I am currently facilitating leadership teams at the central office and building level in several districts. As I researched for this work the critical importance of school based leaders was reinforced. Consider the following statements regarding the principal’s role: On average, a principal accounts for 25 percent of a school’s total impact on student achievement—significant […]

I have been promoting the phrase for some time now that “Teaching is a Team Sport and a Public Act.” I’ve suggested that teams require trust and that being public with our work and our results is necessary to building that trust. In a recent article, “Build trust for professional learning”,  from Learningforward, we are reminded that […]

Here is a request I received from an instructional coach. I read your blog titled, “Coaching Teachers’ Dual Roles”  , and the following resonated with me: “I think it’s necessary that coaches and instructional school leaders provide facilitation and training for PLC members to experience effective collaboration, debate, and reflection that produce new teaching and learning […]

On a recent cross of the Atlantic flight I read an article in British Airways Business Life addressing, “How persuasion words and labels can have seemingly imperceptible influences on us.” It was written by Steve Martin, the author of, Yes! 50 Secrets from the Science of Persuasion. Martin shares examples that I found interesting: People consider […]

I was able to attend two sessions that Andy Hargreaves presented at the recent IB Africa, Europe, and Middle East Conference in The Hague. Hargreaves identified five important interrelated focus points drawn from his book “The Global Fourth Way: The Quest for Educational Excellence”: Inspiration: there needs to be a shared vision/dream for the future… […]

I just returned from presenting at and attending the European Council of International Schools Leadership Conference in Vienna. My session was on Instructional Coaching. I had the opportunity to attend Andy Hargreaves keynote where he discussed several elements of teaching that for me point to the value of coaching from peers, instructional coaches, and administrators. […]