1. Apprenticeship Reflection

My experience at the Virginia Leadership Institute for Professional Developers was meaningful and engaging.  Helen, Dana, and Jocelyn did an amazing job facilitating our professional learning. The most helpful components for me were the discussions regarding our role as coaches, developing and sharing a SIM overview, and hearing tips from other educators about using the Content Enhancement Routines. 

One take-away that I had from our coaching conversations, was that coaching doesn't work if it doesn't include the principles of effective professional learning. I learned the importance of targeting leadership development in the areas of inclusive practices and coaching support for administrators before working with teachers to learn and implement Content Enhancement Routines. Without a solid structure of support in place first, fidelity of implementation might suffer. 

In developing the SIM overview, I was able to partner with my co-worker to complete the task.  I found this activity to be meaningful because we have been able to use the overview to lead professional learning opportunities for schools in improvement. It amazing that everyone at the institute, including the facilitators, were willing to share materials in order to increase the quality of our work.

I documented several tips on how to support administrators and teachers in choosing a Content Enhancement Routine.  Now, I feel more prepared to guide these conversations by using data as a starting point.  I also will use the SMARTER Planning tool to assist teachers in developing higher-order questions prior to teaching a concept, teaching explicitly, and reflecting on student outcomes. 

Apprenticeship: June 2019-present

I attended the Virginia Leadership Institute for Professional Developers in SIM™ on June 18 - 20, 2019 in Harrisonburg, VA with Helen Barrier, Dana McCaleb, Whitney Miller, and Jocelyn Washburn. During VaLI, I was able to connect with other apprentices and further build my understanding and implementation of partnership principles, KUCRL, and the effectiveness of SIM practices. Additionally, I was equipped as a literacy leader to use SIM as an agent of change in my school system. As a Learning Strategies Professional Developer, I am excited to add the the flexibility of being a Professional Developer in CERs to what I can offer to the school divisions I serve. 

The initial three days of my professional learning to become a SIM Professional Developer took place June 18-20, 2019 at James Madison University as part of VALI. I participated in two additional virtual learning experiences. These were held on November 7, 2019 and January 29, 2020. The SIM Professional Developers for all five days were Helen Barrier and Dana McCaleb.

All five days were extremely useful in helping me to understand how to better provide professional development centered upon SIM. Furthermore, it reinforced the ideas of integrating the Partnership Principles and Learning Structures in to professional development, especially for adult learning. Lastly, I really like how we were able to explore how SIM helps with content literacy in just more than the traditional view of literacy (meaning reading in ELA/LA classes). For me, this is key and something to always incorporate in professional development and learning, because it is necessary in helping to understand how to help students become literate in all content areas. 

Professional development led by Sue Woodruff in June of 2019 in Forsyth County Georgia. 
Learning leadership and mentoring skills in order to implement the SIM strategies with fidelity and be able to coach others to use SIM Content Enhancement

My Content Enhancement PPDI was coordinated by Alice Schmitges, FDLRS Administration Project and had multiple speakers, who were all amazing! Our Lead PDers were Elaine McCann and Debbie Cooke. Both took the time to meet with each participant individually and offer insight into what was working well and what could be improved upon. I appreciated the time to reflect on my presentation and then to be able to think about how I would improve it moving forward. For example, one of Elaine's suggestions was that I might think about putting in slides that allow time for participants to ask questions reminding me to stop and prompt them. It was a practice that I began implementing immediately after that and still do today.

I attended the Virginia Leadership Institute for Professional Developers in SIM™ on June 18 - 20, 2019 in Harrisonburg, VA with Helen Barrier, Dana McCaleb, Whitney Miller, and Jocelyn Washburn. It was a pretty intensive experience, with a fast pace and lots of opportunities to collaborate with other apprentices and the SIM Professional Developers who led the Institute.

Connecting CERs with partnership principles, becoming familiar with the history and evidence base of SIM, and the impact on student learning were some of the highlights of my experience. I am excited about the opportunity to move forward in my own professional learning and share it with educators in the school divisions I serve.

I just completed three days at the Virginia Leadership Institute for Professional Developers in SIM.  It was a revolutionary experience.  To be honest, when I came into the week, I wasn't really sure if I was going to follow through with the apprenticeship after the institute or not.  I'm switching schools, and I just wasn't sure if it was going to be feasible to meet all of the requirements.  I was feeling rather burnt out just thinking about trying to "get everything done" that will be required to become a professional developer in CER's.

Thankfully, this week revived my passion for education in general and for the value of SIM and the need for passionate leaders to carry the torch of it to others.  It was superb to be exposed to adult learning theory, partnership principles, the impact cycle and much more in an environment of determined, energetic and encouraging individuals.  The opportunity to develop assignments and present both a SIM overview and a data-driven integration of routines and strategies was wonderfully challenging to me as a learner.  Being able to give those presentations and receive feedback in a supportive and constructive environment was priceless.

It would be impossible to even list everything that I gained intellectually from this week, but the emotional influence that it has left on me as an educator is truly beyond words.  I am so grateful to have been granted the privilege to participate in this marvelous experience, and I am fully convinced that the impact it is leaving on me goes far beyond understanding data or matching a need with a routine or strategy.  It reminded me that there are still teachers and other individuals in the education field who adore their work and are there to support one another.  Needless to say, I'm thankful that I didn't back out!

I have worked with Erinn Green the past 6 years using the Content Enhancement Routines in the classroom.  In 2017, I applied to become a professional developer for the SIM Content Enhancement Routines and attended PPDI at JMU in July of 2017.  Over the past year, Erinn Green has been working with me to provide professional development to my colleagues and integrate the Content Enhancement Routines into my school system. 

Served under Susanne Croasdaile for over one calendar year from June 27, 2016 to present. 
Susanne Croasdaile, Virginia Department of Education's Training and Technical Assistance Center at VCU, sscroasdaile@vcu.edu