The Adaptive Schools Foundation presents a productive, practical set of ideas and tools for developing collaborative groups in becoming effective and better equipped to resolve complex issues around student learning. The work of the Adaptive Schools Seminars is to develop the resources and capacities of the organization and of individuals to cohesively respond to the changing needs of students and society. The training not only explores what makes teams effective, but how to develop skills as facilitators and informed group members in informal and formal settings, in small and large groups. It takes participants beyond the idea of professional learning communities to the actual implementation, describing specific ways to weave the collaborative fabric of a faculty, develop group member skills, and acquire the principles and understandings to engage in a continuous cycle of team and individual improvement. Adaptive Schools is the “how” of professional learning communities: how to behave in groups, how to lead them, and how to facilitate them for improved leading, teaching, and learning.
Outcomes: In the four-day Adaptive Schools Foundation Seminar, participants will develop:
- An increased capacity to initiate, develop and sustain high functioning groups.
- New lenses for diagnosing the stages and phases of group development.
- An expanded repertoire of practical facilitation tools.
- Understandings of when and how to engage groups in dialogue and discussion, the limitations, forms and values of each.
- Skills to move groups beyond consensus to common focus.
- Ways to value and use dissension, argument and conflict.
- Strategies for keeping group members on track, on topic, energized and resourceful.
Who Should Attend: This training is intended for anyone who has to facilitate groups, run meetings, or desires to develop collaboration will benefit. Come as a team or with a partner.
Satisfactory completion requirements:
- Attendance is based on your signature in and out of the session. Failure to provide a signature in and out will result in no credit. Virtual attendance is taken via the Zoom Chat.
- Participants are expected to attend all four days of the seminar, there is a prerequisite to attend Day 1 of the seminar.
- Participants must complete an electronic course evaluation within two weeks of the session date to be sent a certificate.
- Accommodations, questions and complaints can be directed to: professionallearning@truenorth804.org
Cost Information: Participation fees are waived for TrueNorth employees and TrueNorth member district employees. For individual participants who do not meet the above criteria, this course participation fee is $250.00 per session plus a one time purchase of $40 for the resource book (Total of $1040 for days 1-4). Participation or material fees will be billed directly to the school district that employs the participant after the session is complete or the first session in a series is complete. Individuals are asked to not bring payment to the session.
Cancellation and Refund Information: There is no cancellation fee, though we ask for advance notice to open the spot for another person. TrueNorth reserves the right to cancel any session due to low enrollment. TrueNorth does not charge prior to the start of the offered session. If an individual attends the first day of a learning series but is unable to attend the remaining sessions, the school district that employs the participant is able to designate an alternate person. It is up to the individual no longer attending the program to give their replacement the information learned in the first session.
About the Presenter: Michael Dolcemascolo is the former Executive Co-Director of Thinking Collaborative, the home of the Adaptive Schools Seminars and the Cognitive Coaching SeminarsSM. An independent consultant, Michael regularly presents workshops to educators on Cognitive CoachingSM, Adaptive Schools, as well as presentation and facilitation skills to national and international audiences.
Michael delightfully spends much of his energy mentoring coaches and facilitators who wish to become agency trainers for their systems, and also regularly facilitates groups that are planning, problem-resolving, and engaging in change.
Michael is co-author with Robert Garmston of the Storytelling Study Companion (Corwin, 2019), the Study Group Facilitation Guide for The Presenter's Fieldbook (Rowman Littlefield, 2018), The Focusing Four: A Consensus Seeking Activity DVD Viewers Guide and Dialogue DVD Viewers Guide (Center for Adaptive Schools, 2009). With Carolyn McKanders, Michael has co-authored the Developing Collaborative Groups Study Guide, and co-edited the Adaptive Schools Foundation Workshop Learning Guide (Thinking Collaborative, 2017).
A former English teacher, Michael taught at all levels from Kindergarten through grade 12, and became a professional development specialist for 20 years. He served as Assistant Director of Staff Development at the Onondaga-Cortland-Madison Board of Cooperative Educational Services, providing professional training to the 23 school districts surrounding the city of Syracuse in Central New York.
Michael holds BA degrees in Religious Studies and in English from Montclair State University, an MA in Cultural Symbol Systems from Syracuse University's Department of Religion and a CAS in Educational Administration from the State University of New York, Cortland.
Financial Disclosure:Michael Dolcemascolo receives a presenters fee for this training. Michael has co-authored the Developing Collaborative Groups Study Guide, and co-edited the Adaptive Schools Foundation Workshop Learning Guide (Thinking Collaborative, 2017).
Non-Financial Disclosure: Michael is co-author with Robert Garmston of the Storytelling Study Companion (Corwin, 2019), the Study Group Facilitation Guide for The Presenter's Fieldbook (Rowman Littlefield, 2018), The Focusing Four: A Consensus Seeking Activity DVD Viewers Guide and Dialogue DVD Viewers Guide (Center for Adaptive Schools, 2009). With Carolyn McKanders, Michael has co-authored the Developing Collaborative Groups Study Guide, and co-edited the Adaptive Schools Foundation Workshop Learning Guide (Thinking Collaborative, 2017).
*Member Districts include:
Northbrook 27, Northbrook 28, Sunset Ridge 29, Glenview/Northbrook 30, West Northfield 31, Glenview 34, Glencoe 35, Winnetka 36, Kenilworth 38, Lake Bluff 65, Lake Forest 67, Bannockburn 106, Deerfield 109, North Shore 112, Township HS 113, Lake Forest 115, New Trier 203, Glenbrook 225.
Have a question? Check out the Professional Learning FAQs or contact professionallearning@truenorth804.org.