Professional Development Resources
- By topic—see our Instructional Leadership & Excellence webpages
- By season—Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer—see the Tools & Professional Development webpage
Team reach teachers (TRTs) work on a multi-classroom leader’s team to extend their reach to more students, generally with extra paraprofessional assistance. Teachers in these new roles can benefit from training sessions about their roles and subject-specific teaching methods.
New and experienced TRTs can experience these sessions in formal training, study them with their MCLs, or study them in meetings with other TRTs. Contact Public Impact if you would like help organizing formal training or train-the-trainer sessions and establishing a clear process for educators to support one another’s growth throughout the school year.
Each TRT training session includes:
- PowerPoint presentation with embedded facilitator’s notes
- Handouts that can be completed electronically or printed
- Information about additional materials for activities (where applicable)
School and district leaders: The School Excellence Portal helps districts and schools track training and monitor and improve Opportunity Culture to achieve strong student learning. Contact us to learn more.
Public Impact leads TRTs through the sessions in three or four summer days of training followed by five monthly sessions throughout the school year. Public Impact can also train trainers in your district; contact us if you would like help organizing formal training or train-the-trainer sessions and establishing a clear process for educators to support one another’s growth throughout the school year. Public Impact also offers training in subject-specific instruction based on the best research about what methods achieve higher-growth student learning.
These are the training sessions, in the sequence we recommend:
Summer Day One:
1.1 Introduction to Opportunity Culture: Clarifying Roles and Responsibilities
Session Objectives:
- Learn about Opportunity Culture and how design teams created Opportunity Culture school plans.
- Review MCL, TRT, and RA job descriptions and discuss expectations for new roles.
- Learn about Public Impact’s Instructional Leadership and Excellence framework and how professional learning this summer and throughout the school year align to the framework.
1.2 Leveraging Instructional Strengths in Your New Role
Session Objectives:
- Explore a framework for instructional excellence and reflect on your individual teaching strengths and challenges.
- Review common challenges and brainstorm solutions.
- Brainstorm which instructional practices to stop, start, and continue in your new role.
1.3 Supporting & Developing a Reach Associate
Session Objectives:
- Gain a clear understanding of the reach associate role.
- Reflect on effective practices for working with a reach associate.
- Discuss the components of a coaching cycle.
Session Handouts:
1.4 Evaluating Opportunity Culture Teacher-Leaders
Session Objectives:
- Learn about the importance of evaluation to guide and develop Opportunity Culture teachers.
- Review Opportunity Culture teacher evaluation rubrics.
- Begin discussing supports needed for MCLs and TRTs to be successful in their roles.
Session Handouts:
Summer Day Two:
2.1 Working Styles
Session Objectives:
- Identify your working style.
- Brainstorm strengths and limitations of different working styles.
- Discuss the working styles of your school team and how they can lead to positive impact on your school.
Session Handouts:
2.2 Leading Difficult Conversations
Session Objectives:
- Introduce frameworks from the book Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High to lead productive difficult conversations.
- Practice leading a difficult conversation.
2.3 Situational Leadership
Session Objectives:
- Discuss the differences between growth and fixed mindsets.
- Introduce the Hersey-Blanchard framework for situational leadership.
- Brainstorm how to tailor your leadership depending on the mindset, skill, and will of your teachers and/or paraprofessionals.
Session Handouts:
2.4 Analyzing Student Data
Session Objectives:
- Learn about the best practices for data analysis:
- Creating a clear assessment calendar
- Setting ambitious, achievable student goals
- Tracking student progress toward goals
- Prepare for new Opportunity Culture roles:
- Scaling data analysis up for a larger student group
- Facilitating data meetings for MCL teams
Summer Day Three:
3.1 Scheduling for an Opportunity Culture
Session Objectives:
- Revisit master schedule and reflect on the extent to which it incorporates the best practices and key principles of an Opportunity Culture.
- Finalize master schedule and draft weekly schedules for MCLs, TRTs, and RAs.
3.2 Planning for TRT-RA Work Time
Session Slide Deck:
Click image to open session slide deck
Session Objectives:
- Plan for collaborative work time with your reach associate.
Session Handouts:
3.3 TRT-RA Collaboration
Session Objectives:
- Get to know your teaching team partner.
- Discuss how you will collaborate with your RA or TRT.
- Plan common expectations, procedures, and norms for your classrooms.
Session Handouts:
School Year:
1 Personal Development: Beginning of Year
Session Objectives:
- Self-assess the extent to which you use the critical competencies for your role.
- Create a personal development plan that leverages strengths and improves areas of growth.
2 Working Relationships
Session Objectives:
- Reflect on current working relationship between partner teacher and reach associate.
- Review personal working styles and brainstorm strategies for collaborating with other working styles.
- Plan for a step-back conversation with partner RA, TRT, or MCL.
3 Leading Difficult Conversations 2.0
Session Slide Deck:
Click image to open session slide deck
Session Objectives:
- Review components of the Crucial Conversations model.
- Discuss ways to create a favorable environment for a difficult conversation.
- Practice leading a difficult conversation.
4 Mid-Year Review
Session Objectives:
- Reflect on successes and challenges during the first half of the year.
- Monitor progress toward personal development, student success, and instructional leadership goals.
- Plan for priorities for second half of the year.
5 Year in Review: End-of-Year Reflection and Planning for Next Year
Session Objectives:
- Reflect on this year’s successes and challenges.
- Monitor progress toward personal development, student success, and instructional leadership goals.
- Prepare for end-of-year meetings with your supervisor and begin planning for next year.
Session Handouts:
Note: Throughout the free training sessions posted here are references to the School Excellence Portal. However, the majority of the training activities can be completed without access to the portal.
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