Activity 4-A

Professional Development Activity 4-A
Submitted by Daisy Arredondo Rucinski, Seattle University
(Comment option available at the bottom of the page.)

This activity relates to Standard 4.4.

To develop fluency with standard 4.4, an individual invites feedback and asks questions about assumptions, perspectives, and beliefs (about self and others), to locate and better understand discrepancies between beliefs and actions.

Depending on the level of knowledge and skill with reflective practices, an examination of beliefs activity is helpful. During this activity, individuals first write a strong belief that they hold—one that they think affects their teaching or leadership behaviors. An example might be, personal characteristics of students should not be called to attention in the classroom, even in teacher attempts at humor. They might write this belief in the center of a circle.

Then the participants are asked to recall several experiences with this belief, and to write each on a spoke drawn from the circle. In doing so, individuals often remember critical incidents with the selected belief. For example, in one workshop on reflection a teacher remembered an incident in her freshman college speech class when she had been ridiculed for her “Ozark hill country accent.” She was asked to talk about her background, as soon as she began to talk, the professor said, “Oh my God, you will be my quarter project!”

Then this teacher was asked to repeat—Pygmalion style—almost everything she said aloud in class thereafter. She subsequently suppressed the memory of this critical incident and for years afterwards remained largely silent during group discussions. Many years later, in the reflective practice workshop, she recalled this incident as a basis for her strong belief that no child should ever be ridiculed in class.

Once participants have listed memories about their beliefs, they might share them in small groups and then generate examples of how their beliefs might look in practice. They should ask what teacher or leadership behaviors would be occurring in situations where behaviors are consistent with the identified beliefs. As time permits, individuals examine other beliefs in this fashion and journal about their experiences. At other times they bring these journals to meetings to share with colleagues. The identification of discrepancies and examinations of practices can be a very powerful way of changing the professional dialogue within a school.

This initial examination of beliefs activity is followed with readings, discussions, and observations about defensive behaviors (see, for example, Argyris, 1992). Ask why such behaviors surface and how they can be changed. Change can occur in work with faculty dialogue; communication and relationship skills, including conflict resolution; or in practice with framing reflective questions and sharing information that fosters the development of higher levels of collaborative reflective dialogue within the school.

One elementary school in the Seattle area, for example, used a part of faculty meetings throughout a whole year to develop and then use reflective practice skills. Faculty in this school attributed the higher achievement scores on the state assessment to this habit of using reflective dialogue on a regular basis.

Criterion for Assessment

The major criterion for assessment of the fourth reflective practice standard is evidence of its use in conversations, shared journals, and individual professional development plans prepared by faculty and staff throughout the school. This evidence might include collected oral or written examples posted in faculty rooms; journals containing examples of the standards shared at faculty meetings; or comments made about the standard in conversations or written goals. Formal self-assessments and tallies of observational data can also be made and shared across the learning community.

Reference

Argyris, C. (1992). On organizational learning. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.

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Professional Development Activity 4-A Submitted by Daisy Arredondo Rucinski, Seattle University (Comment option available at the bottom of the page.) This activity relates to Standard 4.4. To develop fluency with standard 4.4, an individual invites feedback and asks questions about assumptions, perspectives, and beliefs (about self and others), to locate and better understand discrepancies between beliefs and actions. Depending on the level of knowledge and skill with reflective practices, an examination of beliefs activity is helpful. During this activity, individuals first write a strong belief that they hold—one that they think affects their teaching or leadership behaviors. An example might be, personal characteristics of students should not be called to attention in the classroom, even in teacher attempts at humor. They might write this belief in the center of a circle. Then the participants are asked to recall several experiences with this belief, and to write each on a spoke drawn from the circle. In doing so, individuals often remember critical incidents with the selected belief. For example, in one workshop on reflection a teacher remembered an incident in her freshman college speech class when she had been ridiculed for her “Ozark hill country accent.” She was asked to talk about her background, as soon as she began to talk, the professor said, “Oh my God, you will be my quarter project!” Then this teacher was asked to repeat—Pygmalion style—almost everything she said aloud in class thereafter. She subsequently suppressed the memory of this critical incident and for years afterwards remained largely silent during group discussions. Many years later, in the reflective practice workshop, she recalled this incident as a basis for her strong belief that no child should ever be ridiculed in class. Once participants have listed memories about their beliefs, they might share them in small groups and then generate examples of how their beliefs might look in practice. They should ask what teacher or leadership behaviors would be occurring in situations where behaviors are consistent with the identified beliefs. As time permits, individuals examine other beliefs in this fashion and journal about their experiences. At other times they bring these journals to meetings to share with colleagues. The identification of discrepancies and examinations of practices can be a very powerful way of changing the professional dialogue within a school. This initial examination of beliefs activity is followed with readings, discussions, and observations about defensive behaviors (see, for example, Argyris, 1992). Ask why such behaviors surface and how they can be changed. Change can occur in work with faculty dialogue; communication and relationship skills, including conflict resolution; or in practice with framing reflective questions and sharing information that fosters the development of higher levels of collaborative reflective dialogue within the school. One elementary school in the Seattle area, for example, used a part of faculty meetings throughout a whole year to develop and then use reflective practice skills. Faculty in this school attributed the higher achievement scores on the state assessment to this habit of using reflective dialogue on a regular basis. Criterion for Assessment The major criterion for assessment of the fourth reflective practice standard is evidence of its use in conversations, shared journals, and individual professional development plans prepared by faculty and staff throughout the school. This evidence might include collected oral or written examples posted in faculty rooms; journals containing examples of the standards shared at faculty meetings; or comments made about the standard in conversations or written goals. Formal self-assessments and tallies of observational data can also be made and shared across the learning community. Reference Argyris, C. (1992). On organizational learning. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. Back to Standard Propose New Activity Comments Please include your name, organization and the number and letter of the professional development activity with your comments. Comments will be Posted On the Next Business Day..
	The Standards for Instructional Supervision