Teamwork & Collaboration

1. Teamwork & Collaboration Whittier City School District

2. Big Ideas of PLC • We accept learning as the fundamental purpose of our school and therefore are willing to examine all practicesin light of their impact on learning. • We are committed to working together to achieve our collective purpose. We cultivate a collaborative culture through development of high-performing teams. • We assess our effectiveness on the basis ofresultsrather than intentions. Individuals, teams, and the school seek relevant evidence and information and use that information to promote continuous improvement.

3. Today’s Objectives • Become familiar with the stages of team development • Anticipate potential challenges of working within a team and develop potential solutions • Explore processes to enhance collaboration • Develop skills to have crucial conversations

4. Barriers to a Learning Community Reflect on the attempts to honor the teaching profession in film. • What movies have been made to honor teaching? • Is there a trend to their message?

5. The Fallacy of the Isolated Teacher “Quality teaching is not an individual accomplishment…The idea that a single teacher, working alone, can know and do everything to meet the diverse learning needs of 30 students every day throughout the school year has rarely worked, and it certainly won’t meet the needs of learners in years to come.” -Carroll, National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, 2009

6. What is a Team? • A team is a group of people working interdependently to achieve a common goal for which members are mutually accountable.

7. Groups Vs. Teams

8. “ Great schools row as one; they are quite clearly in the same boat, pulling in the same direction in unison. The best schools we visited were tightly aligned communities marked by a palpable sense of “we.” -Lickona & Davidson

9. Stages of Team Development • Forming • Storming • Norming • Performing

10. Jigsaw Activity 1’s = Forming 2’s = Storming 3’s = Norming 4’s = Performing Task: • Read about the stage of team development that corresponds to your number • As a team, create either a visual or a skit to teach others about your stage Stages of Team Development pgs. 3-4

11. Stage 1: Forming In this stage, team members exhibit polite behaviors, try to figure out their roles in the team, and test their relationships with each other. It is common for a few individuals to dominate discussions as the group begins to define its tasks and acceptable group behavior.

12. Stage 2: Storming During this stage, conflicts emerge within team, especially around interpersonal issues. Individuals clash over control of the group and its work. Members may become defensive or competitive. Unrealistic goals may cause frustration among group members.

13. Stage 3: Norming Teams begin to work together more productively and a positive team identity emerges. Members begin to see the value of collaboration and actively attempt to avoid conflict. Meetings are likely to focus on achieving consensus, with the team making effective use of formal roles and rules to maintain harmony.

14. Stage 4: Performing The team at this stage reaches a high level of functioning. Strong interpersonal relationships lead to members feeling a real sense of attachment to the team. These relationships allow team members to disagree in constructive ways. Formal team rules and rules become less important as the team is able to work in an organic way. The team identifies and executes self-chosen tasks that focus on continuous improvement.

15. Members of a professional learning community must be prepared to slosh around together in the mess, to endure temporary discomfort, to accept uncertainty, to celebrate their discoveries, and to move quickly beyond their mistakes. They must recognize that even with the most careful planning, misunderstandings will occur occasionally, uncertainty will prevail, people will resort to old habits, and things will go wrong.

16. Reflection Think about your grade level/department team. • Where is your team at regarding the stages of team development? • What support do you need to further your team’s development? Reflection pg. 1

17. Reading • At what stage would you consider this team to be performing? Why? • What are the challenges this team faces? • How might they overcome these challenges? Negotiating Personalities and Conflict pgs. 5-7

18. Anticipating Challenges • In table groups, brainstorm potential challenges you may confront when working within a team. • Generate solutions to address each problem.

19. Gallery Walk

20. 10 Min. Morning Break

21. What is Collaboration? A systematic process in which we work together, interdependently, to analyze and impact professional practice in order to improve our individual and collective results

22. Collaboration is not enough The fact that teachers collaborate will do nothing to improve a school. The pertinent question is not, “Are we collaborating?” but rather, “What are we collaborating about?” Coblaboration is not an option!

23. What is the right work? • What do our students need to know and be able to do? • How will we know if each student has learned it? • How will we respond when some students do not learn? • How will we extend and enrich the learning for students who are already proficient?

24. Processes to Enhance Collaboration • Norms • Team Roles • Agendas

25. Norms “When done well, norms can help establish the trust, openness, commitment, and accountability that move teams from the trivial to the substantive. No team should work without the benefit of clearly defined collective commitments.” (Dufour, 2009)

26. Tips For Developing Norms • Each team should create their own norms. • Norms should be stated as commitments to act or behave in certain ways rather than beliefs. (Ex. We will arrive to meetings on time and stay fully engaged throughout the meeting. vs. We believe in punctuality.) • Norms should be reviewed at the beginning and end of each meeting for at least 6 months. Tips For Developing Norms pg. 8

27. Additional Tips For Norms • Teams should formally evaluate their effectiveness at least twice a year. • Are we adhering to our norms? • Do we need to establish a new norm to address a problem occurring on our team? • Are we working interdependently to achieve our team goals? 5. Teams should focus on a few essential norms rather than creating an extensive laundry list. 6. Violations of team norms must be addressed.

28. Developing Norms Think about some of the challenges of your grade level/department meetings. Develop norms to prevent these problems and promote more effective team meetings. Reflection pg. 1

29. Norms of High Performing Teams • Respect for all perspectives • Active listening and participation • Maintain a positive outlook and attitude • Proactive problem-solving • Assumption of positive intent Norms of High Performing Teams pg. 9

30. Team Roles • Team Leader/Facilitator • Recorder • Timekeeper Team Roles Task Cards pgs. 10-11

31. Agendas Are Essential A meeting without an agenda is like a boat without a rudder. Eventually both will end up on the rocks.

32. Sample Agendas • What do you notice about the format & content of the agendas? • How does this relate to what we have discussed today? • Think about your meeting agendas. What’s the same? What’s different?

33. Tips For Developing Agendas Tips For Developing Agendas pg. 14

34. Seven Keys To Effective Teams • Embed collaboration in routine practices of the school with a FOCUS ON LEARNING. • Schedule time for collaboration into the school day and school calendar. • Focus teams on critical questions. • Make products of collaboration explicit. • Establish team norms to guide collaboration. • Pursue specific and measurable team performance goals. • Have frequent access to relevant information. Seven Keys To Effective Teams pg. 15

36. Stoplight Reflection • Something I want my team to continue is…….. • I would like my team to try……….. • I think my team should no longer continue to…… Reflection pg. 2

37. Crucial Conversations “The processes of conflict are critical to understanding what distinguishes a professional community that maintains stability and the status quo from a community engaged in ongoing inquiry and change.” (Achinstein, 2002)

38. Let’s Read All About It Crucial Conversations By Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler , • What connections can you make to the text? • What resonates with you? Holding Crucial Conversations pgs. 16-19

39. Strategies For Crucial Conversations • Identify Your Motive • What is the real issue? • Make It Safe • Communicate that you care about the other person • Create a sense of mutual purpose • Speak honestly using Don’t/Do statements • Master Your Own Emotions • Separate facts from stories • Work to Understand Other’s Perspectives • Focus on listening and an assumption of rationality and good faith

40. Collaborative Moves • Set The Stage • Set The Tone • Set The Pace • Encourage Depth • Monitor The Process • Close the Process Collaborative Moves pgs . 20-21

41. Collaborative Moves • Which moves can be used to support some of your potential challenges? • Highlight the moves that you feel will be most useful to you and your team. Reflection pg. 2

42. What move would you make? • Although arriving on time is a norm, team members are always late. Enforcing The Norms • A team member begins to talk about a topic that is not on the agenda. Redirecting • You are having a hard time understanding the ideas of a team member. Clarifying • The meeting is coming to an end and you want to be sure everyone is clear about their responsibilities. Stating Actions & Responsibilities

43. Let’s Practice How would you respond effectively?

44. Reviewing Our Objectives • Become familiar with the stages of team development • Anticipate potential challenges of working within a team as well as develop solutions • Explore processes to enhance collaboration • Develop skills to have crucial conversations

45. Talking is not doing. Planning is not doing. Goal setting is not doing. Training is not doing. Even directing resources to support a plan is not doing. It is not until people are doing differently that any organization can expect different results.

46. Lunch Time! Our work will resume promptly at 12:30.