During our January 24 webinar, It’s All About MEE, presented by Dr. Barbara Blackburn, Barbara talked about practical ways to activate students’ intrinsic motivation, increase student engagement, and raise the level of expectations in the classroom.

Three key questions were raised:

• How do you help students feel more successful in your class?
• How do you add value to learning for your students
• How do you demonstrate high expectations for your students?

For those who missed it, you can view the webinar on-demand...

Nothing says more about who you are as a leader than your leadership team and who you hire. Nothing! One lesson principals must learn early is that it is not about you—it’s about the team you assemble.  Here is some advice on filling teaching vacancies!

It’s a New Year and time to recharge! As a former teacher, I always took this opportunity to reset expectations and implement new strategies. Eye On Education aired a webinar on Student Motivation and Classroom Management with Larry Ferlazzo on December 14.  For those who missed it, you can view it on-demand. Strategies for building intrinsic motivation were discussed and our participants had lots to contribute. Thank you to our attendees for sharing innovative and practical tips about how they motivate their students. Here are 15 tips to get your students motivated in the New Year!

Effective teams are a hallmark of effective schools. To create and maintain high-performing teams, all members of the team must share and adhere to similar commitments, or values. They must set commonly agreed upon goals, and hold each other accountable for attaining them.

Take a moment and watch this clip. It only takes 3 minutes and will inspire you!
http://www.powerofteamworkmovie.com/

How can this video be applied to your professional learning community (PLC)?

Have you noticed that your classrooms have technology that is not being used to support instruction?  Are computers being used as bookends?  Are teachers assigning computers for "free time" and "rewards" only? Are interactive whiteboards being used as bulletin boards? Consider planning and implementing professional development to help support and encourage your teachers to use the technology to enhance student learning.

Dr. Sally Zepeda, recently named one of the University of Georgia's Distinguished Research Mentors, has updated her book, Professional Development: What Works. This post focuses on one form of job-embedded learning discussed in her book: study groups. Sally has expertise in the areas of professional development, instructional leadership, and the supervision and evaluation of teaching. She is available to provide on-site support.

While the first response to budget cuts for professional development might be putting such efforts on hold, other options are available. Focusing attention inward on internal expertise is one of them...

The following post is written by Elaine Vislocky, Eye On Education's Associate Director of Professional Services.

In a recently published report, the National Council on Teacher Quality examined student teaching—"the most important part of the teaching experience" as reported by new teachers. One of its conclusions is that there are not enough "quality cooperating teachers" (I will refer to them as mentors). Some of the problems they identify are the lack of clearly articulated, rigorous mentor selection criteria...

The following post was written by Elaine Vislocky, Eye On Education's Associate Director of Professional Services.

While it is easy to point to the many shortcomings in our educational system, it is much more difficult to offer credible solutions…and, particularly, ones that offer new, creative thinking. (Isn’t that one of those 21st century skills that we’re supposed to be teaching students these days?!) I’m excited that New York (Eye on Education’s home) is leading the way!...

The following post is written by Elaine Vislocky, Eye On Education's Associate Director of Professional Services.

Learning Forward unveiled its new Standards for Professional Learning at its summer conference in Indianapolis about a week ago.

Given that it has been 10 years since Learning Forward's standards were last revised, I was curious to find out what has changed...

Here are the Top 5 Professional Development Tips from the 2010-2011 school year.

1. Send "Happy Notes" to Parents

2. Dealing with Difficult Parents

3. Creating Your Own PLC

4. Old Data is Cold Data

5. Keeping Your Eye on the Target

Ellen Eisenberg is the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Institute for Instructional Coaching (PIIC). Supported by the Annenberg Foundation and working in partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Education, PIIC builds on the work of the Pennsylvania High School Coaching Initiative (PAHSCI) as a statewide resource for developing and supporting the delivery of consistent, high-quality professional development around instructional coaching and mentoring in Pennsylvania schools. Below is a guest post from Ellen about the importance of professional development for teachers.

In their book, Differentiation is an Expectation: A School Leader's Guide to Building a Culture of Differentiation, Kimberly Kappler Hewitt and Daniel K. Weckstein discuss their school district's introduction of professional learning communities (PLCs) to help teachers increase their comfort with differentiation. They define a PLC as "a collegial group of educators who are united in their commitment to student learning and who meet regularly to learn about and focus on a topic." Read on for a tip from their book on creating your own PLC.

Book study groups promote conversations among teachers and school staff that will lead to the application of new ideas in classrooms and improvement of existing skills. It is a great way to focus on issues related to school change and also helps to build community in schools. Some districts allow teachers to use book study groups to earn Professional Learning Units (PLUs).

Read below for some Frequently Asked Questions (and answers!) about Book Study Groups...

This unique reference for school administrators offers guidelines for effective student engagement and will help you give effective feedback to your teachers. Read below for a tip from Help Teachers Engage Students: Action Tools for Administrators by Annette Brinkman, Gary Forlini, and Ellen Williams.

We recommend informal Drop-Ins early in the school year, perhaps during the first few weeks of the first semester. You might conduct Drop-Ins for all teachers, for one team at a time, or for teachers you already have identified needing support.

Todd Whitaker and Douglas J. Fiore's best-selling book Dealing with Difficult Parents (and with Parents in Difficult Situations) will help you build positive relationships with even the most challenging parents. This book is popular for book studies because every educator can relate! Read below for a tip from the book.

Sometimes it's important to be first

If you or somebody you supervise makes a mistake that could lead to parents becoming upset and calling you to complain, call the parents first...