Mike Schmoker on the Preconditions for Effective PD

From the Marshall Memo #427

In this Kappan article, author/consultant Mike Schmoker quotes Yvette Jackson, former head of professional development for New York City: “What teachers need to improve their craft is rarely what they receive from professional development.” Schmoker puts it more bluntly: “Every year, teachers and administrators are subjected to a torrent of artfully marketed, seductive, pedagogic fads, technology, products, and programs cooked up by commercial entities that promise them the world.” These include blended learning, using fantasy baseball to teach math, green-screen technology for active learning, elaborate vocabulary programs, culturally responsive pedagogy, grouping students by gender, wikis, podcasting, concept mapping, and more.

Schmoker believes that before running off to various professional development offerings, educators need to master three powerful, foundational elements: (a) a content-rich curriculum; (b) lots of purposeful classroom reading, writing, and discussion; and (c) a model for effective lessons. He advocates a freeze on other types of PD while districts and schools focus on:

• Curriculum 101 – Organizing content and skills into an effective pacing guide and gradually incorporating the evolving Common Core standards;

• Effective teaching 101 – Clear learning objectives, teaching and modeling in small bites, multiple cycles of guided practice, and checks for understanding until students are ready for independent practice;

• Literacy 101 – Reviewing difficult vocabulary before reading a text, briefly providing background knowledge, providing purpose in the form of a question or prompt, and modeling how to analyze, underline, annotate, discuss and write formally and informally about the text.

• PLCs 101 – Working in teams to use assessment data to continuously improve teaching and student mastery of content and skills. 

Curriculum is the starting point. “When we postpone the implementation of curriculum,” says Schmoker, “we forfeit the benefits of the most powerful lever for improvement. And we make the work of team-based professional learning communities impossible.” 

“Refocus Professional Development” by Mike Schmoker in Phi Delta Kappan, March 2012 (Vol. 93, #6, p. 68-69), http://www.kappanmagazine.org