If you're involved in professional learning, you know that big ideas can sometimes get stuck on the way to becoming real change. Steven Katz and Lisa Ain Dack explain the secret to getting unstuck: interrupting the status quo of traditional activity-based professional development to help educators embrace permanent changes in thinking and behaviour. They outline a process--grounded in psychological research--for real professional learning that ultimately leads to improved student achievement. You can enable true learning by • Building a focus on learning, collaborative inquiry, and formal and informal instructional leadership in schools • Recognizing the psychological processes involved in adult learning, and overcoming the psychological biases and barriers to change • Using tools and strategies such as critical friend relationships, learning conversations, task sheets, and protocols Illustrated with concrete, school-based examples drawn from real practice, Intentional Interruption shows how rethinking professional learning can lead to the development of a real and sustainable learning culture in your school. About the Authors: Steven Katz is a director with the research and evaluation firm Aporia Consulting Ltd. And a permanent faculty member in Human Development and Applied Psychology at OISE, University of Toronto. He is an associate member of the School of Graduate Studies and is the coordinator of the Psychology of Learning and Develoment initial teacher education program component. Katz has a doctorate in human development and applied sychology, with a specialization in applied cognitive science. His areas of expertise include cognition and learning, teacher education, networked learning communities, and the design of data-driven systems for organizational accountability, planning, and improvement. Lisa Ain Dack is a senior associate at Aporia Consulting Ltd. and an instructor of Developmental and Educational Psychology in te Initial Teacher Education program throughout the University of Toronto. Lisa has a doctorate in Developmental Psychology and Education from OISE, University of Toronto, with a collaborative degree in Developmental Science. |