Teachers know that curiosity fuels learning. We intentionally design lessons that spark students’ questions. We celebrate inquiry, encourage exploration, and recognize that students often learn more deeply when they wrestle with uncertainty rather than simply receive answers. A classroom where students wonder, question, and investigate is a classroom alive with learning. Yet somewhere between the […]

“Super-facilitators are people with a talent for bringing individual group members together, combining each one’s unique strengths to promote optimal team performance.  They integrate diverse expertise, promote equitable contributions, and cultivate trust among teammates, generating collective intelligence—a group’s ability to solve problems together.” That’s the description Jamil Zaki provides in a HBR article titled, “Every […]

I had the opportunity some years back to work with John Willis when he was the coordinator for staff development in Gwinnett County Public Schools in Georgia. John now works nationally as a coach, consultant, and content creator through his Teaming Edge channel, focused on empowering teams and getting results. We reconnected recently around a […]

I had a request to assist a team of teacher leaders who had accepted the task of providing an introduction of peer coaching to teachers who are new to their faculty. These leaders have been in workshops with me during the past two years and have been taking part in peer coaching activities with members […]

In an earlier blog, I shared results from the Research Partnership for Professional Learning, Building Better Professional Learning: How to Strengthen Teacher Learning. It described the importance of effective professional learning communities as an accountability element for change and improvement. The authors also highlighted the importance of coaching: There is strong evidence that coaches working […]

A recent white paper, published by Research Partnership for Professional Learning, “Building Better Professional Learning: How to Strengthen Teacher Learning” reinforced the importance of effective professional learning communities. In the overview of their findings, they begin with these two statements: effective professional learning supports teachers’ day-to-day practice effective professional learning involves accountability for change and […]