Conference

Note: Randy's Leadership Training and his Academic Team/Academy Training can be customized depending on the needs of each district or school. The customized training for Differentiated Leadership is shown on this page. To explore the Customized Training for Academic Teams and Academies click on the following link

Customized Teaming Training Back to Professional Development

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______________________Creating Brain Compatible Schools____________________

Customized Leadership Training

Differentiated Leadership-

LEADERSHIP FOR THE WHOLE SCHOOL

with Randy Thompson

Email: gator@edugator.com or diffleadership@prodigy.net

The topics for this training are based on the book “Differentiated Leadership-Leadership for the Whole School" and the quick-reference resource fold-out titled “Differentiated Leadership-A Quick Reference Resource for Getting Everyone Invested in the Process of Change” both by Randy Thompson.

This training is where Practical meets Brain-Based in a synthesis of strategies designed to meet the needs of Leadership Teams.

This training is intended for anyone in a leadership position or interested in Leadership. This would include, but certainly not be limited to, principals, assistant principals, deans, lead teachers, department leaders, team leaders, district level leaders, curriculum development leaders, committee leaders, and so on.

This training is flexible and can be adapted for situations from a one hour introduction or conference session, to weekend retreats and multiple day workshops to allow for practicing concepts and developing strategies with leaders for individual schools or districts to a level for implementation. See the information below for customizing this training for your particular situation.

Customize this training for your situation

Leadership Teams can select from the topics below to customize a Leadership workshop or may choose the two-day Leadership Seminar/Retreat which is described in detail on the link:

Leadership Training for High School and Middle Level Leadership Teams.

Note: The menu will indicate the least amount of time required to introduce each topic and familiarize the leaders in that area. Also indicated is the amount of time needed to ensure adequate proficiency in the topic area for implementation. This would allow time for working with leaders to model and practice strategies at levels to ensure successful implementation.

I often will visit with administrative teams after the initial training for follow-up support. Follow-up observations and assessment of progress allows for feedback and the opportunity to make adjustments and modifications, if needed, as the leaders put strategies into practice. The number of follow-up visits depends on the school, and the level of performance they want to achieve.

When customizing professional development, leaders can select from the topics listed below. The rubric for deciding on a time frame for each topic will go from one hour to multiple days. One hour could also be 45 to 60 minutes as is often the case for conference trainings or school planning periods. All fractions will indicate a fraction of a day where generally ¼ of a day is about 1½ hours.

Time Topics for Differentiated Leadership Needed Leadership for the Whole School

In these descriptors as in the book, I will use the terms administrator, leader, the leadership and the administrative team in all of their various forms interchangeably. These terms are meant to refer to any person in a leadership position for which the circumstances apply. For example, in the Curriculum Development chapter, all of the references to leadership in any form could mean any or all of the following: principals, assistant principals, district curriculum leaders, team leaders, department chairpersons, teacher leaders, curriculum committee members, and so on.

1hr to ½ day The Involvement Model of Change

All change is incremental, and differentiated leadership requires understanding how to move a diverse staff forward. Administrators need a model of change that will work for the entire staff. This model of change for this session is based on the level of involvement of each staff member throughout the change process. The Involvement Model of Change is critical to moving a staff forward and will help administrators ensure that the staff is on-board and ready for what is ahead.

1 hr to ½ day School Performance Management Systems

Differentiated Leadership requires that leaders identify the various systems in their school and understand how those systems interact with each other. In this session, administrators will see the eight School Performance Management Systems (SPMS) that are in every school, and how the systems are interdependent on each other. This session will walk administrators through a planning process that will take into account the impact any proposal will have on all of the School Performance Management Systems. This will eliminate the unintended consequences that often happen when implementing new programs.

1 hr to 1 day Flexible Schedules

For differentiated systems such as instruction, assessment and so on to occur, the administrative team has to develop a master schedule to allow these things to happen. In this session, I share the most flexible schedules possible with leaders. Depending on time I also share scheduling techniques to assist administrators with the task of building flexible schedules.

1 hr to ½ day Group Dynamics

All leaders meet and work with a wide variety of groups. Every group that a leader meets with is made up of a wide variety of members which often reflects an equally wide variety of personal motivations and agendas. Since no two groups are the same, leaders need practical strategies for dealing with the group dynamics. This training helps administrators learn how to diagnose issues affecting group performance and then be able to prescribe the most appropriate intervention to keep groups positive and productive. Various group situations will be described and strategies for dealing with those situations will be shared.

1 hr to ½ day Student Management

Differentiated Leadership is about building collaborative systems of student management. In this training, leaders will see how to develop staff ownership of the student management process. The trick is to find ways for teachers with good student management skills to help the teachers with not-so-good student management skills. This training demonstrates how leaders can get the teachers sharing strategies and assessing each other’s discipline referrals in a non-threatening collaboration.

1 hr to ½ day Motivating Staff with the Multiple Intelligences

In this session administrators will see how to use the multiple intelligences to motivate all of the staff members. We ask teachers to differentiate instruction using things like multiple intelligence theory. In this session leaders will see how to use the multiple intelligences when interacting with staff to Differentiate Leadership in the same way!

2 hrs to multiple days Differentiated Curriculum Development

Administrators have long struggled with getting teachers to develop integrated curriculums that share standards and skills across content areas. In this session I demonstrate a very easy-to-implement system that will get teachers sharing standards, skills and assessments across content areas in meaningful ways. The key to the success of this system is its simplicity; and with this method leaders can facilitate differentiated curriculum development. This process facilitates the natural development of differentiated instruction and assessment which involves the Whole School.

1 hr to ½ day Community and Business Involvement

All educational leaders understand the need for community and business involvement, but often do not have the time or resources to put into it. In this session, leaders will find another easy-to-use program for developing meaningful community and business involvement in their school. The program I share with leaders is called COMPASS which is an acronym for COMmunity Partnerships Assuring Student Success; and leaders will see ways to create levels of community and business support that were not possible before this system. (Note: This training is dependent on the Differentiated Curriculum Development training immediately above.)

1 hr to ½ day Differentiated Staff Meetings

In this session leaders will learn how to design engaging, interactive, motivating and productive staff meetings. Several staff meeting activities designed to present topics in a differentiated format are shared, and depending on time, modeled in this session. The planning process and forms to help administrators create differentiated staff meetings are also shared.

1 hr to 1 day Inclusion

Inclusion -- no other term in education seems to create so much confusion. This training looks at what inclusion is -- and isn't. All students have special needs, and those with IEP’s and 504’s require specific modifications. In this training, we will look at what it means for teachers to co-teach in an inclusion setting. Inclusion does not mean “watering down” anything! In this training participants will see lessons and assessments that are developed to actively engage and challenge every student in the classroom regardless of their levels. Leaders will learn easy ways to help teachers in inclusion settings co-plan effectively for lessons and how to be successful with inclusion.

1 hour to 1 day Advisory

The focus of this "hands on" training is to demonstrate how Advisory programs can promote academic achievement by working to develop young adolescents' affective skills that are required for cognitive success. Participants will see how an activity-based, student-centered, skill-focused Advisory program brings together guidance services, teaching staff, and administrators to maximize learning. The goals of this training are to provide a clear purpose for Advisory while sharing numerous motivating activities to challenge and actively engage the students in building the skills necessary for success in your school. In this training participants will see just what a huge impact an effective Advisory program can have on your students and the entire school!

1 hr to ½ day The Cognaffective School

Do not run for the dictionary! The Cognaffective School is a school where an equal emphasis is placed on the development of cognitive skills as well as affective skills. This session ties all of the other sessions together to demonstrate how differentiated leadership means creating brain compatible schools that blend cognitive skill development with affective skill development. In this session I help leaders identify the affective and cognitive skill sets required of their staff for various tasks, and how to create learning situations for all staff members to hone these skills. The blending of the cognitive and the affective is the ultimate definition of Differentiated Leadership and is the only way to achieve Leadership for the Whole School.

1 day to multiple days Observation, Assessment and Feedback

For this session, I will observe team meetings and interact with the teams to gather information to assess each team’s progress. Then I provide detailed feedback to each team regarding areas of strength and I make specific recommendations for continued improvement and productivity.

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