A Teacher's Guide to Change
Understanding, Navigating, and Leading the Process
- Jan Stivers - Marist College
- Sharon F. Cramer - Buffalo State College, NY
Emphasizing that change is something teachers can understand, manage, become invested in, and even champion, the authors provide practical skills for facing and adjusting to change, whether it is mandated or a personal choice. Offering a wealth of conceptual, reflective, interpersonal, and strategic tools, this guide also includes:
- Reflections from a survey of 100 teachers who share their experiences with change as well as advice and encouragement, inviting educators to learn from each other
- A five-step process for initiating and implementing plans for change
- Research-based strategies for leading change, both in smaller and larger spheres of influence
- Vivid examples that can be directly applied to personal experience
Reflective exercises to assist teachers in understanding and approaching change
This accessible resource is invaluable for both new and experienced teachers. Whether or not change is voluntary, opportunities for professional growth are abundant, leading to improved student learning and greater teacher retention.
"A must-have book for teachers at every stage of their teaching career. Change in schools is inevitable. This book will help teachers deal with change and allow them to do what they do best: provide a great education for students."
"Coping with change is perhaps the most fundamental aspect of life and certainly critical for successful teaching. Stivers and Cramer provide an essential guide to how teachers might successfully address the ongoing and expected change associated with effective teaching."
"Perhaps no other job in our society today experiences as much change as classroom teaching. Stivers and Cramer are two experts with tremendous insight and experience in both the theoretical and practical dimensions of personal, organizational, and systemwide change. Heartwarming, insightful stories explore how dozens of teachers overcome the challenges of living and leading through change every day, blended with rock-solid theory and extensive research on how to live through change successfully."
"Teachers must learn to cope with the myriad of changes they experience throughout their career or they will leave the profession. This book gives a step-by-step approach for teachers to think about, plan for, and implement changes in their personal lives, their schools, and in their communities."
"How we react to and enact change determines whether we are leaders of our own careers and professional development or merely workers. This book provides the research and information for teachers to embrace change individually or as teacher leaders and teacher mentors. Skip the apple and go for the book!"
"This text is an outstanding analysis of change that all of us in the education profession face on a daily basis. It is a must-read for every thoughtful teacher concerned with change."
