A Reader Writes... Team Planning - Part 1

In response to the 8/14/12 post, “A LYS Principal Asks...Team Planning,” another LYS Principal writes:
SC,
Excellent post.  This makesa lot of sense and is better guidance than I have given my teams. The directionI have given them has primarily focused on using the four questions from DuFour toguide planning.  I have also workedwith them to conduct data reviews on a 6-week basis. I realize that I need tobe more hands on and engaged with them in this process.
SC ResponseThe mistake that most principals make (and yes, I made the same mistakewhen I was a principal) is that we carve out time for team planning and thenassume that staff will know how to use it effectively.  They won’t. But here is the kicker; itis not their fault.  The staffcan’t see the bigger patterns that motivated you to carve out the planning time(they are busy teaching all day). The staff can’t come up with an effective group planning agenda on theirown (again, teaching all day). And the staff won’t produce the product youenvision unless you are engaged in the process.  For all the skills your staff does possess, actual mindreading in exceedingly rare in teacher populations.  Which means, as you have realized, that if leadership isn’tinvolved in instructional planning, a critical component of school success now hinges on hope and luck.
There is nothing wrong with using DuFour’s 4 questions.  I just believe that the questions aremost useful in a low accountability environment.  Given enough time, the questions can move an organization toan improved performance stratum. The issue is that time is luxury that few schools possess.  We now have to build staff understanding and capacity as weincrease the pace of academic growth at an accelerated pace.  The meeting cycle I shared does exactlythat.  It is correlated toFoundation Trinity and forces the instructional brainpower of the organizationto focus specifically on the Foundation Trinity components that it uses and/orimpacts the most.  Those componentsbeing a Scope and Sequence, Common Assessments, Teacher Craft, and DataAnalysis and Adjustment.
You just have to keep reminding yourself that productive teamplanning does not occur by accident.  It takes preparation, leadership,monitoring and follow-thru.  In other words, work.
Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...

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