Facilitating for Learning: Tools for Teacher Groups of All Kinds
Facilitating for Learning: Tools for Teacher Groups of All Kinds
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Overview
“I have had the good fortune to watch both David and Tina facilitate learning groups and have learned from the power of their modeling. . . . I am delighted that they have gathered their wisdom here in this volume to share with others eager to embark on the journey and experience the joys of facilitating learning with colleagues.”
—From the Foreword by Ron Ritchhart, senior research associate, Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education
One of the most important shifts in schools in the last two decades has been the growing emphasis on collaboration among teachers and other educators. Whether you are a teacher facilitating a group for the first time or an experienced facilitator seeking to further develop your skills, this book is for you. Organized to be used as both an exploration of the role of facilitating and as a handbook of strategies, this resource covers a range of contexts that include faculty meetings, department meetings, professional learning communities, grade-level teams, and inquiry groups. This book is a perfect companion to the authors’ bestseller, The Facilitator’s Book of Questions, which focuses on the skills needed to facilitate protocols or structured conversations. Facilitating for Learning extends the scope of that work by also examining the facilitator’s responsibilities for supporting a group’s learning during all parts of a meeting, between meetings, and within the larger school context and culture. It is an essential resource for teachers, administrators, coaches, and teacher educators.
Book Features:
- Contrasts facilitating for learning with other professional development roles, including staff development, coaching, and supervision.
- Outlines the basic responsibilities and tasks of facilitating teacher learning groups, including “moves” the facilitator might employ.
- Considers challenges related to school culture and leadership, group interactions, and time constraints.
- Provides resources to help facilitators develop their skills, including tools and references to other works on facilitation.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780807774380 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Teachers College Press |
| Publication date: | 08/23/2015 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 3 MB |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Foreword: The "Wants" of Professional Learning Ron Ritchhart vii
Acknowledgments xi
Part I Facilitating For Learning
1 Introduction 3
Why a New Book on Facilitation? 3
What Kind of Group Learning? 4
Who Will Facilitate? 6
How Do Teachers Become Facilitators? 7
How Is This Book Organized? 8
How Does This Book Relate to The Facilitator's Book of Questions? 9
A Note About Terminology 10
2 Facilitating for Learning 11
Developing a Different Story of Professional Learning 11
A Tale of Two Stances: Task Completion and Learning 13
Defining Facilitating for Learning 15
The Facilitator's Orientation 16
Facilitation and Other Roles 17
Part II Facilitating Teacher Learning Groups: The Basics
3 Preparing for the Meeting 21
Identify Goals 21
Shape the Agenda 25
Prepare Space and Materials 29
4 Opening the Meeting 32
Facilitate Transition and Connection 33
Review Goals and Agenda 35
Establish or Review Norms 37
Establish or Review Roles or Functions 41
5 Working Through the Meeting 44
Cultivate "Bi-Focal" Vision 48
Help the Group Manage Time 49
Help the Group Monitor Process and Progress Toward Its Goals 52
Help the Group Address More Complex Situations 55
6 Closing the Meeting 59
Invite the Group to Express Appreciation 60
Help the Group Reflect on the Content of the Meeting 61
Help the Group Reflect on the Process of the Meeting 63
Help the Group Identify Next Steps for Its Learning and Work 64
Gather Documentation Artifacts from the Meeting 66
Restore the Space (if Necessary) 67
7 Following Up on the Meeting 68
Continue to Gather Documentation Artifacts 69
Review Documentation Artifacts 69
Check in Informally with Participants 70
Communicate Formally with Participants and Other Stakeholders 72
Part III Opportunities and Challenges
8 Managing Productive Group Interactions 77
Differences in Individuals' Points of View 77
Differences in How Individuals Engage in Meetings 80
Differences in How Individuals Experience a Group's Autonomy 83
9 Repurposing Meetings for Learning 86
Analyzing Student Achievement Data 87
Aligning Curriculum and Instruction with Standards 88
Grading or Scoring Student Work 91
Discussing Individual Students and Their Learning 94
10 Managing Challenges of School Context and Culture 98
Challenges Related to Time 99
Challenges Related to School Culture 101
Challenges Related to School Leadership 106
11 Voices of Experience 110
Attention 110
Analogies and Metaphors 114
Satisfaction 116
Appendix: Resources 119
References 121
Index 123
About the Authors 131
What People are Saying About This
“I have had the good fortune to watch both David and Tina facilitate learning groups and have learned from the power of their modeling…I am delighted that they have gathered their wisdom here in this volume to share with others eager to embark on the journey and experience the joys of facilitating learning with colleagues.”—From the Foreword by Ron Ritchhart, senior research associate, Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education
"Facilitating for Learning is a practice-based resource loaded with ideas, strategies, and tools designed to maximize opportunities to promote professional learning, team-based thinking, and collaborative problem solving. This book provides teacher leaders, instructional coaches, principals, and others who engage with teachers a well-curated set of tools and resources designed to promote educators’ engagement in and ownership for purposeful conversations in a variety of school settings. Allen and Blythe's approach to professional learning affirms the importance of establishing a “culture of thinking for teachers," and provides clear guidance on the use of tools needed to successfully engage teachers and others in collaborative learning processes within their schools.—Larry Leverett, executive director, Panasonic Foundation