Achieving staff development through understanding the learner

Abstract

Abstract This article reports the measurable outcomes of an implementation of the Let Me Learn taff development process, a 16-week intensive staff development training for teachers. This was a recursive laboratory experience in which teachers applied their newly gained insights concerning the Interactive Learning Model to developing and implementing a plan of action involving effective teaching/learning strategies appropriate to the students upon whom they had chosen to focus. The laboratory sessions presented the teacher-mentors with an opportunity to focus on such topics as the inclusion of special needs students, cooperative learning, alternative assessment measures, teacher – student – parent interactions, and interdisciplinary learning experiences. Case studies, reflection journals, anecdotal records, video-taped student-teacher interaction, audio-taped de-briefing sessions, teacher plans, student work-product and quantitative data are used in tracing the evolution of the staff development process. Discussion covers the identification of those non-political elements of the staff development process which are replicable within any teaching context. The study illuminates the potentially powerful system-wide impact of professionals engaging in understanding themselves as learners while developing insights into their students as learners