Readings

One Vision, Many Leaders: Developing Effective Collaboration¹

Learn More about The Adaptive School

Discover for yourself the collaborative tools that Olentangy and many other districts use.

By Gay Gordon, ENC Publishing

Below are some important components of The Adaptive School. To learn more about the seminars, resources, and how your school can get involved, go to http://www.adaptiveschools.com/ [this Web site].

A definition of dynamical systems
The rationale for creating a professional learning community
Seven norms of collaborative work
Two ways of talking--dialog and discussion
How to conduct successful meetings
Facilitation and designing effective meetings

Dynamical Systems

Garmston and Wellman describe a dynamical system by telling the story of Edward Lorenz, an MIT meteorologist. Lorenz discovered that by rounding a number by .02 percent it dramatically changed a weather forecast and produced entirely different results. In addition, more data only complicated the forecast and made it more uncertain. Garmston and Wellman liken schools to dynamical systems. Like weather forecasting, tiny inputs can result in major changes; everything potentially influences everything else.

According to Garmston and Wellman, dynamical or nonlinear systems operate on five principles:

More data do not lead to better predictions.
Everything influences everything else.
Tiny events create major disturbances.
You don't have to touch everyone to make a difference.
Both things and energy matter. (Garmston and Wellman, 1999, p.9).

They advise, "We must learn to embrace complexity in human organizations...and attend to twin goals: developing organizational capacities for adaptivity, and developing the professional capacities of all employees." (Garmston, 1995) (nw).

The Rationale for Creating a Professional Learning Community

Professional learning communities produce "...a collective sense of responsibility for student learning in restructured schools." Garmston and Wellman cite five elements of a professional learning community that result in gains in student achievement:

Shared norms and values
Collective focus on student learning
Collaboration
Deprivatized practice
Reflective dialogue

The Seven Norms of Collaborative Work

Garmston and Wellman list seven norms that everyone should use as a group member to improve collaboration. The seven norms are:

Pausing
Paraphrasing
Probing for specificity
Putting ideas on the table
Paying attention to self and others
Presuming positive intentions
Pursuing a balance between advocacy and inquiry

They point out that these are not just skills that people should know, but rather norms that become the normal behavior for a group (Garmston and Wellman, 1999, p. 37).

Dialog and Discussion

According to Garmston and Wellman, "Developing a staff's capabilities for talking together professionally is no panacea, but it may represent one of the single most significant investments that faculties can make for student learning." (Garmston and Wellman, 1999, p. 52) Dialog extends a group's understanding of the complexities and connections an issue might have with other ideas or events. It requires that group members suspend their judgment, monitor their internal experience, display their reasoning and inquire into the thinking of others. Understanding is the goal and is reached through surfacing group members' ideas and examining them deeply. Discussion is for making decisions. In discussion, group members try to take a detached view of what is happening with the group in order to participate effectively and to arrive at decisions. To effectively reach decisions, groups must separate people from ideas. Ideas should belong to the group, rather than to individuals. (Garmston and Wellman, 1999, p. 58)

Successful Meetings

There are four key questions that Garmston and Wellman suggest guide successful meetings: Who decides? What topics are ours? What meeting room features will support our work? What are the meeting standards? The answers to these four questions provide structure for the work to be accomplished in meetings. The authors also describe the need for cognitive conflict that is possible in a safe meeting atmosphere. They note that meetings should be safe, but not always comfortable, and that cognitive conflict should not become affective conflict where disagreements become personal and the effectiveness of the team is reduced. The authors also describe four roles for meeting participants, facilitator, recorder, role authority, and engaged participant.

Facilitation and Designing Effective Meetings

Garmston and Wellman describe good facilitation and four types of maps of meeting territory, including goals, structures, energy, and principles. They include an invaluable repertoire of meeting strategies and moves that facilitators can use to manage a meeting.

In addition to the guidance for facilitators, the authors point to the need for preparing more and meeting less. With more planning, groups can accomplish more in less time which enhances morale. To do this, Garmston and Wellman say that group leaders must: have clear outcomes, have a task analysis-based plan, and have a repertoire of agenda formats to work with (Garmston and Wellman, 1999, p. 138). They include several examples of the latter in the book.

Additional Resources

The following are a selection from the many materials that are part of By Your Own Design, a collaborative publication from ENC and the National Staff Development Council online at www.enc.org/professional/guide (nw). By Your Own Design provides a rich compendium of resources and help with professional development planning. By Your Own Design is also available on CD-ROM from the National Staff Development Council (store) (nw).

"Create a Learning Community at Your School" (nw)
This activity briefly outlines the characteristics of and the steps to take in establishing a learning community. Use it with a group at your school to discuss how to begin the process.

"A New Model: The Professional Learning Community (nw)
Chapter 2 from the book by Richard DuFour and Robert Eaker, Professional Learning Communities at Work: Best Practices for Enhancing Student Achievement, 1998. Reprinted, with permission, from National Educational Service, all rights reserved. This chapter describes the traditional model of schooling and how that model must change to emphasize organizational and team learning.

"Sustaining the School Improvement Process" (nw)
Chapter 6 from the book by Richard DuFour and Robert Eaker, Professional Learning Communities at Work: Best Practices for Enhancing Student Achievement, 1998. Communication and collaboration are keys to sustaining a major change such as a transformation of a school to a learning community. Changes are fragile until they become ingrained and part of the school culture.

"Taking on Loneliness" (nw)
JSD, Winter, 1998, 20 (1). The traditional structure and culture of teacher isolation stands in sharp contrast to the collective inquiry, reflective dialogue, and collaborative culture of the professional learning community. ENC Focus has also featured articles and materials on professional learning communities, The Adaptive School, and collaboration.

"The Importance of Professional Community" (nw)
From the book The Adaptive School: A Sourcebook for Developing Collaborative Groups by Robert Garmston and Bruce Wellman (1999), this excerpt makes it clear that educational improvement requires the collective effort of teaching colleagues. Reprinted by permission of the authors.

"A School on Its Way" (nw)
This story about Northwest High School in Clarksville, Tennessee, is an example of a school beginning the process of developing professional community by learning to use good communication tools.

"Learn More" (nw)
A collection of resources about professional learning communities and collaboration.

"Next Steps—Reflecting on Key Questions for Developing a Learning Community" (nw)
Not sure where to begin? Use these reflection questions as a guide.

"There Can Be No Improvement Without the Teacher" (nw)
In this overview of their research and ideas, Michael Fullan and Andy Hargreaves advocate that interactive professionalism is the key to creating, sustaining, and motivating good teachers throughout their careers.

"Professional Book Discussion Groups" (nw)
This issue of ENC Focus includes articles about one strategy to begin professional discussion in your school.

"Lesson Study" (nw)
Another collaborative strategy, lesson study described in this issue of ENC Focus stresses a focus on student work.

"An Interview with Nancy Love: Building a Professional Learning Community" (nw)
Nancy Love, author of Using Data/Getting Results, shares her vision of collaborative data analysis in which teachers own the process and work together toward improvement.

"Data-Driven Decision Making" (nw)
This issue of ENC Focus has many articles about using data to improve student learning.

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References

Garmston, R. (April 1995). "Adaptive Schools in a Quantum Universe." Educational Leadership, 52(7).

Garmston, R., and Wellman, B. (1999). The Adaptive School: A Sourcebook for Developing Collaborative Groups. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers.

Gay Gordon is ENC's Associate Director for Publishing. Email her at ggordon@enc.org.

¹Eisenhower National Clearinghouse. (2005). "One Vision, Many Leaders: Developing Effective Collaboration." ENC Focus 13(5). Retrieved February 10, 2005: http://www.enc.org/features/focus/archive/collaboration/ (nw). Reproduced with permission of Eisenhower National Clearinghouse.