TOOLS & FRAMEWORKS FOR BUILDING
EFFECTIVE COLLEGIAL CONVERSATIONS TO
IMPROVE CLASSROOM PRACTICE
INSTRUCTOR(S):
Janis Freckman,
Milwaukee Public School District
GRADE LEVEL: K-12
CREDIT: 1, 2 or 3
What are students learning in this
lesson? How will you know when
they are learning? What
teaching approaches will guide your
instruction? Reflection on
teacher practice strengthens teacher
practice.
Drawing from the work of
Cognitive Coaching (Costa &
Garmston) and Content-Focused
CoachingSM
(West & Straub, 2003), participants
will learn coaching strategies as a
reflective practice professional
development model. These
strategies promote collegial
conversations to guide teacher
decision-making about student
learning in the planning of and
reflecting on lessons. These
protocols have been effectively
employed to strengthen building and
district learning communities.
Two other components to this course
include 1) developing skills to
support mentoring relationships with
new teachers and 2) receiving
training for Professional
Development Portfolio
verification.
*All teachers are welcome but
teachers with five years or more
experience may find this course of
greater value.
