December: Systems for Instructional Improvement II

The prework for this PD asks that you revisit, reconsider, and weave content from several sessions in the Fellowship. While there are no new texts to engage with for this session, the thinking we are asking you to do with these familiar texts will require time and consideration.

Read and Prepare to Discuss

Revisit chapters 2 and 5 of Fugitive Pedagogy and Vanessa Siddle Walker's Askwith Forum Lecture (video from prework for Cohort Retreat; focus on 27:45-49:00) with the lens of evaluating the instructional system Carter G. Woodson created.

• What was the vision of excellent instruction at the heart of the system?

• What were the structures for adult learning that served that vision?

• How were they interrelated?

• How did they evolve/adapt over time?

We will begin the PD with discussion grounded in these questions as the basis for our learning and thinking for the day.

Read, Reflect, and Evaluate the Current Work of Your EII

Using this document, evaluate the system for instructional improvement at your school. Feel free to ask your LC to spend a December coaching meeting focused on doing or refining some of this thinking together.

Revisit chapters 1-7 of The Practice of Adaptive Leadership (book you received at Cohort Retreat and read for week 1 of Summer Institute). Grounded in the content, consider:

• What technical and adaptive challenges are at play in your work? What adaptations will enable your organization (or your piece of it) to thrive?

• What political factions exist regarding the adaptive issue in the work?

• To what extent and in what ways has your leadership so far resulted in changes in people's priorities, beliefs, habits, and loyalties in service of the work you are moving with your EII?

Capture the Data So Far

Document current data in your EII template data tracking tab:

• Data Driven Equity survey (designed on the last day of Summer Institute and administered in October)

• Academic Outcomes

• Other key indicators