Wednesday, July 4, 2012

More Models for Collaboration in Schools

As districts begin to implement broad initiatives like the Common Core and the System of Educator  Evaluation (SEE), collaboration between school leaders and teachers is needed more than ever. I re-read "Creating Collaborative Cultures," from a 2009 issue of Educational Leadership to seek strategies that will build collaboration in districts.

This collaborative strategy can be applied to narrowing the focus of the SEE to a few rows in the rubric. To follow this strategy, the school leader sends out necessary information and guiding questions in advance of the meeting and then uses Garmston and Wellman's focusing four model (brainstorm, clarify, advocate, canvass) to reach consensus on a small number of rubric-defined focus areas. This collaborative process can be expedited and made more democratic through the use of clickers-- I have a set for the Promethean I'd be happy to apply to this work. This same strategy could be used to identify points of connection between the Common Core and the SEE.

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