Lab Class: Professional Learning Through Collaborative Inquiry and Student Observation - Softcover

Cranston, Lisa Ann

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1544327951 ISBN 13: 9781544327952

Publisher: Corwin, 2018

Synopsis

School-based, collaborative teacher learning that drives student achievement 

Meaningful growth in teacher practice comes when we invest in teacher-led, inquiry-based collaborative models where teachers get to roll up their sleeves and study what’s really going on in classrooms.  

Lab Class introduces an observation-based professional learning design that helps teachers collaboratively plan, investigate, and develop solutions to a specific problem of practice by observing a host teacher’s classroom through the eyes of students. This book provides instructional leaders and team facilitators with observation protocols that encourage teachers to:

• Plan collaborative inquiry projects by identifying a focus of the inquiry, combing the research literature, creating norms for observations, and identifying resources needed
• Observe and analyze student conversations, actions, and products to determine the impact of instructional decisions on students
• Identify patterns from observations and determine next steps for professional learning

Close the knowing-doing gap by bringing professional learning out of workshops and back where it belongs―in the classroom!                         

"For those looking to empower teachers by bringing the learning of teaching closer to the classroom, this resource will help you achieve your goals."
―Jenni Donohoo, Provincial Literacy Lead, Council of Ontario Directors of Education
Author of Collective Efficacy 

"Lab Class is a professional learning structure to take learning walks to the next level. It provides a process to deepen inquiry and focus teacher observations and learning."
―Ellen S. Perconti, Superintendent
Mary M. Knight School District, WA 

About this title

About the Author

Lisa Cranston has over thirty years of experience as an educator and has taught grades kindergarten to four, worked as an instructional coach for literacy and mathematics, and as an educational consultant for kindergarten and primary grades. She has also provided induction for new teachers and support for their mentors. In her role as a curriculum consultant, Lisa and her colleagues developed the Lab Class model to support professional learning for teachers and administrators. This model reflects Lisa’s beliefs that collaboration is key to professional learning and that educational leaders must engage as co-learners with teachers if we are to create sustainable change in practice.

Lisa recently completed a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership at Western University and has a Masters degree in Curriculum Studies from the University of Windsor and an undergraduate degree in Early Childhood Education from Ryerson University in Toronto. She is a consulting editor for the National Association for Young Children’s journal Teaching Young Children and a presenter for The MEHRIT Centre. She enjoys travelling with her two daughters and her husband or relaxing in their home on the shores of Lake Erie near the vineyards of Southern Ontario.

Edition details

• Publisher: Corwin
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1544327951
• ISBN 13: 9781544327952
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 168