the ART of TEACHING

COTSEN
OTSEN
FAMILY
AMILY
FOUNDATION
Volume X
Issue 1
F a l l / W i n t er 2 0 1 0
the ART of TEACHING
BROADENING THE VISION AT THE 2010 CONFERENCE
Greeted by Board
President Barry Munitz
in the Regency
Ballroom of the Long
Beach Hyatt Regency,
four hundred
participants at the fifth
annual the ART of
TEACHING
Conference on
September 25th began a
day of fellowship and
learning. As Executive
Director Judy Johnson
shared video clips of
children talking,
reading, problemsolving, and interacting
in Cotsen classrooms
(watch the video), she
set the objective for the
day — broadening and
deepening a vision of
artful teaching.
Cotsen participants from cohorts ‘05 -‘11 presented on
primary source inquiry at the 5th Annual Cotsen Conference
Current mentors and
fellows, alumni, and
administrators set out
for a day of sessions
about writing, reading,
math, social studies and
a lunchtime talk by
educational historian
Diane Ravitch.
Returning after two
years, Katie Wood Ray
shared her work and
thinking about the use
of illustration to teach
the craft of writing and,
(Continued on page 8)
NEW MENTORS COMPLETE INITIAL TRAINING
Ten new mentors, who
will coach and
collaborate with 78 new
fellows in the 2010-2011
cohort, completed their
initial mentor training
on Oct 7th at the Long
Beach Teacher Resource
Center. The new cohort
brings the total number
of mentors and fellows
to 160.
the ART of TEACHINGTM
Left to Right: New Cotsen Mentors Melvin Jones and Estela Sandoval work
with returning Mentors Michelle Aceves and Angie Baltierra
Training began at the
Cotsen Family
Foundation on August
23rd when members of
the 2011 cohort greeted
their new colleagues for
a day of discussion and
reflection on artful
teaching. Three
additional days followed
at the Fountain Valley
(Continued on page 6)
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THE ART OF TEACHING PARTICIPANTS
PURUSE SUMMER LEARNING
Cotsen mentors, fellows, and alumni continued their
professional learning during the summer, many at three
universities. Twenty-six Cotsen participants traveled to
New York City where they attended the week-long
training for reading and/or writing workshop at
Columbia’s Teachers College. Cotsen teachers’
participation in Teachers College professional
development dates back
to 2004 and brings the
number of Cotsen
workshop-trained
teachers close to 100.
Nine members of the
Cotsen network - both
alumnae and current
participants - studied
math at UCLA in August,
focusing on Cognitively
Guided Instruction
(CGI). Fountain Valley
Alumnae Mentors Huong
Dao and Kim Knotts,
and Long Beach Alumna
Fellow Linda Mank, all
from the class of 2010,
enrolled in the
introductory class along
with current Rowland
Mentor Sharon Siedlecki
and her Fellow Daryl
Tamez. They were joined
by Pomona Mentor
Claudette Pantney, all
from the class of 2011.
Fellows from the 2012
cohort, Susan Suomu,
LaShawn Moore, and
Laila Taslimi of Santa
Monica enrolled in a
the ART of TEACHINGTM
session specifically designed for those already trained
and experienced in CGI and taught by UCLA Professor
Megan Franke.
Kim Knotts furthered her math study, attending a July
workshop along with another Fountain Valley Mentor,
Kathy Lewis ‘11, in Santa Barbara at the Harding
Elementary Lab School.
Taught by UC Santa Barbara
Professor Bill Jacob, the
class focused on a math
approach developed by New
York’s City College
Professor Catherine
Twomey Fosnot, a two-time
presenter at the ART of
TEACHING Conference.
Members of the Cotsen network join UCLA colleagues
Fellow Raul Almada ‘11 of
Phelan Elementary in
Whittier City participated in
a week long invitational
institute in July at the Library
of Congress aimed at
developing “Library of
Congress Mentors.” Almada,
a March participant in the
special Library of Congress
training for Cotsen fellows,
returned to Washington for
an advanced session along
with librarians and teachers
selected for participation
from around the country. ■
Current Fellows Laila Taslimi, Susan Suomu, and LaShawn Moore
from McKinley Elementary work in advanced CGI class
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GROWING IN MATHEMATICAL THINKING AT UCLA
Kim Knotts, ‘10
As a California Mathematics Project Site, UCLA hosted
a Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) workshop in
August. Attending the introductory class were Cotsen
Mentors Sharon Siedlecki and Claudette Pantney,
Fellow Daryl Tamez, and Alumnae Huong Dao, Linda
Mank, and me. In addition, principals and teachers
from Torrance Unified School District, the UCLA Lab
School, and other schools participated in the four-day
event. Facilitating the introductory workshop were
Angela Chan Turrou, Carolee Koehn, and Thad Loef.
On the same floor of UCLA’s Moore Hall, Megan
Loef Franke conducted an advanced CGI workshop
attended by Cotsen Fellows Susan Suomu, La Shawn
Moore, and Laila Taslimi from McKinley School in
Santa Monica.
The facilitators challenged us to discuss the
mathematics - much the way we challenge students in
CGI classrooms - and to consider the pedagogy that
would evoke children’s thinking about math. We
discussed the framework and pedagogy of CGI
classrooms, analyzed and classified different problem
(Continued on page 10)
OBSERVATIONS, INSTITUTES, NETWORKS OFF
TO A FAST START
Mentors, fellows, principals,
and alumni have started the
2010-2011 school year with
a flurry of learning activities
designed to highlight best
practices and great teaching.
Mentors and fellows have
already had a choice of six
school-based institutes - at
Alvarado Elementary in
Long Beach, Weaver
Elementary in Los
Alamitos, and Billy Mitchell
in Lawndale - focusing on
reading, writing, math,
guided reading, shared
inquiry, and language wall.
Alvarado as well as
attendance at two
principals’ breakfasts,
one hosted for those
from Santa Cruz
County.
Alumni have started
their cross-district
Content Network
meetings: three in math
- one in Santa Monica,
another in Long Beach,
Fellows Mercedez Marin and Jeffrey Ng hear about a writing
and the third in
strategy from Cindy Wechsung ‘05
Rowland Unified.
Reading and writing
networks are active in Long Beach, one hosted at
Alvarado and another at Whittier. ■
Cotsen school principals have also shared in the learning
through three days of observation at Weaver and
the ART of TEACHINGTM
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A MASTER TEACHER REFLECTS ON WHY SHE STAYED 26 YEARS
Joan Major, Cotsen mentor ‘08, UCLA Lab School Teacher
Upon Joan Major’s retirement:
You only get a few great teachers in your life. If you are lucky and
if you are wise, you learn some things from many, many different
people—each student, each teaching partner, each friend, each
family member in your life. But great teachers who have really
touched your life? You can probably count them on one hand.
Joan has been one of those few and rare teachers in my life who
have profoundly changed what I know. I know for a fact that she
has been one of those great teachers for others in this
room as well - and for countless children and teachers
across many years.
- Julie Kern Schwerdtfeger ’08,
UCLA Lab School teacher
Note - I was not a skilled teacher. Truth be told, at
the time I was accepting a teaching job at UES, I was
totally burned out on teaching. I’m not being modest,
it was simply the truth; but Larry Lawrence and Kent
Lewis thankfully saw something that could be developed
and, a few weeks later, the job offer came. I was offered
a ONE-YEAR CONTRACT.
Bottom Line: I WASN’T HAPPY BEING A
TEACHER: Boring curriculum, using
basal texts, loads of discipline problems
that I could not manage, enormous
amounts of paper work, and unmotivated
students whom I could not figure out
how to motivate.
But more important to my burned-out
In 1983, I was living in the mountains of
feeling was the fact that I simply did not
Southern Colorado, teaching 6th graders, in a
see teaching as a thoughtful, creative or
tiny rural school. But more important to the
even an interesting profession. So, when
dynamics affecting my decision making
I decided to accept the position at UES,
about the future, I was a single parent, living
it was NOT because I was inspired by
in the mountains at an 8,600-foot elevation,
teaching, or the idea of working at a
in a house that I heated with a wood stove.
“Laboratory School.” I was not even
And, it had been a particularly brutal winter
Cotsen Mentor Joan Major ‘08
hoping that the job would be extended to
of chopping wood, trudging through twoa second or third year. I accepted it to
three feet of snow and getting stuck and digging out of
get out of the cold and the snow. It was a lark - an L.A.
snow drifts every morning just to get to my teaching job.
adventure.
So… my reaction to a letter that arrived in November
from John Goodlad - the dean of the Graduate School
I’d been offered a one-year contract – and that sounded
of Education at UCLA - who had attended a
just right to me.
presentation I’d given earlier in the year, was: “Hmm,
L.A. – at least it’s warmer, certainly not a place where I
need to put chains on my car; maybe I should check it
I truly came for ONE year .
out.”
So I flew out to California at the expense of some school
called the Corrine A. Seeds University Elementary
School or UES (now called the UCLA Lab School) for
an interview.
the ART of TEACHINGTM
I stayed for 26.
(Continued on page 5)
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COTSEN
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A MASTER TEACHER REFLECTS ON WHY SHE STAYED 26 YEARS,
CONTINUED
(Continued from page 4)
AND the question I often asked myself as one year
became two, then five, then ten, and now twenty-six,
was WHY – Why did I stay? What was it about this
place called UES that kept me in the field of
education - that kept me teaching?
The answer to this question came to me in March of this
year, 2010, when I went to a Cotsen co-sponsored
Teachers Network event at USC that addressed many
problems facing education: one of which was…
retention of teachers.
That’s where I heard the statistic: at least 50% of
teachers leave the profession within 5-10 years.
The presenters at this workshop suggested that the
problem could be solved not with external factors like
increased pay, merit pay, and/or more benefits (the
carrots and sticks), but instead they suggested that the
poor retention rate facing the profession was caused by a
systemic dysfunction, a SYSTEM failure, and that
achieving improved retention would rely on FIXING
the system, i.e. creating supportive systems - systems that
would provide three types of opportunities:
 Sufficient and continuous opportunities for new
challenges and leadership experiences
 Opportunities for professional development
related to the teacher’s own classroom and
school culture
 Opportunities for continuous professional
collaborative discussions.
While driving back to work, after that event this spring, I
thought that indeed, YES! these speakers were
describing exactly why I had stayed, why the profession
the ART of TEACHINGTM
had kept me for so long. I realized that when I’d
arrived at UES twenty-six years ago – I had hit PAY
DIRT. I’d joined just such an amazingly supportive
system. And my transformation (out of burnout and
boredom) began.
And so for 26 years, I remained; And when John
Goodlad asked me back in 1983 – “So young lady,
what are you doing with the rest of your life?” He
wasn’t far off the mark; 26 years is a big chunk of
life.
I know NOW that I owe my retention in this
profession to a system that got it right long ago; a place
that included ALL those vital ingredients identified this
year at that March Teachers Network panel discussion
at USC; a system that championed those three types of
opportunities:
CHALLENGE AND LEADERSHIP
APPROPRIATE PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
AND COLLABORATION
This place, this system, this community has supported
me, enriched me, and SUSTAINED me. It has
allowed me to be
Self–directed,
Purposeful,
And has enabled me time to achieve mastery in
a field I grew to love.
I thank everyone in this room for being a part of this,
for being so kind to me throughout these many years,
and for being a part of my professional memory. ■
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NEW MENTORS COMPLETE INITIAL TRAINING,
CONTINIUED
(Continued from page 1)
School District Central
Offices where mentors
learned about the
practical aspects of their
new positions as well as
the philosophical and
research basis for
cognitive coaching,
presented by Jan Miles
and Valerie Leal of the
New Teacher Center.
On September 27th and
28th, preparation for the
facilitation of inquiry
meetings - the monthly
gathering of Cotsen
cohorts at each school
site - was conducted by
Sierra Education
Consultants’ Cindy
Kratzer and Amy
Templin for secondyear as well as first-year
mentors. Structuring the
first day as a two-tier
process, first and second
year mentors met
separately for a half day:
the second-year people
worked in a review
session on facilitation of
groups while the firstyear mentors participated
in an introduction to the
the ART of TEACHINGTM
Left to right: Cotsen Mentors Lila Daruty ‘12, Erin Holewinski ‘12, Sharon
Siedlecki ‘11, Heidi Akin ‘12, Marlene Erdman ‘11, LaNette Maioriello ‘11,
Sue Bernstein ‘11, and Heidi Schacher ‘12
Left to right: Cotsen Mentors Betty Neyland ‘12, Wendy Verrall ‘11
and Sue Bernstein ’11
process. Day two
focused on the specific
practice of inquiry into
professional text with
powerful role playing
and an inquiry modeled
in the use of text. The
exercise not only
demonstrated careful
reading and questioning
of the text, but made
clear to observers the
great care required in
preparation for an
effective text-based
inquiry.
New mentors
completed days seven
and eight of their
training from the New
Teacher Center on
October 6th and 7th in
the Long Beach
Teacher Resource
Center when Jan Miles
and Valerie Leal led the
group in multiple
activities designed to
prepare mentors for
classroom observations,
feedback, the language
of coaching, and the
California Standards for
the Teaching
Profession. ■
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MENTORS FROM NINE DISTRICTS AND ONE CHARTER
TO LEAD 2010-2012 COHORT
The 2010-2012 Cotsen
mentor cohort
represents nine
districts: eight
continuing districts
with one new district
and one charter school
added.
Three districts, Long
Beach, Rowland, and
Tustin will continue
with a second cohort:
the large faculty of
Long Beach’s Whittier
Elementary warranted a
second-round, and
partnerships proposed
to the foundation by
Hollingworth of
New Mentor
Heidi Akin
Lisa Benavidez
Lila Daruty
Erin Holewinski
Melvin Jones
Cheri Kaplan
Julie McCarty
Anne Rogers
Estela Sandoval
Heidi Schacher
the ART of TEACHINGTM
Rowland and Arroyo
of Tustin allowed for
an additional round at
each of those two
schools as well.
The addition of Los
Angeles charter school
Camino Nuevo – a
bilingual immersion
school – marks only
the second time the
ART of TEACHING
has included a charter;
the first, Open Charter
Magnet completed the
core two-year program
in 2005. ■
New Cotsen Mentors
School
Roosevelt
San Lorenzo
McKinley
Guinn Foss
San Jose
Myford
Orange Grove
Gisler
Camino Nuevo Charter
Mar Vista
District
Long Beach
San Lorenzo
Santa Monica
Tustin
Pomona
Tustin
Whittier City
Fountain Valley
Los Angeles
Pajaro Valley
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BROADENING THE VISION AT THE 2010 CONFERENCE,
CONTINUED
Presenters Frank Serafini, Katie Wood Ray
and Harvey Daniels
McKinley cohort from Santa Monica; Tristen Macon
‘06, Jessica Spondike ‘06, Principal Irene Gonzalez,
LaShawn Moore ‘12, and Keri King ‘07
Left to Right: Cotsen Board Member Gary Hart with Diane Ravitch; Presenter Megan Franke;
and Cotsen Executive Director Judy Johnson
(Continued from page 1)
in a second session, the importance of multiple and
varied genres in writing instruction. Harvey Daniels kept
his participants engaged in a process of shared written
responses to one another’s thoughts in his presentation
on inquiry circles and later, worked with them on
reading in the content area.
Frank Serafini, Megan Franke, and the primary source
document-trained Cotsen participants rounded out the
the ART of TEACHINGTM
day. Addressing literature discussions in classrooms,
Serafini reminded participants that the quality of
literature is critical to the level of conversation that goes
on in a classroom and humorously cautioned about the
“institutionalization” of teacher talk. His second session
offered a detailed structure for what makes for an
effective reading workshop classroom. Franke,
responding to on-going demand to learn more about
(Continued on page 9)
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FOUNDATION
BROADENING THE VISION AT THE 2010 CONFERENCE,
CONTINUED
(Continued from page 8)
Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) in math,
presented on How Children Learn Mathematics, and then,
for those experienced in the approach, on relational
thinking.
accountability system gone awry and the negative
consequences for teachers, students, and communities.
Looking at the larger picture, she wondered about the
corrosive effect on democracy when unelected
individuals exert undue influence on public institutions.
Acknowledging the philosophy and work of the Cotsen
Family Foundation, she contrasted its support of
Those Cotsen participants who trained in the use of
teachers with the current talk about punitive measures
primary source documents
for schools and teachers
at the Library of Congress
struggling with reduced
in March made their
budgets and unfunded
network’s first presentation.
mandates. She drew
Raul Almada, Judith
knowing laughter at her
Kantor, Carlen Le
suggestion that if
Hessinger, Tristen Macon,
teachers are fired for
Ruthellen Moss, Myriam
low test scores, then
Quintanilla, Denise Reid,
why not fire police for
Kristina Scott, Jo Ann
rising crime rates or
Silliker, Cindy Wechsung,
firefighters for an
and Chris Wilson discussed
increase in fires? At the
habits of historians and the
conclusion, teachers,
inquiry model and invited
responding to an
observers to participate in
articulate and forceful
an inquiry of photos drawn
supporter, stood in
from the library’s web
applause. ■
Participants watch video clips of Cotsen classrooms
resources. Their
presentation was followed
by a gallery walk of the student work from classrooms in
Los Alamitos, Long Beach, Rowland, Whittier City,
Pomona, and the UCLA Lab School. Observers were
invited to visit the fellows’ classrooms to see students at
work with primary sources.
Lunch in the Regency Ballroom afforded the group a
special opportunity to hear education historian Diane
Ravitch, author of the recent The Death and Life of the
Great American School System. A champion of teachers and
a fierce supporter of public education, Ravitch spoke in
detail of the unintended consequences of an
the ART of TEACHINGTM
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FOUNDATION
FOUNDATION PARTNERS WITH UCLA LAB SCHOOL TO
JOIN LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CONSORTIUM
Pursuing greater opportunities for in-depth development
of teaching with primary sources, the Cotsen Family
Foundation has partnered with the UCLA Lab School to
join the Library of Congress Consortium for the
Teaching of Primary Sources. Anne J. Gilliland,
professor, UCLA Graduate School of Education and
Information Studies and Director of the Center for
Information as Evidence, has agreed to be the research
advisor to the Lab School. Deepening the school’s and
the foundation’s connection with the Library of
Congress follows on the successful special professional
development experience of eleven Cotsen participants
during March of this past year in Washington.
Members of the consortium assist in the design of the
Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program and offer
TPS professional development on an on-going basis.
The UCLA Lab School/Cotsen Family Foundation
Partnership will join 25 current members in 12 states,
including the two ongoing California members at
Stanford and the University of California at Davis. The
Lab School’s Cotsen Alumna Mentor Ruthellen Moss
’08 and Librarian Judith Kantor traveled to Washington,
October 17th-19th , for their first meeting with the
consortium.
As a consortium participant, the UCLA Lab School will
initiate its Teaching with Primary Sources professional
development activities this school year. Kantor, Moss,
and teachers Myriam Quintanilla and Chris Wilson ’08,
who all attended the March Library of Congress
training, will prepare four additional UCLA staff
members as future demonstration teachers for the
program. Quintanilla and Wilson will also include
primary sources in their lessons on the Lab School’s
December 9th Educator Day focusing on Project Based
Learning in Social Studies and Science. On April 5th, the
school will open six additional classrooms for
observations on the use of primary sources, expanding
the range of grade levels in which teachers from
Southern California can see original source documents
and photos as a key component of instruction. ■
GROWING IN MATHEMATICAL THINKING AT UCLA,
CONTINUED
(Continued from page 3)
types and reflected on the various strategies that
students might use to solve the problems. We reviewed
student work, discussed the range of strategies used,
and determined what we might do next to move
student thinking to a higher level. We explored how
using counting tasks reveals valuable information about
students’ mathematical thinking and provides
opportunities to explore rich mathematical concepts.
Finally, we were encouraged to think ahead to the
coming year and map out a plan of action.
the ART of TEACHINGTM
The highlight came when we broke into small groups
and planned a counting task. Each group introduced
their counting task or sequence of problems, and we
practiced the task and questioning strategies. This
experience built our confidence so that we would feel
more comfortable about using the strategies when we
return to class this year.
What better way to begin my first year back in the
classroom after a wonderful two-year experience
mentoring in the ART of TEACHING? ■
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FOUNDATION
STATE SENATOR CAROL LIU HOSTS ROUNDTABLE ON
TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS
The Cotsen Family Foundation’s Executive Director
Judy Johnson presented a paper at California state
Senator Carol Liu’s third session of the senator’s
Roundtable about Teacher and District Effectiveness on
August 6, 2010 at the Buena Vista Library in Burbank
(Read Dr. Johnson’s complete remarks here). Designed
to develop recommendations to improve teacher and
district effectiveness through changes at the state and
local level, the Roundtable is charged with submitting
recommendations to Senator Liu by January of 2011.
Johnson, emphasizing the need for a system of
education established in an atmosphere of mutual
respect and teamwork, drew on recent research and
included a number of the recommendations that
emerged from the Teachers Network event, cosponsored by the Cotsen Family Foundation, at USC in
March, 2010.
Her talk, What Will It Take for Every Child to Have an
Excellent Teacher?, laid out nine points on which she
elaborated, highlighting along the way the appropriate
role of teacher evaluation:
 Respect teachers as professionals.
 Build upon strengths and use of teachers
as leaders.
 Recruit the best into teaching and prepare
them well.
 Adopt professional standards for quality
teaching.
 Adopt standards for quality student
assignments.
 Create collaborative school and district
cultures.
 Provide high quality professional
development and opportunities for
continuous learning.
the ART of TEACHINGTM
 Identify sources of knowledge from within
and outside the district for professional
development.
 Use a systems approach to developing
effective teaching.
In responding to the issue of teacher evaluation, she
listed what a strong system should include, and noted
that such a system’s goal should be the
professionalization of teaching, resulting in every child
having an effective teacher:
 Professional standards for teaching
excellence
 Multiple evaluation measures, including
classroom observations, peer evaluations,
teacher surveys, and indicators of student
learning
 Meaningful feedback for individual
teachers and professional development
support to help teachers learn and grow
 Evaluation of the system of support in
place for teachers, including
accountability for providing the resources
and support required for teachers to
succeed. ■
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COTSEN
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12100 Wilshire Boulevard
Suite 920
Los Angeles, CA 90025
Judy Johnson
Executive Director
Phone: (310) 826-0504
FAX: (310) 826-2667
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Lloyd E. Cotsen
Founder
Cotsen Family Foundation
Margit Cotsen
Family Member
Cotsen Family Foundation
Margaret Funkhouser
Founder & President
Los Angeles Education
Partnership
Gary K. Hart
Founder, California State
University Institute for
Education Reform
Lucia Laguarda,
Principal, Hemenway Elementary
School
Steven Koblik
President, The Huntington Library,
Art Collections and Botanical Gardens
Steven Lavine
President
California Institute
of the Arts
Barry Munitz
Trustee Professor
California State University
at Los Angeles and
President
Cotsen Family Foundation
the ART of TEACHINGTM
Dedicated to the development of gifted teachers