Page 127 - Innovative Professional Development Methods and Strategies for STEM Education

The Role of Teacher Leadership for Promoting Professional Development Practices

• February 2014:Teachers read an initial email, sent by the MBAMP director inviting them to a
meeting about the start of a possible teacher leadership team around the subject of Mathematics
PD and the arts. (Teachers 5-min, Director 25-min)
• March 2014: A venue (often a coffee shop) is chosen for a face-to-face meeting to discuss with
all interested teachers and an electronic poll is sent out to determine the day and time. (Teachers
5-min, Director 25-min).
• March 2014: The face-to face meeting happens, the director makes the pitch for math and art and
describes a bit of the history around the idea and explains why each person was invited. Each
person has a chance to share their thoughts, their interest in math and art and ask each other ques-
tions. At the end of the meeting 5 teachers volunteered to be part of the leadership team. A follow
up meeting for planning is set for August (90 minutes).
• March 2014: The meeting notes are sent out to all the participants with the date of the next meet-
ing. (Director 25-min)
• August 2014: At this 2nd face-to-face meeting the teacher leaders commit to participation. They
decide the date for the MBAMP Winter conference on Jan 24, 2015. Four people on the team will
present and they will look for outside presenters. They decide the possible topics for the Math and
Art day are: literature, music, dance, visual art, graphic art and math walks. They decide the event
will be held at a school site as they would like an auditorium for the dance and music. (90 minutes)
• Between August 2014 and December 2014 Teacher-leaders are connected by email and the direc-
tor does the work to get location and participants. The following tasks are completed via electronic
communication:
◦ Sending out flyers electronically to past participants, and contacts from districts and county
offices.
◦ Setting up online registration (The registration is also a survey that will be used to inform the
leadership team when they do their final planning for the breakout sessions)
◦ Keeping leadership team informed as the event fills.
◦ Monitoring the registration and setting up the waiting list when the event is full.
◦ Contacting districts about POs for conference fees
◦ Emailing participants with conference information
◦ Finalizing the details for the school site (a teacher liaison from the school for the event, insur-
ance, required rooms, school rules, etc…)
◦ Setting up the final face-to-face meeting
• Jan 2015 the last face-to-face meeting happens. This time the team meets at the school site where
the event will be with the teacher liaison. The team tours the site, reviews the registration survey,
determines the agenda and the breakout sessions of the day and decides which rooms they want
to use for the event. Four members of the team are also presenters. There will be only one outside
presenter. (90 minutes)
• Jan 24, 2015 the day of the event. For leadership team members who are not presenting they will
be at the event setting up and monitoring the event. For leadership members who are presenting
they will prep their session and also help when they are not presenting. (8 hours, + prepping time
for presenters)
• February 2015 All teacher leaders and participants will be sent an event post survey. For the lead-
ership it will focus on their experience as a leadership team member and their impressions of the

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