The careful combining of the curriculum with professional development improves teacher practice and impacts students' development as writers. DSC workshops and follow-up visits give teachers opportunities to reflect and refine their own practice while providing tools and strategies to inspire and motivate their students to become powerful writers and communicators. The experienced team of staff developers can support schools and districts in a variety of ways:
Support for teachers
Teachers receive carefully planned professional development. Novice teachers as well as seasoned veterans find that their thinking and experience are valued. This support takes the form of hands-on workshops, coaching, and lessons studies.
Classroom support
DSC staff developers provide one-on-one support for teachers. This support often involves:
- Careful planning of a lesson together
- Lesson observation, modeling, or co-teaching
- A reflective debrief of the lesson
This model can also be adapted for small groups of teachers, such as grade-level groups.
Support for coaches/district/staff developers
We believe that building district capacity is essential to a successful program implementation. To accomplish this, district-level coaches and staff developers participate in an array of professional development offerings. Our professional development is designed to help them learn the program while providing valuable tools and strategies to support and improve instruction.
Professional development services are negotiated between an experienced DSC staff developer and the district to tailor the support to the specific needs of the district.
Support for principals
Principals hold the key to successful program implementation. As the school's instructional leader, the principal sets the tone and drives instruction. Because this is such a difficult and important role, we offer a variety of services for principals to both learn the program and obtain tools to support teachers.
DSC's principles of staff development
Being a Writer professional development workshops are conducted by experienced teacher leaders—reading specialists, classroom teachers, resource teachers, and district leaders who have used the program successfully.
Would you like more information? Please complete an online Professional Development Request or contact us by e-mail for a consultation.
