After 17 years Mary Tarashuk finds her memory-laden purple bookshelf can no longer carry the load. As she moves her read aloud novels to a brightly lit window shelf, she checks in with her collection to determine which 4th grade favorites will star in the new school year.
Being the Change is a book about enhancing professional knowledge, but it’s also one with heart, inspiring educators to think about ways their teaching can impact the future of our world so it’s a more compassionate place. Practical and insightful, writes Lisa Maucione.
Ongoing shared professional learning helps bolster teachers’ willingness to embrace change and collaborate. Barbara Blackburn and Ron Williamson highlight three targeted activities: learning walks, lesson studies, and a strategy to develop consistent expectations.
To break through the complacency that often slows positive school change, author and middle level leader Ron Williamson turns to Harvard Business School professor John Kotter for four strategies school leaders can use to create urgency within their organizations.
Veteran ELA teacher Lisa Belcher finds Disrupting Thinking to be a fabulous reminder that our students need teachers to be their guides to finding intrinsic motivation to read for more than simply finding answers to questions. Beers and Probst include helpful tools.
Douglas Reeves advocates 7 interdependent elements of leadership – purpose, trust, focus, leverage, feedback, change, and sustainability – to change schools for the better. Coach Rita Platt will revisit the elements throughout the year to spark more reflection.
In “The Principalship from A to Z” Ron Williamson and Barbara Blackburn offer a detailed, practical resource that works as PD as well as an effective manual to help all educators navigate the challenges of leadership, says assistant principal Mike Janatovich.
Co-Teaching / Two Teachers in the Room
by Elizabeth Stein · Published 05/24/2015 · Last modified 12/10/2019
If you find yourself moving from one co-teaching situation to the next or being placed in a co-teaching situation for the first time, read veteran special educator Michele Simonetty’s useful advice for successful adaptation that assures all kids will learn.
Each chapter of Stop Leading Like It’s Yesterday gives an example of “yesterday’s way of thinking” and offers a new strategy for pursuing change, assessing success, and having critical conversations. MS administrator Tamekia McCauley plans to try several.
Often what stands in the way of teacher change is a lack of awareness about what needs to improve. Sharing some aha moments, ‘Smarter Grading’ author Myron Dueck tells how he changed the way he tests and assesses students and manages project learning.
