Teacher Renewal: Different Approaches for Different Purposes
Presenter: Virginia Richardson
University of Michigan
Virginia Richardson is a professor at the University of Michigan. Virginia is a leading expert on teacher beliefs, teacher change, and staff development. She has recently been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. Key Ideas/Findings:In this keynote address, Professor Richardson examines what it means to renew oneself in subject-matter knowledge, in goals and values, in re-connecting with students, and in leadership. Each of these is different and may require different forms of professional development.
- teacher renewal can be a “personal and individual process in which the individual begins to see a way of approaching the work in a successful and perhaps joyful way” (p. 99)
- teacher renewal is “expected to lead to some kind of change, and change that is substantial” (p. 81)
- teacher renewal comes from: organized educational processes; personal efforts/events; organizational change; other factors
- organized educational processes include induction programs & professional development
- personal efforts/events include sabbaticals or leaves, which lead to both individual and institutional outcomes
- organizational issues affecting burnout and morale can include principal leadership, teacher autonomy, school resources and community
- other factors can be curriculum changes, getting a teacher candidate, physical change in the school, etc.
- renewal is personal and individual, therefore it’s difficult to consider any model that helps to renew all or even most teachers in a given school
- results of two staff development inquiry projects are outlined, as well as the outcomes of a plan that offered sabbaticals for experienced teachers working in difficult schools
Links:
- Richardson, V. (2006, November). Teacher renewal: What is it? And how is it engendered? In J. Kitchen (Ed.), Teacher Induction, Mentoring and Renewal: Selected Conference Papers (pp.79-103). Toronto, ON: Centre for Teacher Development, OISE/University of Toronto.
- Richardson, V. (2006, November). Teacher renewal. [PowerPoint slides]
- Richardson, V. (2006, November 3). Teacher renewal: Different
approaches for different purposes. Video retrieved from
http://www.curriculum.org/NTIP/videos.shtml - www.soe.umich.edu