HOW CAN TEACHER PRACTITIONERS ENCOURAGE accomplished teaching? That’s the question that the Los Angeles Educational Partnership’s Learning Community Program (LCP) will attempt to answer during a workshop next week.

The workshop, to take place from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Airtel Plaza Hotel in Van Nuys, is geared specifically toward teacher practitioners who provide LAEP LCP schools with expertise in curriculum, instruction and assessment in one of six roles: Demonstration Lesson Teacher, Large Group Presenter/Facilitator, Small Group Facilitator, Cross School Network Facilitator, Mentor of Network Facilitators and Mentor of Demonstration Lesson Teachers.

For example, teachers from LCP schools can observe teacher practitioners in the process of teaching their own students (Demonstration Lesson Teacher). The practitioner engages in a dialogue with the participants following the classroom demonstration. This process provides LCP teachers with the opportunity to see how exemplary classroom practices work with actual students and to discuss the underlying standards, philosophies and methods.

Practitioners will discuss the five core principles developed by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards as well as their own beliefs about accomplished teaching. Practitioners will also have a chance to clarify their roles as classroom demonstrators, small group and network facilitators, large group facilitator/presenters, mentors and what they need to do to bring continued success to those roles.

The Los Angeles Educational Partnership’s Learning Community Program was conceived five years ago as part of the Los Angeles Educational Alliance for Restructuring Now (LEARN), a collaborative effort to begin to shift decision-making and resources directly to school communities. LCP focuses on supporting the development of a culture at each school site that sustains continuous improvement in student achievement, assessment of student work, and professional development.