Mary Jane McIlwain            

          Complementarity,  Synthesis		 Justice                                                               Home

Collaboration, and Overlay
Vitae Goal Statements Coursework Analytical Thinking Professional Experiences Research & Dissertation Planning Documentation of Academic & Professional Growth

Professional Experiences

 2000 - 2004
      Parent workshop devoted to unifying home and school approaches to coaching primary children while reading.

      Chaired a committee that created a coaching/Discussion guide for parents to use with children while reading at home.
      Chaired a committee creates a folder with incentive guidelines, suggestions for coaching/discussion and writing, and reading lists.
       Attended a five day training on coaching to build capacity within individuals.  This process allows for colleagues to be more reflective
            and participatory in meeting challenges in teaching.  The coaching process fills a void in the way in which I have worked with
            colleagues.  Previously, teachers tried my ideas or watched me teach and could easily say that the methods/techniques would not                   work for them.  Taking the coaching stance initially helps bring the teachers more directly in the process by allowing them to construct
             meaning; however, I tend to slip into consulting and modeling in many "coaching conversations."

        Attended a five day training as part of a team from Belle View.  The idea is to create communities that connect in looking at student  
          work in order to refine teaching and learning in their classrooms.  

2004-2005

      This experience offered the opportunity to validate and extend my literacy practices through reflection and continued learning.

           It also helped me to more explicitly and regularly communicate with teachers and parents and to document these communications.
            Chaired a committee that created a parent workshop with video demonstrations to accompany the home reading insert created      
            earlier.
           I worked with Barbara Leibbrandt, the Cluster IV coordinator, and administration to organize these vertical articulation meetings.  I
           facilitated a series of cross grade level meetings aimed at aligning our teaching with the strength and needs of the students.  I was
           more successful than usual in objective facilitation and in bringing in more coherence among the staff in this effort. There was quite a
           bit of participation from the group.  However, I remained somewhat "heavy handed" in bringing the discussion back to student
           progress by asking "What are the students doing to let you know they learned the material?"

              This committee formed following the vertical articulation meeting.  I chaired, but again, I was a little more successful in the role of
           facilitator.  The committee/school created posters for editing and revising that all teachers will use when teaching writing.  The hope is            that a concrete and consistent way of teaching editing and revising will allow for continuous progress for the students. (The posters
           were not actually produced for classrooms until the fall of 2006.  At this point, the professional learning communities are discussing
           ways to use the posters in the classroom and decide what  teachers will watch for in order to determine if students are benefiting
           from the instruction.  I will need to continue working with PLCs or individual teachers to help focus this work.)

               This was another attempt to bring the staff together in a PLC format to look at student data and and curriculum.


 2005-2006
      Chaired a committee that developed a workshop for parents that introduced them to word study.
           Attended another five day seminar learning more about Cognitive Coaching.  This work combined well with the Leadership seminar
            by highlighting trusting relationships, mental models and personal mastery.  
       Attended a one day conference that focused ways to close the achievement gap.  Coaching and building partnerships with parents
             stood out as ways of building equity in the schools.
      Attended a one day conference that focused on communication and public relations.  It helped me to create a plan that involves a
          story, that is simple, that is relative, and that can be repeated.  The goal is to guide our staff to look at student data to drive instruction.  
          Attended a three day conference that focused on coaching as a form of staff development. Additionally, I was able to begin    
          synthesizing ideas around teacher development, systems thinking,  teacher reflection/self study, cognitive coaching, and action
          research (see School Culture and the Learning Organization).  I came away knowing I was headed in the right direction, but still need             to work on the "coaching conversations."

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