The Three C's of Staff Development

Slide 1: Staff Development Three C's: Communication, Collaboration, and Culture

Slide 2: Sustaining the Change Initiative •The Three C’s •Communication •Collaboration •Culture

Slide 3: Sustaining the Change Initiative Through Communication • Effective communication is essential to the change process. • Develop and articulate specific plans, the preparation and public presentation of the plan signals the significance. • What’s monitored gets done. • Questions posed communicate priorities and give direction. • People communicate most effectively through their actions. • Time devoted to an issue tells people what is really valued. • Progress towards the vision must be made apparent. • Those who violate the vision and values must be confronted. • Keep it simple (KISS)

Slide 4: Communicate the importance of issues by: 1. Identifying the criteria with which it will monitor the advancement toward its vision, the presence of its val­ues, and the accomplishment of its goals. 2. Systematically gathering information on those criteria. 3. Sharing data with the entire staff. 4. Engaging the entire staff in collective analysis of the information that is gathered. 5. Developing new strategies for achieving its objectives more effectively. 6. Carefully monitoring the results of implementing those strategies. Dufor; R., & Eaker, R. (1998). Professional Learning Communities at Work. Reston, VA: Solution Tree. (P. 108)

Slide 5: Sustaining the Change Initiative Through Collaboration •Transforming a school into a professional learning community is a collective endeavor. •Collaboration by invitation does not work.

Slide 6: Collaborative Teams • Schools must create structures to ensure that every staff member is assigned to a team that works together on important issues. • Implement the team concept by: Grade Level • Shared Students • School Wide Task Force • Area of Professional Development •

Slide 7: Collaborative Teams Effective teams are characterized by: 1. Shared beliefs and attitudes. 2. High levels of trust that in turn result in open communi­cation, mutual respect for people and opinions, and a willingness to participate. 3. The belief that they had the authority to make important decisions and a willingness to assume responsibility for the decisions they made. 4. Effectively managed meetings with clear operational norms or ground rules, agendas developed with input from all, defined roles for members, and minutes to pro­vide continuity 5. Ongoing assessment of and discussions regarding the functioning of the team. Dufor; R., & Eaker, R. (1998). Professional Learning Communities at Work. Reston, VA: Solution Tree. (P. 120)

Slide 8: Collaborative Teams • Prerequisites: • Time for collaboration must be built into the school day and year. • The purpose of collaboration must be made explicit. • School personnel need training and support to be effective collaborators. • Educators must accept their responsibility to work together as true professional colleagues.

Slide 9: Sustaining the Change Initiative • Through Culture • The culture of a school is founded upon the assumptions, beliefs, values, and habits that constitute the norms of that school. • The most effective strategy for influencing and changing culture is simply identifying, articulating, modeling, promoting, and protecting the shared values.

Slide 10: The Stories We Tell •Sean Martinson •Matt Erholtz •They don’t make ‘em like •Nobody know the troubles they used to. we’ve seen. •Even though I’d be •I find myself placing blame considered a young, maybe on external forces for many even “inexperienced” teacher problems I see in school. I I’ve found myself saying that often question what values / kids today aren’t like they responsibilities families instill used to be, and not like it was in their children. when I was growing up.

Slide 11: The Stories We Hear •Sean •Matt •Some of the most common •The most common thing I hear stories that I hear are related to is “Been there, done that.” The kids changing, families not taking profiles of learning have gone responsibility and that this too away to new standards. Over the shall pass. years much work has been done, put into a file cabinet and then •Principal reinvented. •“Nobody knows the troubles •Principal we’ve seen…” •“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” •This attitude takes the wind out of the sails of change. It leads to •Our district has been high the feeling of helplessness and achieving and many do not want the thought that the power to to rock the boat due to the change is out of your control. results.

Slide 12: Effective strategy for changing culture? •Sean •Matt •Identifying and modeling •Reflective dialog. the preferred culture. •Taking time on a regular basis to interact with •It’s hard to influence and colleagues to examine change the culture of a school processes and best practices. when the community involved Once you truly understand doesn’t even know what it is your past, then you can move that they are talking about or forward (I’m sure that’s a what it even looks like. quote by someone, I just don’t know who). Looking at how one can improve upon what worked and what didn’t.

Slide 13: Which “C” is the Most Critical? •Sean •Matt •Communication •Collaboration •Communication finds its way •This is pretty much a tie with into all of the C’s and effects communication, but I feel the change process. As the that if people truly are authors state communication working together they are is essential to the success of communicating well. the change effort and in Ownership of ideas and contrast inattention to greater follow through are communication is a common outcomes from collaboration. cause to the of failure of change.

Slide 14: Which “C” is the Most Underserved? •Sean •Matt •Communication •Collaboration •One could argue that since I •In regards to time needed to see this as an area of do so. We spend a lot of time importance I am hyper­critical planning individually, but are of communication. They’d be not given specific time to right, at this point in my work together. One of our District’s change initiatives I district’s goals is to improve don’t feel the staff know this process and better what’s going on, where we’re integrate our subjects. going, or why. The question their­in lies how do I bring this to the attention of our administration in a positive light?

Slide 15: Thank you for your time! Sean Martinson & Matt Erholtz