Leading With Intention

WITH INTENTION

“In this elegant and powerful book, Spiller and Power have created a comprehensive and memorable framework of eight interlocking areas that make it easy for leaders to focus on what gets results.”

—Michael Fullan, Professor Emeritus, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

“The authors acknowledge the myriad challenges leaders face when working to impact student learning.

Through real-life examples, protocols, reflection questions, and end-of-chapter planning tools, Spiller and Power show the reader how to focus on simplicity by articulating what is tight. The reader is left with a manageable plan focused on the right work.”

—Sarah Schuhl, Author and Educational Consultant

“The authors provide incredible clarity for leaders at all levels, guiding them to focus on the high-impact strategies that create the greatest leverage for school improvement. This is an essential book for anyone leading the PLC process.”

—Joe Cuddemi, Author and Educational Consultant

®

In Leading With Intention: Eight Areas for Reflection and Planning in Your PLC at Work , Jeanne Spiller and Karen Power provide a compelling guide for K–12 school leaders who wish to lead with intention. This handbook will help professional learning community (PLC) school leaders reflect personally on their practice by examining eight important areas in which to take action.

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Achieving focus and staying intentional Establishing and maintaining organization Building shared leadership Using evidence for decision making and action

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Prioritizing the student Leading instruction Fostering communication Developing community and relationships

Each chapter includes reflective stopping points that provide opportunities to think about current practice and how to apply the content of this book to leader action.

LEADING WITH INTENTION

LEADING

Principals, administrators, and other school leaders will: • Explore and reflect on practice • Consider new organizational structures, methods of communication, and ways to build healthy and productive relationships • Come to understand the student as the focus of school leadership • Utilize reproducible tools to improve their practice

Visit go.SolutionTree.com/PLCbooks to download the free reproducibles in this book.

SolutionTree.com

SPILLER & POWER

• Understand intentionality and its importance

LEADING

WITH

INTENTION 8

®

Areas for Reflection and Planning in Your PLC at Work

Foreword by Douglas Reeves

Jeanne Spiller Karen Power

Copyright © 2019 by Solution Tree Press Materials appearing here are copyrighted. With one exception, all rights are reserved. Readers may reproduce only those pages marked “Reproducible.” Otherwise, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without prior written permission of the publisher.

555 North Morton Street Bloomington, IN 47404 800.733.6786 (toll free) / 812.336.7700 FAX: 812.336.7790 email: info@SolutionTree.com SolutionTree.com Visit go.SolutionTree.com/PLCbooks to download the free reproducibles in this book.

Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Spiller, Jeanne, author. | Power, Karen, 1967- author.

Title: Leading with intention : eight areas for reflection and planning in your PLC at work / Jeanne Spiller, Karen Power.

Description: Bloomington, IN : Solution Tree Press, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018011555 | ISBN 9781945349836 (perfect bound) Subjects: LCSH: School principals | Educational leadership. | Professional learning communities. | School management and organization.

Classification: LCC LB2831.9 .S66 2019 | DDC 371.2/012--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018011555

Solution Tree Jeffrey C. Jones, CEO Edmund M. Ackerman, President Solution Tree Press President and Publisher: Douglas M. Rife Editorial Director: Sarah Payne-Mills Art Director: Rian Anderson Managing Production Editor: Kendra Slayton Senior Production Editor: Suzanne Kraszewski Senior Editor: Amy Rubenstein Copy Editor: Evie Madsen Proofreader: Elisabeth Abrams Cover Designer: Rian Anderson Editorial Assistant: Sarah Ludwig

Table of Contents Reproducible pages are in italics.

About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi Foreword B y Douglas Reeves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii Introduction

Using Your Great Power as a Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 The PLC Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Eight Areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 About This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Chapter 1

Achieving Focus and Staying Intentional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Time: The Struggle Is Real . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Strategies for Gaining Focus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Loose and Tight Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 A Positive Mindset. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 The Right Place. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Positive Habits for Spending Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Wrap-Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Making an Impact in Eight: Achieving Focus and Staying Intentional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Chapter 2

Establishing and Maintaining Organization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Creating Systems and Protocols. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Avoiding Mixed Messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Considering Organizational Versus Instructional Focus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

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Wrap-Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Making an Impact in Eight: Establishing and Maintaining Organization. . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Chapter 3

Building Shared Leadership. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Shared Leadership and PLCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 The Guiding Coalition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Shared Leadership Among Staff Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Collaborative Responsibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Scheduling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Wrap-Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Making an Impact in Eight: Building Shared Leadership. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Chapter 4

Using Evidence for Decision Making and Action. . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Using Evidence Versus Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Using Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Measuring Current Reality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Determining Root Causes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Using Data for Action. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Setting SMART Goals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Wrap-Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Making an Impact in Eight: Using Evidence for Decision Making and Action . . . . . . . . . 97

Chapter 5

Prioritizing the Student . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Students First. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 A Primary Focus on Student Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Student-Centered Decision Making. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 An Equitable Learning Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Wrap-Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Making an Impact in Eight: Prioritizing the Student . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Chapter 6

Leading Instruction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Focusing on Instruction in a PLC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Supporting Instruction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Table of Contents

Supporting Instruction in Struggling Schools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Supporting a Positive Classroom Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Supporting Collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Wrap-Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Making an Impact in Eight: Leading Instruction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Chapter 7

Fostering Communication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Unproductive Listening Habits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 Productive Listening Habits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Deep Understanding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Crucial Conversations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 Communication Beyond the School. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Wrap-Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Making an Impact in Eight: Fostering Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Chapter 8

Developing Community and Relationships. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Levels of Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 The W hy Before the What . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Community-Building Practices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Community Outreach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 Wrap-Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 Making an Impact in Eight: Developing Community and Relationships. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Afterword

Creating the Future. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 References and Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

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About the Authors

Jeanne Spiller is assistant superintendent for teaching and learning for Kildeer Countryside Community Consolidated School District 96 in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. School District 96 is recognized on All Things PLC (www.AllThingsPLC .info) as one of only a small number of school districts with all schools in the district earning the distinction of model professional learning community (PLC). Jeanne’s work focuses on standards-aligned instruction and assessment practices. She supports schools and districts across the United States to gain clarity about and implement the four critical questions of a PLC. She is passionate about collaborating with schools to develop systems for teaching and learning that keep the focus on student results and helping teachers determine how to approach instruction so that all students learn at high levels.

Jeanne received a 2014 Illinois Those Who Excel Award for significant contributions to the state’s public and nonpublic elementary schools in administration. She is a graduate of the 2008 Learning Forward Academy, where she learned how to plan and implement professional learning that improves educator practice and increases student achievement. She has served as a classroom teacher, team leader, middle school administrator, and director of professional learning.

Jeanne earned a master’s degree in educational teaching and leadership from Saint Xavier University, a master’s degree in educational administration from Loyola University Chicago, and an educational administrative superintendent endorsement from Northern Illinois University.

To learn more about Jeanne’s work, visit www.livingtheplclife.com, and follow her on Twitter @jeeneemarie.

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Karen Power is a consultant and former teacher, principal, superintendent, and senior advisor for professional learning and leadership. Karen has implemented the Professional Learning Communities at Work® process both as a principal and as a superintendent, and, for several years as a consultant, she has supported collaborative work in schools to meet the needs of students.

Karen’s work focuses on school improvement, leadership coaching, and professional learning community implementation, as well as instruction, assessment, and evidence-based decisions for long-term sustainability.

In 2010, 2011, and 2012, Karen was selected as one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women in the Public Sector by the Women’s Executive Network. She also received the national Reader’s Digest Leadership in Education Award and was named one of the Outstanding People in the Atlantic Region by Atlantic Canada’s Progress magazine.

Karen has served on the Greater Moncton United Way Board, Moncton Rotary Board, Horizon Health Network Board of Directors, and Canadian Education Association Board. Karen holds a master’s degree in school administration.

Karen divides her time between New Brunswick, Canada, and Jensen Beach, Florida, with her husband, Wayne. She has two grown daughters, Sandra and Elizabeth, who have provided her with endless opportunities for learning, love, and lots of fun.

To learn more about Karen’s work, visit https://karenpower.blog, Karen’s weekly blog for school improvement.

To book Jeanne Spiller or Karen Power for professional development, contact pd@ SolutionTree.com.

Foreword

By Douglas Reeves

Too often while implementing effective educational reforms, school leaders are tempted by the “check-off syndrome”; leaders proclaim, “We’ve already done that!

Now let’s find the latest new thing!” Although professional learning communities (PLCs) are in wide use around the world and the evidence is overwhelming that, when implemented with depth and duration, PLC has a profoundly positive impact on student achievement, schools make the mistake of half-hearted implementation that Richard DuFour characterized as “PLC lite.” Indeed, implementing PLC at Work® practices requires diligence and perseverance, and flavor-of-the-month education fads and strategies are the arch enemy of this sort of focus.

So educational leaders must choose what path to take when undergoing PLC transformation: (1) the easier path of surface-level PLC implementation that avoids the difficult challenges of collaboration and evidence-based decision making that are at the heart of PLCs, or (2) the more rigorous path of persistence in deeper and deeper implementation. Fortunately, for leaders who wish to make the leap from PLC lite to the deep levels of implementation that lead to improved student achievement, Jeanne Spiller and Karen Power offer a wealth of practical tools and strategies within these pages to accomplish this transition. They guide PLC leaders in their quest to lead with intention so that their PLCs flourish.

In this book, Spiller and Power identify eight essential areas of reflection and focus for PLC leaders: 1. Achieving focus and staying intentional 2. Establishing and maintaining organization 3. Building shared leadership 4. Using evidence for decision making and action 5. Prioritizing the student xiii

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6. Leading instruction 7. Fostering communication 8. Developing community and relationships These eight areas represent core leadership responsibilities with which many school leaders—both within PLCs and in traditional schools—struggle. The everyday challenges PLC school leaders face make it increasingly difficult to stay the course and lead staff to deep PLC implementation. In this important book, Spiller and Power explore how readers can use their great power as school leaders in the most positive and productive ways.

Importantly, in this book, leaders have the opportunity to reflect on their practice in the eight areas. Readers will consider their current practice and determine how they can best use the strategies, tools, and protocols the authors provide to strengthen their leadership, leading to deeper PLC implementation. The first area—achieving focus and staying intentional—has a critical bearing on the rest. In a true PLC, leaders must deliberately reject those factors that interfere with the shared focus on all students learning at high levels. Spiller and Power help leaders gain focus to maintain a positive mindset, support loose and tight leadership, and develop positive habits for spending time.

In the remaining seven areas, readers will reflect on and learn about effective practice and how to avoid worst practice when creating systems and protocols, building shared leadership, using data and making decisions, prioritizing student success, leading and supporting instruction, and building their communication skills.

Additionally, Spiller and Power go beyond the school walls to assist PLC leaders in building positive community and relationships, which is essential for enduring PLC implementation.

Throughout this book, Spiller and Power help school leaders develop a relentless focus and build intentional actions so they understand not only what to do, but also what to stop doing. It’s much more pleasant and enjoyable to talk about best practices, but a challenging and essential part of the professional work of educators is to identify and avoid worst practices. Leaders who focus on best practice only can find themselves practicing a kind of “whack-a-mole leadership”—constantly attempting to latch onto every opportunity that has a best-practice label. The more nuanced approach in this book is that leaders must be judicious in choosing a few ideas that have the greatest impact on student achievement, and then implement those practices with diligence.

Foreword

Among the many things I admire about this book is that the authors include many stories and anecdotes from real educators in real schools along with a wealth of practical advice from their years of experience as classroom teachers, administrators, and consultants. This level of authenticity distinguishes their work and provides readers with concrete examples of success as well as struggle.

As Spiller and Power state in their introduction, school leaders “are faced with challenging, demanding, important work every day” and their challenge is to “figure out how to share this power and responsibility to create a focused, organized, and consistent school in which leaders and teachers collaborate, make evidence-based decisions, understand that the student is the top priority, communicate effectively, and are involved in trusting relation­ships” (p. 1). This book will help PLC leaders as they endeavor to lead their PLCs with intention, choosing the more difficult—but ultimately more rewarding—path to deep implementation over PLC lite.

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Introduction

Using Your Great Power as a Leader With great power comes great responsibility. Peter Parker, also known as SpiderMan, comes to this realization after a spider bites him and he is transformed into a superhero with exceptional powers, including the ability to sense impending danger.

Initially, Peter doesn’t know how to control and appropriately use his newly acquired powers. He struggles with how his power will affect others and what it means for his future. Ultimately, after his Uncle Ben reminds him that the decisions he makes will shape who he is for the rest of his life, Peter accepts that he needs to learn to harness his power and use it responsibly for the greater good. Peter relies on the insight of his uncle and others while facing many challenges and eventually learning how to control and utilize his powers to make the world a better place. In other words, he doesn’t save the world alone.

Like Spider-Man, you are faced with challenging, demanding, important work every day as a school leader. You have great power and great responsibility, but you also have the wisdom and insight of fellow administrators, teachers, and students. You have the power and responsibility to create a collaborative culture focused on learning and results for students. You are not a superhero like Spider-Man, but you do have the power to make heroes every day. As Roland Barth, founder of the Principals’ Center at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, says, “The best principals are not heroes—they are hero-makers” (as cited in Johnson, Leibowitz, & Perret, 2017).

The challenge for school leaders is to figure out how to share this power and responsibility to create a focused, organized, and consistent school in which leaders and teachers collaborate, make evidence-based decisions, understand that the student is the top priority, communicate effectively, and are involved in trusting relationships. And principals must do all of this without the aid of superpowers.

We wish we could give you Spidey-sense or superhuman strength, but instead we offer insights in approaching your work as a school leader. We hope to do what Uncle 1

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Ben did for Peter Parker: provide advice, support, good examples, and opportunities for reflection. Whether you are a new school leader with newly acquired power and responsibility like Peter Parker, or a school leader who has been doing this for a while and wants to reflect on your current practice, this book offers you that opportunity through stories of real practitioners at work and insights from our many years of leading and learning in schools.

This book is written specifically for school leaders, but many of the concepts we address either relate to or can be applied to educational leadership in general. We share our experiences with you through stories and anecdotes that illustrate the leadership considerations we believe are essential in the work of leading schools: collaboration, shared leadership, evidence-based decision making, and a focus on learning. We gathered our insights from the schools and districts we have either worked in ourselves, or from those we have consulted with across North America. While we use our experiences to frame the chapters, we also apply our understanding of ideas and research from various thought leaders who helped shape our thinking. We try to keep the focus on leadership practices while weaving in the thinking or research that led us to guide you in a certain direction.

If the concepts we just mentioned—collaboration, shared leadership, evidencebased decision making, and a focus on learning—are familiar to you, then it is likely you have committed to enhancing student achievement in your school or district with the Professional Learning Communities at Work® (PLC) process. Our work in schools includes on-site “shoulder to shoulder” coaching of collaborative teams and school leaders in addition to providing professional learning opportunities. In order to provide continuous school improvement, teachers and school leaders must stay the course, focusing on the three big ideas of a PLC: (1) a focus on learning, (2) collaboration, and (3) a results orientation. When we are on site as coaches, we work directly with teachers and leaders to ensure that a culture of collaboration is the vehicle used to support student achievement. This is done in the spirit of creating deep understanding of how to use evidence as collaborative teams to meet the needs of students; the model that we have found to be the most effective in doing so is the PLC process.

The PLC Process The architects of the PLC process, Richard DuFour and Robert Eaker, describe the PLC process as:

Using Your Great Power as a Leader An ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve. PLCs operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous job-embedded learning for educators. (DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, Many, & Mattos, 2016, p. 10)

We believe the PLC process represents the most effective way to improve our schools. The success of the PLC concept is now thoroughly evident across the United States, Canada, and throughout the world. In fact, schools and districts continue to provide substantial evidence of their successful implementation and school improvement results by meeting the rigorous criteria to become a model PLC school or district on the All Things PLC website (www.AllThingsPLC.info). As part of the application process, schools and districts must provide evidence that demonstrates a commitment to PLC concepts. Close to two hundred successful applicants have been able to show their success in meeting the following requirements.

• Implementation of PLC concepts for at least three years • Clear evidence of improved student learning • Description of school or district culture, practices, and structures that align with the best practices put forth in the PLC at Work literature In addition, schools and districts that meet the rigorous criteria must update their school or district information on the site each year to show that the data continue to meet the criteria over time.

DuFour and his colleagues (2016) explore in their many volumes of work that PLCs have a fundamental focus on learning. When a school or district functions as a PLC, educators within the organization embrace high levels of learning for all students as both the reason the organization exists and the fundamental responsibility of those who work within it.

PLCs also have a collaborative culture. In a PLC, collaboration represents a systematic process in which teachers work together interdependently to impact their classroom practice in ways that will lead to better results for their students, for their team, and for their school (DuFour et al., 2016).

In PLCs, collaborative teams do collective inquiry into best practice (in both teaching and learning) and current reality. Teams build shared knowledge through collective inquiry to develop new skills and capabilities. As DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, and Many (2010) note, “Gradually, this heightened awareness transforms into

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fundamental shifts in attitudes, beliefs, and habits which, over time, transform the culture of the school” (p. 12). Members of a PLC should work and learn together.

PLCs are built on a foundation of a shared mission, vision, values, and goals (collective commitments). PLCs are also action oriented—team members learn by doing and turn their aspirations into action. They believe being engaged and sharing experiences is the most effective way to learn.

Members of PLCs also commit to continuous improvement. Teams constantly search for better ways to fulfill their organization’s vision. Systematic processes within a PLC engage teams in an ongoing cycle of: • Gathering evidence of current levels of student learning • Developing strategies and ideas to build on strengths and address weaknesses in that learning • Implementing those strategies and ideas • Analyzing the impact of the changes to discover what was effective and what was not • Applying new knowledge in the next cycle of continuous improvement (DuFour et al., 2016, p. 12)

PLCs are learning environments in which learning is constant, and innovation and experimentation flourish. Team members also realize they must assess progress on results rather than intentions—they have a results orientation.

The culture in a PLC is simultaneously loose and tight (DuFour et al., 2016). This means that some expectations are tight, meaning that schools demand coherence to certain core principles, such as teachers working collaboratively with colleagues to clarify the question, What is it we want our students to learn and be able to do?

PLCs are loose in other ways—for example, teachers have autonomy and flexibility with day-to-day instructional implementation.

As DuFour et al. (2016) express, becoming a PLC is a journey, not a destination.

The PLC journey is a transformation because it constitutes a complete shift in how educators and school leaders do their everyday business. This book is a resource for those schools and districts that are beginning or are already on their journey to PLC transformation. We hope to help leaders of PLCs reflect on and improve their practices in eight specific areas. It doesn’t matter whether you have been working to create collaboration and implementing the PLC process for a long time or if you are a new administrator ready to embrace this way of working. We want to support

Using Your Great Power as a Leader

your journey in maximizing collective efficacy and creating shared ownership of student learning.

Eight Areas In numerology and astrology, the number eight symbolizes abundance, power, harmony, balance, and the ability to make decisions. When you look at the figure eight, notice that the two parts are drawn equally, creating balance. Also, when you turn eight on its side you have the symbol for infinity. As a PLC leader, you have infinite choices to make every day: how to use your time, what to focus on, who to talk to, and where to be. We try to help you sort it all out in the chapters that follow.

As educators and educational consultants, we know there are already many books about school leadership. We appreciate that you chose this book and to join us on this journey. We want this book to help you reflect personally on your practice. In it, we focus the eight chapters on eight areas we believe are most important to our work as leadership coaches and that require PLC leaders to take action.

1. Achieving focus and staying intentional 2. Establishing and maintaining organization 3. Building shared leadership 4. Using evidence for decision making and action 5. Prioritizing the student 6. Leading instruction 7. Fostering communication 8. Developing community and relationships

Achieving Focus and Staying Intentional During our coaching experiences, we work with leaders who genuinely want to do their best and lead with purpose. Often, we notice that what separates effective leaders from those with ineffective practices is a leader’s ability to stay focused on the right work. Distractors, too many initiatives, misuse of time, and an overall inability to determine a small number of goals that intentionally set direction for the school are often missing pieces of leadership practice. In this first of eight areas, we will guide your thinking on how to become more reflective in your intentional focus.

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Establishing and Maintaining Organization Educators, like other professionals for whom collaborative, focused work is the business of the day, need systems and practices in place that make sense and are used by everyone. Creating collaborative cultures of learning requires leaders who can determine necessary organizational practices, consistently model implementation of these practices, and importantly, expect others to do the same. In our experiences, leaders often need support in understanding where to start in creating an organized, safe learning culture and how necessary it is for them to demonstrate consistent application and expectations so there are no mixed messages. In this second area, we support your consideration of what organizational structure you want to create and what you will need to do for deep implementation of consistent practices.

Building Shared Leadership Leading a school or district does not mean leading alone. Too often in our work with educators, we see strong, focused leaders who attempt to do everything by themselves. PLC leaders develop shared leadership to ensure shared ownership of successful school improvement. Developing opportunities for collaboration through the development of guiding coalitions (school leadership teams) and teacher-led collaborative teams provides increased shared ownership of responsibility. In this third area of focus, we seek to create deeper understanding of the need for shared leadership in a collaborative school and how to involve others in such a model.

Using Evidence for Decision Making and Action When you think about the word evidence, what comes to mind? As an educational leader, do you plan your actions and next steps based on evidence or are you frequently relying on past experiences and the opinions of others? During our coaching work, we sometimes encounter leaders who have gathered evidence from multiple data points, but then their work stops there. They collect data, but do not use the evidence to make decisions and take action. In this fourth area, we consider ways to increase your professional understanding of the important need to rely on the facts and how to use evidence to plan next steps.

Prioritizing the Student “We put our students first� is a noble statement to make about your school and one that we observe in countless mission and vision statements in our work across North

Using Your Great Power as a Leader

America. What does it truly look like, however, when the student is the top priority in all of your decisions? What are equitable practices in a school? How do PLCs make daily decisions that reflect an understanding that the student is the center of all the work? In the fifth area, we invite you to consider your student-centeredness and what you can do to increase collaborative efforts to meet the needs of all students.

Leading Instruction We are often asked what truly changes schools. In each of the sections of this book, we provide you with what we believe is a critical area of importance. Depending on where you are in your leadership journey, there will be topics that resonate more with you than others; however, we strongly recommend that you consider increasing your understanding of the importance of quality instruction in your work to improve your school. When classroom practice improves, we see remarkable increases in student achievement. And when teams understand that the real purpose of their collaboration is to inform instructional practices, great things happen to improve student learning. The sixth area is intended to support your journey to a stronger instructional focus.

Fostering Communication Despite our very best efforts as leaders, we are not always the best communicators.

In our experiences, leaders often know exactly what they want to do next, what they expect, and what the best course of action is, but they neglect one very important practice: effective communication. Unfortunately, we both can say that we have, at times, been ineffective communicators, and we have experienced the negative effects of poor communication, such as a lack of clarity and more seriously, confusion. In this seventh area, we ask you to consider your communication skills—how you listen, what you prioritize, how you communicate your priorities, and how you develop stronger skills so that you understand the needs of others.

Developing Community and Relationships In this final area, we support your leadership skills as you work beyond your school community and focus on the art of building relationships. We know that, as a leader, there is much to do every day. We also recognize that by the time you get to this final area, you will already have ideas about where to start focusing your actions as a leader. Please do not think that this is the last section because it is the

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least important. It is critical to your leadership success that you understand and value strong relationships and the support that leaders can find with parents and the community.

About This Book As you read this book, we want you to move from focusing on you, personally, as the leader, to the intentional practices that guide your work as a school leader.

We will ask you to consider the organizational patterns in your school, how you share leadership, and what authentic collaborative structures can accomplish for you. We also focus on the student, specifically on meeting student needs through evidence-based decisions. We conclude the book with an examination of the sense of community and relationships you will need to foster and the communication skills you need to develop to support this work.

This book is designed for leaders to use it as a handbook and reflective tool. Read it in its entirety or pick and choose sections based on a specific issue or topic you may be facing. Each of the eight chapters includes opportunities for you to reflect on the practices that can create impact for you as a leader. At the end of each chapter, we suggest a list of five leadership actions related to each chapter topic. We don’t hold back; we offer direct statements about what we believe great leaders do and avoid in their practice.

We include reflective stopping points throughout each chapter and again at the end of each chapter to provide opportunities for you to think about your current practice and how you might apply what you are reading to enhance what you are already doing. And finally, we invite you to consider what you celebrate. Are you acknowledging small wins? Are you setting up short-term goals so you can easily progress monitor success? Are you recognizing, in yourself and in others, growth and accomplishment?

Every student and every teacher in every school deserve a powerful, responsible, and collaborative leader. Yes, the demands on school leaders are extraordinarily challenging, but like Peter Parker, when you use your power and responsibility for the greater good, great things can happen for students.

Chapter 1

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

Achieving Focus and Staying Intentional If you don’t know where you are going, you will end up someplace else.

—Yogi Berra

As a leader, how you use your time each day speaks volumes about what you value.

At times, your actions and values are misaligned. Consider if how you use your time reflects what you care deeply about, what you believe in, and your school’s vision.

What do others understand about you and your intentions from your daily actions?

As we visit schools across North America during our consulting work and do comprehensive needs assessments, we typically begin by asking a few questions of teachers: “What is the focus of your school? What is important to your school leaders, and how do you know it is important?”

These questions are usually met by puzzled looks. We follow up with, “How would your staff answer these questions? How about your students? What about their parents?”

We then dig deeper: “Tell us a little more about what a focus on students looks like in your school.” This request is usually met with more looks of uncertainty until participants respond that the focus is on students—that every decision is based on what is best for them.

At this point, we ask for examples of actions that support this focus on students.

This is where the conversation becomes more difficult. “How do you know for sure that students are a priority to school leaders?” Some participants are able to describe

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common messages they have heard about improving student achievement, while others are not sure if they can link leadership actions to a focus on students.

Although the scenario we describe is what we most often experience in our work with schools, we have also walked into schools where teachers are crystal clear about the focus of the school. In these schools, teachers understand that the school is about learning, student growth, and achievement. Principals not only communicate the vision regularly but also give teachers time to meet in collaborative teams to focus on student results and create instructional plans based on student achievement data.

They check in with teams often and are relentless when it comes to data and student achievement. In these schools, there are high expectations for all, and principals’ actions every single day reflect these expectations and priorities.

In this chapter, you will reflect on the intentionality of your actions and conversations as a school leader. What answers would your staff, students, and parents provide to the questions? Would they react with confusion, or would their responses be crystal clear? As a school leader, what you spend your time doing, what you focus on, speaks volumes to others about what is important. We seek to build common understanding of the importance of your ability to stay focused and intentional with daily practices in creating the school you want to lead.

We begin with a discussion about time and the difficulty leaders face in planning how to focus their limited amount of time. We follow with strategies for gaining focus and a discussion of how establishing loose and tight leadership can help you focus. Then, we discuss having a positive mindset, being in the right place, and adopting positive habits for spending time.

Time: The Struggle Is Real It is Monday morning. You walk into your office, and three students are already there because of social media issues, two teachers want to spend time with you talking about supervision at the next football game, a parent is waiting to see you about his son’s grades, the parent-teacher organization president is on the phone

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

This line of questioning typically tells us all we need to know: the principal talks about the importance of test scores and his or her desire to see them improve, but he or she has not communicated an action plan or expectations for getting there. This uncertainty and inability to give focused examples are worrisome. When we see this scenario play out over and over again in the same school or district, it tells us that the school leader’s priorities and expectations are unclear.

Achieving Focus and Staying Intentional

11

waiting to talk about the upcoming meeting agenda, the superintendent left a message for you to call, an assistant principal reminded you that you are supposed to have a quick administrative meeting this morning about failing grades, and a teacher is waiting for you to do a preconference about the observation you are about to do.

This is the life of a school leader.

There are twenty-four hours in a day. You control how you spend most of this time.

School leaders need self-discipline both inside and outside the school walls. This is no easy task since distractors are a common obstacle. If an action doesn’t fit with your goals—if it isn’t necessary—it is a distractor. Indeed, the emails and texts you see when you roll over and check your phone at 4 a.m. and the problems that appear at your office doorstep can become the work of the day if you let them. Having an open-door policy is great, but only when you still control the way you manage your actions and time in daily practice. Focus requires aligning your actions with your daily goals.

For example, if you plan to walk through the building every morning to greet staff and students but find yourself drawn to your emails as soon as you arrive, what impact does this action have on your ability to build relationships and know your staff and students? Which is more important for you to stay focused—the walkthrough or your inbox? Leaving your devices behind as you spend time in hallways and classrooms helps truly connect you to what is happening in your school. The latest blog can help you reflect and think, but it may also take you off course. New learning and new ideas are enticing, and while continuous learning is important, it can take you off track and make it more difficult to keep the main thing the main thing.

Reflection How do you determine your daily areas of focus? What are some distractors you struggle with on a daily basis?

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

Every day you start with a plan—with a list of things to do, people to talk to, and, most important, the work that will help you accomplish your goals and vision for the school. You may or may not get your coat off before your plan goes astray. As one principal said to us, “I always start my day with a plan, but sometimes I can’t get to my plan at all!” (S. Watkins, personal communication, March 2017). As a leader, you are well organized and thoughtful about what you have to do and understand the need to focus. You wake up every morning with that intention. Inevitably, something takes you off course.

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Strategies for Gaining Focus

Distractor

My intentional focus

What I did

FIGURE 1.1: Template for reflecting on intentionality during the day.

Visit go.SolutionTree.com/PLCbooks for a free reproducible version of this figure.

For example, figure 1.2 shows a completed template for a principal who wants to focus on visiting classrooms during the literacy block. This principal recognized the need to increase effective literacy instruction and has provided professional development and coaching to his staff. His collaborative teams have increased their focus on instructional strategies, and it is time for him to see if the professional learning and decisions are being implemented in the classroom. During the literacy block, the principal faced a distractor—a teacher who wanted to meet with him. The teacher explained that she was struggling with how best to communicate with a parent and wanted to brainstorm with him about what to do next. The principal responded by asking how urgent the meeting was and scheduled it for later when he determined it was not urgent.

Distractor

My intentional focus

What I did

Teacher wants to meet with me.

I want to visit classrooms during the literacy block.

Asked teacher how urgent. Scheduled a meeting for a later time.

FIGURE 1.2: Sample reflection on intentionality—teacher meeting.

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

To gain focus, take time to consider what you want to focus on. Writing your goals down in a template or graphic organizer can be empowering as you struggle to keep the distractors from your day. Figure 1.1 is a template for reflecting on being intentional during your day. Begin by writing your intended focus. Next, write a distractor you faced. Then note what action you took.

Achieving Focus and Staying Intentional

13

Figure 1.3 shows a principal who has the intentional focus of creating and using an agenda that is data driven for guiding coalition discussions.

Distractor

I will consistently create and use an agenda for the guiding coalition meeting that is based on data to inform all of our decisions.

What I did

I expressed my appreciation to the teachers for the leadership that they have taken on in planning the school trip. I explained that it is very important for me to continue to share data with the guiding coalition and for us to have time together to create action plans based on the data. I told them that I would be happy to host a meeting with any interested teachers about the school trip at another time.

FIGURE 1.3: Sample reflection on intentionality—guiding coalition meeting.

This exercise may be useful for leaders when they are first faced with a conflict to examine what they know they should do and what is distracting them from intentionally remaining focused on the work. For example, some leaders find that by writing the intentional focus down as well as the distractor as soon as they are faced with a challenge, they are able to also think through the appropriate action to take.

Another exercise we often ask school leaders to engage in for reflection on intention is completion of a daily time log (figure 1.4, page 14). We start by asking leaders to reflect on their daily goals and then complete the log to see how effective they were at keeping their focus. The log helps leaders consider what they are spending time on, and, most important, if their actions align with their intentions. Many leaders find this template most helpful as a beginning- and end-of-day activity; for example, by stating intentional goals and writing them down at the beginning of the day and then taking the time to reflect on what was actually accomplished by the end of each day, the leader can make adjustments to how best to plan for the following days.

Š 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

Two of the teachers who are part of the guiding coalition asked to be added to the agenda for the guiding coalition meeting. They have asked for a majority of the time on the agenda in order to have support in planning a school trip that they are responsible for that will take place in three months.

My intentional focus

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Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Daily Focus

Spending most of my time in classrooms and with collaborative teams

Increasing time in classrooms and with collaborative teams

Increasing time in classrooms and with collaborative teams

Classroom observations

48 minutes

100 minutes

100 minutes

Student discipline

100 minutes

30 minutes

40 minutes

Duties (hall, lunchroom, bus yard supervision, and so on)

150 minutes

150 minutes

150 minutes

160 minutes

30 minutes

45 minutes

Collaborative team meetings

60 minutes

30 minutes

Community engagement

60 minutes

District meetings Emails and office work

Human resources Other

15 minutes 150 minutes

150 minutes

FIGURE 1.4: Sample daily time log template.

Visit go.SolutionTree.com/PLCbooks for a free reproducible version of this figure.

For example, in figure 1.4, the leader’s intentional focus was supposed to be on supporting, observing, and learning more about classroom practice. The principal feels that she is not spending enough time observing student work, interacting with students in the classroom, or observing classroom instructional practices; she would also like the collaborative team with which she is working to focus more on discussions of instruction. Despite the principal’s stated focus for day one, she did not spend her time aligned with this focus. What can she learn from this for the next day? By reflecting at the end of each day on where she spent her time, she can see quickly if her intentions are aligned to her goals. In our example (figure 1.4), it is clear that on day one, the principal did not meet her goal of spending the majority of her time in classrooms and with collaborative teams. By taking the time to reflect at the end of the day, the principal has the opportunity to make adjustments to her focus for day two or consider ways to create more opportunities to meet her goal. For example, as she sees how much time she has spent sitting at her desk responding to emails, she is able to intentionally move away from her desk and be in classrooms and meetings on day two. Without this type of personal accountability,

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

Category

Achieving Focus and Staying Intentional

15

What pattern do you see? Does how you used your time reflect what you prioritize as important work in your school? Are there items you could delegate or involve others in to help you create time for the important things? Have you established what is loose and tight to share leadership in your school?

Always remember, time is a variable, not a fixed asset. The U.S. Department of Defense Education Activity (2016) created an education activity focused on PLCs titled Professional Learning Communities: Guidance for Collaboration Time. This document provides guidance regarding the actions that principals and leadership teams can take to support the development, implementation, and evaluation of PLCs. The suggestions that table 1.1 outlines require an abundance of time and energy from leaders. These are only a sample of the leadership shifts required to ensure effective implementation of PLCs, but they offer a good place to start when analyzing your intentional use of time as a leader. Consider the way you spend your time currently.

Is it focused on actions like those in table 1.1? If so, how can you enhance what you are currently doing? If not, what are you doing that you can stop doing to allow for more time to focus on moving your collaborative teams forward in their work aligned to the PLC tenets?

TABLE 1.1: Guidance for Collaboration Time Stages and Purposes Stage 1: Launching the PLC Work: Establish a Sense of Urgency Purpose: To increase professional collaboration focused on instruction and student results

Suggested Actions for the Principal and Guiding Coalition • Share schoolwide data highlighting any urgent areas in need of improvement.

• Facilitate teamwork to align school and district visions, and to ensure that school vision meets criteria for an effective vision.

• Communicate expectation for collaborative teams to maintain meeting minutes and share them with key leaders.

• Share the school vision with the full school community once the statement is approved. continued

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

intentions do not inform our practices. Using figure 1.4 (visit go.SolutionTree .com/PLCbooks to download the free reproducibles in this book), log what you spend your time on at school over two or three days. Consider the categories in figure 1.4 and add any additional task categories, such as data analysis, facility management, student activities (sports, arts, and other activities), family meetings and engagements, planning, telephone calls, and so on. Use whatever categories you feel represent where you spend your time, and then reflect on where you’ve spent time over several days.

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Stages and Purposes

Suggested Actions for the Principal and Guiding Coalition • Provide research and readings that highlight the way teams work and their potential impact on instruction. Establish a common purpose for the work of teams.

• Ensure that teams set norms that enable their work to be productive and unfold in a nonthreatening environment.

• Ensure that team members know that data analysis is for the purpose of improving student performance.

• Assist teams in setting agendas initially, gradually releasing this responsibility to the team.

• Lead discussions on characteristics of high-performing teams and how they increase student achievement.

Stage 2: Analyzing Data and Setting Targets

• Lead the guiding coalition in setting schoolwide improvement targets and preparing charts, graphs, and tables of data to be used at team meetings.

Purpose: To develop a culture of databased instructional decision making and continuous evaluation of progress across the cycle of learning and working together

• Ensure that team performance targets are aligned with continuous school improvement goals (not separate targets).

• Present approved schoolwide targets to teams.

• Provide necessary professional development in effective data analysis.

• Review each list of targets to be certain that targeted percentages and numeric increases are sufficient to make progress and are aligned with schoolwide targets. Provide data for grade levels, subjects, and courses.

• Lead a review of each list of targets to be certain that targeted increases are sufficient for the school to make progress to achieve schoolwide goals.

• Coordinate integration of specialists and support staff into team work.

Stage 3: Developing Focus and a Process for Monitoring Progress Purpose: To identify skills, conceptual understanding, and problem-solving needs and set appropriate targets

• Ensure that teachers understand the benefit of monitoring individual student progress.

• Establish a process for charting and monitoring class, grade, subject-area, and course performance data on a monthly basis to determine progress toward meeting targets.

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

• Design a master instructional schedule (with feedback from all staff) to provide adequate meeting time for teams. Set consistent “sacred” time for these meeting sessions.

Achieving Focus and Staying Intentional

Stages and Purposes

Suggested Actions for the Principal and Guiding Coalition • Advocate for any necessary adjustments to curriculum, pacing guides, and instructional materials that are highlighted through the work of teams.

Purpose: To ensure that teachers have the instructional resources necessary to address prioritized areas of need

• Provide professional learning on building and implementing common formative assessments.

• Develop or provide standards-based unit and lesson-design protocols and train teachers in their use. (Protocols should include specification of standards, assessments for learning, and methods of differentiation of instruction, rubrics, and materials.)

• Support development of collaboratively designed standardsbased lessons that address specific student needs.

Purpose: To ensure that the taught curriculum is wellplanned, data based, and targeted to student needs

• Support teachers in researching strategies that improve student performance, particularly in areas of greatest need.

• Ensure that collaborative teams have access to protocols for scoring student work.

• Implement a process for collecting, charting, and monitoring classroom, grade, subject-area, and course performance data on a regular basis to determine progress toward meeting targets.

• Assist teams in problem solving around barriers to adjusting instruction to meet student needs.

• Create a schoolwide system of interventions and time for interventions in the school day.

• Allocate resources to support interventions.

• Ensure that there is a process by which counselors, students with disabilities, English learners, intervention specialists, and parents regularly collaborate.

• Ensure that staff who provide interventions are qualified for the level of intervention needed.

Stage 6: Celebrating Success and Reviewing Progress of Collaborative Work Purpose: To note small wins and use them as a platform from which to achieve greater gains

• Within the school, publicly celebrate examples of lessons that have helped students meet targets.

• Facilitate a process for communicating students’ progress from grade to grade.

• Coordinate gatherings of parents and, at these gatherings, make student work and changes to instruction public. Develop a public relations plan to guide the process for sharing instructional successes with the broader community.

Source: Adapted from U.S. Department of Defense Education Activity, 2016.

Loose and Tight Leadership In his bestseller, Leading With Focus, former administrator Mike Schmoker (2016) reminds us there is a need for simplicity. He states, “Simplicity demands that leaders incessantly clarify and reinforce these priorities. . . . Focused, straightforward efforts can enable leaders to achieve significant, transformative improvements within one

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

Stage 4: Building and Sharing StandardsBased Lessons

Stage 5: Implementing Collaboratively Designed Lessons and Monitoring Progress

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or two school years” (p. 5). According to DuFour (2007), one way to ensure expectations are clear, but also offer some autonomy, is through simultaneously loose and tight leadership.

DuFour (2007) urges leaders to consider carefully what will be loose and what will be tight. He suggests leaders articulate, protect, and promote the practices and processes more likely to result in high levels of student achievement. For example, in PLCs, it is tight for teams to work collaboratively, teachers to determine essential standards, and to expose all students to the essential standards that they must learn. Teams measure mastery of essential standards by creating and using common formative assessments, and examining the results together to determine the best next instructional steps. In addition, collaborative teams provide time and support for students who are not mastering expectations, and extension and enrichment for those who have demonstrated mastery and need instruction that challenges them.

How collaborative teams approach this work can be loose. However, there may be times when you, as the school leader, will want to provide support and direction to assist teams in implementation. For instance, you may provide examples of protocols for teams to use when determining essential standards or for examining common formative assessment data.

Simplicity means that school leaders are clear on what is tight. When there is clarity on what is tight, a new staff member can transfer to your school and immediately understand the tight expectations; they are crystal clear.

To illustrate this point, consider the following scenario Jeanne experienced while working as the director of professional learning at Kildeer Countryside Community Consolidated School District 96 in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. Several principals approached her concerned that teachers wanted to understand how to better differentiate instruction and needed training. At the time, the district’s focus was to become crystal clear on the answer to the first critical question of a PLC, What is it we want students to know and be able to do? Thomas Many, coauthor of Learning by Doing (DuFour et al., 2016) and the superintendent of District 96 at the time, instructed Jeanne to keep the focus on fostering deep understanding and implementation of the four critical questions of a PLC and to ensure nothing got in the way of reaching that

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

According to DuFour et al. (2016), the PLC process empowers educators to make important decisions and encourages their creativity and innovation in the pursuit of improving student and adult learning. Aspects of teaching and learning in which educators are empowered to make important decisions are said to be loose. Elements of the PLC process that are tight are non-negotiables; everyone in the school is required to adhere to those elements.

Achieving Focus and Staying Intentional

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goal. He knew if collaborative teams did a great job of answering these questions, instructional conversations would naturally occur and teachers would learn from and with each other how to best meet the needs of their students—including differentiation. This is not to say that training is unnecessary, but he knew there needed to be a foundation for differentiated practice, and it had to be grounded in the four critical questions. This was his tight.

Now, when principals look back at this time on their PLC journey, they realize an unwavering focus and commitment to the four critical questions is one of the reasons District 96 is the only model PLC district (on AllThingsPLC [www .AllthingsPLC.info]), with all seven of its schools receiving model PLC status. In addition, Woodlawn Middle School in District 96 was the recipient of the 2018 DuFour Award for demonstrating exceptional levels of alignment with the PLC process resulting in high levels of student achievement.

While this story focuses on a district initiative, there is a message in it for school leaders: listen to your staff, and do your best to support and guide them in their work, but also maintain a focus that demonstrates simplicity. Teachers are very quick to identify leader behavior patterns when they feel leaders are doing what we refer to as “chasing squirrels.” If leaders are not focused on just a few priorities and cannot align their decisions, daily actions, and communication with these priorities, they move staff from simply understanding the focus and intentions of the school to feelings of confusion and an overwhelming belief that everything is equally important (versus tackling a few things first). Superintendent Many created simplicity for those around him; he was clear and focused, and others simply had to follow his lead.

Reflection How do you believe the teachers in your school perceive your focus? Are your actions aligned with what you deem important? Do you think staff members understand what is tight and loose, or are they overwhelmed with a feeling that everything is important?

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

The principals wanted to give their staff members what they believed they needed.

While the principals understood why the focus could not shift and agreed this was the right call, some of them struggled with strong staff opinions regarding their need for more support with differentiated instructional practice. It is important to understand that teachers were still empowered to learn about differentiated practice and principals offered professional learning opportunities through staff meetings, readings, and support at the team level, but the district priority remained focused on system clarity about what students should know and be able to do.

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Use figure 1.5 to pause and reflect on three current priorities you want everyone to understand. Rate yourself on how you are creating simplicity around these priorities in your school.

Directions: Use the following five-point scale to self-assess your focus on priorities.

2. I struggle some days with staying focused on this and believe others are not always sure this is a focus.

3. I speak about this priority often and have set up structures and systems that help others understand this work; however, my daily actions are not always aligned with this priority.

4. I believe most days my actions and messages represent the simplicity of what I want to accomplish at this school. However, there are times I do allow distractors to get in the way.

5. I am strongly aligning all of my actions and messages so it is simple for others to understand this is a priority.

Priorities

Score and reflection

Priority one

I give myself a score of because

Priority two

I give myself a score of because

Priority three

I give myself a score of because

What actions can I take to increase my focus and simplify the direction if necessary?

FIGURE 1.5: Assessment tool for simplifying focus and actions in daily practice.

Visit go.SolutionTree.com/PLCbooks for a free reproducible version of this figure.

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

1. I am totally distracted from this priority and recognize I have not created a simplistic way for others to understand this focus.

Achieving Focus and Staying Intentional

21

See figure 1.6 for a completed sample of the assessment tool.

Score and reflection

Priority one:

I give myself a score of 2

To progress monitor the shortterm SMART goals of collaborative teams and ensure their instruction and intervention action plans align to the goals

because I have not found the time to attend meetings or review minutes.

One team leader told me that he had not set any SMART goals this year.

What actions can I take to increase my focus and simplify the direction if necessary?

• Attend collaborative meetings to observe discussions focused on setting SMART goals and determining next steps.

• When not at meetings, review minutes of meetings and focus on alignment of goals to actions.

• Schedule a monthly meeting with each team leader to review his or her SMART goals and action steps.

• At faculty meetings, review the importance of SMART goals and alignment of goals to actions.

Priority two:

I give myself a score of 4

To increase the effectiveness of formative assessment practices in the classroom

because

Priority three:

I give myself a score of 3

To improve parent relationships in our school

because

I have provided professional development and coaching and continue to provide feedback to teachers on their formative practices.

I speak about this focus often; however, to date, I have not spent much of my daily time in this area.

• When in classrooms, have more student conversations to see if students are understanding feedback about their learning.

• Review the data that I can collect on our formative practices with all staff at the next faculty meeting to emphasize the value of this work.

• Create a plan of action that will focus some of my time every day on parent relationships.

• Reach out to a small group of parents and host a “lunch and learn” session to discuss their concerns and our next steps to increase parent involvement in the school.

FIGURE 1.6: Example of assessment tool for simplifying focus and actions in daily practice.

Leading researcher and educator Michael Fullan (2010) names nine elements of successful reform.

1. A small number of ambitious goals 2. A guiding coalition at the top 3. High standards and expectations

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

Priorities

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LEADING WITH INTENTION

4. Collective capacity-building with a focus on instruction 5. Individual capacity-building linked to instruction 6. Mobilizing the data as a strategy for improvement 7. Intervention in a nonpunitive manner 9. Being transparent, relentless, and increasingly challenging Two of these elements specifically address the importance of focus and intentional action in school leadership: a small number of ambitious goals and being vigilant about distractors.

Both limiting your goals and understanding distractors will help you as a school leader deal with scenarios such as those presented earlier in this chapter. As you work through the reflection in figure 1.4 (page 14), you should have more clarity on what you have prioritized (established as goals) and how you might need to avoid distractors. Remember, it is common to find it challenging to maintain your focus so that your daily practices and beliefs align. You are not alone in this work; it is critically important to all school leaders.

A Positive Mindset Alignment of policies, structures, and plans is important, but DuFour and Fullan (2013) explain real coherence is related to mindset. What is in the minds of those leading and doing the work is more important than the actual plan. Recognizing the current reality and creating a positive mindset about the necessary next steps are constructive. And, as Fullan and DuFour (2013) remind us, this focus helps create coherence in your practice. Clarifying your intentions and priorities so others can understand them, focusing on a few goals, minimizing distractions, establishing systemness (by aligning these elements through what you say and do), and working to maintain a positive mindset about the work support a cohesive culture in your school. Figure 1.7 can help you reflect on how you think about your work. (Figure 1.8 shows a completed example.) Is it energizing to focus on a few priorities? Do you see the potential of common understanding and collective capacity in moving the school in one direction? Can you think of some steps to develop more cohesiveness in your school? Again, throughout this book, we will invite you to revisit and reflect on your current practices, keeping in mind the intentionality in everything you do.

Š 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

8. Being vigilant about distractors

Achieving Focus and Staying Intentional

23

2. Why are these your priorities?

3. I s there a shared understanding of the why behind your priorities?

4. I f yes, how do you know? If no, what are your next steps?

FIGURE 1.7: Template for establishing cohesiveness.

Visit go.SolutionTree.com/PLCbooks for a free reproducible version of this figure.

1. W hat are the priorities of your school?

2. Why are these your priorities?

To increase the use of evidence to make informed decisions and take action leading to improved student achievement To increase student engagement in our instructional practices To improve parent relationships with all staff in our school

We have been collecting data as a guiding coalition and with our collaborative teams but not really using it to plan next steps.

Students tell us that they are not attending school or not participating in classes because they are bored with low expectations and teacher-directed lessons.

When surveyed, parents told us that they do not feel welcome in the school, they are not being informed of curricular expectations or academic progress by teachers, and they want to hear more from the principal.

FIGURE 1.8: Example of establishing cohesiveness— leadership reflection.

continued

Š 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

1. What are the priorities of your school?

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LEADING WITH INTENTION

3. I s there a shared understanding of the why behind your priorities?

To increase student engagement in our instructional practices— Not yet

To improve parent relationships with all staff in our school—Yes

• Collaborative teams are beginning to use common formative assessment data on a short cycle consistently to make better decisions about students.

• All guiding coalition meetings now involve data analysis and planning of next steps for the school.

• There is no evidence of increased student engagement (attendance, higher achievement, or from classroom observations).

• We will increase professional development on engaging, high-yield instructional practices, and I will follow this up with observation and feedback specific to engagement.

• I will ask the instructional coaches to support teachers who are struggling with engagement in their classrooms.

• I will ask collaborative teams to increase their focus on PLC critical question three, What will we do when students are not learning?, specifically to increase the planning of engaging instruction.

• Collaborative teams are using monthly parent newsletters to increase understanding of what grade-level expectations are and what parents can do to support them.

• All teachers made calls home to every parent when school started in August.

• More parents attended the open house in September than in any previous year.

• Two “coffee with the principal” focus groups were well attended.

Former superintendent of Adlai E. Stevenson High School in District 125, a model PLC, Timothy D. Kanold (2011) shares three mistakes a principal can make when seeking to create cohesiveness in his or her school.

1. The principal fails to clearly communicate how the vision looks in action. In this situation, the principal’s teachable point of view is weak in terms of modeling and teaching best-practice actions and solutions to others.

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

To increase the use of evidence to make informed decisions and take action leading to improved student achievement—Yes

4. If yes, how do you know? If no, what are your next steps?

Achieving Focus and Staying Intentional

25

2. The principal fails to understand it is his or her job to be the primary steward, teacher, and champion of the school or district vision and is slow to recognize when the vision is absent in the reality of school or district practices.

Kanold (2011) also reminds us, “An ‘everything is urgent’ pace facilitates a drift toward negative energy” (p. 119). This negative energy, or negative mindset, will work against any cohesiveness you are trying to create. You may have the right goals and understand the vision you want to bring to life; however, you must bring the vision full circle to a place that empowers everyone to work toward the common goal. To do this, you must focus on your mindset.

So how does a leader focus on mindset and be a positive role model for others?

There is no secret recipe, no venom that provides superpowers; it takes awareness, reflection, and, most importantly, commitment.

Start by considering how aware you are of your own mindset and attitude and give yourself time to reflect. Are you tired, or stressed, and how does this manifest itself in your interactions with others? Simply being aware of your state of mind can help you to improve it. You just have to slow down for a few minutes to think about it, which is not always easy to do.

For example, the administrative team in Kildeer Countryside Community Consolidated School District 96 engaged in three minutes of meditation to begin their summer administrative retreat because Superintendent Julie Schmidt recognized that the team needed time to slow down and reflect. The meditation was informal and quick, led via a TEDx Talk YouTube video by Gen Kelsang Nyema (2014; J. Schmidt, personal communication, June 18, 2018). Gen Kelsang Nyema (2014) defines meditation as the mental action of concentrating on a peaceful, positive state of mind. She describes that this can be done sitting at your desk for a few minutes or first thing in the morning, or anytime really. In the video, Gen Kelsang Nyema (2014) walks viewers through a simple process for regaining a positive and focused frame of mind by breathing out agitation, mental business, frustration, or unhappiness in your life. She then directs viewers to imagine breathing in the clear,

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

3. The principal believes those he or she leads will serve the vision because the principal says they should. This principal has failed to plan practices to sustain the vision—such as nurturing other champions to speak for the vision or consistently referring to the vision as a voice of authority behind decisions.

26

LEADING WITH INTENTION

bright light of inner peace. If all leaders took the time to do this each day, it could set the tone for more positivity and productivity.

The Right Place As a school leader, you know it is your responsibility to identify the right work and develop shared leadership around this focus. It also means, as the leader, you determine where and when to be present. Where can you have the most impact? What areas of your school do you avoid? How are you ensuring others understand what is important to you and what to work on? If teachers, for example, seldom see you in the cafeteria but you talk about how important student behavior and supervision of the cafeteria are, will they see this as important work? If you hire a consultant to do professional learning with the staff to increase their understanding of engaging lesson design and you do not attend, what does that tell the staff about the importance

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

Next, make a commitment to model a positive mindset and ensure that your actions align with what you expect from others as well as the mission, vision, values, and goals of your school or district. Your commitment could include taking the time each day to do an informal meditation as just described, to exercise each day to clear your head, or to eat more healthy foods and less junk. It is different for everyone, but the key is to make a commitment to take care of yourself so that you can be at your best. In his book HEART! Fully Forming Your Professional Life as a Teacher and Leader, Tim Kanold (2017) offers a multitude of insights and suggestions for pursuing a deeply mindful school life and professional career as an educator.

Kanold (2017) suggests that educators have the opportunity to leave their heartprint on others, and that we should take that seriously and not miss the chance to make a difference. He defines heartprint as “the distinctive impression and marked impact your heart leaves on others—your students and your colleagues—as your career and your school seasons unfold” (Kanold, 2017, p. 2). As the leader, it is important for others to see you modeling your expectations and vision through your attitude and your daily actions and conversations. As suggested in this chapter, there are many tools and ways you can be self-reflective; recognize that you have focus on a few intentional priorities and are clearly modeling this in your daily practice, and with what you are messaging to others as you have conversations, provide feedback, and plan next steps. It is important for you to be aware of your own habits, reflect often, and make commitments that will help you stay focused, positive, and productive as you navigate the many challenges of leadership.

Achieving Focus and Staying Intentional

27

of this work? Never underestimate the messages that you send to staff when you are not present.

As you work through your daily plans and actions, reflect on the impact your presence has at collaborative meetings and in classrooms. Think about hot spots in your building—places you should ensure support, have opportunities for conversation, and make observations that allow you to learn more about your school. This should also include paying close attention to how much time you spend in classrooms and collaborative meetings. In our coaching work, school leaders ask us to tell them how much time they must spend in classrooms or with teams. They often want a firm number of hours. Our common response is to ask them to reflect about what they hope to impact. We prefer you consider what you want to accomplish by spending time in classrooms and with teams. If you spent time in classrooms, would this action align with your priorities? Are you staying focused on what you want to accomplish and establish as your intentional practice?

Reflection Are you spending your time in areas that will impact others? What are the hot spots in your school? Do you consider these in your daily plan?

In our work with school leaders, we discuss what goals specifically guide leaders toward spending time in classrooms and with teams. Some examples include the following.

• Building the capacity of teachers and teams to focus on learning and make decisions based on knowledge of student strengths and areas for growth • Improving and monitoring instruction

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

When Karen was a principal, she noticed she was getting into an ineffective habit that was becoming difficult to break. When she thought about her teachers, she realized she was more familiar with some of them than others. With serious reflection, she was able to identify that she visited some classrooms more regularly and had informal and formal conversations with some teachers more than others. The honest reality check was she visited the classrooms that required less of her. She spent time with teachers who didn’t need as much support. It was the easy way out. She knew the teachers who really needed her guidance and expertise were getting less time with her.

28

LEADING WITH INTENTION

• Observing student learning • Providing constructive feedback • Ensuring teachers know how to use evidence to support next steps

Simply providing the protocol is a good start, but it is essential that you work through a protocol with the team initially to explain the purpose and walk them through the process to ensure effective use. Check in often to ensure that the team continues to use the protocol effectively. Consider a strategic plan for rotating your time with teams, and use resources like formal and informal team leaders, instructional coaches, and specialists to share leadership.

In addition to spending time in team meetings, it is critical that you have an understanding of the current state of instructional practice in your building by spending time in classrooms. Principals in one district we work with use a learning walk process. The name of every staff member is written on an index card. Each day the principal receives three cards (the number is up to you, but three worked well for this group of principals) from the school secretary. These are the three classrooms that the principal will spend between five and ten minutes in on that day. The principals simply observe while in the classroom and record their notes once they leave.

Some principals might record notes directly on the cards; others might opt to keep notes electronically. The notes give them a running record of their informal observations throughout the school year, and most importantly, provide data that will help them work with teachers to improve instructional practice. The next day, the principal receives a new set of cards and the process repeats until the principal has

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

If these are areas you wish to impact, then your time will be well spent in classrooms and with teams guiding and supporting team members in their work. Attend team meetings initially to understand where teams need support and, if there is a team leader, to build their capacity to lead the team effectively. If there is not a formal team leader, work with one of the team members or the entire team on the factors that contribute to high-performing teams focused on student learning, including norms, agendas, development of agenda items focused on learning, facilitation skills, and protocols for efficiency. Protocols are effective because by simply following the steps, the team stays focused on the right work. For example, provide teams with data collection and analysis protocols that identify student strengths and areas for growth and lead teams to plan differentiated instruction that meets identified student needs.

Achieving Focus and Staying Intentional

29

informally observed all staff members. The process continues in this way throughout the school year.

Positive Habits for Spending Time How do you create habits around where you spend your time? We recommend you spend more time repeating effective practices as you develop habits of intentionality. We often share journalist, author, and speaker Malcom Gladwell’s (2008) tenthousand-hour rule when discussing developing habits. His rule states that ten thousand hours of deliberate practice are needed to become an expert in something. This rule puts more stock in preparing for the achievement than the role of innate talent.

According to Gladwell (2008), excellence at performing a complex task requires a minimum level of practice. As a school leader, you apply this practice of creating habits of intentionality by repeating your actions, and by being thoughtful and strategic about where and when you are visible and how you create space and time for conversations.

In Gresham, Oregon, Principal Kimberly Miles focused on creating positive habits in her role at East Gresham Elementary School. Principal Miles and her staff focused on continuous improvement by building strong collaborative teams and a focus on evidence-based practice. Academic success is the overall school goal, and during a three-year period, East Gresham had continuous steady growth in tested areas.

Combined with this focus on academic performance, the staff of East Gresham decided to address school culture. A growth mindset became the order of business in the school, as building positive beliefs in both adults and students became a priority. As the school culture evolved, it became obvious that Principal Miles led this work with intentional practices. Not a day passes without her outside greeting every student on arrival. Informal conversations happen every day, both with students and parents when she is outside saying good morning. She has also developed a very consistent pattern of visiting classrooms. As soon as students are all in the building and morning announcements are completed, Principal Miles quickly heads to her classrooms. She is very intentional in what she wants to see; for example, she goes

Š 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

Always have high expectations for teams and individual teachers, providing support and guidance for faculty members as they engage in their individual and team work. We are not suggesting that you be at all team meetings and spend all of your time in classrooms; rather, we suggest that you spend time guiding, monitoring, and supporting what you expect from teams and individuals.

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LEADING WITH INTENTION

This chapter highlights that much of what we are asking you to be intentional about aligns with how you spend your time. As school leaders well know, there are only so many hours in the day, and that doesn’t seem to change no matter where we work in schools. School leaders often feel there is never enough time. Pressure to attend everything involving their students and staff can be immense. We will ask you one more time to reflect on where the best use of your time is and how much impact your presence will have at events both inside and outside the school.

It is important to be present at events that involve students and staff, but trust your instincts to help you determine when you really should be there. Do not overlook your use of time as an authentic way to share leadership. You cannot attend everything—especially if you are a high school principal trying to support students in sports, drama, music, various clubs, and the like. It is very important that you have the energy and enthusiasm during the school day to lead the visionary direction of school improvement. Take time to consider who else can support these events on your behalf. Intentionally make choices about what events outside of the school day you choose to attend, picking those that will allow you the most opportunities for conversations, learning, and support. And finally, reflect on how to best know how you are actually spending time.

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

to her K–2 classes during their literacy block because she wants to observe and give feedback on a strategy that they have been studying together, like phonics instruction or guided reading group. Or she purposely goes to fourth and fifth grade during their writing block because writing is what their SMART goal is currently focused on, and she wants to provide feedback and support. When intervention block starts, you can find Principal Miles in classroom observing small-group interventions. She knows what she is looking for and is very purposeful in her observations and discussions with both students and teachers. She attends collaborative meetings and has intentionally coordinated some of her time and team time so all teachers could be together in the library every second week. During this time, she could meet with each team and share her observations. Karen had the opportunity to work with Principal Miles and her teachers for three years. In addition to the examples given here, Karen always left thrilled with the way in which Principal Miles modeled her vision with the intention of spending time where she should and practicing, over and over again, habits that create coherence. Karen knew that it was very obvious to the staff what the vision was and what really was important at East Gresham (K. Miles, personal communication, September 2015 to September 2018).

Achieving Focus and Staying Intentional

31

Reflection Do you need to create a checklist to help you balance your visibility and ensure you spend time in places you are needed? Would the time log in figure 1.4 (page 14) help you? Or you might start by recording the school spaces you visit for a day. Where do you make intentional visits? How much time do you spend in your office? Have you been to the back corner actions might you change to build more intentional visibility?

Wrap-Up As you continue to read and use this book in your practice, we ask that you continue to create space and opportunities for sharpening your focus and making intentional decisions that guide your staff members on their PLC journey. With the templates in this chapter and your willingness to reflect as a leader, you have tools to do this.

Wrap up your examination of gaining focus and acting with intention by completing the “Making an Impact in Eight: Achieving Focus and Staying Intentional” reflections (pages 32–34).

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

of the schoolyard where all the trouble happens during lunchtime? What

32 |

REPRODUCIBLE

Making an Impact in Eight: Achieving Focus and Staying Intentional

Great Leaders Do . . .

Great Leaders Avoid . . .

1. Communicate clearly and often the beliefs, intentions, and priorities—and the why behind them—to guide the work of the school

Assuming staff members are clear about the beliefs, intentions, and priorities after communicating them once or twice; focusing on the what only and not the why

Current reality and next steps:

2. Simplify what is important by communicating what is tight (or nonnegotiable) and what is loose (or where there is room for flexibility)

Communicating that everything is tight and inflexible

Current reality and next steps:

3. Authentically and carefully ensure that time is well managed and intentionally focused on prioritized work (They prevent distractors, including other people, from changing the direction of the work.)

Allowing distractors to determine use of daily time

Current reality and next steps:

page 1 of 3

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The following eight ideas provide opportunities for further reflection and action. We provide five reflections on what great leaders do and avoid doing to gain focus, as well as three considerations for how to make an impact in eight minutes, eight weeks, and eight months to guide your leadership planning and practice.

| 33

REPRODUCIBLE 4. Avoid actions and messages that are not aligned to what has been communicated as important and non-negotiable.

Communicating what is important and nonnegotiable in the school, but then allowing actions and messages misaligned with this focus

Current reality and next steps:

Experiencing burnout by going to every single event or deciding to avoid all events; physically avoiding the trouble spots in the school; paying little attention to the importance of intentional visibility

Current reality and next steps:

6. What will you do in eight minutes to create intentionality and focus?

For example: • Ask yourself, “Am I clear about what I expect and what is important to me as a leader? How do I communicate these things to staff? What would staff say if someone asked them what is important to me as their leader?” Talk with some of your staff and students to determine the answers if you are unsure.

• Talk with office staff about your daily priorities so they can help you stay focused and not get distracted. They can screen phone calls and communicate that you are busy working with teachers or students and will get back to the callers at the end of the day. Most things can wait until the next day. By all means, address those that cannot, but get good at knowing the difference.

My ideas:

page 2 of 3

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5. Spend time in areas of the school that would benefit from leadership presence; intentionally build relationships one conversation at a time and prioritize attending events based on an analysis of impact and commitment to priorities

34 |

REPRODUCIBLE 7. What will you do in eight weeks to create intentionality and focus?

For example:

• Attend one or two grade-level or content-alike team meetings daily for eight weeks.

Support these teams in moving their practice closer to the expectation or refining their practices.

My ideas:

8. What will you do in eight months to create intentionality and focus?

For example: • Journal or blog throughout the school year. Notice and record improvements in your own practice, team practice, office staff practice, student performance, and so on, so you can reflect and share progress at the end of the school year. This will also provide guidance regarding next steps as your notes will give anecdotal evidence of improvements and continued areas for growth.

• Communicate the why behind decisions often throughout the school year. It will feel redundant, but the redundancy will be intentional and focused on communicating the connection to the school vision and goals.

My ideas:

page 3 of 3

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• Demonstrate that you value the people in your school and model for others the importance of building relationships by doing an “8 by 5.” For eight weeks, focus on getting to know five staff members, students, and parents each week by asking them questions. Ask, “How was your weekend? What did you do? Is there anything I can help you with?” In week one, focus on two parents, one staff member, and two students; in week two, focus on one parent, one staff member, and three students, and so on.

WITH INTENTION

“In this elegant and powerful book, Spiller and Power have created a comprehensive and memorable framework of eight interlocking areas that make it easy for leaders to focus on what gets results.”

—Michael Fullan, Professor Emeritus, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

“The authors acknowledge the myriad challenges leaders face when working to impact student learning.

Through real-life examples, protocols, reflection questions, and end-of-chapter planning tools, Spiller and Power show the reader how to focus on simplicity by articulating what is tight. The reader is left with a manageable plan focused on the right work.”

—Sarah Schuhl, Author and Educational Consultant

“The authors provide incredible clarity for leaders at all levels, guiding them to focus on the high-impact strategies that create the greatest leverage for school improvement. This is an essential book for anyone leading the PLC process.”

—Joe Cuddemi, Author and Educational Consultant

®

In Leading With Intention: Eight Areas for Reflection and Planning in Your PLC at Work , Jeanne Spiller and Karen Power provide a compelling guide for K–12 school leaders who wish to lead with intention. This handbook will help professional learning community (PLC) school leaders reflect personally on their practice by examining eight important areas in which to take action.

1.

2.

3.

4.

Achieving focus and staying intentional Establishing and maintaining organization Building shared leadership Using evidence for decision making and action

5.

6.

7.

8.

Prioritizing the student Leading instruction Fostering communication Developing community and relationships

Each chapter includes reflective stopping points that provide opportunities to think about current practice and how to apply the content of this book to leader action.

LEADING WITH INTENTION

LEADING

Principals, administrators, and other school leaders will: • Explore and reflect on practice • Consider new organizational structures, methods of communication, and ways to build healthy and productive relationships • Come to understand the student as the focus of school leadership • Utilize reproducible tools to improve their practice

Visit go.SolutionTree.com/PLCbooks to download the free reproducibles in this book.

SolutionTree.com

SPILLER & POWER

• Understand intentionality and its importance

LEADING

WITH

INTENTION 8

®

Areas for Reflection and Planning in Your PLC at Work

Foreword by Douglas Reeves

Jeanne Spiller Karen Power