhaps testing data) that supports an action research that is having more success than others?

  • Icon for: Jenny Sagrillo

    Jenny Sagrillo

    Co-Presenter
    Graduate Research Assistant
    May 16, 2019 | 01:41 p.m.

    Deanna - Mike, Craig, Barbara, or Anja may be able to better answer this question with data but I've noticed changes in their classroom practice in the three years of our program.  I get to see each teacher's classroom every year and I've noticed that the depth of questioning, the cognitive demand of the tasks and lessons, the amount students who are wrestling with thinking about math and science, and the level of discourse in the classrooms have all increased since the first year.

  • Icon for: Mike Steele

    Mike Steele

    Lead Presenter
    Professor
    May 19, 2019 | 12:19 p.m.

    Deanna, we haven't looked thus far at student assessment data aside from what teachers have collected in the course of their own action research, as we feel that's a bit limited in what it can tell us.  Our observations of the classrooms, as Jenny mentioned, have been showing us some significant changes in the types of tasks teachers are selecting and the pedagogical techniques they're using to solicit more student engagement. We're confident that these opportunities are moving the needle on students' opportunities to learn.

    We also don't have a comparative group for the study, so it's hard to say if the action research approach is having more success than other approaches.  But we are anticipating by the end of the 5-year project, we'll have some important things to say about the growth of these teachers that would suggest this approach has merit.  

  • Further posting is closed as the showcase has ended.