Rock on at Leading Our Way Forward 2011
14 districts in the ERLC region, and 4 from across the province sent teams to the conference, either attending in person or from a distance connecting with webcasting. Keynote speakers and a panel from CASS shared their thinking, expertise and thoughts around building a collaborative culture of learning.
Conversations around “Change hardiness” reinforced the need to build the capacity to move and learn forward with relentless commitment! Participants were asked to leave the conference with “matchbook mottos” (an adult learning closure strategy) – that represented their “take aways” and learnings.
A few examples:
- Relationships are the key to collaboration
- School improvement happens because of adult conversations
- Personal investment + trusting relationships = successful collaboration
- Don’t wait – start – learn forward
- We-ness not me-ness
- Collaboration with purpose develops strong meaningful relationships
- PLC’s need trust or will bust
- Importance of collaborative inquiry and teams in building collaborative cultures
- Empowerment, engagement, inclusion – very welcoming!
Conference follow up includes ongoing support for implementation including:
- Keynote materials available at http://erlc.wikispaces.com/LOWF2011
- Video archive of some parts of the conference will be available on Leadership PD Resources
- Ongoing learning opportunities to support system capacity; including sessions with John Clarke and Laura Lipton, are posted online at Programs and Sessions - Leadership with registration available soon.
- Conversation at the conference included a focus on using “ A Guide to Support Implementation – Essential Conditions.
- A provincial conference to support capacity of new learning coaches is being planned for August 18 and 19 with sites to attend from across the province. More information coming shortly.
For further information and to provide advice and direction on how ERLC can support your plans around “coaching” and “PD leadership capacity” please call ERLC at 780-444-2497 extension 290.
The Alberta Teachers Association has created a discussion paper on learning coaches. For the purposes of the paper the term learning coach describes a teacher who supports colleagues seeking to enhance their expertise in supporting all students, some of whom may have diverse and exceptional learning needs.