Culture and Conversation

To Increase Teacher Capacity

Welcome!From Your Session Leaders:

1. Creating a positive school culture that supports teamwork and

personal development

2. Using daily coaching conversations in a yearlong effort to grow

3. Using NCEES as an authentic tool for teacher growth

4. Having crucial conversations when the going gets tough

5. Building transparency and openness to outside feedback

Our Essential Question is:“How do we build culture and conversation in our schools that will

increase teacher capacity?”

FOCI:

Focus One: Creating a Positive School

Culture that Supports Teamwork and Personal

Development

Jim Goodnight, the CEO of SAS, says:

“95% of my assets drive out of the gates

every evening. It is my job to maintain a

work environment that keeps people

coming back every morning.”

Reflect silently:

You have been sent to be principal of School Z.

This is a low performing school that is being

watched by the federal government.

Teachers are “hunkered down” and basically shut

their doors, do their thing, try to teach kids to do

better on state tests, and mostly try not to draw

attention to themselves.

Discuss:

What are your FIRST STEPS in building a

culture that is open to receiving feedback for

improvement?

Focus Two: Using Daily Coaching

Conversation in a Yearlong Effort to Grow

Leadership author John Maxwell says:

“Leaders become great, not because of their

power, but because of their ability to empower

others.”

Reflect silently:

Think about empowering others. What does that

mean?

How is coaching different from supervising?

What are some of the missing ingredients in our

typical daily walkthroughs with teachers?

Is leading telling or showing?

Let’s Talk Honestly:

How do you give teachers informal feedback after

a walkthrough?

Is an average teacher in your building more likely

to get this feedback 3 or 4 times a week? 3 or 4

times a month? Or 3 or 4 times a year?

Is this a two-way conversation or a quick note

or email? Is it just a post observation after a

formal evaluation?

Let’s Talk Honestly:Whatever you are currently doing, how could it be

improved from the teachers’ point of view?

Do you know of coaching methods or conversation

starters to make this more effective?

Given that we have to manage the building, and don’t

get into classrooms as much as we should, what

structures would empower teachers to help each

other?

How important is regular feedback to your best

teachers?

Focus Three: Using NCEES as an Authentic

Tool for Teacher Growth

Susan Black, writing for the ASCD Educational

Leadership blog states:

“For the most part, principals consider evaluating

teachers a tiresome chore, one that takes an

enormous amount of time from their busy

schedules.”

Reflect silently:

How can we make the NCEES process more

efficient for us and more effective for the

teachers?

TPAI-R is gone. Why the laborious scripting still?

During post-observation, do you allow the teacher

to lead and tie in his/her personal growth

plan?

Powerful Questions:

“What do you need to do your job better?”

“How can I support you in improving?”

What others have you found to be powerful?

Focus Four: Having Crucial Conversations

when the Going Gets Tough

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said:

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent

about things that matter.”

Eight Tips on How to Manage Good Teachers

You Don’t Like (Business Insider Magazine):

1. Accept that you don’t need to be friends with all your

employees

2. Figure out why that employee bothers you.

3. Remain positive with them.

4. Focus on how they benefit your team.

5. Don’t let emotions hinder your leadership.

6. Be upfront.

7. Work closely with them.

8. Observe how others handle them.

Career Counseling for Low Performers:

1. Don’t hire other people’s lemons, first and foremost!

2. Action Plans, Monitored Improvement Plans, Directed

Improvement Plans exist for growth of low

performers. Provide resources for people to get

better.

3. Document negative behaviors and provide due

process.

4. Keep H.R. in the loop.

5. Some people benefit from friendly career

counseling.

Focus Five (Close): Building Transparency

and Openness to Outside Feedback

si·lo (noun)

1. a tower or pit on a farm used to store grain.

2. an underground chamber in which a guided missile is kept

ready for firing.

(verb)

1. To isolate (one system, process, department, etc.) from others.

"most companies have expensive IT systems they have

developed over the years, but they are siloed"

Methods to Increase Openness:

1. Talk a lot about teaching as a craft to be honed.

2. Talk about your own growth as a teacher and

administrator and the role of others in helping you

improve.

3. Provide scripts for teacher feedback that maintains

professionalism with prompts like:

1. “What I noticed was…”

2. “What I wondered was…”

3. “Have you considered…”

4. “When was learning best for kids?”

5. “When could learning have been better for kids?”

Structures for Outside Feedback:

1. Peer Coaching from teachers on the same grade level or

department within your school.

2. Instructional Rounds with teams of teachers from various

grade levels or departments within your building.

3. Peer Review with teams of teachers from other schools.

4. Peer Review with teams of administrators from other

schools.

The success/failure of these structures lies in the

preparation of people to give and receive the feedback.

1. Creating a positive school culture that supports team work and

personal development

2. Using daily coaching conversations in a yearlong effort to grow

3. Using NCEES as an authentic tool for teacher growth

4. Having crucial conversations when the going gets tough

5. Building transparency and openness to outside feedback

Our Essential Question was:“How do we build culture and conversation in our schools that will

increase teacher capacity?”

Our FOCI were: