Info Update

• Dr. Z-Coe's Corner
• Summer Book Club Continuation
• July 2005 Facilitator Professional Development
• Summer FOR-PD Helpdesk Hours
• Fall 2005 Registration Information
• Bi-monthly Discussion Topics

ABC's of Facilitation

• Facilitation Resource of the Month
• What's My Role?
• Dear Felicity,

Chatterbox

• Community Comments
• Monthly Online Chat
• Future Chats

Dr. Z-Coe's Corner

Dear FOR-PD Facilitator:

Greetings to all! Our summer semester is continuing strong. As always, we enjoy our collaboration with you. Thank you for all you do to help Florida's preK-12 teachers complete Competency 2 of the Florida Reading Endorsement/Certification. Thank you for continuing to communicate with us and with the teachers in your section. Thank you for continuing to encourage them to keep up with the course schedule. Thank you for sharing your experiences and knowledge with your class.

This month we are focusing on professional development design and learning. We are highlighting many resources that will help you implement principles of effective professional development and learning in your facilitation of the FOR-PD course. In light of this focus, I would like to discuss with you some of the key features of our professional development project and how they are designed to help promote teacher learning.

• Set goals—a set of clear and shared outcomes for the facilitation of the FOR-PD course.
• Our design framework considers input from the following important components—the existing knowledge base and beliefs about online learning and reading, teaching, the content, the online process, professional development, and the process of change.
• Your knowledge and beliefs will determine how you facilitate the course, how you help guide teachers' learning, and also what you and teachers in your section learn about reading and reading instruction. It is important that you help teachers connect new to already existing knowledge and invite them to apply it in their classrooms.
• An analysis of the context in which teachers learn.
• We spend much time helping you, the facilitator, with the process of adult learning in an online environment. The majority of the teachers in your section are first time online learners. What are some ways you identify what teachers are learning in the course?
• A set of critical issues that make the difference between success and failure.
• Many of these critical issues refer to the instructional design of our course as well as to the content, facilitation, and monitoring of the course. The FOR-PD course is user-friendly, easy to navigate, with easy access to information, loaded with comprehensive preK-12 resources, and relevant to preK-12 teachers. Effective facilitation of the course is a key determinant of teachers' success in the course.
• A repertoire of strategies for professional learning that can be combined in different ways to maximize learning goals.
• The FOR-PD course utilizes many vehicles to maximize teachers' learning—e.g., relevant content, numerous resources, preK-12 applications,  differentiated instruction, case studies, video clips, discussions, quizzes, interactions with facilitator and with other colleagues, online chats, help desk technical support, and monitoring of progress.
• Plan—careful consideration of how facilitation, support, and services come together and proceed over time. FOR-PD focuses on ongoing professional development and support for facilitators. We have a multi-layered support and services system that helps you develop, maintain, and provide effective facilitation that helps all teachers learn and succeed in the course.
• Implement—every time we start a section we have the opportunity to reflect on our entire project. New facilitators and new teachers bring their own beliefs, experiences, and knowledge and together help raise unique questions and co-develop learning and knowledge.
• Reflect—our reflection and evaluation of the entire process is ongoing. Evaluation of the participation and facilitation process and progress feed back into adjustment of our plans and subsequent steps, as well as adjustment of our goals.

All of these professional design components are not only integral parts of what we do as a project but also necessary steps for your facilitation and learning and teachers' participation and learning. These factors present a cyclical rather than a linear process and affect the support and learning we provide for our audiences.

As always, we are here to support you and help you and your teachers succeed. Please let us know how we can better support you and help you grow professionally, as well. Thank you again, for all of your work. Thank you for your time, efforts, and leadership with the FOR-PD course. I wish you continued success with the rest of the semester. Please feel free to contact me in case you have any comments or questions at vzygouri@mail.ucf.edu or (407) 207-7296.

Regards,

Vicky Zygouris-Coe, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator, FOR-PD
vzygouri@mail.ucf.edu

Summer Book Club Continuation

By popular demand, we will be continuing our book club discussion this summer. Some of you were unable to participate in the spring due to time demands, etc. and have asked that we allow you to continue this summer and post your thoughts regarding the book, Systems for Change in Literacy Education by Carol Lyons and Gay Su Pinnell. The chapter summaries are all in the discussion area. We have re-posted all chapter summaries in a Summer 2005 subject under the "Book Review" topic.

Remember that you can earn professional development points for participating in the book club. You will get 1 point for reading each chapter (as evident in your post reply) and 3 points for posting your reply. We look forward to reading your responses this summer and engaging in conversation with you about the book. For those of you who have already read the book, we encourage you to continue interacting with your fellow facilitators in a discussion about the application of the reading to facilitating a FOR-PD course.

Summer FOR-PD Help Desk Hours

We posted this information in the last FFF, but wanted to include it again for those new courses that have just started. Please post this information in your courses. FOR-PD has new summer Help Desk hours!

Monday - Friday:	9am - 4pm
Monday, Tuesday and Friday:	6pm - 10pm
Saturday:	10am - 3pm

There are still a variety of ways to reach the Help Desk. Your participants can use any of these methods during regular Help Desk hours. Please remember to refer your participants directly to the Help Desk if they are having trouble.

Phone Support
866-863-READ (866-863-7323): Toll Free, Florida Calls Only
407-249-4702: Non Florida Calls Only

Email Support
helpdesk@orion.itrc.ucf.edu

Remember when you email the FOR-PD help desk to include the following:

• Your Full Name
• Your Section
• A description of your problem
• A contact phone number to reach you (sometimes problems can be served best with a quick phone call)

AOL Instant Messenger© Support
Screen Name "forpdhelp"

Fall 2005 Registration Information

Just another friendly reminder about Fall 2005 registration—mark your calendars! Teachers wishing to register for fall courses will be able to do so from the FOR-PD Homepage. Look for the registration link during the enrollment dates.

Richard Scott, in the FOR-PD office, is responsible for assisting districts with setting up registrations and collecting the registration files. For assistance, please contact Richard through email (richard@orion.itrc.ucf.edu) or by phone (407-207-4940).

Bi-Monthly Facilitator Discussion Topics

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Facilitation Resource of the Month

We are continuing our focus on the NSDC Standards. Below are excerpts from the NSDC website regarding the Learning and Design & Strategies Standard. For more information about the NSDC standards, please visit the NSDC homepage.

Let's look at the Learning Standard and the rationale in terms of the FOR-PD course.

The Learning Standard

Staff development that improves the learning of all students applies knowledge about human learning and change.

The Rationale

No matter the age at which it occurs, human learning is based on a common set of principles. While adults have more life experience to draw on than younger learners and are often clearer about what they want to learn and why it is important, the means by which the learning occurs is remarkably similar. Consequently, it is important that the learning methods used in professional development mirror as closely as possible the methods teachers are expected to use with their students.

It is essential that staff development assist educators in moving beyond comprehension of the surface features of a new idea or innovation to a fuller and more complete understanding of its purposes, critical attributes, meaning, and connection to other approaches. To improve student achievement, adult learning under most circumstances must promote deep understanding of a topic and provide many opportunities for teachers and administrators to practice new skills with feedback on their performance until those skills become automatic and habitual. Such deeper understanding typically requires a number of opportunities to interact with the idea or procedure through active learning processes that promote reflection such as discussion and dialogue, writing, demonstrations, practice with feedback, and group problem solving.

Because people have different learning styles and strengths, professional development must include opportunities to see, hear, and do various actions in relation to the content. It is also important that educators are able to learn alone and with others and, whenever possible, have choices among learning activities.

Another important dimension of adult engagement in change processes is the feelings that such change often evokes in individuals. Even under the best of circumstances, pressure for change, no matter what its source, may produce feelings of anxiety, fear, and anger. Such feelings are most effectively addressed through skillful listening and problem solving within a respectful and trusting school culture. It is helpful for educational leaders to appreciate that, to some degree, such feelings are natural and inevitable part of the change process. Such appreciation is aided when leaders have a deep understanding of the change literature, particularly the Concerns-Based Adoption Model, and are able to apply its insights when planning and implementing new practices in schools.

A third dimension of change is the life stage of individuals engaged in the change process. While recognition of life stage differences would not alter expectations for performance, it may affect an individual's availability and interest in additional work responsibilities during different phases of his or her life. Recognition of life stage differences may also help staff development leaders in tapping educators' strengths and talents, such as asking skillful veteran teachers to serve as mentors or coaches for their peers.

Electronic forms of learning may prove particularly helpful in providing alternatives that respond to differences in learning styles and availability due to life stage issues. Staff development content may be accessed via the Internet or other forms of distance technology that will enable learning throughout the day in various settings using media that appeals to different learning preferences.

If we look at what FOR-PD has done to meet this standard, we come up with several things. The course was designed using the principals of adult learning. We have included task lists and other information that are critical to adults "need to know what they are going to learn before they learn it." Back in the February edition of the FFF, we referenced the following: Staff Development, Adult Characteristics, which comes from "Plan instruction for adults, Module N-4," The National Center for Research in Vocational Education. (1987) Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (contributing authors include Joe Cave, Cheryl LaMaster and Sharon White). This list of adult learning characteristics really helps convey the differences between children and adults and helps clarify what this standard is all about. When you look at this standard and the list of adult characteristics, you can think about what FOR-PD had done to address the learning standard. Now let's think about what you, as a facilitator, can do to help FOR-PD address this standard.

Below are several questions. Think about what you have just read and post your thoughts to the FFF* Discussions topic "NSDC Standard: Learning."

• How is this applicable to FOR-PD?
• What are some things you can do as a facilitator to help FOR-PD meet this standard?

Now let's take a look at the Design and Strategies Standard and see how that is applicable to FOR-PD.

The Design and Strategies Standard

Staff development that improves the learning of all students uses learning strategies appropriate to the intended goal.

The Rationale

Just as successful teaching requires that teachers be adept at using a variety of research-based instructional strategies, so too does successful staff development require that planners select learning strategies that are appropriate to the intended outcome and other situational factors. That means that staff development leaders and providers must be aware of and skillful in the application of various adult learning strategies.

For many educators, staff development is synonymous with training, workshops, courses, and large group presentations. They are unaware that teacher and administrator learning can occur through means as diverse as collaborative lesson design, the examination of student work, curriculum development, and immersion in the work of mathematicians and scientists, case studies, action research, study groups, and professional networks, to name a few such processes. They are also often unaware that training sessions and coursework must include numerous live or video models of new instructional strategies, demonstrations in teachers' classrooms, and coaching or other forms of follow-up if those strategies are to become a routine part of teachers' instructional repertoire.

It is essential that staff development leaders and providers select learning strategies based on the intended outcomes and their diagnosis of participants' prior knowledge and experience. For instance, while awareness of new ideas may be achieved through large group presentations, that approach alone is unlikely to lead to changes in teaching practice. An extended summer institute with follow-up sessions throughout the school year will deepen teachers' content knowledge and is likely to have the desired effect. A two-hour after-school workshop will not achieve that goal. And while teachers are likely to adapt their instruction to new standards-based curriculum frameworks through the joint planning of lessons and the examination of student work with their colleagues, simply reading a journal article about the standards will in most cases, be insufficient.

The most powerful forms of professional development often combine learning strategies. To promote the development of new instructional skills, training may be combined with coaching, study groups, and action research. To promote the skillful implementation of a standards-based curriculum, study of the subject with a content expert may be combined with curriculum replacement units and a course on the development of rubrics.

Technology provides a useful tool for accessing various means of professional learning. It provides for the individualization of teacher and administrator learning through the use of CD-ROMs, e-mail, the Internet, and other distance learning processes. Technology enables educators to follow their unique learning goals within the context of school-wide staff development plans. They may download lesson plans, conduct research on a particular topic, or compare their students' work with that of students in other schools or even other countries who are participating in similar lessons. Technology also makes it possible for teachers to form virtual learning communities with educators in schools throughout the country and around the world. For example, teachers may become members of online subject-area networks, take online courses, and contribute to action research projects being done in various locations around the country.

We have clearly met this standard in the FOR-PD course. In addition to using strategies for our online content, we have included numerous strategies for teachers to us in their classrooms. We use multiple resources from the Internet to help address a variety of issues that are of importance to our audience. We have a goal in the course of creating a learning community. Participants can meet other teachers from their districts or around the state and communicate about reading-related topics. These are just a few ways we have addressed this standard. Once again, let's now look at how you, as a facilitator, can address this standard through your facilitation techniques.

Below are several questions. Think about what you have just read and post your thoughts to the FFF* Discussions topic, "NSDC Standard: Design & Strategies."

• How is this applicable to FOR-PD? Expand on what was mentioned above.
• What are some things you can do as a facilitator to help FOR-PD meet this standard?

What's My Role?

During the first few weeks, it is CRITICAL to communicate with your students. You MUST be present in your class by interacting in discussions and grading weekly. Respond to emails promptly. If you have difficulties contacting your students, notify the FOR-PD office. This is the time to really work on creating a community—remember that all starts with you!!!

Why is the discussion area so important to online learning? The discussion area really takes the place of the face-to-face lectures. This is the area for you to engage with your students, probe their thoughts, and validate their learning. Just as you do all of these things when you are working with a face-to-face group of students, you must also perform these tasks while working with an online group. If we refer back to our reference this month, the learning standard and our list of adult learning characteristics, we see that adults learn best when they perceive the outcomes of the learning process as valuable—contributing to their own development, work success, etc. AND adults have a broad, rich experience base to which to relate new learning. It is our job, as facilitators, to tap into their previous knowledge base and help direct the learning to their own needs. One of the best places to do this is through discussions, by engaging the participants and directing the learning.

Dear Felicity,

Dear Felicity,
I have heard some different stories about the literacy log policy for this summer. Can you help clarify for me?

- Lit Log Loony

"Dorothy, thanks for all your helpful and positive comments throughout this course. your responses made the effort more possible. i really thought an online class would be unrealistic but your input made it more real and personal. thanks for always sending thoughtful info."

-- Cathy Shaw-Anderson

This quote directly relates to our theme this month—focusing on learning and design. This quote was sent to Dorothy Zablotsky, a facilitator of FOR-PD. It is SO important facilitators interact in the discussion area and it is a facilitator's job to focus on the learning of the participants. Interaction in the discussion area is a KEY way to help participants focus on their own learning.

Think about how you interact with your participants. Do you make it real and personal? Do you send thoughtful information? These are all critical components in creating a sense of community, which is another way to help participants focus on their learning. Make an effort to step up your interaction by focusing on the participants' learning.

Do you have comments about the course? Have you received any comments from participants? We always look for feedback so send it our way. Email forpdfac@mail.ucf.edu with your stories!