Making a Difference: Instructional Leadership That Drives Self-Reflection and Values the Expertise of Teachers

Making A Difference aims to equip educators with a framework for providing instructional leadership that ensures culturally responsive instruction. Changing what is taught, how it is taught, and who it is intended for is one of the most effective ways of contributing to a more progressive, equitable, and inclusive society. This requires instructional leaders to mitigate harmful educational practices from prepackaged curricula and teacher evaluation systems. Through specific structures, schools can support teachers to become culturally responsive instructors through formative feedback structures that can transform schools from systems of oppression into systems of opportunity.

Table of Contents:
Contents Prologue Preface Acknowledgments IntroductionThe Instructional Leader as an Equity Leader To whom and what are we most accountable?Why leadership is crucial to the conversationWhy we need culturally responsive instructional supervision nowHow developing empathy can make our communities betterLearning to stand up to hatred Part IAddressing the Feedback Loop Problem in US Schools Chapter 2Shifting Feedback from Hierarchical to Helpful Shifting away from plantation practicesReexamining the purpose of feedback about instructionUtilizing ongoing conversations to cocreate knowledge and promote authentic accountabilityLeveraging relational trust to promote more inclusive instruction Chapter 3Liberating Ourselves from Prepackaged Systems Why moving beyond the checklist is so importantHow templates prevent critical thinkingLearning to create feedback practices that are immediately usefulDeveloping common language and assumptions about learning Meeting policy requirements through pedagogies that lead to equitable outcomes Chapter 4Learning to Engage in a Community of Culturally Responsive Instructors (CCRI) Considering the role of data in acts of educational resistanceWhy autonomy is at the heart of inclusive instructionHow critical colleagues can collaborate for co-liberationSharing learning as a form of love across a school cultureQuestioning power structures to address systemic inequityThe challenges of moving forward with the work Part IIDeveloping a Team of Inclusive Instructional Leaders Chapter 5Being Intentional about Representation Why representation mattersShifting away from racial and sexual contractsOther sociocultural identities to considerDetermining how ‘instructional success’ is measuredThe goal is not to maintain comfortablenessBeing clear about steps for success Chapter 6Working Together to Determine What Culturally Responsive Instructional Supervision Looks Like Determining goals for walkthroughsWhat does equity data look like in a walkthrough?How ongoing instructional reflections inform practiceThe process of examining walkthrough dataUsing data to drive professional development efforts Chapter 7Establishing A Plan of Action When Instruction is Not Inclusive Defining what teaching looks like that lacks cultural responsivenessDetermining feedback and support structures to addresses problematic pedagogiesFurther developing reflective and inclusive instructionSeeing criticality as a tool for emancipationDeveloping the scaffolding for transformation Part III Supporting Ongoing Growth and Development of Culturally Responsive Instruction Chapter 8Growth Starts with the Self Using agency to address the purpose of educationOwning content expertiseLearning to address the needs of society over our own comfortKnowing pedagogical look-fors when reflecting on teaching Chapter 9Learning to Grow with Critical Colleagues How critical colleagues help to better understand the self and othersTopics of discussion for critical colleague groupsBeing purposeful with discussions to drive difficult growth edgesUsing every group conversation as an opportunity to discuss equity Chapter 10Using Peer-Led Classroom Observations to Drive Equitable Outcomes How peer walkthroughs can help calibrate building-wide expectationsUsing peer feedback to inform inquiry cyclesTransforming feedback to deconstruct systems of inequityAllowing instructional improvement efforts to evolved over time for more equitable outcomes ConclusionSignaling a Shift in Where We Must Go Resisting technorational approaches to improving instruction Using supervision to support a system of opportunity Honoring ‘getting into good trouble’A closing note to practitioner

About the Author :
Ian M. Mette is an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership where he focuses his interests on the development of culturally responsive instructional supervision and developing equity-minded school leaders in predominantly White rural spaces. Specifically, his work targets closing the gap between theory and practice to inform and support equitable school improvement efforts for all students Dwayne Ray Cormier is an Assistant Professor and entrepreneur specializing in instructional supervision and asset-based pedagogies. His research focuses on developing unplugged and plugged andrological, pedagogical, and supervision tools that assess and codify educators' sociocultural gaps and examine their impact on cultural competence, teacher-student relationships, educational opportunity gaps, and school culture. Yanira Oliveras is an Associate Professor of Curriculum & Instruction with a specialization on instructional supervision and school improvement. She had led the national implementation of instructional supervision in Belize. Through her work in Belize, she has engaged teacher preparation programs in the development of action plans to move from evaluation to instructional supervision, and from teacher-centered to student-centered instruction.

Review :
The book, Making a Difference, is a first for the field of educational supervision and its practices in schools. Authors Ian M. Mette, Dwayne Ray Cormier, and Yanira Oliveras unpack important foundations for leaders who care about equity in schools and the moral leadership needed to steer systems and their people to create fair practices built on trust, respect for diversity, and leveraging belonging as foundational to the success of teachers and their students. The many lessons offered will make a difference in the lives of those who populate schools. The reader will walk away energized by the messages about the value of codified processes involved with conducting classroom observations and engaging in conversations to unpack bias for both leaders and peers alike. The lift necessary to create new paradigms about this important work will yield more equitable practices for leaders, and teachers—all working on behalf of educating children. This is a book that I will consult often.