Carolyn McKanders - Adaptive Schools: The What, Why and How of Sustaining Adaptive Professional Communities
Presenter: Carolyn McKanders, M.A., M.S.W.
Director: Thinking Collaborative: Adaptive Schools and Cognitive CoachingSM Seminars
Saturday morning: Developing Adaptive Schools – Part 1
For schools to effectively respond to the press for accountability and provide quality learning for all students, they must simultaneously address two perennial goals. One goal is the professional development of individual educators. The second is the development of the organization's capacity to learn and be adaptive. Both build the capacity for school improvement, without which reform efforts will fail.
In these Adaptive Schools Seminars, learn how to build strong collaborative and caring work cultures, in which results-oriented faculties work together for continuous school improvement. Explore the latest practical findings in organizational development, team learning and navigating the currents of change through applying adaptive principles and practices.
Participants will learn practical frameworks and tools for developing collaborative groups that bring collective responsibility in student learning. Leaders and group members will learn ways to influence and attain more productive and satisfying meetings in which members develop new norms and skills for collegial interaction, goal clarification, problem-solving and decision-making. Working in a variety of settings, skilled and confident staffs and facilitators will increase their ability to accelerate group development so that adult conversations produce the highest quality work for students.
Part 1: "The What, Why and How of Sustaining Adaptive Professional Communities"
OUTCOMES
Participants will develop:
• Understanding of research findings regarding professional community in schools
• Increased awareness of the why, what and how of becoming adaptive
• Awareness of norms/skills for collaborative conversations
It includes...
• Elements of Professional Community
• What is an Adaptive School and it's Impact on Student Learning?
• Principles, Strategies and Norms for becoming and remaining adaptive
