How
to use Tools for Teaching:
A Plan for Professional Development
Success
One Step at a Time
Tools
for Teaching focuses on the crucible of
learning - the classroom. Tools
for Teaching describes the fundamental
skills of classroom management. Our sole objective
is to help you to put this expertise into the hands
of teachers. We will walk with you every step of
the way.
 Tools
for Teaching is the fruit of over three
decades of research and collaboration with teachers
by Dr. Fredric H. Jones. Dr. Jones has studied the
“natural” teachers - the ones who get
the “good kids” every year and produce
two years of learning in one. What do they do?
In answering this question, Dr. Jones has described
the fundamental skills of classroom management in
great detail. Teachers say, “This is the first
time someone has told me exactly what to do rather
than just giving me generalities.” Just as
importantly, the book is both enjoyable and down
to earth. When you give it to colleagues, they read
it.
 When
teachers work together to apply newly learned management
tools, information becomes skill. The Tools
for Teaching Study Group Activity Guide provides
a blueprint for successful professional development
at the school site. The Study Guide structures twelve
after school meetings in which teachers discuss
and practice new skills until they experience comfort.
The Study
Group Activity Guide is FREE! It is the next
best thing to having Dr. Jones visit your school
site. Every practice exercise that Dr. Jones uses
in a workshop is described prompt by prompt so that
colleagues can coach each other. Download
it today!
 The
Video
Toolbox provides the visual modality of learning
for each of the twelve Study Group Meetings. It
is like having a front row seat at one of Dr. Jones’
workshops.
In addition, a Coaching Tape is provided which
models each of the practice exercises described
in the
Study Group Activity Guide. The Coaching Tape
helps trainers transform an after school meeting
into a workshop in which teachers learn by doing.
 Dr.
Jones conducts a limited number of three day training
workshops each year. While many attendees are individual
teachers, at least half are members of training
teams from school sites or school districts. Not
surprisingly, teachers who are preparing to train
colleagues report a greatly increased comfort level
after walking through the practice exercises.
Levels of Training
While Tools
for Teaching focuses on the skills of classroom
management, it is helpful to think of professional
development with Tools
for Teaching as occurring on two levels:
- The Classroom
What are the fundamental skills of classroom
management?
- The School Site
How can teachers best work together to
master these skills?
Our objective is to help you produce not only a
product, a group of trained teachers, but
also a process of continuing professional
growth and change. The Study
Group Activity Guide structures the collaborative
effort of the faculty as they master the skills
described in Tools
for Teaching.
Hopefully, Study Groups can become part of the
social fabric of the school site. As such, they
provide a permanent mechanism for implementing new
programs and for integrating the old with the new.
Building a School Site Growth Process
We hear from teachers that their careers have been
turned around just from reading Tools
for Teaching. We also get emails telling
us that the school site Study Groups really took
off after they got The
Video Toolbox. However, many districts and school
sites begin training only after sending teams to
one of our workshops.
We have structured as many paths to success as
possible. Yet, it stands to reason that the more
resources we give teachers, the more likely they
will be to learn new skills and use them in the
classroom. Consequently, the best odds of success
belong to a district with a clear vision of staff
training and a school site with an experienced training
team and a principal committed to long-term follow-through.
|
