Professional PD Program: Learning Communities - Research Paper Example

5th October Professional PD Program – Learning Communities Rationale of the Project My school has lot of students who suffer from autism. But the problem is that neither the teacher nor their parents are aware about autism suffered by the students. The rationale for this research is to identify the children suffering from autism ; to make the parents as well as teachers part of a learning community which will help the students learn in a better way by overcoming autism. Autism may be defined as a disorder of the neural development which is usually characterized by impaired social interactions and communications. Children suffering with ASD require special attention and different techniques of education. A PD program is required for my school due to the following reasons – To identify children suffering from ASD To make the teachers and staff aware as to how we have to deal with students suffering from ASD. To make the staff aware about different process of learning to be adopted with children with ASD . Intended Outcome of the Project: Knowledge about behavioural methods for correction of autism to teachers-Behavioural intervention was first developed by psychologist Ivar Lovaas and it works effectively for students suffering from autism as well as those who are not. In this method of treatment child is given a stimulus or reward to behave in a particular fashion. Involving the whole network of learning – the teachers, the support staff as well as parents in order to tackle autism. Co-operation between parents and teachers for the development of the child. Helping the parents in forming autism school groups and making the school staff part of these groups – These support groups allow the parents as well as teachers to share information, get advice and lean on each other for emotional support to the child and to themselves. Finding the non-verbal cues of the child – Children with autism find it very hard to communicate and are generally not able to express their feelings and needs. It is very essential to make the teachers aware about non-verbal cues that a child with ASD may show. Research Data Collection and Evaluation The first and the foremost data which needed to be collected is the number of children suffering from autism. As even the parents are not aware about their child it is indeed very difficult for teachers to be aware about them. In order to do this, the help of parents is absolutely essential. This help will be needed in order to find out the red flags regarding children with autism. For this purpose 2 questionnaires will be prepared – one for the teachers and other for the parents. These questionnaires will be sent to the parents of all the children. These questionnaires will address the points which are mentioned below. This is being done in order to identify children which might be suffering from autism. Child is reluctant to go to school in a way which is not normal Bed Wetting is done by the child even after long period of dry beds Distracted in the bathroom – take a long time to brush their teeth. Is the child highly sensitive to sound? Is his sleep disturbed by the slightest sound? Does the child suffer from lack of sleep The child prefers to wear the same clothes all the time Does not completes the homework in time The child is hyperactive in classroom and doesn’t pay attention to lessons. Once this information is obtained from questionnaires the children likely to be suffering from ASD will be identified. This small group of children will then be examined by experts in order to pinpoint the children who are actually suffering from ASD. The second area where information needs to be collected is to assess the knowledge that teachers have regarding ASD and how do they plan to cope with it? This knowledge assessment can be done in the form of a multiple choice test. Most teachers may not have knowledge about ASD. The test should not be used to reprimand teachers but rather as criteria of knowing the knowledge gap which exists. The parents of the suffering from autism should also be called for a one to one session with the counselor. This session should try to judge their knowledge about autism; whether they are aware or not that their child suffers from autism; what do they know autism and the behavior of the child suffering from it and what are they doing to help their child. The aim of the above methods of research data collection is to understand the knowledge gap. Once this gap has been identified the school will be aware about what needs to be done in order to help the children suffering from ASD. Methodology In order to create successful learning community which deal with autism we will discuss the four essential elements which are required for the success of any learning community in general. A Leader who performs the function of a guide, mentor and a nurturer. This function can be easily performed by the principal of the school. The principal has the overall responsibility of making the learning community successful. He has to co-ordinate with the teacher’s students and other staff members in order to ensure that goals of the communities are achieved by all. The leader has to have a transformational leadership style. The principal or any other leader that is chosen has to ensure that ideas are implemented by the school ,foster love for each member of the community , sharing power with the other members ,make individual feel important to the school by giving them responsibilities and acknowledging and facilitating them. A shared moral purpose or vision – Fullan (1999) has stated that for a vision to be accepted by each and every member of the community, it should have a moral purpose. A financial or operational vision is unlikely to fuel the imagination of the school but a vision which includes a moral part will encourage many to outperform. This vision of the school must be aligned with vision of the district board. The school is a part of the district community as well and thus cannot deviate from where the district and the nation are going. An example of a moral vision is encouraging biracial relations among students and to remove racial hatred and discrimination. This moral vision will fuel the imagination of all. There might be people who will even oppose the mission but the vision will bring out emotions and will lead to better efforts by the members of the learning community of the school. The shared moral purpose which can be given in our learning community can be “To make every child studying in school a good citizen.” A sense of trust among members of the community - A sense of trust among members cannot be created immediately. It can only be created over a period of time. The leader plays a very important role in developing this trust among the different community members. He has to ensure that misunderstandings do not creep in; members of the community respect others even if they have working differences and commitments are met. Once the leader sets an example, others will follow him. The students as well as teachers usually look up to the principal of school and try to emulate the values which he shows. The school is particularly prone to personality cult of the leader(principal) as students are in a learning stage and do not usually have opinions of their own. Open environment for collaborative decision making – Learning can be obtained from any individual. In traditional set up in a school students are not supposed to make any contribution towards the knowledge repository. Their only job is to gain knowledge which is handed down to them by the teachers and the other senior members. The administrative staff tried to stay away from the learning process as well as they consider this to be the sole responsibility of the teacher. Changing this attitude requires significant and time. The best way to do this is to make the classroom interactive. The students should feel free to present their ideas to the teachers and even correct them if they are wrong. This requires a shift in thinking and personalities which is time taking process and has to be initiated by the leader. Some faculty members might have to be forced to listen to students and other non-conventional sources of wisdom – but if these practices are followed over a period of time they will be slowly internalised by all the members of the community. These methods will ensure that autism is dealt in the school in a proper way. However to kick off the mission we will list down the sessions which are necessary in order to bridge the knowledge gap which exists. Most of the teachers as well as parents are not aware about the problem of autism and how to deal with it. These sessions will help them to get an overall view of the problem and how to go about solving the problem. S.no Session To be Attended by Evaluation Methods 1 What is Autism Parents , Teachers, School support staff Discussions/Peer Evaluation 2 Classroom learning for ASD children Teachers Practice sessions by counselor 3 Parents – teachers co-operation Parents , Teachers Discussions/number of feedback sessions initiated 4 Creation of Autism Outreach Team(AOT) for school Parents , teachers , staff who want to be part of the team Rigorous examination and training of participants 5 Evaluation of Autistic Children Parents , Children Changes made in evaluation process The matrix presented above provides the outline for five initial sessions for the network teaching community which needs to be created by the parents and the children. These sessions will simply kick-start the process and make everyone aware about the problem that they are facing and how they will move ahead to deal with it. Funding As we have seen above the methodology to treat autistic children requires the help of a counselor and also special sessions for teachers and parents. In order to do this fund will be needed. Counselors can be hired by the school from non-profit organizations which try to deal with autism in schools. These organization will not only provide the counselors for initial session but can also help the school in the creation of AOT .AOT will be the focal point of all activities related to ASD.AOT team can also be sent to school already practicing different methods of learning suitable to autistic children and try to learn from these techniques. The funding for the initial sessions should be borne by the school management. This is because neither the parents nor the teachers are about the problem and thus will not be willing to shell out money to attend a session for a problem which they think does not even exist. Once the parents are convinced about ASD; they should be asked to contribute as much as they can for the welfare of the child. The school can also organize fests and functions in order to raise money for the event. Challenges The program for autistic children will not be so easy to implement. The biggest challenge to the PD will come from teachers and the school staff. The teachers are used to teaching in a particular manner which they have perfected over the years. It will be very difficult for them to change their teaching style and adopt it according to the needs of autistic children. They are likely to resist these changes and some teachers may even resign from their posts rather than learn the new way of doing things. We will also face resistance from parents. Some resistance may be to acknowledge that their child suffers from an anomaly. Even if this resistance is broken down, they will have to change their personal habits and also co-operate a lot with teachers which will prove difficult. The final challenge will be the creation of Autism Outreach team. The purpose of this team is that they will be experts in autism and all teachers and staff will consult those regarding children with ASD. The creation of this team will require a lot of effort and dedication on the part of the school management as it is an effort to crate experts out of ordinary teachers. Conclusion Learning is not the responsibility which has to perform by the student alone. The whole community is responsible for learning activities. Learning communities is a very novel and interesting concept which allows a school to set its own set of goals and also monitor the performance of the institution. It helps the school to define what it wants to make its graduates and the community can then helps and support each other in order to move ahead towards these goals. Autistic Children have certain special education needs and learning communities can be helpful in identifying these needs and making the teachers as well as the parents as a part of the solution. Bibliography DuFour, Richard. Whatever it takes: how professional learning communities respond when kids don't learn. Washington D.C: National Educational Service, 2004. Hiatt-Micheal. Promising Practices for family involvement in schools. Greenwich: Information Ag Publishing, 2001. J., De Vito. "The Learning Organisation." R.Craig. The ASTD Training and development Handbook. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996. Sylvia Mae Roberts, Eunice Zita Pruitt. Schools as professional learning communities: collaborative activities and strategies for professional development. New York: Corwin Press, 2003. Read More