How Teams Work: A Playbook for Distributing Leadership
About this ebook
Creating strong, cohesive teams is an art, and How Teams Work: A Playbook for Distributing Leadership is the essential guide for school leaders looking to master this craft. This interactive playbook doesn′t just advise but actively equips leaders with the tools they need to foster trust, accountability, and engagement in their teams.
School leaders today face a critical mandate: to empower, engage, and work in concert with their teams to foster a positive and productive school environment. How Teams Work doesn′t offer mere platitudes—it offers practical strategies and tools, with concept maps, learning intentions, team challenges, reflection prompts and more. Information is organized into six modules exploring:
- The foundational role leaders play in team dynamics
- Strategies to bring together and mobilize effective leadership teams
- Methods to forge and maintain team unity and collaboration
- How to build and maintain trust and respect within teams
- Practical tools for maximizing team productivity and decision-making
- Guidelines on reflective leadership to assess and improve team performance
How Teams Work isn′t only a resource; it′s a roadmap to sustainable success, illuminating the path to nurturing leadership at every level. In an age where the turnover of educators is high and the need for sustained, collective school improvement efforts is urgent, leveraging the power of teams isn′t just advantageous—it′s essential.
About the author
Cathy Lassiter, Ed.D., is an international consultant with over 35 years of combined experience as a public school teacher, principal, central office administrator, and consultant. Her areas of expertise are in Visible Learning, Teacher Clarity, and all aspects of school leadership. Before this role, she held various positions including Executive Director of Middle Schools and Senior Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Staff Development. She also was a successful middle school principal and was named Virginia′s Middle School Principal of the Year. Cathy has served as an adjunct professor at The George Washington University, teaching graduate courses in educational leadership.
Douglas Fisher is professor and chair of educational leadership at San Diego State University and a teacher leader at Health Sciences High and Middle College. Previously, Doug was an early intervention teacher and elementary school educator. He is a credentialed English teacher and administrator in California. In 2022, he was inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame by the Literacy Research Association. He has published numerous articles on reading and literacy, differentiated instruction, and curriculum design, as well as books such as The Teacher Clarity Playbook 2/e, Your Introduction to PLC+, The Illustrated Guide to Teacher Credibility, Instructional Strategies that Move Learning Forward: 30 Tools that Support Gradual Release of Responsibility, and Welcome to Teaching!
Toni Faddis joined Corwin as a full-time professional learning consultant in 2021. Before that, she was a bilingual teacher in elementary and middles schools as well as a Reading Recovery specialist before becoming a principal and principal coach in San Diego, California. In addition, Toni served as the Director of Equity, Access, and Leadership Development at the district level. Toni holds teaching and administrative services credentials in California and earned her doctoral degree in Educational Leadership from San Diego State University. Toni is the co-author of Collaborating Through Collective Efficacy Cycles: Ensuring All Students and Teachers Succeed, PLC+ for Instructional Leaders, How Teams Work, and The Ethical Line, as well as numerous professional articles about adolescent literacy.
Nancy Frey is a Professor in Educational Leadership at San Diego State and a teacher leader at Health Sciences High and Middle College. She is a credentialed special educator, reading specialist, and administrator in California. She is a member of the International Literacy Association’s Literacy Research Panel. Her published titles include 50 Strategies for Activating Your PLC+, The Illustrated Guide to Visible Learning, Welcome to Teaching Multilingual Learners, Teaching Foundational Skills to Adolescent Readers, and RIGOR Unveiled: A Video-Enhanced Flipbook to Promote Teacher Expertise in Relationship Building, Instruction, Goals, Organization, and Relevance.
