Chapter 4
Professional Development
The Impact of One: Leading a Professional Development Session on Reading Transitions
“All right team, get ready!”
As the video continues, an audience of 30 teachers watches Laura Palma's first-grade class transition from a reading fluency game to a comprehension activity. Led by then-vice principal Aja Settles, the teachers of North Star's elementary schools had been discussing a case study about an otherwise strong classroom that lost hours of learning time because of slow switches between activities.
As the clip ends, Aja offers the next step: “Take a minute to write your answer to the core question: What actions did Laura take to make her transition so effective?”
Across the large classroom, all the teachers ...