Education
Tired of the same old professional development? Class Labs represent a fresh approach to sustained effort to improve schools from within. My guest, Michele Corbet, is the principal at Morish Elementary in the Swartz Creek School District in Michigan has developed this comprehensive approach to staff development along with others in her school district. Teachers observing each other supports the concept that there are experts within our own schools, and often they are underutilized or recognized. Taking a structured approach to sharing successful strategies leads to enormous rewards for the entire staff. The class labs model in the Swartz Creek district relies on these experts to share the inner workings of their classrooms with other teachers in their school. Creating a culture of continual learning allows this approach to be successful as each participant can learn strategies in a non threatening atmosphere. "We have found that doing this has brought our teachers very close together- it has really shifted the culture. People are having the opportunity to see that they are not alone".- Michele Corbet Class Labs Implementation Explore the need The fit- Does this model fit our culture? Resources- Can we do this? Evidence- Is it working? Readiness- Is staff ready? Capacity- Start on smaller scale? Michele can be found on Twitter as @michelecorbet and co-moderates #COLChat Mondays at 9PM EST. Kudos to her, and the entire Swartz Creek School District for forging ahead and implementing such a revolutionary model of staff development. Other experts mentioned in the interview who deserve recognition include Lisa Madden, and Sandy Cook. Thanks again for listening to learning lab education radio, you can listen to more episodes and subscribe to the show on iTunes. Please consider leaving a five star review and comment if you have enjoyed this episode!