Part of the Solutions for Professional Learning Communities
Collaborate for schoolwide success. Establishing a collaborative culture can significantly impact student achievement and professional practice. With this how-to guide, you'll gain clarity on the work of teams in a PLC and uncover the elements of effective team development. Discover skills and behaviors that individuals and teams can improve regarding communication, facilitating data conversations, and managing consensus while working together.
Benefits:
- Consult case studies that illustrate the problems that teacher teams may face as they collaborate and how to address them.
- Evaluate the stages that teams will move through as they collaborate to reach agreement.
- Consider step-by-step processes for cultivating effective collaboration.
- Determine the responsibilities for each member of a collaborative school team.
- Explore the behaviors teachers should commit to in order to foster productive listening and participation among teams.
Contents:
About the Authors
Introduction
Chapter 1: Dispositions
Chapter 2: Process
Chapter 3: Roles and Responsibilities
Chapter 4: Skills and Behaviors
Chapter 5: Conclusion
References
Susan K. Sparks provides professional development for building and sustaining professional learning communities and strengthening skills for effective teaming. Her extensive experience as an education leader includes service as a teacher, staff developer, and executive director. She worked in four different Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) in Colorado and received state recognition for her work in standards-based education. Susan retired as executive director of the Front Range BOCES for Teacher Leadership, where she served nineteen metro area school districts and the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Colorado Denver.
Her workshops and presentations focus on impacting results through interpersonal effectiveness, facilitating difficult conversations, and creating collaborative teams. Known as a results-based facilitator, Susan assists teams with developing skills to collaborate and increase student achievement.
Susan s passion for empowering educators is evident in every aspect of her work. Her areas of expertise include consensus building, decision making, contract negotiations, conflict resolution, strategic planning, and professional learning communities.
Susan earned a bachelor of arts and teaching certification from Western State College of Colorado and a master of arts and administrative license from the University of Northern Colorado.
Thomas W. Many, EdD, works with teachers, administrators, school boards, parents, and other education stakeholders on organizational leadership, implementation and change, and Professional Learning Communities at WorkTM strategies and concepts.
Dr. Many s long and distinguished career includes twenty years of experience as a superintendent. He has also served as a classroom teacher, learning center director, curriculum supervisor, principal, and assistant superintendent.
As former superintendent of Kildeer Countryside Community Consolidated School District 96 in Illinois, Dr. Many used the tenets of the PLC at WorkTM process to ensure high levels of learning for all students. He played a key role in preparing elementary and middle grade students for entering Adlai E. Stevenson High School, a nationally recognized PLC. Under Dr. Many s leadership, student achievement in District 96 improved every year for twelve consecutive years. More than 95 percent of all students now meet or exceed state standards. The district has been especially effective in helping students with special needs improve their academic performance. It has become recognized as one of the premier elementary school districts in the nation. A dedicated PLC practitioner, he is a compelling and sought-after speaker.
Dr. Many has written numerous articles and has coauthored books.
