Meet the Problem
The Phone Call
"Pardon me," your secretary calls you out of the office."
"You've just gotten a call to appear at the superintendent's office at the top of the hour. It's urgent and I don't have any details for you."
Are you in trouble, you wonder? You think about asking if Human Resources will be present but then remember your secretary said that no details were provided.
The super said, 'Bring your best positive attitude and be ready to work late. I need your help to prepare for tomorrow night's school board meeting. We need a radical plan.'"
You excuse yourself from your staff meeting, and prepare to head out to the Superintendent's meeting room. You call your significant other and let them know, you may be a bit late for dinner.
The Superintendent's Meeting Room
When you arrive, you notice that you're not the only one. It's a who's who of district staff, all troubleshooters with a reputation (positive or negative, you're about to find out...then again, you're there, too). Your superintendent invites you to take a seat, then begins speaking.
A Call to Action
"Our school board president and I have spoken. Our scores indicate we are treading water, maintaining the status quo. For some districts, that would be sufficient. But here in our District, we must have a focus on accelerating student growth more than just one year."
"The Curriculum Department is split right down the middle. We know that coaching works. The research is clear, as suggested in the chart.
We need to select the best coaching model to adopt. It needs to align to our focus on teaching with children's schema in mind, striving for equity, and strategies that work."
This means we have work to do.
"I'm going to ask you to divide up into several teams to deepen your knowledge. You will become an expert in your area, then share it back with your team. Afterwards, you'll make a first effort at putting together a Board meeting presentation."
"I want you to know that I'm counting on you. The future of our district is in your hands. Ready to begin? If so, I'm going to turn this over to Miguel to get this started."
#1: Building a Knowledge Foundation
Big Picture Overview
Divide up into groups of four (a group of 8 with two people per expert area is fine, too) and introduce yourselves to each other.
Select an area from below to become an expert in.
Use your paper organizer (or digital) to learn more about your expert area. Be sure to consider the expert discussion question with your team.
After time (10 minutes) has elapsed, return back to your home team.
Report what you have learned to them. Each of you will take notes on page 2 of the organizer (or digital copy).
Move to solution development using the navigation bar at the bottom of this page.
