Here is a question that was submitted to me by an instructional coach requesting my thoughts: When working with teams during planning or PLCs, how do I encourage all teachers to participate?  I find that there are a couple of teachers who are there to plan and learn and the rest of them are closed […]

As a school leadership team designs a plan for achieving school improvement goals, planning for teacher growth is often a component. Frequently missing from the planning is an assessment to decide “who needs what training and support?” Here is a process that I’ve found helpful. Begin by identifying a classroom where the desired learning and […]

As I read the September 2015 ASCD Educational Leadership, which is focused on questioning for learning, I was struck with how many of the issues explored equally connected to coaching work with teachers. A research alert (page 8) cites a study from the journal, Neuron (October 2014), that indicates when a person’s curiosity about a topic […]

The title of a TEDxTalks video recently caught my attention: If you want to achieve your goals, don’t focus on them. Reggie Rivers illustrates that goals are of little value if they don’t lead to the identification and implementation of specific behaviors that will produce the desired goals. If I’m focused on the behaviors, the […]

I recently shared a blog  that reviewed  the preparation I had done to assist a staff in looking at how to build innovation into the  opening of a new high school. As I explored the topic further I found a video  of Tony Wagner that examined five elements he identified as crucial for teachers to […]

In 1972 I was a teacher on the staff of a new K-8, open concept, multi-level, team-teaching, non-grading school. As we met with parents we would share in great detail their child’s most recent skill mastery and current areas of study on a grade level continuum of skill development. There were no report cards. We […]