Making Teamwork Meaningful ─ Leading Progress-Driven Collaboration in a PLC

Ferriter, a sixth grade teacher in a professional learning community who has designed professional development courses for educators, Graham, and Wight show school leaders how to be progress-driven leaders of professional learning communities (PLCs) and the behaviors they should be targeting, the practices they should use, and the collaborative skills the teams should be mastering. They examine how school leaders manage common challenges in collaborative schools and actions they can use to safeguard against complacency, as well as how staffing decisions can strengthen PLCs. They review the features of instructional schedules, developing master schedules, and applying differentiation efforts in an intervention system that prioritizes learning, and detail strategies to make sure every teacher has meaningful collaborative opportunities, including teachers who are working in departments of one. Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)