How Schools Thrive: Building a Coaching Culture for Collaborative Teams in PLCs at Work® (Effective coaching strategies for PLCs at Work®)

Strengthen your professional learning community (PLC) by building a highly effective coaching culture for collaborative teams. A companion to Amplify Your Impact, this resource drills deeper into the more complex aspects of PLC at Work®. Instructional coaches and leaders will acquire new insights and strategies for improving their team's professional practice around the essential elements of the PLC process, including continuous improvement, collective inquiry, action orientation, and a focus on results.

Gain effective coaching strategies for implementing the PLC at Work framework in your school or district:

• Review essential elements of effective PLCs and how these essential elements influence the instructional coaching of collaborative teams.
• Study the Strategy Implementation Guide (SIG) and Pathways for Coaching Collaborative Teams tools and how to use them in the coaching of collaborative teams.
• Acquire new insights, confront new questions, and explore new approaches that promote higher levels of student learning and effective professional learning communities for teachers.
• Discover numerous strategies to use during the effective group coaching of collaborative teams at every stage of learning to meet adaptive challenges.
• Learn the benefits of "drilling deeper" into the PLC process, as well as viewing the teacher as a reflective practitioner.

Contents:
Introduction
Foreword by Robert Eaker
Part I: Making a Commitment to Coaching Teams
Chapter 1: Creating Habits of Professional Practice
Chapter 2: Identifying How the Essential Elements of a PLC Thrive in a Coaching Culture
Part II: Understanding Essential Elements of Highly Effective Teams in a PLC
Chapter 3: Learning Together--The Power of Collective Inquiry
Chapter 4: Staying Restless--The Impact of Continuous Improvement
Chapter 5: Being Urgent--The Value of an Action Orientation
Chapter 6: Getting Better--The Significance of a Focus on Results
Part III: Coaching Collaborative Teams in PLCs at Work
Chapter 7: Coaching for Assessing a Team's Current Reality
Chapter 8: Believing in Your Team--Coaching Collective Efficacy
Chapter 9: Creating an Action Plan for Coaching Collaborative Teams
Appendix A: Stages of Learning and Essential Elements of a Highly Effective PLC
Appendix B: Action Planning Template
Appendix C: Communicating the Roll-Out Plan
References and Resources

Thomas W. Many is an educational consultant in Denver, Colorado. Tom retired as the superintendent of schools in Kildeer Countryside CCSD 96 in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. Tom's career included twenty years of experience as superintendent, in addition to serving as a classroom teacher, learning center director, curriculum supervisor, principal, and assistant superintendent. District 96 earned the reputation as a place where the faculty and administration worked together to become one of the premier elementary school districts in the United States during his tenure as superintendent.

Tom has worked with developing professional learning communities in school districts around the world. He has proven to be a valuable resource to those schools beginning their journey, offering special insights into developing a culture that supports the creation of high-performing collaborative teams.

Michael J. Maffoni, an educator since 1987, has a diverse background that includes experience as a teacher, principal, and district administrator in a variety of districts and school settings in Colorado. He also teaches courses in educational leadership as an affiliate faculty member at Regis University.

Michael is the director of professional learning communities for Jefferson County Public Schools, Golden, Colorado. In this current role, Michael leads PLC implementation in over one hundred schools throughout the district. His collaborative leadership has been instrumental in developing an integrated PLC support system, monitoring structure, and associated professional learning for district leaders, principals, instructional coaches, and teachers.

Susan K. Sparks is an educational consultant in Denver, Colorado. Susan retired in 2008 as the executive director of the Front Range BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services) for Teacher Leadership, a partnership with the University of Colorado at Denver. Susan spent her career in St. Vrain Valley School District as a teacher and with four different BOCES as staff developer, assistant director, and executive director. She consults internationally in collaborative cultures, conflict resolution, contract negotiations, and community engagement.

She provides professional development and training in facilitating professional learning communities, impacting results through interpersonal effectiveness, managing challenging conversations, and creating collaborative teams.

Tesha Ferriby Thomas, EdD, believes passionately in the power of PLCs, which she has worked to develop in multiple schools as an assistant superintendent, assistant principal, department chairperson, and classroom teacher.

She is coauthor of Amplify Your Impact: Coaching Collaborative Teams in PLCs at Work® and How Schools Thrive: Building a Coaching Culture for Collaborative Teams in PLCs at Work®. She has been a member of the Michigan Learning Forward board and the Michigan Department of Education Surveys of Enacted Curriculum Steering Committee and is a National Writing Project fellow. Her successful doctoral research was focused on the impact of coaching on PLCs.

In addition to presenting and writing, Tesha is a school improvement facilitator and language arts consultant at the Macomb Intermediate School District in Macomb County, Michigan. She has worked in this capacity since 2012, supporting struggling districts and school leaders by helping them embed systemic practices that result in improved student achievement. To learn more about Tesha's work, follow @tferribythomas on Twitter.

To book Thomas W. Many, Michael J. Maffoni, Susan K. Sparks, or Tesha Ferriby Thomas for professional development, contact pd@SolutionTree.com.