Oneof the guys that changes my thinking more than most is Paul Cancellieri — seventh grade science teacher and the mind behind Scripted Spontaneity.

Paul and I have talked a TON over the years about the mistaken belief that we can improve schools by doing nothing more than filling every classroom with a talented individual.  While talent certainly matters, it’s just not enough to drive change in complex human organizations like schools.

Instead, driving change in complex human organizations like schools depends on building high-functioning teams that can support one another — bringing complementary skills to bear against shared challenges:

(download slide and view original image credit on Flickr)

So the question — whether you are a principal, practitioner, parent or policymaker — is simple:

What are YOU doing to ensure that the teachers who serve the students that you care about are working on teams that are collectively strong?

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Related Radical Reads:

Three Things Every Parent and Politician Needs to Know about Merit Pay

These are OUR Kids [SLIDE]

What Can Educational Policymakers Learn from Amazonian Explorers?

Are YOUR Learning Teams Playing Together?

Original
Image Credit: Band of Brothers by The US Army

Licensed Creative Commons Attribution on
October 21, 2012