Become A Change Leader And Take The First Step Towards Launching Initiatives To Improve Teaching And Learning.
Every great teacher and every great school constantly work towards creating better learning conditions for students. Just as we hope our students become lifelong learners, we as educators should be constantly learning and improving. This education course is for school leaders of all kinds (from teacher-leaders to principals to superintendents) who are launching innovation in schools—starting new efforts to work together to improve teaching and learning. Over seven weeks, you and your classmates will complete a cycle of study, experimentation, and reflection to gain confidence and skills to lead instructional improvement efforts. Through experiential activities and assignments, you will begin working with colleagues to envision the next level of work for your team or organization, to launch a new initiative, and to measure your progress along the way. Based on the work of Justin Reich (Teaching Systems Lab, MIT) and Peter Senge (MIT Sloan), this course will focus on visioning and capacity-building, with an emphasis on collaboration and building partnerships with stakeholders at multiple levels. At the end of the course, you will have started the process of launching an instructional improvement initiative in your school or learning environment, and you will better understand yourself as a leader and change agent. You will have made connections with peers who are also undertaking this important work. This course has been funded by Microsoft and is part of the Microsoft K-12 Education Leadership initiative developed to provide resources to K-12 school leaders around the world as they address the unique needs of their schools in a changing educational and technology landscape.
Unit 0: Welcome Orientation and Logistics Unit 1: Launching Innovation in Schools Introduction to the core principles and defining a problem of practice Unit 2: Bringing People Together Around Ideas They Care About Identifying strengths and gaining a better understanding of your context and network Unit 3: Refining a Vision & Getting to Work Reflecting on innovative learning models, creating a coherent vision for change, and identifying first concrete action steps Unit 4: Working Together Through Ups and Downs Facing the challenges arising from collaboration Unit 5: Measuring Progress and Adjusting Exploring the process of measuring progress, determining acceptable and meaningful evidence, and implementing adjustments Unit 6: Sustaining Innovation in Schools Presenting and sharing work, final reflections
Educational leaders—from teacher-leaders to principals to superintendents — will learn about:
Launching Innovation in Schools: Course To-Go Launching Innovation in Schools: Facilitator’s Guide Launching Innovation in Schools: Reading List Content Handouts Take-out Packages Featured Schools/Organizations (in the order they appear in the course) Model Menu Need inspiration for “What awesome looks like?” Check out our model menu with a list of ideas, approaches, models and examples that may be useful for your problem of practice.
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