Major Goal: Check!

August 2, 2023

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BREAKING NEWS!!!

My next book will be published by Solution Tree!!

As many of my readers know, one of the honors of my life was being accepted as a PLC at Work® associate in April 2021. Since then I have also been endorsed as an Assessment associate and Priority Schools at Work® associate. Serving schools and districts around the country in these capacities has been a blessing beyond measure.

Solution Tree is, first and foremost, a publishing company. Our mission is “to advance the work of the authors,” while our vision is to “transform education worldwide.” The owner, Jeff Jones, is a human being of impeccable character, and he runs the company as such.

All of this is to say that it is beyond humbling to be accepted as an author with Solution Tree. And I look forward to bringing this important learning to educators the world over!

The Need

The term “professional learning community” (PLC) spread like wildfire in the late 90s and early 2000s. Unfortunately, the underlying concepts associated with the term did not.

People picked up the term, decided that any ol’ group of people in the same room and breathing the same air (until COVID, that is…) would be called a PLC. Teachers were grouped into teams. And individual teachers were identified as “team leaders.”

While there are many similarities between an excellent classroom teacher and leading a team of adults, not all of those skills transfer. That is to say that many leaders (myself included) made an assumption that if a teacher can teach well, surely they can lead their team well.

This is a beautiful positive presupposition, and I love the intent behind it. However, the reality is that many teacher team leaders are ill-prepared to lead a group of adults into becoming a team. They are wonderful human beings, hard-working teachers, possessing the desire to improve. And, in many cases, still struggle to lead their adult colleagues.

The Solution

These same teacher team leaders are busy folks. The work of leading their team is an addition to their daily responsibilities. So they don’t have time to take years-long courses. They need steps they can take NOW to improve team functioning.

That’s exactly what my book does! It identifies a handful (right now it’s looking like between 30 and 40) of simple, go-to actions a teacher team leader can take to improve team functioning. It is about getting more done. In less time. And with greater joy in the process.

No doubt I’ll write some more posts about this in the coming months, but in the meantime, this is the breaking news! I’m excited to contribute to the discourse on effective team functioning, and to help those incredible educator teams everywhere to get better at what they do.

A Request

One last note: One of the chapters focuses on real-life scenarios of teacher teams and how the strategies, moves, and techniques shared in the book could address those challenges. If you have a challenge you’d like addressed, share it HERE. Thank you!

Questions for Reflection:

What challenges does your team (or team leader) face?

What resources might you call upon to help you with those challenges?

Rib Review

Billy Simms in Oklahoma is a casual barbecue restaurant that had good flavor. The sauce was a nice bonus, but the ribs themselves were good enough without any. I couldn’t believe the price either–my memory says it was around $13 for four ribs, a side, and a muffin. Now THAT’S a price that can’t be beat!

While I was in southern California, in addition to the absolute best tacos (Tacos el Gordo) I’ve had in my life, I was able to join a friend and colleague at the 4th Street Garage in Temecula. It’s not a barbecue restaurant, but a bar and grill. But they had a rib sandwich with the rib meat de-boned and served like an Au Jus sandwich. The broth wasn’t needed, as the ribs were amazing! It’s definitely worth checking out (and going out of your way to Temecula to find it).