How can educators work together more effectively to improve professional practice in a way that enhances student performance? The answer, says author Pam Robbins, involves combining collaborative activities and peer coaching—teachers supporting teachers. This book describes how any school can implement these proven practices and experience positive changes in teaching, school culture, and learning. Robbins explains how to develop a collaborative, learning-focused culture and build trust among colleagues; offers strategies for participating in difficult conversations that yield useful feedback; clarifies how to develop, sustain, and evaluate peer coaching efforts; and showcases exemplary peer coaching practices used in real schools. She also includes coaching tools, scenarios, process guidelines, and reflection questions that make it easier to transfer these ideas into a school setting. Peer coaching offers a job-embedded learning strategy; it’s a valuable structure for supporting schoolwide and districtwide priorities such as analyzing data, improving instruction, integrating technology, and implementing standards. In short, it creates an effective way to support the growth of every teacher and enrich learning processes in any school. Pam Robbins is a former teacher, coach, director of professional development, and school leader. She consults with high-performing and low-performing districts and designs and conducts workshops on leadership, school culture, organizational change, mentoring, and peer coaching.

While teaching Java programming at Minnesota State University, the authors noticed that engineering students were enrolling in Java programming courses in order to obtain basic programming skills, but there were no Java books suitable for courses intended for engineers. They realized the need for a comprehensive Java programming tutorial that offer

The work of educational leaders depends on relationships with people--faculty and staff members, students, other administrators, parents, and community members. This book presents a new way of viewing leadership: how to become person-centered leaders. Rather than relying on outdated ways of managing schools, principals and other leaders must take up the challenge of paying attention to the people issues of the school. Through many examples, the authors show how school leaders must * consciously seek the appropriate type of data to respond to; * increase their capacity for empathy; * develop healthy personal self-concepts; and * learn how to develop healthy self-concepts in others, both students and teachers. School leaders also should be committed to a broad purpose for schooling, should be informed about how their beliefs and behavior influence the organization of the school, and should be able to participate in interactions with authenticity. They also must be able to help create authenticity in their school organizations. In these ways, school leaders will create schools that are learning organizations for everyone. Universities that prepare future school leaders should spend more time developing leaders who are person centered in their approach to leading schools. This new way of thinking will require leader preparation programs to change their priorities for curriculum, academic activities, and field experiences.

You don't need to be intimidated by the idea of being somebody's coach. Yes, many people make coaching their profession: executive coaches, business coaches, parent coaches, life coaches, athletic coaches, trainers, counselors, consultants, therapists, and others. For sure, they've had plenty of education and training to prepare them for these careers. But the idea that people can coach each other while they're trying to be more effective is not revolutionary. For example, experienced school teachers have always done this to help others who are new to the profession. And moms have been getting together to share their know-how with each other for, well, forever. Today, we call this helping activity "peer coaching." Coaching someone who is working to improve a skill is more like being a friend or a mentor. You do it because you care about someone else's success. Very likely the person who needs your help is someone you know well, such as a friend or a coworker. The purpose of this book is to give you a few ideas to make your coaching interactions more effective.

How can we create and sustain professional learning programs that actually lead to improved student achievement? In this thoughtful and informative guide for teachers, administrators, and policymakers, Douglas B. Reeves provides answers. First he casts a critical eye on professional learning that is inconsistent, unfocused, and ultimately ineffective, and explains why elaborate planning documents and "brand-name" programs are not enough to achieve desired outcomes. Then he outlines how educators at all levels can improve this situation by * Taking specific steps to move from vision to implementation; * Focusing on four essentials: teaching, curriculum, assessment, and leadership; * Making action research work; * Moving beyond the "train the trainer" model; and * Using performance assessment systems for teachers and administrators. If you're tired of professional development that takes up too much time and delivers too little, read Transforming Professional Development into Student Results and discover how to move toward a system that gives educators the learning experiences they need to make a measurable difference for their schools and their students.

Based on years of extensive research on teacher development, this book offers a practical introduction to the concept of teacher reflection, demonstrating how student teachers can engage with reflective learning from their teaching and classroom experiences in a systematic and inspiring way. Providing practical models and guidelines for use in the classroom, renowned teacher educators Fred Korthagen and Ellen Nuijten outline various strategies for promoting reflection and illustrate how a deeper form of reflection ・ ‘core reflection’ ・ enhances awareness of professional identity and supports the dismantling of inner obstacles, therefore enhancing social justice and empowering diverse student populations. The authors demonstrate how a trajectory for learning can be designed to develop key competencies, as well as the role played by university- and school-based teacher educators in supporting teachers’ self-directed reflection. Featuring a variety of tools that support professional growth, this unique text demystifies the area of teacher reflection, helping to provide concrete and inspiring examples for how to strengthen professional identity based on everyday challenges faced by practitioners. The Power of Reflection in Teacher Education and Professional Development is therefore an essential guide for students, in-service teachers, and teacher educators alike, as well as for anyone in the helping professions.

Grow your leadership skills to bring out the best in your school! Hallways, parking lots, staff rooms—these are all places where you and your staff have conversations every day. What if you could use these opportunities to build your staff’s resiliency and empower them to reach their goals. The Leader’s Guide to Coaching in Schools offers a proven, accessible, and usable framework to increase your interpersonal effectiveness and grow your ability to coach your staff to overcome obstacles and create their own solutions. Coaching experts John Campbell and Christian van Nieuwerburgh demonstrate how coaching is not just for formal coaching relationships, but how a coaching approach can be applied throughout a school day to create a culture of growth. Through sample questions, video examples, and tools this step-by-step guide shows you how to: Introduce a coaching approach into a wide range of conversational contexts Use the GROWTH coaching conversation framework to improve both staff and student success and well-being Use coaching approaches in areas that school leaders typically find challenging: in formal performance reviews, when giving informal feedback, and when working with teams Help your staff get "unstuck" no matter what challenges they are facing by using solutions-focused coaching techniques that help them envision desired outcomes and the actions needed to achieve them. "The GROWTH coaching model should be in every administrator’s hand as their bible for school improvement. Having this guide will guarantee success and getting the best out of all stakeholders." —Elizabeth Alvarez, Principal John C. Dore Elementary, Chicago, IL "The book is just what the doctor ordered for busy leaders—short and concise." —B.R. Jones, Superintendent of Education Tate County School District, Senatobio, MS