TLLP Reflections
Our school had the privilege of working on a TLLP project in the 2016-2017 school year with the Ministry of Education. The TLLP is an annual project for experienced classroom teachers with the goal to “Create and support opportunities for teacher professional learning, foster teacher leadership and facilitate the sharing of exemplary practices with others for the broader benefit of Ontario’s students” (http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/teacher/tllp.html).
STEAM/Makerspace/Coding
Our school project focused on STEAM, Makerspace and Coding in a K-8 school in Mississauga. The project examined the use of these to enhance curriculum for students through a lens of inquiry and equity for all students as we co-learned with one another. Our goal was to provide learning experiences based on student interests that developed critical thinking, creativity and collaboration skills while forming real world connections.
We worked together throughout the year to transform our library into a learning common and with our teacher librarian who collaborated and worked closely with teachers to build knowledge in these areas. We also held in-class workshops for students, and with the help of a parent volunteer continued and built on Coding Club from the previous year, introducing students to Google CS First. I invite you to see our journey on our blog.
What we learned:
We gained an understanding of how to integrate coding into a variety of curriculum areas in meaningful ways and learned that student engagement can be increased with the use of making, coding and STEAM-based lessons that are designed to draw on the interests of students. We learned how to use a variety of new tools (i.e. Makey Makey, Sphero, 3D printing) and that in order to build capacity, teachers need to be given time to collaborate and work together and that building relationships and partnerships with community members and organizations builds further success. We learned that providing differentiated instruction and student choice leads to greater student success. As well, the importance of working with students in a co-learning stance is critical to modern pedagogy and learning in today’s classroom.
Impact on our Teaching/Questions we still have:
The TLLP journey has been one of the best professional development opportunities I have experienced as a teacher. It allowed our team to work collaboratively as a school community in grade-level teams. In addition, it saw the transformation of a library into more of a learning commons. One of the best parts of the TLLP program is that it is teacher-driven professional development. You are able to take an area of interest that you have as a school or teacher and explore it with support for professional learning opportunities and time to support your goal. Additionally, one of the highlights of being part of the TLLP journey is to network and learn about other amazing TLLP projects at the Summit. For example, I connected with Micheal Leonard whose TLLP focused on Google Expeditions and who was instrumental in helping me get my own Google Expedition off and running in my classroom.
TLLP as a Model for PD
The success of the TLLP program has had me wondering lately how this type of a model can be incorporated into our school system. TLLP researchers have found that: “Based on our analyses of a sample of Cohort 9 projects, the majority of TLLP teacher leaders report improvement in their knowledge and understanding (95%), teaching practices (90%) and technological skills (50%)” (Campbell, Lieberman, Yashkina, Rodway and Alexander, 2017). I believe PD modelled after the TLLP would be more successful than many of the PD that are currently offered to teachers. It is a PD model that is differentiated, provides autonomy, time to collaborate and opportunity for risk-taking and growth and values teacher voice. The TLLP is most successful in this respect because it places value and trust in teacher-leaders and ultimately results in rewards for the entire system.
