How Schools Thrive. Susan K. Sparks

APPENDIX C

       Communicating the Action Plan

       Coaching Collaborative Teams in a PLC at Work Action Plan

       Coaching Collaborative Teams in a PLC at Work Action Plan

       Coaching Collaborative Teams in a PLC at Work

       Coaching Collaborative Teams in a PLC at Work

       Coaching Collaborative Teams in a PLC at Work Communicating the Action Plan

       References and Resources

       Index

       ABOUT THE AUTHORS

      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 the kind of coaching cultures that support the creation of high-performing collaborative teams.

      In addition to more than fifty articles, Tom is the coauthor of Amplify Your Impact: Coaching Collaborative Teams in PLCs at Work®; Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work, Third Edition with Richard DuFour, Rebecca DuFour, Robert Eaker, and Mike Mattos; coauthor of Concise Answers to Frequently Asked Questions with Mike Mattos, Richard DuFour, Rebecca DuFour, and Robert Eaker; a contributing author in The Collaborative Teacher: Working Together as a Professional Learning Community; coauthor of Aligning School Districts as PLCs with Mark Van Clay and Perry Soldwedel; and coauthor of How to Cultivate Collaboration in a PLC and Leverage: Using PLCs to Promote Lasting Improvement in Schools with Susan K. Sparks.

      To learn more about Tom’s work, follow @tmany96 on Twitter.

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

      Michael is the former director of professional learning communities (PLCs) for Jeffco Public Schools in Golden, Colorado. During his tenure, Michael led PLC implementation in over one hundred schools throughout the district. His collaborative leadership was instrumental in developing integrated PLC support systems, monitoring processes, and aligning professional learning. Three schools in Jeffco are nationally recognized model PLC schools.

      Michael specializes in increasing educator and student learning by developing agency to coach and support collaborative teams. Additionally, he coaches leadership teams to scale PLC implementation in any size school system, both large and small.

      He has presented at state and national events on topics related to continuous improvement for schools, teams, and individual educators. Michael has coauthored articles on increasing the effectiveness of collaborative teams and is a coauthor of Amplify Your Impact: Coaching Collaborative Teams in PLCs at Work.

      To learn more about Michael’s work, follow @mjmaffoni64 on Twitter

      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.

      Susan contributed to The Collaborative Teacher: Working Together as a Professional Learning Community and coauthored Amplify Your Impact: Coaching Collaborative Teams in PLCs at Work and How to Cultivate Collaboration in a PLC and Leverage: Using PLCs to Promote Lasting Improvement in Schools.

      To learn more about Susan’s work, follow @sparks12_susan on Twitter.

      Tesha Ferriby Thomas 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. Her passion for the power of PLCs has grown over twenty years as she has worked to support PLC implementation as a teacher, department chairperson, assistant principal, and assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. She is a coauthor of Amplify Your Impact: Coaching Collaborative Teams in PLCs at Work. She presents regularly at local, state, and national conferences on topics ranging from writing across the curriculum to implementing an instructional learning cycle in a PLC. 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. She is also a doctoral candidate at the University of Michigan Flint where she is researching the impact of coaching on PLCs.

      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 [email protected].

      FOREWORD

       By Robert Eaker

      It’s no secret; the use of high-performing teams is a powerful way to improve organizational effectiveness—including schools! And the use of collaborative teams isn’t new. As a young Marine recruit at Paris Island, South Carolina, in 1962, I distinctly recall an officer emphasizing that the entire United States Marine Corps was built on one overarching idea: a Marine rifle squad consisting of twelve Marines who work together (interdependently), to accomplish a shared mission (common goals), for which they hold each other accountable for success (mutually accountable). Think about that! The United States Marine Corps understood the power of collaborative teaming in 1962—in fact, long before that!

      Since the mid-1950s, the use of high-performing collaborative teams has become so commonplace in organizations of all types, all over the world, that it is not even discussed anymore. There is an exception, however. Sadly, the norm for American education is still one of teacher isolation. In most schools, individual teachers are expected to ensure their students learn more standards than ever