When teachers work in successful teams, they have an opportunity to observe each other at work in order to improve their own practice. They can get group assistance with problem-solving; together they can examine student work, address issues of classroom management, learn a new curriculum, provide support for new teachers, and give veteran teachers roles as mentors. What teachers are unable to accomplish alone, or only with great difficulty, they can accomplish more successfully in a team. The Transformative Power of Teacher Teams is designed specifically for teachers and administrators, in their specific context, to enable them to develop their own unique teacher-teams that will directly improve both teaching practice and student learning. Further, the book fulfills the promise inherent in its title '¬ ; it demonstrates not only how effective teams can transform the practice of teaching, but also how its model of teacher collaboration can transform the culture of schools into communities of learning that foster and value teacher leadership.

Photo Credits	p. ix
List of Figures	p. xi
Foreword	p. xv
Acknowledgments	p. xix
About the Authors	p. xxiii
Read This First	p. 1
Our Shared Legacy	p. 1
A Culture of Isolation and Egalitarianism	p. 4
The Move Toward Collaboration	p. 4
Get Ready For Better Teams	p. 7
Why Teacher Teams?	p. 7
Why This Book?	p. 8
Why Cases?	p. 9
It Isn't Extra Work, It's The Work	p. 10
What Makes A Good Team, What Makes A Team Good?	p. 11
Why Teams (Typically) Fail	p. 11
The Complexities of Collaboration Are Untaught	p. 12
Effective Teacher Leadership Is Missing	p. 12
The Need for Expertise Is Ignored or Misunderstood	p. 13
Pitfalls Are Unrecognized or Poorly Addressed	p. 13
Team Members Give Up When They Don't Get Along	p. 14
There Are No Consequences for Poor (Individual or Team) Performance	p. 14
The Five Conditions of Effective Teacher Teams	p. 15
Task Focus	p. 16
Leadership	p. 16
Collaborative Climate	p. 16
Personal Accountability	p. 17
Structures and Processes	p. 17
Talking the Talk, Walking the Walk: Connecting Curriculum and Instruction	p. 18
The Importance of Instructional Talk	p. 19
Connecting Instructional Talk to Classroom Planning and Practice	p. 20
Promoting Accountability Through Instructional Talk	p. 21
Using Team Meetings to Improve Instructional Practice	p. 22
Instructional Leadership: Principals And Teacher Leaders	p. 25
Throw Out Your Old Org. Chart	p. 25
The Principal as Instructional Leader	p. 26
The Principal Articulates a Vision for the School	p. 27
The Principal Emphasizes the Importance of Collaboration	p. 27
The Principal Actively Engages in Team Development	p. 27
Team-Building Tips for Principals	p. 28
Teacher Leadership	p. 29
What's a Teacher Leader?	p. 29
Teacher Leaders in a Team Context	p. 30
Inside-Outside: Teacher Leaders and Team Leaders	p. 31
This Could Be the Beginning of a Beautiful Relationship	p. 34
Team Development And Strategies For Success	p. 35
We Have to Stop Meeting Like This!	p. 35
Establish Team Norms	p. 36
Appoint Specific Roles to Team Members	p. 37
Acknowledge Team-Meeting "Sore Spots" and Take Steps to Avoid or Cure Them	p. 38
Learn by Example	p. 42
Don't Bite Off More Than You Can Chew	p. 42
Tips and Tools for Maintenance, Survival, and Success	p. 43
Improve Your Team's Communication Skills	p. 43
Tine-Tune Your Team's Effectiveness	p. 45
Move Your Team to Its Next Stage of Development	p. 53
Get Your New Principal on Board	p. 59
Connect Your Team With Your School	p. 61
Leverage Your "What I Know Now"	p. 62
Teaching Cases	p. 65
Cases and Guides to Analysis	p. 65
What the Cases Are About	p. 66
Case Themes	p. 68
Video Cases and Their Guides to Analysis	p. 68
What the Video Cases Are About	p. 70
Okay, One Last Word	p. 71
Cases	p. 73
The Neutral Zone: Handling Interpersonal Dynamics on Teams	p. 74
Surface Collaboration or Dynamic Interdependence?	p. 90
Can't Follow the Leader	p. 111
Good Intentions Aren't Enough	p. 126
A Principal's Dilemma: The Challenge of Change	p. 146
How Far We've Come	p. 163
A Vague Destination, No Compass or Map	p. 181
The Team That's "Practically Beloved"	p. 194
References	p. 213
Index	p. 219
On Companion CD-ROM
Cases
Is It "Take Us to Our Leader" or "We Can Do It Ourselves"?
Managing From the Middle
On Companion DVD
Video Cases
A 3rd-Grade Team Meets to Examine Student Work
A 5th-Grade Team Meets to Follow Up on a Professional Development Workshop
A 9th-Grade Physics Team Meets to Plan Interventions for Underperforming Students
A High School History Department Meets to Develop Consistent Grading Criteria
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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