Rachael's+Page

I will use this page to write my portion of the paper.

Rachael: Here is a link to a really good article about best practices of professional book talks and the effectiveness of participating in them. []


 * From Matt on 10/30:** Rachael, the above link doesn't work it seems. This might be useful for our work, could you fix the link? Thanks!

Here is a start to the professional book talks.

One way of empowering teachers is through professional development. Participating in a professional book club will increase knowledge of new strategies and practices that can be implemented in the school and classroom. Teachers can sign up for a book club of their choice. Through reading and discussing professional literature in groups, these clubs give educators the opportunity to share ideas, reflect on their current practices and brainstorm new strategies that can be used. The clubs will consist of new and veteran teachers. The benefit of having a mixture of teachers will be to share the knowledge of new practices from the new teachers and the experience of the veterans. Meshing the two will bring the teachers together. The goal of having experienced and beginning teachers discuss the current practices is valuable to everyone involved.


 * From Matt on 11/4:** Rachael, thank you for getting this started. I will add it to our paper and see where we go from there.


 * Revised Paper below.**

One way of empowering teachers is through professional development. “The professional benefits of a book club includes the introduction of new ideas into schools, encouraging teachers’ professional ownership of ideas, and providing opportunities to dialogue and compare perspectives” (Burbank, Bates, and Kauchak, 2010)//.// Participating in a professional book club will increase knowledge of new strategies and practices that can be implemented in the school and classroom. According to Flood and Lapp, reading and discussing professional literature provides a social setting where educators can debate openly on current practices and discuss the common practices in the field beyond their classroom (1994). As superintendent, I will ensure that there are opportunities for teachers to sign up for a book club of their choice. Through reading and discussing professional literature in groups, these clubs give educators the opportunity to share ideas, reflect on their current practices and brainstorm new strategies that can be used. This will be a key part in meshing the veteran and new teachers. The clubs will consist of new and veteran teachers so that new teachers will share the knowledge of new practices in technology and the veterans can share the experience of being in the classroom and the knowledge of the community in which they work. The goal of having experienced and beginning teachers discuss about the current practices is valuable to everyone involved.

From Jon 10/11 - I love professional book reading! I believe it has helped our staff a great deal! Excellent work Rachel

From Felinda 11/14 Looks good Rachel!