Helping Educators Grow

This book takes as its starting point the premise that adult development is leadership development - that is, the task of school leaders is to develop the capacities of adults as well as students. Drawing on the principles of constructive-developmental theory, Drago-Severson offers a framework for conceptualising growth based on the core elements of care, respect, trust, collaboration, and intentionality. The book includes application exercises and reflective questions to help readers engage with the ideas presented.

In Tell Me So I Can Hear You, Eleanor Drago-Severson and Jessica Blum-DeStefano show how education leaders can learn to deliver feedback in a way that strengthens relationships as well as performance and builds the capacity for growth. Drawing on constructive-developmental theory, the authors describe four stages of adult growth and development and explain how to differentiate feedback for colleagues with different “ways of knowing,” which include: • Instrumental knowers, who tend to see things in black and white (“Did I do it right or wrong?”) and may need to develop the capacity for reflection. • Socializing knowers, who are concerned with maintaining relationships (“What do you want me to do?”) and may need support developing their own ideas. • Self-authoring knowers, who have strong ideologies and values (“How does this fit with my goals and vision?”) and may need help with perspective taking. • Self-transformative knowers, who are able to examine issues from multiple points of view (“How can I understand this more deeply?”) and may need guidance in resolving tensions and contradictions. The authors show how leaders can provide feedback in ways that “meet people where they are” while expanding the developmental capacities educators bring to their work. Drago-Severson and Blum-DeStefano provide real-life examples with practical strategies for creating a safe space for feedback, finding the right words, and bridging feedback and action. Tell Me So I Can Hear You offers invaluable guidance to help educators support a culture of learning in classrooms, schools, and districts.

How can we prepare practicing and aspiring education leaders for the complex, adaptive challenges they face? In Helping Educators Grow, Eleanor Drago-Severson presents a new approach to leadership development. Too often, she argues, we teach leadership development the same way we teach world history: just the facts. Instead, we need to create professional learning environments that invite educational leaders to experience the conditions that support adult growth, even as they are learning about them. The book takes as its starting point the premise that adult development is leadership development—that is, the task of school leaders is to develop the capacities of adults as well as students. Drawing on the principles of constructive-developmental theory, Drago-Severson offers a framework for conceptualizing growth based on the core elements of care, respect, trust, collaboration, and intentionality. Richly informed by examples of effective, developmentally oriented learning experiences for aspiring and practicing leaders, the book includes application exercises and reflective questions to help readers engage with the ideas presented. Widely respected for her groundbreaking work in adult development, leadership, and capacity building in learning communities, Drago-Severson provides the tools and concepts to make any professional learning initiative a developmental opportunity for individuals and groups in a variety of contexts: university-based seminars, professional development workshops, professional learning communities, or peer-to-peer networks.

Grow Your Own Teachers describes the evolution of a local school reform movement in Chicago that now serves as a model for change in schools and teacher preparation programs across the country. Grounded in the grassroots organizing tradition, the Grow Your Own (GYO) teacher initiative involves collaboration between community-based organizations and colleges of education in preparing community members to teach for change in their local schools. Incorporating rich stories and the perspectives of foremost teacher educators, students, and community leaders, this book offers an alternative framework for teacher education that will provide urban students with the education they deserve. It will also provide adult community members with an example of higher education that can lead to a rewarding professional career. Essential reading for anyone involved in school reform, this important book: Shows how to put into practice a community-based social justice oriented approach to teacher preparation. Examines the role of parents in shaping school reform efforts. Includes a chapter by Gregory Michie describing teachers of color working for change in their neighborhood schools. Includes a chapter by Linda Darling-Hammond looking at how GYO compares to other educational reform efforts.

This resource pinpoints the most vexing challenges teachers and educational coaches face and offers practical advice for overcoming them.

Support the growth and development of all adults—teachers, principals, and superintendents—in your school community! Educators need different kinds of supports and challenges over the different stages of their lives. Drago-Severson’s developmental model of learning-oriented school leadership draws from multiple knowledge domains to help school and district leaders understand how to support professional growth. This volume: Details four Pillar Practices for growth—teaming, providing leadership roles, collegial inquiry, and mentoring Presents research from practicing leaders across the nation Includes resources to assist you in applying this learning-oriented model to your school and school system

Support, celebrate, and grow your best teachers so that they stay in your school and continue to have maximum impact. Burnout and teacher turnover are on the rise, yet we often spend more of our energy on the underperformers. In this powerful book from bestselling authors Todd Whitaker, Connie Hamilton, Joseph Jones, and T.J. Vari, you'll learn why it’s crucial to recognize your best teachers, going beyond superficial gestures of appreciation and investing in them in deeper ways. The authors show school leaders how to identify their best teachers and then reveal strategies for supporting them, including recognizing the value-cost of teachers’ time; prioritizing appreciation; controlling the narrative; tailoring professional learning; helping teachers grow through peer observations as well as beyond the school; applying data informed feedback; and nurturing self- and collective-efficacy. Each chapter begins with a powerful story, an overview of our blind spots, strategies on what we should invest in, and how to ensure that the whole school profits from your efforts. There’s also an Initial Deposits feature that provides a quick, tangible way to get started with each idea. With the helpful models, tips, and tricks in this book, you won’t just be inspired to make a change but will be well equipped to take action. As your best teachers get better-and-better, your students and the entire school culture will benefit!

From the renowned psychologist who introduced the world to “growth mindset” comes this updated edition of the million-copy bestseller—featuring transformative insights into redefining success, building lifelong resilience, and supercharging self-improvement. “Through clever research studies and engaging writing, Dweck illuminates how our beliefs about our capabilities exert tremendous influence on how we learn and which paths we take in life.”—Bill Gates, GatesNotes “It’s not always the people who start out the smartest who end up the smartest.” After decades of research, world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., discovered a simple but groundbreaking idea: the power of mindset. In this brilliant book, she shows how success in school, work, sports, the arts, and almost every area of human endeavor can be dramatically influenced by how we think about our talents and abilities. People with a fixed mindset—those who believe that abilities are fixed—are less likely to flourish than those with a growth mindset—those who believe that abilities can be developed. Mindset reveals how great parents, teachers, managers, and athletes can put this idea to use to foster outstanding accomplishment. In this edition, Dweck offers new insights into her now famous and broadly embraced concept. She introduces a phenomenon she calls false growth mindset and guides people toward adopting a deeper, truer growth mindset. She also expands the mindset concept beyond the individual, applying it to the cultures of groups and organizations. With the right mindset, you can motivate those you lead, teach, and love—to transform their lives and your own.

The right learning design can support professional growth! Learning Forward is a leader in understanding and advancing professional learning that leads to student success. This series explores Learning Forward’s seven Standards for Professional Learning which outline the characteristics of effective professional learning that, collectively, advance teaching and learning. In this volume, you’ll get original essays, an inspirational case study, and detailed guidance on implementing the Design standard. Deepen your knowledge of standards with An original essay by Eleanor Drago-Severson that offers a fresh take on designs for professional learning that is grounded in adult developmental theory Practical tools that assist readers in selecting appropriate learning designs that promote educator growth Examples of powerful designs for professional learning that are job-embedded, promote active engagement, and support implementation With this book, educators will reach new heights of professional growth and students will reap the benefits.

"Drawing on Christine Sleeter's review of research on the academic and social impact of ethnic studies commissioned by the National Education Association, this book will examine the value and forms of teaching and researching ethnic studies. The book employs a diverse conceptual framework, including critical pedagogy, anti-racism, Afrocentrism, Indigeneity, youth participatory action research, and critical multicultural education. The book provides cases of classroom teachers to 'illustrate what such conceptual framework look like when enacted in the classroom, as well as tensions that spring from them within school bureaucracies driven by neoliberalism.' Sleeter and Zavala will also outline ways to conduct research for 'investigating both learning and broader impacts of ethnic research used for liberatory ends'"--