Our team (Maryellen Berry, Rhonda Mitchell, Marsha Harris, and I) attend the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s 2016 session on the Transformative Power of Teacher Teams taught by Katherine Boyles and Vivian Troen.

Below are my notes from each session and a few of the lasting takeaways.

Teams that lack open conflict are dying entities.

Boyles and Troen challenge us to level up from a “culture of nice” to a collaboration.

Elizabeth City joined us to make the case for teacher teams and introduce intentional talk around the instructional core.  How might be build collective efficacy?

Boyles and Troen then facilitated a session to help teams set norms and change the sense of what is possible.  The instruction core was again emphasized as well as task focus.

Daniel Wilson started our second day with a session on cultivating collaboration.  How might we have communication, coordination, cooperation, and collaboration.  His definition of collaboration, coming together to create something new, inspired our team to co-labor and set new goals?

Monica Higgins used the Mount Everest case study as a catalyst for discussion around leadership, responsibility trust, and teaming.

Changing your mind can be a show of strength.

Aviya Schler and Jacob Pinnolis discussed implementing faculty rounds at their school.  How might we build a culture of inquiry where we are curious about each other’s practice? What if we share our questions and help each other “see” what happens during class?

Jodi Doyle and her team creating and sustaining collaborative, committed teaching teams.  How might we grow together to serve all learners in our care? What if we structure team meetings to embrace the power of positivity, have serious task focus around students learning, and be product oriented?

Tina Blythe began our last day with using protocols to learn from student and teacher work.  How might we support deep learning and thinking?

Many eyes looking helps us learn and notice more.

How will we team? norm? collaborate? support? become more curious?