Exciting News
The Induction and Professional Learning team is thrilled to announce some exciting changes and enhancements we have made to our Induction programming. Our former Expectations Into Action program will now be referred to as the RISE Induction Experience. RISE stands for Responsive, Impactful Support for Educators.
As a result of these changes, the learning opportunities we provide for our new hires throughout their first three years have gone through some changes:
RISE and Thrive will support our year one educators in finding and achieving success in FCPS.
RISE and Apply will assist our year two educators in developing and applying instructional strategies and understanding pedagogical approaches.
RISE and Reflect will guide our year three educators in becoming more reflective practitioners and building skills that may assist as they advance through the career ladder and/or begin working towards National Board Certification.
The changes to our induction programming are in direct response to the current needs of our new hires and reflect our department’s goal to provide responsive, impactful support for our educators new to FCPS.
Rosenshine Book Study
Over the summer several FCPS leaders engaged in professional learning with a book study on Tom Sherrington’s Rosenshine's Principles of Action. In response to the great feedback received and requests for making this information available to staff members, the FCPS PL and Leadership teams have worked together to create a one-credit book study. For more information about offering this book study to your staff members, please see the following document. Reach out to Maureen.corio@fcps.org if you have questions.
The Science of Learning Corner
The book series Teaching WalkThrus by Tom Sherrington and Oliver Caviglioli includes a set of guides for teachers and leaders regarding the implementation of strategies rooted in cognitive science. These strategies can be implemented by all teachers for improved learning. The books use simple illustrations and an efficient 5 step guide to help teachers implement these strategies. Teaching WalkThrus is not meant to be a checklist for observations. It is meant to be a tool for teacher development during instructional coaching and general professional learning sessions. At the heart of this intent is the use of the ADAPT strategy that helps teachers take a very generic strategy and adapt it to specific contexts in diverse classrooms.
Attempting the strategy allows the teacher to develop a sense of the strategy.
Developing the strategy means that the teacher adds details to make the strategy more relevant to their unique learners.
Adapting the strategy refers to the changes the teacher makes so the strategy does what it’s intended to do.
Practicing the strategy is important so that it becomes fluent and seamless in lessons. This helps to evaluate and reflect on a more reliable use of the strategy later.
Testing the strategy means you assess the impact of the strategy in some way. Think about how well the students are learning based on the use of the strategy.
To find out more about this great resource and how we are using it, please contact anyone on our team.
Neuroteach Global
National Board Certification
Fifty FCPS teachers are engaged in FCPS Launch, a support program facilitated by FCPS National Board Certified Teachers. The program supports NBCT candidates in their 1st year pursuit of certification as well as those seeking Maintenance of Certification (MOC) and includes:
Monthly virtual support sessions, level and topic specific
Support text What Teachers Should Know and Be Able To Do, published by National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS)
Feedback on portfolio writing
Logistical support to navigate registration, fee support, and submission timelines
We are thankful to the following FCPS NBCTs supporting the FCPS Launch program:
Kathy Domboski, Katie Erickson, Amanda Fishel, Harry Hanna, Katherine Miller, Cindy Newmeyer, Kim Parry, Nicole Rhoades, Scott Rippeon, Lissa Smith, Mark Trice, Mark Widmeyer, and Sarah Yoder
FCPS Launch strives to expand certification across FCPS schools and certification areas, so that we can foster support across our system.
Ready to learn more about becoming a NBCT?
Visit the FCPS Professional Learning website for more information.
Running the Room Tip
Over the summer, new and experienced teachers engaged in a book study using Tom Bennett’s The Running The Room Companion, a condensed version of his similarly named, Running The Room. focusing on classroom management. We will look forward to offering the course again next summer. In the meantime, we are happy to share insights from the course, How To Run The Room.
Principle 1 - Behavior is a curriculum
Curriculum: We dissect it to better understand it. We teach pre-requisite skills and build schema. We model it. We scaffold for those who need support. We practice. We formatively assess and we re-teach. We meet students where they are and work with them to grow. We revisit learning after some time (forgetting curve) to retrieve learning and improve memory. We repeat as necessary.
Consider: Do I apply this same thinking to classroom routines and behavior expectations?
Try: Choose a classroom routine or expectation that may need revisiting. Approach it like a content curriculum. Reflect on the results.
New Hire Symposium
The Induction and Professional Learning team had the pleasure of welcoming 304 new hires to FCPS through the New Hire Symposium experience on August 3, 4, 8, 9. Professional learning sessions included asynchronous Schoology and Essential Technological Competencies training, an overview of Educator Effectiveness, Certification Requirements, Equity, Instructional Technology, and planning for a “strong start” to the school year. Thank you to the leaders from AAE, CII, DTI, Public Affairs and SASA who supported this experience, as well as the 57 master teachers and 109 school-based mentors who will serve as touch points for our new hires throughout the year. Special thanks to the administrative staff and custodians at Tuscarora High School who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure a welcoming and accessible experience.
RISE and Thrive- Year 1
RISE and Apply - Year 2
RISE and Reflect - Year 3
Master Teachers
Mentor Teachers
During our June mentor training we welcomed both new and returning mentors. New mentors spent time developing a conceptual understanding of the RISE (Responsive Impactful Support for Educators) Induction Experience and the mentoring role. As part of their responsibility, new mentors are highly encouraged to participate in our Mentoring in the 21st Century online course to begin November 1st. This course is designed to help school based mentors hone their coaching skills specifically with new hires, determine ways to assist new hires with the focus areas of the Framework for Teaching, realize the impact of quality mentoring and apply mentoring skills and techniques. Experienced mentors focused on using the Mentor Toolkit to refine their current practices by collaborating with their colleagues through multiple scenarios.
JumpStart Year 2
Seventy new hires participated in the 2022 JumpStart Year 2 course. JumpStart Year 2 is designed to provide new hires an opportunity to address potential gaps in experience and lay the groundwork for a successful beginning to the 2022-2023 school year.This two part course provided a 4 hour in person professional learning choice session covering the following topics:
Formative Assessment and Feedback
Lesson Planning and Research-Informed Strategies
Social and Emotional Well-Being
Student Engagement and Classroom Management
The second part focused on a book study using the text Powerful Teaching by Pooja Agarwal and Patrice Bain. The readings, discussions and coursework highlighted research-informed MBE strategies to help mitigate learning loss related to the pandemic and to extend the learning presented during EIA Year 1.
See Pooja Agarwal and Patrice Bain this October at ResearchED Frederick!
