Donald Burkins's List: Facilitation Methods and Tools

These graphic organizers can be used for instruction or assessment purposes. They can be adapted for your needs and re-saved. Examples are provided to demonstrate ways that the graphic organizers can be used to frame assessment tasks. The sample questions are provided as an illustrative example, only.

“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” This is the first in a series by educator/blogger Rob Jacobs - Education Innovation.

"The Ambidextrous Professional Learning Community holds a dual focus, both internal and external, simultaneously. They focus on developing strong norms, processes for communicating, problem solving, building consensus, etc. This is important, but Professional Learning Communities must recognize that equally important, is a clear understanding of how their work fits into the needs of those outside of the team.

They clearly understand that their work must fit within the greater goals of the school and the district. They are externally focused and internally focused. "

"There is a commercial about Tiger Woods that say, “relentless consistency, 50 percent; willingness to change, 50%.” The commercial from the global management consulting firm Accenture sums up perfectly the dual focus of the Ambidextrous Professional Learning Community; relentless consistency while at the same time continuously innovating."

"Being focused on current “real time” student data that can be acted on is key for Professional Learning Communities. Data, the right kind of data, is essential for driving the day-to-day instructional program of team members. The right kind of data is actionable, that is, it can be used to make instructional decisions based on current student learning needs.

But there is another side to data that requires some skepticism. "

"The ambidextrous Professional Learning Community believes that results come from using a systematic approach to looking at essential learning, collecting and analyzing actionable data, using data to drive instruction, using Response to Intervention to meet the learning needs of all students, and using the best known research based instructional strategies. Ambidextrous Professional Learning Communities know that collaboration is central to their work. In other words, Ambidextrous Professional Learning Communities believe that results are simply a matter of using a systematic process.
But the Ambidextrous Professional Learning Community also believes that great results are something more "

"The Ambidextrous Professional Learning Community knows they have the knowledge and information they need to make decisions instructional decisions and respond to student needs. But the Ambidextrous Professional Learning Community also knows that the answers they need lie outside of the team as well. "

Talk is the engine that drives learning in any classroom. By focusing on
conversation, colleagues and coaches can assist their peers by teasing out some
of those patterns that are most helpful to (or most inhibit) the growth of the
learning community.

Observing talk in classrooms is the first step toward helping teachers
understand the language they use automatically. It's one thing to acknowledge
talk is crucial in classrooms; far harder to analyze, reflect upon, and move
toward changing talk patterns.

Here are some possibilities for classroom observations focused on talk.

"the remarkable team at the Waters Foundation in Tucson, Arizona: Tracy Benson, Anne Lavigne, Sheri Marlin, and Joan Yates. They took us to various schools where they have been working with teachers and students to weave systems thinking (ST) and system dynamics (SD) throughout the curriculum"

Systems Thinking In Schools; System Thinking in Life. Tucson-based foundation supporting training in schools building on the work of Peter Senge and related sources.

"The World Café is a global community of people dedicated to awakening and engaging collective intelligence through conversations about questions that matter... Welcome to your blog! Your active involvement is warmly invited."

"The SystemsWiki.org Blog has been established to enable others to track the developments of the SystemsWiki.org web site and provide feedback regarding its ongoing development."

two short videos provide an overview of the World Café and the seven principles that guide the experience. Hosted by Samantha Tan, who has spoken at the Pegasus Conference a number of times, the videos serve as an excellent introduction to an important and useful tool.

"Edistorm takes the metaphor of sticky notes on a boardroom wall and brings it
online allowing anyone - anywhere to brainstorm with only a web browser.

Each user picks their favorite ideas and Edistorm brings the best ones
forward."

"A project of the National School Boards Foundation implemented by NSBA's Institute for the Transfer of Technology to Education with a grant from the National Science Foundation.*"

"This brief provides an overview of the strategic planning process, an essential first step in the development of a results-based accountability system."
Harvard Family Research Project

Links to several webinars from the NTL Institute

"To support this exercise, I posted the following pieces of chart paper. The first two titles focused on their own learning, while the third and fourth titles were intended to help us focus staff professional development for the next year. Teachers moved among the charts and added their ideas, and/or put a checkmark beside an idea already recorded."

Lots of reasons...

"Both people and organizations need to establish a strategic framework for significant success. This framework consists of:

* a vision for your future,
* a mission that defines what you are doing,
* values that shape your actions,
* strategies that zero in on your key success approaches, and
* goals and action plans to guide your daily, weekly and monthly actions."