Staff Development Plan

B.A. Kennedy Elementary School

2014 - 2015
Created by Jennifer Campbell

Outline of Staff Development Plan

Background information
Staff Needs Assessment & Results
Staff Development Goals
Staff Development Plan Implementation
Evaluation of Staff Development Plan
Resources Required
Final Reflection

Background Information
The Prairie du Chien School District adopted Wonders
Reading curriculum for grades K - 4 in 2013. In my
building (3K - 1st), recent common discussion has been
that teachers love a lot about this program, but feel the
writing component and its structure is lacking overall. As
a result, this Staff Development Plan will be specific to
my building and the K/1st grade teams.

Background, continued
The district has limited inservice time put into the school
year calendar. There are no early release days, so all
professional development will need to be completed
during preservice, end-of-quarter workdays or common
planning time (unless summer curriculum pay is granted).

Staff Needs Assessment Survey

The following survey was distributed to classroom
teachers at B.A. Kennedy Elementary, as well as the early
literacy library media specialist, Title I reading teacher,
special education teacher, and Reading Recovery teacher.

Staff Needs Assessment

Grade level: _____
Years of teaching (circle one):

>5

6 - 10

11 - 19

20+

* Please be as detailed in your answers as you can *

1. Which area(s) of literacy would you like to see further professional development in?
Examples include, but are not limited to: guided reading, writers workshop, read/think
aloud, word work and literature circles.

Staff Needs Assessment, Continued

2. When it comes to professional development, do you prefer a speaker on the topic from
outside the district, teacher leader presenters, a PLC book study, webinars/videos or a
combination of any/all of these?

3. How would you like to see professional development structured?

Would you prefer school/district-wide training or grade-level training with

teams?

What time of year would you find this to be most beneficial (i.e. during beginning
of the year inservice, end-of-quarter workdays or other)?

Staff Needs Assessment Results

80% of staff indicated a desire to learn more about
Writers Workshop
100% find it beneficial to hear from a speaker on the
topic from outside the district and/or a teacher leader
presenter, but are open to other means, too.
70% prefer the training take place throughout the year
(workdays or during common planning time)

Staff Development Goals

Provide staff with an overview of Writers Workshop and
its components
Foster discussion of what is lacking in our current writing
framework, where the frustrations lie and what can be
done to alleviate these issues
Examine Lucy Calkins Units of Study to see if it is
ultimately the best direction for us to head in for the
2015-2016 school year.

August 26 - 28
Staff will meet for an hour during one of the three preservice
days
At this time, we will go over the Staff Needs Assessment
Results and the Staff Development Plan for the
upcoming year
Scaffolding Young Writers: A Writers Workshop Approach
will be handed out to staff
This will be a part of a PLC that will meet monthly

September - Common Planning Time

PLC
Share successes of what is going well to start the year
Discussion of Chapter 1: The Development of Young Writers
How is this supported (or is it not?) in Wonders writing?
What can we do to move in that direction?

October - Common Planning Time

PLC
Share successes; recognize the commitment teachers are
making to further developing the writing program in our
school. THANK YOU for being here!
Discussion of Chapter 2: Assessing Writing Development
How is this supported (or is it not?) in Wonders writing?
What can we do to move in that direction?

November 3 - Workday
K/1 teachers will meet for day
A literacy coach with Writers Workshop expertise (from
another district) will present an overview of Writers
Workshop
Grade-level teams will have time following the presentation to
further discuss and debrief:
How does this connect with our book study?
How can we see this model working for us?

December - Common Planning Time

PLC
Share successes; what have teachers implemented that
they have learned about Writers Workshop?
Discussion of Chapter 3: Organizing for Writers Workshop
Could we begin to modify our current program to mirror
a Writers Workshop?
Challenges? Reasons to overcome the challenges?

January 17 - Workday
K/1 teachers will meet for day
A representative from Heineman will come to present
information on Lucy Calkins Units of Study
Teachers will have the opportunity to ask questions and look
through Units of Study materials

January - Common Planning Time

PLC
Share successes
What have you implemented recently?
Recognize the commitment teachers are making to
further developing the writing program in our
school. THANK YOU for making changes to do whats
best for kids!
Discussion of Chapter 4: Designing Productive Mini-Lessons

February - Common Planning Time

PLC
Share successes
Did anyone attempt a mini-lesson?
Recognize the commitment teachers are making to
further developing the writing program in our
school. THANK YOU for being here!
Discussion of Chapter 5: Writing Conferences
Review the nuts and bolts of conferring
How can we make this happen?

March 27 - Workday
K-1 Staff Meets for day regarding Writers Workshop & Units
of Study
Basic review of components of Writers Workshop
Who is implementing on some level? What are they
noticing about their students as writers?
Discussion of pros/cons of Units of Study
Conference call with representative set up to answer
any questions the staff may have
Does this program have what we are looking for?

April - Common Planning Time

PLC
Share successes
Recognize the commitment teachers have make to further
developing the writing program in our school.
THANK YOU for making our first Book Club a positive
experience!
Wrap-Up
Report out to group on Top 3 things you learned about
Writers Workshop from the Dorn book
Most meaningful component that you implemented this
year?

May 2015
Teachers will complete the feedback survey on the years Staff
Development.
If the staff has decided they would like to implement Units of
Study for the upcoming year, details will be finalized
regarding upcoming professional development, likely
including curriculum hours during the summer months.

Evaluation of Staff Development Plan

The staff will be sent a Google survey to complete by the end
of the school year. Questions about this years Staff
Development Plan will include:
Was the topic relevant and helpful?
What did you find most beneficial?
What did you find least beneficial
What can be improved upon in the future?
The results of this evaluation will be taken into consideration when
developing future Staff Development Plans.

Resources Required
Scaffolding Young Writers: A Writers Workshop Approach
by Linda J. Dorn & Carla Soffos
15 copies
The Art of Teaching Writing by Lucy Calkins
6 copies, to be distributed to grade level teams and resource
teachers
This book will be purchased as an additional resource, to be utilized
as team members see fit.
Fee for presenters time & travel

Final Reflection
A lot of time and thought goes into planning meaningful professional development for staff. I
think creating the Staff Development Needs Assessment and inquiring about preferred topics
and structure is key to providing staff with what they need and want.
My data showed that the staff as a whole sees a great need for professional development in
writing; the staff is eager to learn more and I think this project came at a perfect time. I
will be able to share my findings with our building principal and we can then move forward
with further conversations.
Lastly, I learned that there is great desire from the staff for more professional development
overall. Over half of the Needs Assessments indicated that teachers would like to see halfday inservices made possible by early releases for students. It is vital that teachers have the
time to work together, dig deeper and learn more. I am unsure if this can become a reality
in the district once again, but its certainly something to discuss.