Exploring what makes great PD

Welcome to the IRIS Connect blog space where you can join conversations and discover free resources, tips and summaries. We hope you find something useful for your professional development and learning.

If you have a topic you'd like us to cover or if you're interested in covering one yourself in a guest post, please contact us.


creating a culture for school improvement
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Kate Herbert-Smith

Kate's background in publishing has left her with a great love of thoughtful descriptions and inspiring stories. When she's not writing compelling blogs and case studies for us, she can be found devouring the latest best-seller or watching all manner of TED Talks. She has a growing appetite for video editing/storytelling, not to mention an unhealthy passion for all things Harry Potter and the uncanny ability to recite almost every single episode of the sitcom Friends.
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Recent Posts

What is instructional coaching? Is it the best form of PD?

Posted by Kate Herbert-Smith on 10/20/18 2:45 PM

At the recent ResearchEd 18 event in London, we learned all about instructional coaching, which is, according to researcher Sam Sims, “probably the best-evidenced form of PD currently known to mankind”.

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How to build an effective instructional coaching program

Posted by Kate Herbert-Smith on 10/19/18 2:46 PM

As coaching trainer Peter DeWitt said in his blog 3 Reasons Instructional Coaching May Not Be Working, and as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Measures of Effective Teaching Project showed, badly done coaching can actually harm teachers’ performance.

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5 resources to help you become a great leader

Posted by Kate Herbert-Smith on 6/5/18 10:20 AM

So you’re making the transition into a leadership role? Or perhaps you’re already a leader and want to improve your skills? Either way, good for you!

Making the move from follower to being the one who guides, motivates, inspires and manages, can be a challenge. The transition takes time, experience, skills and commitment.  

But fear not! We’ve got 5 resources to help you become a great leader.

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How to build your confidence in the classroom

Posted by Kate Herbert-Smith on 6/4/18 2:24 PM

As a teacher, you’ll often find yourself in situations outside of your comfort zone. In fact, it pretty much happens from day one of your career when you find yourself standing in front of thirty students quaking in your boots as they look expectantly at you.

Whether you feel anxious because you’re new to teaching, are facing the challenge of teaching a new topic, or find you need to make changes to your practice, there are tried and tested ways of appearing confident. Here are 5 confidence boosting tips.

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5 tips for how to use video PD in higher education

Posted by Kate Herbert-Smith on 11/6/17 11:24 AM
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Tutors at VIA Health in Denmark, started using video for professional development (PD) because they lacked a concrete tool for developing and qualifying their own teaching, and the time to watch each other lecture.

But with the help of video PD, they have been able to see their own teaching from multiple angles and share specific situations, allowing them to step back and reflect on their own teaching in new ways

Professor of Professional Didactics Birgitte Lund Nielsen is one of two facilitators who set the course in motion. She shares her tips on how to use video PD in higher education:

 

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Joint Practice Development: the what, how and why

Posted by Kate Herbert-Smith on 10/4/17 11:33 AM

As you're probably aware, one of the biggest challenges for any network of educators, whether it's within an individual school or across a school district, is transferring existing knowledge and new practices, not just from teacher to teacher, but from school to school.

Until now ‘sharing good practice’ via verbal and written presentations has been the traditional approach for knowledge transfer, but despite its popularity, the success rates are low. In fact, coaching and mentoring have a far better success rate than simply listening to other teachers or reading reports. But why?

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5 steps to embedding JPD in your School District

Posted by Kate Herbert-Smith on 10/4/17 11:31 AM

Joint Practice Development (JPD) has a lot to offer schools and school districts. With the right culture, commitment and challenge in place, it has the power to take professional development and wider school improvement to a whole new level.

Here are 5 steps to help you embed JPD in your school or district...

 

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