Sharon Rendon, Director of Professional Learning, sharonrendon@cpm.org
Change is hard; it requires time, effort and support. For many of you, this school year has you embarking on a journey to create a student centered, problem based classroom. For others, you have been on this journey for quite a while. For nearly 30 years CPM Educational Program has been supporting teachers on this journey. Making the shift from a teaching model that you probably experienced as a math student is not easy but it is doable and so rewarding. CPM continues to refine the components of support available to teachers, schools, and districts as they continue making this shift. This past summer the professional development formally identified three components of support that make implementations successful. The triangle of teacher support involves workshops, planning, and job embedded feedback (CPM calls this Implementation Support Visits and Coaching).
The first component for a successful journey is workshops. These learning opportunities are the explicit training that teachers, instructional coaches, and school leaders need in order to implement the instructional practices within the curriculum that make the curriculum come to life. CPM provides three phases of learning through workshops, to support teachers in their growth. One of CPM’s core beliefs is that learning, change, and mastery takes time. The Comprehensive Professional Development Plan supports educators, administrators, and districts as they adopt and implement CPM curriculum. Participants from this past summer say the following about CPM’s workshops:
“The workshops were definitely worth coming to. I just cannot imagine going into the new school year with this new curriculum and not coming.” – Participant from Detroit
“This is one of the best trainings I’ve ever been to. I’m so happy to be piloting CPM this year. It has everything I’ve been looking for and I know it will be so engaging and beneficial to my students! I was up until 2am working on lessons and brainstorming. I came in super overwhelmed and I’m leaving feeling excited and confident in my ability to implement this amazing curriculum! Thank you!” – Participant from Oregon
“This is one of the best trainings I’ve ever been to. I’m so happy to be piloting CPM this year. It has everything I’ve been looking for and I know it will be so engaging and beneficial to my students! I was up until 2am working on lessons and brainstorming. I came in super overwhelmed and I’m leaving feeling excited and confident in my ability to implement this amazing curriculum! Thank you!” – Participant from Oregon
These workshops will be happening throughout the year. To participate, visit cpmstg.wpengine.com/workshops.
The second component is the importance of planning. As teachers begin to engage with a new curriculum, it is important to consider that the work shifts from instructional planning to a different type of intellectual preparation – that is, the goal is for teachers to deeply study and understand the mathematics and intentionally plan for how students will engage with and interact with the mathematics.
The final component is job embedded feedback which CPM refers to as Implementation Support Visits and Coaching. Implementation Support Visits are part of the ongoing support CPM offers in which an experienced teacher provides feedback teachers should receive to improve their content-specific instructional practices and strengthen their use of the curriculum. It is during these visits that the other two components intersect, as they provide several different opportunities to:
- connect the knowledge obtained during the workshops to the realities of the classroom.
- provide individual support, non-evaluative feedback, and a time for teacher reflection.
- identify trends in instruction and in the use of materials, which can inform future trainings, help to identify common planning challenges, and identify model classrooms.
- provide individualized support to teachers to implement the training they have received, or to execute the action plan created during the workshops.
Research indicates that when the teacher’s learning is rooted in day-to-day operations, the quality of instruction improves over time. For this reason, CPM provides up to two visits for each teacher in the first two years of implementation. If you are ready to participate in visits or coaching please reach out to your Regional Coordinator.
Whether this is your first year or you have many years on this journey to create a student-centered, problem-based classroom, be sure to consider the ways in which you might engage in professional learning with CPM Educational Program.