Mapping Professional Practice with Justin Baeder and Heather Bell-Williams

Justin Baeder is Director of The Principal Center, where he helps leaders in K-12 organizations build capacity for instructional leadership, and Heather Bell-Williams is an experienced teacher, school administrator and consultant, with over 30 years of expertise to bring to her role as Coach and Consultant. 
 
Baeder and Bell-Williams are co-authors of Mapping Professional Practice: How to Develop Instructional Frameworks to Support Teacher Growth (Solution Tree), the subject of today’s episode.
 
Justin, Heather, and Ross discuss:
  • Articulating a vision for exemplary practice
  • Put into action, instructional frameworks help teachers: locate their current level of fluency, focus on the key dimensions of professional judgment, and take their practice to the next level.
  • What are instructional frameworks, and how do they compare to observation checklists and other types of look-fors and expectations?
  • The distinction between the terms "fluency" and "performance." 
  • The key dimensions of professional judgment
  • Why it’s so important to establish shared expectations for practice and what's difficult about doing so.
 
Learn more about the book: https://www.principalcenter.com/mpp 
 
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. 
 
Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
 
About today’s guests
Heather Bell-Williams is an experienced teacher, school administrator and consultant, with over 30 years of expertise to bring to her role as Coach and Consultant. Heather holds three bachelor’s degrees in arts and education from York University in Toronto and a Masters of Education in Leadership from the University of New Brunswick, as well as several additional qualifications, including Flourishing Coach certification.
 
Justin Baeder is Director of The Principal Center, where he helps leaders in K-12 organizations build capacity for instructional leadership. He's the author of Now We're Talking! 21 Days to High-Performance Instructional Leadership, also published by Solution Tree, and he's the founder of Repertoire, the professional writing app for instructional leaders. Follow him on Twitter @eduleadership
 
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano or LinkedIn

Learn more about today's sponsor, Playworks:

We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.

If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. 

These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation

Creators and Guests

Ross Romano
Host
Ross Romano
Co-founder of Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies. Strategist, consultant, and performance coach.
Mapping Professional Practice with Justin Baeder and Heather Bell-Williams