One of our primary goals is to help teachers make their students good thinkers – by giving them the tools to think and solve problems. We strongly believe that effective teachers must be reflective, willing to carefully examine their practice and student outcomes.
MCNC offers a variety of tools to help teachers become reflective practitioners. Assistance with data collection and analysis is one. The National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools and Teaching, Teachers College, Columbia University (NCREST), is our strategic partner in collecting data, including 8th grade math and ELA test scores, and helping teachers analyze this data.
Peer Review is a major MCNC initiative, in which a skilled MCNC coach works with the teachers to help them reflect on their practice. Teachers visit each other’s classes, write self-reflection pieces, share them in a public space, attend workshops, set up and join a personnel committee whose purpose is to facilitate and expand this self-reflection process, and train students to write their own self-reflective pieces.
The skills necessary to help our students become good thinkers, and teachers to become reflective practitioners, do not reside in one person, and so a professional learning community is essential. MCNC provides support for the development of professional learning communities and cross-institution learning communities. Inside outside expertise is developed and nurtured by activities such as Peer Reviews, Critical Friends Reviews, coaching in literacy, math and student support; major events such as our Winter Principal’s Leadership Conference, Technical Assistance Conference and Summer Professional Development Institute; and the use of social networking.
Contact us to customize your program which may include:
