NBPLS at Southern High School
Southern High School is proud to be a National Board Professional Learning School (NBPLS). At SHS, National Boards best practices and professional learning are embedded at a systems level into all aspects of instruction.
Yearly Foci
In Year 1, our focus was on Core Proposition 3: Teachers are Responsible for Managing and Monitoring Student Learning. This year was about embracing new systems and adding tools to our toolkit. We implemented three key systems to support our Core Prop 3 work: Professional Learning, Re-Imagining PLCs, and Formative Feedback.
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In Year 2, our focus is on Core Proposition 2: Teachers Know the Subjects They Teach and How to Teach Those Subjects to Students. This year is about building on Core Prop 3 and using what we learned to impact student learning. We improved our systems by integrating Cognitive Coaching and teacher/student best practices across the building.
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Reflection and Instructional Growth
Although each year has had a specific focus, the key driver of instructional improvement at Southern is Core Proposition 4: Teachers Think Systematically About their Practice and Learn from Experience. Often, teachers don't have the time to thoughtfully reflect, or are unsure what to reflect about or how to do it. Core Propositions 1, 2, and 3 can provide the what? of teacher reflection, while Core Proposition 5 can provide the when? and the how? The impetus for true growth in best practice, however, is Core Proposition 4.
At SHS, time and guidance for effective reflection is built into every system:
-Teachers reflect on what they have tried and how they have grown in every Best Practice Tuesday session, embedded professional learning session, and the last meeting of each Helix Cycle.
-Teachers reflect on what students are thinking in each Helix Cycle meeting with their PLC.
-Teachers debrief the Analyzing Student Work Protocol at the end of each Helix Cycle meeting.
-Teachers meet with their instructional coach and their evaluating administrator each 9 weeks to reflect on their growth one-on-one.
-Teachers are recognized with stuffed penguins for stretching outside of their comfort zone instructionally, or for trying something that did not go well. This idea originated with Randy Pausch in The Last Lecture. It acknowledges that the first penguin in the water might get eaten, but it takes the risk because of the chance to get the best fish.
At SHS, time and guidance for effective reflection is built into every system:
-Teachers reflect on what they have tried and how they have grown in every Best Practice Tuesday session, embedded professional learning session, and the last meeting of each Helix Cycle.
-Teachers reflect on what students are thinking in each Helix Cycle meeting with their PLC.
-Teachers debrief the Analyzing Student Work Protocol at the end of each Helix Cycle meeting.
-Teachers meet with their instructional coach and their evaluating administrator each 9 weeks to reflect on their growth one-on-one.
-Teachers are recognized with stuffed penguins for stretching outside of their comfort zone instructionally, or for trying something that did not go well. This idea originated with Randy Pausch in The Last Lecture. It acknowledges that the first penguin in the water might get eaten, but it takes the risk because of the chance to get the best fish.
If you are you an member of the Kentucky NBPLS community, or you have worked with Kate and would like access to the NBPLS resources used by Southern High School, please click the link below.