Optimizing Professional Collaboration
to Improve Teaching and Learning
GVSU Learning Network
August 2013
Framing the Day
&
Laying the
Groundwork
Essential Question
How do we best leverage
our various forms of
professional collaboration
for improving learning in
classrooms?
Day 1 Objectives
• Assist school teams in:
– Clarifying the purpose of their professional collaboration.
– Clarifying the areas of needed improvement for the
operation of professional collaboration.
– Understanding the aspects of professional collaboration
that make help explain when it will help support
professional growth and improved student performance.
– Creating a practical rubric for communicating expectations
for professional collaboration through the school.
Learning Network -Norms
• Silence mobile phones
and other devices
• Be present and engaged
• Listen actively
• Make this relevant to
your work and your
school
• Call the baby ugly (call it
like you see it)
• Reduce side
conversations
• Speak honestly
• Vegas rule
• Share speaking
opportunities—watch talk
time
• Avoid negativity and
complaining
• Arrive on time, start on
time, end on time
Making Your Bet Explicit
What is your core
professional
collaboration structure?
What is your guiding
theory? “If we . . . , then
. . .”
What are your indicators
of success? What will
tell you if it is working?
Identifying Your Team’s
Learning Agenda
Individual Reflection
Given the theory undergirding your school’s professional collaboration and your
takeaways from the Hattie and Fullan readings, what do you see as the key barriers for
optimizing the impact of professional collaboration in your school? (jot your
individual notes below)
Team Discussion
Given the theory undergirding your school’s professional collaboration and your
collective takeaways from the Hattie and Fullan readings, what does your team see as
the key barriers for optimizing the impact of professional collaboration in your school?
(capture your shared sentiments below)
Identifying the
Difference Makers
Video Case Study
• Context
“The Bet”
(articulation from principal and leadership team)
What is your core
professional
collaboration structure?
What is your guiding
theory? “If we . . . , then
. . .”
What are your indicators
of success? What will
tell you if it is working?
Professional learning
communities by grade
level that include
regular education
teachers and teachers
in the bilingual
program.
If we foster
collaboration among
teachers of regular
education and
bilingual classrooms,
then we will raise
expectations for
students, teachers will
share best practices,
and student learning
will improve.
Teachers sharing
lessons and
instructional strategies
in meetings; teachers
able to discuss
changes in
instructional practices
Video Observation
Exercise
• What do you see?
– Descriptive
– Objective
– Fine grained
What Should They See
• Given the school’s “bet,” what should success look
like for this school’s professional collaboration?
• Practically speaking, what should the leadership
team see when they observe the professional
collaboration in this school (if the bet is to pay
off)?
– And put yet another way, what should they monitor?
Consider . . .
• An accident . . .
where a child in Hartford, CT has lost a
hand. Boston, MA is the location of the
best extremity reattachment surgical unit
on the East Coast.
“Flying Northeast” is not the same as
Getting to Boston
Or, as the Cheshire Cat put it . . .
“If you don't know
where you're going,
any road will get you
there.”
Source: Lewis Carroll. Through the Looking
Glass
Revisit Your Bet
What is your rubric for success?
Instructions.
• As a team, revisit your “bet.”
• Identify the main categories of quality.
• Once identified, complete the cells for the “fourth column”
(what it looks like at proficiency).
• As time allows, try to complete the other columns.
Professional Collaboration Rubric
1. Beginning
Quality Domain
2. Emergent
3. Functional
4. Proficient