ED 259b: Teacher Leadership Seminar
Spring 2018
Barbara Laites Collins, Ed.M.
617-785-9288
Purpose
The spring teacher leadership seminar is designed to deepen and strengthen teacher leaders’ understandings and skills and to provide a collaborative space for feedback and problem solving.
Learning Outcomes
This course will focus on four main learning outcomes. As a result of the seminar, students will—
- Develop a basic knowledge of assessment literacy to understand purposes and forms of assessment available.
- Be able to approach assessment from an inquiry stance – collecting data, asking probing questions, collaborating with colleagues, and integrating all the pieces – while staying focused on the “whole child” as a learner.
- Analyze and understand school-wide assessment purposes, practices, and instructional initiatives (e.g. classroom, grade level/department, school-wide) to ensure equity of most effective learning for all students.
- Using consultancy skills, further develop a deeper understanding and problem solving of adaptive challenges in own educational settings.
Course Organization
This seminar will consist of seven synchronous sessions and preparatory work for these sessions. Each online session will meet online for two hours. All synchronous sessions for this course will be on Thursday evenings, and start at 7:00 p.m. e.s.t. and end at 9:00 p.m. e.s.t. Synchronous sessions will be held on: Jan. 11 and 25, Feb. 8 and 15, Mar. 15, and Apr. 12 and 26.
Course Assignments
Preparatory Work: Readings and Written Reflections
During each unit, students will complete preparatory work, which includes reading chapters and articles, and responding to guiding questions and text-based protocols. The reading assignments will concentrate on new strategies, approaches, skills and/or ideas related to teacher leadership. The writing will serve as participation for the part of the synchronous sessions when we “unpack” the readings and relate them to your work. Students will submit their writing by the Monday (four days) prior to the synchronous session. Except for the final paper, written responses should be 1 typed page single-spaced (500 words) or 2 typed pages double-spaced (250 words). These written assignments are to be emailed directly to me at my Brandeis email and submitted by midnight of the date listed.
In addition to emailing me your assignments, each student will post and display on LATTE:
- One written reflection of your choice during the semester.
- One written response to someone else’s posted reflection.
All other postings and responses to postings are optional.
“Next Steps” Quick Writes
For the final 10 minutes of class on Jan. 25, Feb. 8 and 15, and Mar. 15, you will all be asked to respond to the following two prompts. Your written responses may be in outline or bulleted format but need to make sense to the reader. Quick writes are half a page double-spaced and need to be submitted to me within 5 days on email, not on Latte. Feedback content is not included in your grade.
a.)What questions about teaching leadership did this evening’s class raise for you? How does this knowledge change how you will lead? What are some of the ideas you would like to try at your school?
b.)What were your expectations for this class? Were they met? Any questions?
Leadership Dilemma Presentation and Reflection
As you did last semester, each student will prepare and present a leadership dilemma to a small group of classmates during our synchronous course sessions. You may use an adaptive challenge you previously identified or a different emerging one. This problem of practice will be done in the context of a protocol-based conversation using your choice of one of the protocols from last semester or the one learned from this semester based on the work of Heifetz and Linsky using theAdaptive Leadership Case Consultation methodology.
As presenter, you will first identify an adaptive challenge you are facing. Then, review this by email/phone dialogue with your instructor: My cell phone: 617-785-9288 or email: nd then with your facilitator. You will focus the challenge and decide what accompanying artifacts you may want to share with your group so that they can further understand the issue or question. Artifacts might include a video clip of you leading a meeting, an agenda and/or handout that you have used at a meeting, or documentation that you have shared with other teachers or administrators at your school. As presenter, you will follow the guidelines of the protocol, describing the adaptive challenge, answering questions, listening to peers as they consider your problem, taking careful notes, etc.
By the Monday following the synchronous session, the presenting student will submit to me a written reflection on the process, including beginning stepsof an action plan for incorporating peer feedback moving forward. The reflection on the process should also include specifics about what helped the presenter gain clarity on the problem during preparation work with your facilitator and myself. Please note: Once the first dilemma has been presented, each following dilemma will be preceded by a 5- minute update of the previous dilemma presented.
Facilitating Critical Conversations
In addition to presenting a leadership dilemma to a small group, each student will facilitate a small group, protocol-based conversation during one of our synchronous course sessions. As student facilitator, you will prepare with the presenter using a consultancy protocol.By the Monday following the synchronous session, the facilitator will submit to me a written reflection on the process of leadership and facilitation. This reflection should consider what went well, what was challenging, and how the facilitation experience will inform your ongoing teacher leadership work.
Final Project
The final project assignment: This written assignment will help you synthesize the learnings and challenges from this past semester. Specific guiding questions are listed in unit # 6, synchronous session # 7.This assignment, which is due May 10, two weeks following the last day of class, will be a two-page single-spaced or four-page double-spaced response.
Two Rubrics are attached on LATTE. One rubric is for all reflective writing assignments and one is for the data inventory/data reflection.
Grading
Asynchronous course work: 35%, includes all written assignments, postings, and class feedback
Leadership Dilemma Presentation and Reflection: 25%
Facilitating Critical Conversations and Reflection: 25%
Final Project: 15%
Grade Calculations
The letter grade that you earn for the course will be calculated based on your performance in the areas outlined above. It will give an overall evaluation of your performance in the course. Therefore, all assignments will be evaluated using the following percentages and grade ranges (note that rubric-scored assignments will have their rubric scores translated to an equivalent grade)
A = 95-100 %
A- = 90-94 %
B+ = 88-89 %
B = 84-87 %
B- = 80-83 %
Below this range requires resubmission
1
Required Texts
City, E. A. & Boudett, K. P. and Murname, R.J. (2013). Data Wise. Cambridge: Harvard Education Press.
Landrigan, C. and Mulligan, T. (2013) Assessment in Perspective: Focusing on the Reader Behind the Numbers. Portland, Maine: Stenhouse Publishers
Other readings will be posted on LATTE:
Cambridge Leadership Associates, Adaptive Leadership Case Consultation
Cain, Susan, (2004). Fierce Conversations. New York: Berkley Books, Chapter 1 and appendix
Heifetz, R.A. and Linsky, M. (2002). Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading. Chap 1-4. Cambridge: Harvard Business Review Press
Optional:
Love, Nancy, & Stiles, Katherine E., & Mundry, Susan, and DiRanna, Kathryn. (2008).
The Data Coach’s Guide to Improving the Learning for All Students. Corwin Press/TERC/RBT/WestEd
Additional materials can be found at
Privacy
This class requires the use of tools that may disclose your coursework and identity to parties outside the class. To protect your privacy you may choose to use a pseudonym/alias rather than your name in submitting such work. You must share the pseudonym with me and your coach and course colleagues as needed. Alternatively, with prior consultation, you may submit such work directly to me.
If you are a student with a documented disability at Brandeis University and if you wish to request a reasonable accommodation for this class, please be in touch immediately. Please keep in mind that reasonable accommodations are not provided retroactively.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY, CITING SOURCES, AND PLAGIARISM
You are responsible for following the policies and procedures outlined at the following sites:
For Brandeis statement on Academic Integrity, visit and section 3.
For guidance on citing your sources, visit See also For further detailed descriptions regarding plagiarism and citation, visit
Preparation Evening: Introduction and Welcome to our Seminar
Synchronous Session #1: Thurs. Jan. 11
7:00-9:00 p.m. e.s.t.
For the first synchronous session, we will all meet together on-line. We will:
1.)Review the syllabus, “Assignments at a Glance” and rubrics, all posted on LATTE.
2.)Study the Adaptive Leadership Peer Consulting Methodology from the work of Heifetz and Linsky and “Q and A” posted on LATTE.
3.)Schedule your presentations and facilitations of professional problems of practice. It is essential that you have your own school and personal calendars available for this class.
Once the semester begins, scheduling changes will be up to the individuals to make them.
- Please do not include me the email chains for scheduling changes.
- Please make certain that if you need to change your facilitation or presentation dates, you share your new dates with your entire consultancy group and myself prior to class.
For the first round of consultancies on Jan. 25, preparation phone calls or emails with Barbara are due by: Jan. 19.
Unit 1:
Synchronous Session # 2: Thurs. Jan. 25
Guiding Questions and Focus:
- As you begin the new semester, who are you now as a teacher/teacher leader in your school? How do you see yourself? How do others see you?
- As you think more deeply about the adaptive challenge that you are trying to affect in your research and initiative, what new insights do you have now about your school cultureand the impact of distinguishing between technical and adaptive challenges you have encountered.
Preparatory WorkDue for this Session: all posted on LATTE
Read: 1.) R.A. Heifetz and M. Linsky, (2002). Leadership on the Line, Chap. 1-4 (pgs. 1 – 100). 2.) Becoming an Adaptive Leader, Lifelong Faith Associates, LLC. 3.) The Cambridge Leadership Associates: Adaptive Leadership Case Consultation Methodology. Watch: This nine minute video interview with Ron Heifetz on the nature of adaptive leadership
There will not be a written reflection due for this synchronous session. However, please take personal notes on which of the four protocols you might want to try out this semester for your leadership dilemma presentation. The four protocols include the previously learned, Consultancy Protocol, Peeling the Onion, and The Issaquah Protocol as well as the newly learned,Adaptive Leadership Peer Consultation.
During synchronous session on Jan. 25:
We will begin class with small group discussions based on the scenarios below. Our focus is on the nature of adaptive leadership: distinguishing between adaptive and technical challenges in a school setting. These are authentic challenges, which your instructor has had over the years as literacy specialist/coach, principal, district literacy coordinator and Title 1 Director.
Step 1: In your small group choose 1-2 scenarios. First address them as technical challenges. What could your “quick” fix be and who might be involved in the solution?
Step 2: Assume your technical fixes have been put in place. However, student learning does not improve for all students and the challenge(s) keep resurfacing, though in different forms. Now, treat them as adaptive challenges. What would your next steps be? Please note: If you need to revise a scenario so that it works more effectively for your group members, please do so.
1.)Response to Intervention: Literacy Coach and Grade Level Leader to Principal: “We couldn’t find a room that’s available to have our RTI (Response to Intervention) literacy groups for our fourth-grade students. So, they haven’t begun yet even though we know it is already the end of October.”
2.)Benchmark Assessment: Literacy Coach to Principal: “None of the first-grade teachers could agree on a common planning time to meet in September and discuss their students’ Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Literacy Assessment results. So, we didn’t create the mixed class reading groups we decided upon last spring that would help us target our instruction and make certain all readers had a small peer group at their instructional level. “
3.)Study Group: Title 1 Director/Literacy Coordinator to Principal(s) or to Superintendent: “We couldn’t find the money to purchase the books on assessment for our literacy coach’s book group. So, we didn’t meet this fall and have our in- depth discussion on the importance of the consistency of assessment administration and interpretation of results.”
4.)“Out of Bounds” Stories: Literacy Coach or Grade Level Leader or Assistant Principal to Principal: “Three of our teacher didn’t want to come to the literacy assessment study group anymore after what they said in a meeting was repeated out of context in the faculty room and then put on Facebook. Some group members thought it was funny and those teachers didn’t think it was. Shortly after that, the entire study group stopped meeting and so did the grade level meetings in our school. “
5.)Communication: Classroom teacher to principal: “A parent, who volunteers in the library when my class is there, told another parent about the difficulty some of my students were having staying quiet when the librarian was giving directions to the class. And then, a different parent in my class told another parent how upset she was because she doesn’t know what the librarian is teaching when her child is in library.”
We will then have our small group consultancies and end the evening with a quick write.
For the next round of consultancies on Feb. 8, preparation phone calls or emails with Barbara are due by: Feb. 2.
Unit 2
Synchronous Session #3 Thurs. Feb. 8
Guiding Questions and Focus:
- Given that conflict is inevitable with change, how are you orchestrating conflicts as you begin the new semester?
- How have you been incorporating your understanding of the importance of relationships and personal conversations into your leadership work?
- Why do we need to move beyond the specific test scores we get from individual assessments and focus on the whole child?
Preparatory Work Due for this Session:
Read: Cain, Susan, (2004). Fierce Conversations, (pgs. 1-66, Appendix: 249-254) and C. Landrigan and T. Mulligan, (2013). Assessment in Perspective: Focusing on theReader Behind the Numbers, Chap. 1 – 2 (pgs. 1- 17).
Reflect and write: Due by midnight of Feb. 5: One page single-spaced or two pages double-spaced. Email to Barbara.
In Assessment in Perspective, p. 2, Landrigan and Mulligan reference Lucy Calkins, a leader in the field of literacy from the Calkins text, The Nus and Bolts of Teaching Writing (2003)
“Assessment is the thinking teacher’s mind work. The intelligence that guides our every moment as a teacher.”
It is the premise of Landrigan and Mulligan that, “…it is through this ‘mind work’ -collecting data, asking questions, digging deeper, talking with colleagues, and putting the pieces of information together-that we can truly understand our readers and their stories.”
- What is your personal response to the Calkins comment?
- What do you see as your school’s response to the Calkins comment? What is reflected in your school’ s vision and mission statement? How is assessment spoken and written about-or not spoken and written about-at meetings, in classrooms, in faculty rooms?
During synchronous session on Feb. 8:
We will begin class with small group discussions focusing on the importance of relationships and conversations in leaderships using the following two quotes as prompts:
“One of the most distinguishing qualities of successful people who lead in any field is the emphasis they place on personal relationships.” Heifetz and Linsky, Leadership on the Line, p. 75.
“The conversation is the relationship. “One conversations at a time you are building, destroying, or flatlining your relationships.” Scott, Fierce Conversations, p. 97.
We will then have our small group consultancies and end with a quick write. This is the first round of consultancies to begin with an update from the previous presenters.
Preparatory phone conversation or email with Barbara for Feb. 15 are due by Feb. 9.
Unit 3
Synchronous Session # 4 Thurs. Feb. 15
Guiding Questions and Focus
- How do effective schools use assessment data to inform and improve their work?
- What different purposes does assessment serve? How do these different forms help strengthen the equality of teaching and learning for all students.
Preparatory work due for this session: