A Teacher's Guide to Change: Understanding, Navigating, and Leading the Process

"Coping with change is perhaps the most fundamental aspect of life and certainly critical for successful teaching. This book provides an essential guide to how teachers might successfully address the ongoing and expected change associated with effective teaching."
―Sharon Vaughn, H. E. Hartfelder/Southland Corp Regents Chair
University of Texas

"Perhaps no other job in our society today experiences as much change as classroom teaching. Stivers and Cramer are two experts with tremendous insight and experience in both the theoretical and practical dimensions of personal, organizational, and systemwide change. Heartwarming, insightful stories explore how dozens of teachers overcome the challenges of living and leading through change every day, blended with rock-solid theory and extensive research on how to live through change successfully."
―Chris Edgelow, Founder and President
Sundance Consulting Inc.

Energize your learning community by transforming change into opportunity!

Throughout their careers, teachers will face a myriad of inevitable changes, both inside and outside the classroom. Ideal for use both in professional development settings and as a personal resource, A Teacher′s Guide to Change engages K–12 teachers in the process of anticipating and responding to change. Through a step-by-step approach, teachers can learn to prepare for change, which enhances their career satisfaction and effectiveness as professionals.

Emphasizing that change is something teachers can understand, manage, become invested in, and even champion, the authors provide practical skills for facing and adjusting to change, whether it is mandated or chosen. Offering a wealth of conceptual, reflective, interpersonal, and strategic tools, this guide also includes:

• Survey results from more than 100 teachers who share not only their experiences with change but also advice and encouragement, inviting educators to learn from each other
• Reflective exercises to help teachers understand and approach change
• A five-step process for initiating and implementing plans for change
• Systematic strategies for leading change, both in smaller and larger spheres of influence
• Vivid school-based examples that can be directly applied to personal experience

This accessible resource is invaluable for all teachers. Whether or not change is voluntary, opportunities for professional growth are abundant, leading to improved student learning and greater teacher retention.

Janet L. Stivers is associate professor of special education at Marist College, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, member of the Board of Directors of the Northeastern Educational Research Association, and member of the Board of Directors of Literacy Volunteer of America, Dutchess Community Chapter. Stivers frequently present workshops for teams of middle and high school teachers who are collaborating to teach students with special needs in general education classes.

She has a PhD in educational psychology and statistics at the State University of New York at Albany and recieved her MA in psychology and counseling from Assumption College. Stivers has been teaching at Marist College since 1980 and has won the Social and Behavioral Sciences Faculty of the Year Award, 2002.

Sharon F. Cramer is a distinguished service professor at Buffalo State College, where she has been a member of the faculty since 1985. Her leadership roles include serving as executive director of the SABRE Project (implementation of the Oracle Student Information System) (1999-2004), chairing the Exceptional Education Department (1995-1999), and leadership roles in state and national professional organizations (e.g., president of the Northeastern Educational Research Association, NY Federation of Chapters of the Council for Exceptional Children, publication chair of the Division on Developmental Disabilities).

She earned her PhD at New York University in 1984 in human relations and social policy, her master of arts in teaching (MAT) from Harvard University in 1972, and her bachelors of arts degree from Tufts University in 1971. She participated in the Management and Leadership Education (MLE) program at Harvard University in 2001.