May/August 2001 | NW REPORT

Regional Institutes:
Taking It to the Teachers

By Denise Jarrett-Weeks

Clear your mind and roll up your sleeves. Professional development that won't blind you with Overhead Overload is coming to a town near you.

Twelve regional institutes are being planned for locations around the Northwest, offering teachers and administrators intensive hands-on training in topics that are of the greatest interest to them. The Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory will offer annual regional professional development institutes in each of the five Northwest states: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. The first two institutes will take place in June in Anchorage, Alaska, and Monmouth, Oregon.

Drawing on its own regional needs assessment and collaborations with state education agencies and professional associations, the Laboratory institutes will address the particular interests and concerns of educators from every part of the region.

"The institutes will do more than just raise awareness about a topic," says Dr. Steve Nelson, Director of NWREL's Planning and Program Development. "They will be intensive trainings of sufficient duration to impart skills and knowledge that educators can immediately apply."

While topics might range from aligning curriculum to state standards, capturing time for learning, mapping school assets, or organizing teacher study teams, all the institutes will impart concrete skill-building and knowledge that can be immediately applied in schools. This means engaging participants in active and collaborative learning that helps them identify areas for improvement and design action plans and strategies for addressing those issues when they return home.

The first of the institutes, "Team Leadership To Attain High Standards," will take place at Hanshew Middle School in Anchorage, Alaska, June 11-14. The institute, cosponsored by NWREL, the Alaska Staff Development Network, and the South East Regional Resource Center, will address issues of curriculum, language development, instruction, and teacher research to improve students' reading skills.

Participants will learn to use team-based methods aimed at helping students achieve Alaska's reading standards. They will explore curriculum and assessment issues, practice effective comprehension strategies for K-12 students, and investigate the role of action research in the classroom. College credit is available from the University of Alaska. School teams of teachers, para-educators, and administrators are encouraged to enroll.

"Attending as a team creates a built-in buddy network when you go back to your school," says Dr. Jerian Abel, who leads NWREL's Quality Teaching and Learning teams. This makes it more likely that participants will apply their new skills and knowledge despite the routines and pressures of the school day.

For more information, contact Tatiana Nochezvnaya at (907) 786-1932. You can also register online at www.asdn.org/SAIIA/screg.html.

The second institute will take place in conjunction with the Oregon Educators' Summer Institute, "Regaining Energy," June 18-21, at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, which is cosponsored by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, Oregon Small Schools Association, Oregon School Boards Association, and the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators. The Laboratory will present a two-day institute, tentatively titled "Literacy and Action Research," June 19 and 21. This event will involve participants in exploring and practicing reading comprehension strategies for grades K-12, with a special emphasis on the elementary grades.

Participants will pose questions and offer answers to issues that are relevant to their schools. They will examine student work, take part in peer dialogue, and identify ways to put action research findings into practice. For more information, contact Dr. Rebecca Novick by phone, (503) 275-9506, or by e-mail, NovickR@nwrel.org.

For details about other institutes visit the Web site www.nwrel.org/comm/database/events.asp.

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