Redefining Staff Development: A Collaborative Model for Teachers and Administrators

Laura Robb has spent years writing to improve the literate lives of children. Now, as a natural extension of that work, she turns her attention toward improving the professional lives of educators.

In Redefining Staff Development, Robb advocates for meaningful change-change that takes into account the culture of the school community and the diversity among its members. She eschews the traditional, top-down model for one that allows participants time to inquire and reflect, listen and respond, rise and stumble. And although it can be more challenging, the payoff is considerable: teachers and administrators alike grow into professionals who can alter the lives of children in astounding ways.

Robb demonstrates how to start, maintain, and assess with a menu of ongoing strategies-study groups, coaching, and peer mentoring and evaluation. All of them are adaptable, and none requires the budget for traditional inservice because they rely on activities that all educators should be engaged in-reading, self-evaluating, conversing, kid and colleague watching, and collaborating on investigations. They can be done with or without the help of a hired outside educator. It is a model that is within financial reach of most schools, if leaders choose to embrace it.

As practical as it is thought provoking, the book contains anecdotes from Robb's own experience as a teacher, staff developer, and curriculum coordinator in schools throughout Virginia. It also features transcripts from interviews, teacher conversations, and student conferences, as well as an appendix of reproducible forms for self-evaluation, study-group documentation, and one-on-one conferences that can be used as is or modified.

Laura Robb is the author of several classic books on literacy, including Teaching Reading in Middle School (second edition, 2010) and Teaching Nonfiction Writing: A Practical Guide. She brings more than four decades of teaching experience to her authorship and her professional development workshops, which she conducts throughout the country. She is a sought-after speaker, beloved by teachers for her commitment to children and adolescents and her ability to show what best practices look like in day-to-day teaching. In addition to her speaking and consulting, she teaches part time in grades K - 8. Recently, the Nassau Reading Council presented Robb with its 2009 Friend of Literacy Award. A survey conducted by Instructormagazine named Robb as one of the nation's top twenty educators. Laura Robb lives in Winchester, Virginia. Visit LRobb.com for teaching tips and to find out more about her in-service offerings. >> Listen to an interview with Laura Robb on Education Talk Radio - 12/06/2011 (42:17)