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Helping Teachers Learn
Principal Leadership for Adult Growth and Development

Foreword by Susan Moore Johnson



March 2004 | 248 pages | Corwin

"Drago-Severson has created an indispensable resource for anyone who wants to learn how to be a school's 'principal adult educator.'"
—Robert Kegan, Meehan Professor of Adult Learning and Professional Development
Harvard University Graduate School of Education

"Helping Teachers Learn is a remarkably ambitious and comprehensive work that describes how principals may effectively exercise leadership in support of teacher learning within schools. The book is an extraordinary treasure chest of real-world examples, insights, and uncommon sense."
—Richard H. Ackerman
Author, The Wounded Leader

A new learning-oriented leadership model to help principals support teacher development and growth!

How can you, as a principal, create opportunities for teacher learning that really work to support teachers with different needs and preferences? There is wide agreement that the best teacher development is informal, diverse, democratic, school-based, and continuous. The best programs ignite and sustain teachers' excitement in learning, growing, and changing their classroom practices. Drago-Severson presents case studies from 25 diverse schools across the U.S. and examines strategies that help shape a school climate of teacher support, growth, and learning. In addition, she suggests many creative solutions to secure any resources needed to implement this learning-oriented professional growth model.

Concepts covered in Helping Teachers Learn include:

  • A new model of learning-oriented leadership that can be tailored to particular settings or individuals
  • Adult learning principles that inform teacher growth and development, and why they are essential to effective teacher development programs
  • The Four Pillars: teaming, providing leadership roles, engaging in collegial inquiry, and mentoring
  • Real-world examples of principals sharing leadership, building community, and managing change

Enhance your professional development model to better support teacher growth and development, as well as your own self-development as a principal.


 
Foreword
Susan Moore Johnson

 
 
Preface
About Professional Development

 
School Leadership

 
Organization of the Book

 
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Author
 
1. Developing A New Model of School Leadership For Teacher Learning
The Study

 
Origins of This Work

 
Methods

 
A New Model of Learning-Oriented School Leadership

 
Chapter Summary

 
Reflective Questions

 
 
2. Constructive-Developmental Theory and Adult Development
About Transformational Learning

 
Kegan's Constructive-Developmental Theory

 
Chapter Summary

 
Reflective Questions

 
 
3. Principals as Climate Shapers
Lessons From Current Research

 
The Core Principles That Ground Leadership Approaches

 
Chapter Summary

 
Reflective Questions

 
 
4. The Impact of Financial Resources on Support for Teacher Learning
Challenges Posed by Limited Financial Resources

 
Creative Strategies for Coping with Limited Financial Resources

 
Chapter Summary

 
Reflective Questions

 
 
5. Teaming: Learning Opportunities for Individuals and Organizations
About Teaming

 
Why Principals Support Teaming

 
Examples of Principals' Use of Teaming

 
A Contextualized Case: A Cross-Functional Team of Teachers, Administrators, and Staff

 
Chapter Summary

 
Reflective Questions

 
 
6. Providing Leadership Roles: Opportunities for Leadership and Learning
About Leadership Roles

 
Why Principals Want to Provide Teachers With Leadership Roles

 
Examples of Providing Leadership Roles

 
A Case Study: Shared Leadership - Peter's Story

 
Chapter Summary

 
Reflective Questions

 
 
7. Collegial Inquiry: A Practice for Talking and Thinking About Practice
About Collegial Inquiry and Reflective Practice

 
What Principals Like About Collegial Inquiry

 
Examples of Principals' Use of Collegial Inquiry

 
Developmental Benefits of Collegial Inquiry

 
A Case: Using Collegial Inquiry in Collaborative Goal Setting and Evaluation

 
Chapter Summary

 
Reflective Questions

 
 
8. Mentoring: A Powerful Means of Facilitating Learning
About Mentoring

 
What Principals Like About Mentoring

 
Examples of Mentoring

 
A Case Study: An Exemplary Mentoring Program

 
Chapter Summary

 
Reflective Questions

 
 
9. Bringing It All Together: A Case of Learning-Oriented Leadership in Action
The Self-Study Evaluation

 
Chapter Summary

 
Reflective Questions

 
 
10. Leadership for Learning's Well-Spring: Self-Renewal through Reflective Practice
Principal Renewal: Rejuvenation Through Reflective Practice

 
Chapter Summary

 
Reflective Questions

 
 
11. Leading in the 21st Century: New Opportunities for Learning
Review of Challenges to a Climate Suppportive of Teacher Learning

 
Implications of the New Learning-Oriented Model of Leadership

 
Frequently Asked Questions

 
Stepping Forward: New Beginnings for Leaders of Transformational Learning

 
 
Epilogue
 
Glossary
 
References
 
Index

"Drago-Severson has created an indispensable resource for anyone who wants to learn how to be a school’s ‘principal adult educator.’"

Robert Kegan, Meehan Professor of Adult Learning and Professional Development
Harvard University Graduate School of Education

"Helping Teachers Learn is a remarkably ambitious and comprehensive work that describes how principals may effectively exercise leadership in support of teacher learning within schools. The book is an extraordinary treasure chest of real world examples, insights, and uncommon sense."

Richard H. Ackerman
Author, The Wounded Leader

"Helping Teachers Learn addresses an extremely important theme--the developmental aspects of teacher learning and how principals can support them. The framework is new and generative."

Andy Hargreaves, Thomas More Brennan Chair, Lynch School of Education
Boston College

"Teaching can be a very isolating profession. In the midst of the many constraints and pressures inherent in education today, there exist some distinctive messages of hope. Helping Teachers Learn focuses on some of the best practices found in a broad spectrum of schools--public, independent and parochial. Drago-Severson's important research points the way to greater reflective practice, personal growth and professional satisfaction."

Joe Marchese, Dean of Faculty
Westtown School, Pennsylvania

"Drago-Severson masterfully weaves voices of experience with practical strategies and theoretical underpinnings to illustrate the viability and necessity of adult learning in schools. As a novice principal in a low resource urban charter school, I have a renewed hope that this work is indeed possible."

Jed F. Lippard, Director
Prospect Hill Academy Charter School, Cambridge, MA

"Strategies and case studies combine to provide principals with a leadership model to help enhance teacher development."

Educational Research Services' ERS Bulletin, June 2004

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