Upcoming Events
Fierce Conversations 11/2/23-11/3/23
Fierce Conversations is an instructor facilitated workshop that provides practical tools and techniques for handling all types of conversations, whether it is running team meetings, coaching, giving feedback or confronting tough conversations.
10/24/23 Folio Member Webinar: Key Principles for Impactful Professional Growth
On October 24th from 12-1 et Executive Director, Meredith Ford will share Folio’s key principles for supporting teacher growth. We believe that having a personalized approach to professional growth that maps to your school’s educational philosophy and strategic goals leads to the greatest impact for teachers. You’ll walk away with a checklist for mapping professional growth to the key principles.
10/21/23: USA Festival of Education
On October 21st, Meredith will be speaking at the inaugural USA Festival of Education at Folio member school, St. Andrew’s Episcopal School. We are thrilled to extend an offer for discounted tickets to all of our Folio member schools. Please reach out to us at members@foliocollaborative.org for registration information. We hope to see you there!
SY 2023-2024 Masterminds: beginning 10/10/23
New myFolio Admin led by Anna Feiss, School Success Operations Manager
4PM EST: 10/11, 11/8, 1/10, 2/14, 3/13, 4/10
Cultivating a Culture of Professional Growth and Celebration by Carey Fetting-Smith, Director of School Success
12PM EST: 10/11, 11/9, 1/10, 2/14, 3/20, 4/10
Summer Leadership Series: June 26-August 4
Join us from June 26th – August 4th for interactive workshops, admin bootcamps, and Fierce Conversations training.
View the detailed schedule here
myFolio Admin Bootcamp
Dates/Times: Various dates/times. see registration page.
This course is for new myFolio Admins or those restarting their use of Folio and in need of a refresher. Participants will complete asynchronous coursework and attend a live group coaching call with a small cohort of other myFolio Admins and the Folio School Success team.
Expectations:
- Asynchronous coursework will be completed at least 24 hours prior to the group coaching call.
- The group coaching call will require active participation via video.
Outcomes:
MyFolio Admin….
- is clear on how to use and set up the platform
- has (started) plan for how Folio will be used to make professional learning priority in the upcoming year
- is connected to other Admins in the Collaborative
Past Events
Webinar: Planning for the End of the Year (Members only)
Option 1: 5/4/23 10am est. Register here.
Option 2: 5/5/23 12pm est. Register here.
Cost: Free
meeting dates.
Folio Masterminds (Members only)
Dates/Times: Various dates/times starting in September through Spring of 2023, see registration page
One of our most popular offerings, the Folio Mastermind series brings together groups of school leaders from Folio member schools around the shared goal of deepening growth-minded faculty cultures within their school communities. Meeting for monthly calls, Mastermind groups offer leaders space to pause and clarify ideas, seek wisdom from others, hone leadership skills, and maximize their use of the myFolio platform. Groups meet for six 60-minute calls over the course of the year to share challenges and brainstorm solutions together.
As space is limited and demand is high, we ask that you register for a Mastermind group for which you are able to attend at least six of the seven meeting dates. Once registered, you will receive confirmation calendar invites for each of your Mastermind group’s
Save the dates: July 11th through the 13th, 2022!
The Folio Summer Institute will be returning to Lansdowne Resort, Lansdowne, VA for #FolioSI2022!
Registration is now open, and the group discount is still available!
Lansdowne Resort | Leesburg, VA
What: Folio Collaborative Meetups are monthly one hour community gatherings. Join us for one or all as we create space to step back and think together about key questions on members’ minds. To accommodate folks in different time zones, we offer separate sessions, one at 12 to 1 ET (9 to 10 PT) and a separate session at 12 to 1 PT (3 to 4 ET):
2022
- January 20: What does it look like to keep growth front and center as a leadership team in order to develop the habit of reflecting and adapting?
- February 10: How do we envision the community we want to be next year that centers on learning for all–students and adults?
- March 10: What does finishing strong look like in your school, division, or department? How do we hold and lead our community with both pressure and support to keep the momentum in the final stretch?
- April 21: TBD by member demand
Why: Conversations are core and a signature tool of impactful leaders. Conversations inspire and shift hearts and minds one after another. Meetups are designed to prepare you to lead conversations that matter at your school.
How: At Folio Collaborative, we believe in collaborative problem solving because groups change the world. We also believe reflection is not a luxury but essential to learning and leading effectively. Come to a Meetup where we will reflect, think together, and leave ready for action.
12 to 1 ET (9 to 10 PT)
12 to 1 PT (3 to 4 ET)
6 calls, October 2021 through April 2022.
One of our most popular offerings, the Folio Mastermind series brings together groups of highly motivated school leaders from Folio member schools around the shared goal of deepening growth-minded faculty cultures within their school communities. Each group is led by an experienced facilitator and meets for seven 60-minute calls over the course of the year to share challenges and brainstorm solutions together.
This year’s Mastermind groups will be organized around the key reasons you hired Folio as well as additional topics of interest to member schools.
Each group will meet for six 60-minute video calls over the course of the year. As space is limited and demand is high, we ask that you register for a Mastermind group for which you are able to attend at least six of the seven meeting dates. Once registered, you will receive confirmation calendar invites for each of your Mastermind group’s meeting dates.
Tuition is $250 (Folio members only.) Register here.
Friday, March 4, 3:00 PM-4:00 PM ET (Block 6)
Come to our live general workshop! For the past several years, with support from the McDonogh School and the E.E. Ford Foundation, a design team of Folio member school educators investigated how to foster collaboration, conducting fact-finding visits to a set of highly collaborative schools, nonprofits, and for-profit companies. Synthesis of this research yielded a framework and white paper to help schools become more collaborative workplaces. Engage with strategies and activities to explore how you might apply our findings at your school.
Meredith Ford, Folio Collaborative; Garet Libby, Hawken School (OH); Kevin Costa, McDonogh School (MD); Derek Krein, Tabor Academy (MA); Jennifer D. Gladden, Polytechnic School (CA)
Tuesday, March 1st, Noon to 1 PM ET
$49 Members, $99 Non Members
What is a Town Hall?
Join our Folio Town Hall, a forum where members can connect and learn from experts about how to navigate and lead in our ever-changing educational landscape. Come gather practical ideas and resources and deepen your connection with fellow school leaders.
What is the topic?
Practical ways to support the mental health and well-being of your students and colleagues throughout the pandemic and beyond.
Dr. Parker Huston will provide background theories, data and practical strategies to help you support the well-being of your students and colleagues. From a foundation of positive psychology, we will learn about specific challenges during times of frequent change and inconsistency and warning signs to watch for that may require intervention. Members will also learn the importance of promoting mental health and well-being across the lifespan and discuss practical ways to integrate this into your schools.
Register here.
Collaboration among faculty and staff is a key driver for increasing teacher growth and the overall quality of teaching and learning in our schools, and yet deeply collaborative adult cultures are rarer than we would like in independent schools.
For the past several years, with support from the McDonogh School and the E.E. Ford Foundation, a design team led by the Folio Collaborative has investigated how to help schools foster faculty collaboration, conducting fact-finding visits to a set of highly-collaborative schools, non-profits, and for-profit companies.
Synthesis of this research yielded a school leadership framework and accompanying whitepaper — The Building Blocks of Transformational Teamwork — which provides guidance to help schools become more collaborative workplaces.
This course will guide participants as they learn about key elements of collaborative cultures, assess the strengths and growth areas of their own school cultures when it comes to collaboration, and acquire a set of strategies and tactics they can use to improve adult collaboration in their schools.
Competencies:
- Take a deep dive into the Building Blocks of Transformational Teamwork framework for fostering adult collaboration in schools, building a vocabulary and set of leadership tactics around adult collaboration
- Reflect upon their school’s strengths and weaknesses in terms of the collaboration framework and identify critical areas for improvement
- Explore tactics for improving adult collaboration in their schools’ identified areas of need, and create a plan for next steps
$355 for Folio Collaborative / One Schoolhouse Consortium members; $495 for all other participants. Learn more and register here.
We often hear from department chairs that they don’t feel equipped to have the new kinds of conversations they are asked to have, or that they feel they need to have, in order to drive change in their departments. They may see themselves as colleagues and managers of department business, more so than coaches, team leaders, and developers of faculty.
Often, they have moved into their roles without the formal leadership training required to transform the work of their departments and the instruction occurring in classrooms.
This three-day workshop is designed to equip department chairs with immediately-applicable communication tools and leadership skills that can help them enhance collaboration, foster and support teacher growth, and strengthen collegial relationships within their department.
Taking Fierce Conversations modules as well as strategies from our research around collaborative working environments, department chairs will practice skills, experience activities firsthand, and transfer their learning to the myFolio process that they will use in the coming year.
Details and registration here
It would be an understatement to say that the events of 2020 have complicated the practice of classroom observation. In trying time and unfamiliar classroom contexts, skills and competencies for observing teaching and offering meaningful feedback are evolving.
This course will guide participants in developing practices that work in multiple modes (on-campus, hybrid, and online) and for complex situations, ultimately helping participants plan for a more mission- and values-aligned approach to observation.
Details and registration here
Discount for Folio members
Through the new Folio Speaker Series, Collaborative members will better understand and explore how to bring an equity-and-inclusion lens to their work supporting faculty and staff. These monthly workshops feature guest speakers, innovative content, and time for members to engage with and learn from each other. We are pleased to be partnering with The Glasgow Group, a consortium of experts in the field, to feature topics of equity and inclusion in four of our Folio Speaker Series events.
May Workshop: Equity and Inclusion Focus
Topic: DEI + Professional Growth Case Studies
Wednesday, May 5: 3:00 PM – 4:30 ET / 12:00 PM – 1:30 PT
In previous workshops this year, Folio and the Glasgow Group have helped participants explore a set of big ideas: how to align DEI goal-setting from strategic vision all the way down to individual practice; how to observe, coach, and supervise with equity; and how to recruit and retain a diverse faculty and staff.
In most schools, all of those pieces are at play simultaneously, with professional growth nuanced by each individual’s context as well as the school’s culture, norms, and systems. In this workshop, we’ll integrate all of those ideas and more as we work together through a set of case studies focused upon the intersections between professional growth and DEI work.
Come prepared to engage with case studies shared by the presenters, as well as sharing your own case studies for the group to consider or engaging with case studies shared by other participants. Participants will leave the session with a more nuanced understanding of how the “rubber meets the road” when it comes to bringing a DEI lens to professional growth leadership.
Details and registration here
April Workshop: Creating a Culture of Collaboration
Monday, April 14: 3:00 PM – 4:30 ET / 12:00 PM – 1:30 PT
Collaboration among faculty and staff is a key driver for increasing teacher growth and the overall quality of teaching and learning in our schools. For the past several years, with support from the McDonogh School and the E.E. Ford Foundation, a design team led by the Folio Collaborative has investigated how to help schools foster faculty collaboration, conducting fact-finding visits to a set of highly-collaborative schools, non-profits, and for-profit companies. Synthesis of this research yielded a school leadership framework and accompanying whitepaper — The Building Blocks of Transformational Teamwork — which provides guidance to help schools become more collaborative workplaces. Join us in this workshop as we share strategies and tactics to make your school a more collaborative place and help you explore how you might apply our findings in your specific context.Guiding Questions:
- What practices distinguish highly collaborative organizations?
- If we believe that collaboration enhances learning among students, how can we help teachers learn in more collaborative ways as well?
- What strategies and tactics are most central to creating a culture of collaboration?
2021 Annual Meeting, Thursday March 25th, Noon ET
Folio member schools are just that – members. By joining the Collaborative, you aren’t simply subscribing to a software platform or accessing a list of professional development opportunities.
Membership means that you have a voice, that you play a role in Folio’s growth, development, and strategic direction. While there are many ways to exercise that voice and to explore your role as a Folio “insider,” one of the most important of these is Folio’s Annual Meeting, held this year virtually on March 25.
Details and registration here.
February Workshop: Equity and Inclusion Focus
Recruitment and Retention of a Diverse Faculty and Staff
Wednesday, February 10: 3:00 PM – 4:30 ET / 12:00 PM – 1:30 PT
Recruitment and retention of a diverse faculty/staff are long-standing issues within independent schools. The two concepts exist in a feedback loop: the best way to recruit a diverse faculty is to retain a diverse faculty so that you have critical mass, while the best way to retain a diverse faculty is to have consistent diversity in recruitment to enhance and maintain critical mass. As such, recruitment and retention require attention to an array of cultural and interpersonal factors as well as the design and maintenance of systems to promote trust, equity, safety, and inclusion for employees and prospective hires alike.
Central to these efforts is a school’s approach to professional growth: the ways in which growth, feedback, and professional development are designed and implemented by leaders, and experienced by faculty and staff, have an significant impact on recruitment and retention, especially for members of marginalized groups. Join Folio and a group of diversity practitioners from The Glasgow Group, who will share tools and techniques that have proven to be effective in independent school recruitment. Participants will leave this workshop with concrete steps to take in reviewing and enhancing their recruitment and retention practices.
Guiding Questions:
- What are the best tactics for recruitment of a diverse faculty/staff?
- What strategies might schools use to support the retention of diverse faculty/staff?
- What role do professional growth, feedback, and professional development play in the recruitment and retention of diverse faculty/staff?
December Workshop: Equity and Inclusion Focus
Topic Observing, Coaching, and Supervising for Equity
Monday, December 7: 3:00 PM – 4:30 ET / 12:00 PM – 1:30 PT
When it comes to classroom observation, teacher coaching, and the working relationships between teachers and their supervisors, identities are a major factor and “the way we’ve always done it” doesn’t necessarily work for everyone, especially members of marginalized groups.
Supporting growth for all members of our professional communities, and maximizing teacher retention in a time of great complexity and challenge, requires us to unpack and examine the intersections between race, gender, sexual identity, and other key aspects of identity.
We know the importance of quality feedback and that a positive mentoring relationship is a key factor in the retention and success of employees from underrepresented communities.
The professional development process we use in schools — to help faculty and staff learn and grow, work through challenges, rise to meet expectations, and develop their craft as educators — must have a lens towards diversity, equity, and inclusion. Join us to build your skills and rethink your systems towards a more equitable approach to observing classrooms, coaching faculty and staff members, and serving as a supervisor.
Guiding Questions:
How can we approach classroom observation differently in order to make it more supportive to BIPOC faculty and staff and members of other groups who have historically been underrepresented and marginalized in independent schools?
How can supervisors and coaches connect meaningfully with teachers across cultural differences, building effective relationships that don’t replicate systems of oppression?
How can those with dominant identities effectively share critical feedback with those of marginalized identities so that feedback is heard without feeling like it is contributing to negative experiences or targeting?
How can we connect authentically and support effectively when we don’t fully understand the challenges someone faces because of their identity?
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2020-2021 Folio Meetups
One of the best parts of Folio Collaborative membership is the opportunity to connect and share ideas with like-minded schools all over the country (and the world).
Join us for a monthly drop-in call, facilitated by Andy and Meredith and featuring open discussion on a rotating set of topics of interest. Sessions are free of charge and no-commitment; come for the topics that interest you and the dates that work for you.
Bring your ideas, your struggles, your knowledge, and your curiosity, and prepare to share them with others!
3rd Thursday of every monthly, 12:00 PM ET / 9:00 AM PT
- Jan 21: How might our schools heal and rebuild in 2021?
- Feb 18: What does “evaluation” mean in a growth-oriented faculty/staff culture?
- Mar 18: How can schools use peer coaching and other peer-to-peer structures to support faculty/staff growth?
- Apr 15: How can schools support staff growth and learning with the myFolio platform?
2020-2021 Folio Speaker Series
Discount for Folio members
Through the new Folio Speaker Series, Collaborative members will better understand and explore how to bring an equity-and-inclusion lens to their work supporting faculty and staff. These monthly workshops feature guest speakers, innovative content, and time for members to engage with and learn from each other. We are pleased to be partnering with The Glasgow Group, a consortium of experts in the field, to feature topics of equity and inclusion in four of our Folio Speaker Series events.
May Workshop: Equity and Inclusion Focus
Topic: DEI + Professional Growth Case Studies
Wednesday, May 5: 3:00 PM - 4:30 ET / 12:00 PM - 1:30 PT
In previous workshops this year, Folio and the Glasgow Group have helped participants explore a set of big ideas: how to align DEI goal-setting from strategic vision all the way down to individual practice; how to observe, coach, and supervise with equity; and how to recruit and retain a diverse faculty and staff.
In most schools, all of those pieces are at play simultaneously, with professional growth nuanced by each individual’s context as well as the school’s culture, norms, and systems. In this workshop, we’ll integrate all of those ideas and more as we work together through a set of case studies focused upon the intersections between professional growth and DEI work.
Come prepared to engage with case studies shared by the presenters, as well as sharing your own case studies for the group to consider or engaging with case studies shared by other participants. Participants will leave the session with a more nuanced understanding of how the “rubber meets the road” when it comes to bringing a DEI lens to professional growth leadership.
Details and registration here
April Workshop: Creating a Culture of Collaboration
Monday, April 14: 3:00 PM - 4:30 ET / 12:00 PM - 1:30 PT
Collaboration among faculty and staff is a key driver for increasing teacher growth and the overall quality of teaching and learning in our schools. For the past several years, with support from the McDonogh School and the E.E. Ford Foundation, a design team led by the Folio Collaborative has investigated how to help schools foster faculty collaboration, conducting fact-finding visits to a set of highly-collaborative schools, non-profits, and for-profit companies. Synthesis of this research yielded a school leadership framework and accompanying whitepaper -- The Building Blocks of Transformational Teamwork -- which provides guidance to help schools become more collaborative workplaces. Join us in this workshop as we share strategies and tactics to make your school a more collaborative place and help you explore how you might apply our findings in your specific context.Guiding Questions:- What practices distinguish highly collaborative organizations?
- If we believe that collaboration enhances learning among students, how can we help teachers learn in more collaborative ways as well?
- What strategies and tactics are most central to creating a culture of collaboration?
2021 Annual Meeting, Thursday March 25th, Noon ET
Folio member schools are just that – members. By joining the Collaborative, you aren’t simply subscribing to a software platform or accessing a list of professional development opportunities.
Membership means that you have a voice, that you play a role in Folio’s growth, development, and strategic direction. While there are many ways to exercise that voice and to explore your role as a Folio “insider,” one of the most important of these is Folio’s Annual Meeting, held this year virtually on March 25.
Details and registration here.
Online Course: Folio+One Schoolhouse
“Faculty Observation & Feedback: It's Different This Year”
February 1 - February 7 (with access through February 12)
It would be an understatement to say that the events of 2020 have complicated the practice of classroom observation. In trying time and unfamiliar classroom contexts, skills and competencies for observing teaching and offering meaningful feedback are evolving.
This course will guide participants in developing practices that work in multiple modes (on-campus, hybrid, and online) and for complex situations, ultimately helping participants plan for a more mission- and values-aligned approach to observation.
Details and registration here
February Workshop: Equity and Inclusion Focus
Recruitment and Retention of a Diverse Faculty and Staff
Wednesday, February 10: 3:00 PM - 4:30 ET / 12:00 PM - 1:30 PT
Recruitment and retention of a diverse faculty/staff are long-standing issues within independent schools. The two concepts exist in a feedback loop: the best way to recruit a diverse faculty is to retain a diverse faculty so that you have critical mass, while the best way to retain a diverse faculty is to have consistent diversity in recruitment to enhance and maintain critical mass. As such, recruitment and retention require attention to an array of cultural and interpersonal factors as well as the design and maintenance of systems to promote trust, equity, safety, and inclusion for employees and prospective hires alike.
Central to these efforts is a school’s approach to professional growth: the ways in which growth, feedback, and professional development are designed and implemented by leaders, and experienced by faculty and staff, have an significant impact on recruitment and retention, especially for members of marginalized groups. Join Folio and a group of diversity practitioners from The Glasgow Group, who will share tools and techniques that have proven to be effective in independent school recruitment. Participants will leave this workshop with concrete steps to take in reviewing and enhancing their recruitment and retention practices.
Guiding Questions:- What are the best tactics for recruitment of a diverse faculty/staff?
- What strategies might schools use to support the retention of diverse faculty/staff?
- What role do professional growth, feedback, and professional development play in the recruitment and retention of diverse faculty/staff?
December Workshop: Equity and Inclusion Focus
Topic Observing, Coaching, and Supervising for Equity
Monday, December 7: 3:00 PM - 4:30 ET / 12:00 PM - 1:30 PTWhen it comes to classroom observation, teacher coaching, and the working relationships between teachers and their supervisors, identities are a major factor and “the way we’ve always done it” doesn’t necessarily work for everyone, especially members of marginalized groups.
Supporting growth for all members of our professional communities, and maximizing teacher retention in a time of great complexity and challenge, requires us to unpack and examine the intersections between race, gender, sexual identity, and other key aspects of identity.
We know the importance of quality feedback and that a positive mentoring relationship is a key factor in the retention and success of employees from underrepresented communities.
The professional development process we use in schools -- to help faculty and staff learn and grow, work through challenges, rise to meet expectations, and develop their craft as educators -- must have a lens towards diversity, equity, and inclusion. Join us to build your skills and rethink your systems towards a more equitable approach to observing classrooms, coaching faculty and staff members, and serving as a supervisor.
Guiding Questions:
How can we approach classroom observation differently in order to make it more supportive to BIPOC faculty and staff and members of other groups who have historically been underrepresented and marginalized in independent schools?
How can supervisors and coaches connect meaningfully with teachers across cultural differences, building effective relationships that don’t replicate systems of oppression?
How can those with dominant identities effectively share critical feedback with those of marginalized identities so that feedback is heard without feeling like it is contributing to negative experiences or targeting?
How can we connect authentically and support effectively when we don’t fully understand the challenges someone faces because of their identity?
Details and registration here
November Workshop: Building Trust
Forging Stronger and Trusting Relationships
Monday, November 16: 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM ET / 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM PT
Growth and learning happen at the speed of trust.
The aspiration of Folio schools, and most school leaders around the country, is to build collaborative, joyful school cultures that foster deep learning, not only for the students but also for the adults within the community. At a time when more is required of our teachers than ever before, leaders must play a primary role in nurturing the trusting bonds between faculty, staff, and administrators that allow our schools to truly be learning organizations for adults. Join the Folio team and subject matter experts from Eklund Consulting to learn more about how to build, maintain, and repair trust in order to facilitate learning, connection, and transformational change within your school.
Guiding questions:
- Why is trust such an important precursor for growth and collaboration?
- What are the mindsets, behaviors, and practices of leaders who build trust immediately - and then help it grow over time?
- How do we first build a trusting environment so that we then can move toward our shared aspirations of collaborative cultures?
- What can you do if trust has been broken and must be rebuilt in order to move forward?
- What does trust look, sound, and feel like in a school setting?
Details and registration here
Mastermind Group Calls
October 2020 - April 2021
Folio Mastermind calls bring together Folio member school leaders around the shared goal of deepening growth-minded faculty cultures within their school communities. In honest, one-hour conversations, these cohorts share their challenges and best practices, solve problems and collaborate, and learn from — and about — each other.
This year’s Mastermind groups are organized around topics of interest to member schools (see below). School leaders should select a topic that aligns with their own growth goals, their school’s strategic priorities, or the challenge that they find themselves struggling most with. In addition to the valuable content and resources shared by the facilitator and the collective problem-solving that occurs, participants also enjoy the collaborative peer relationships that are built over the year as the same great minds connect and grow together.
Mastermind groups are led by an experienced facilitator and meet virtually seven times between October and April.
Group 1
Supporting growth through authentic feedback and real conversation
Tuesday 8:00 AM ET / 5:00 AM PT (10/13, 11/10, 12/8, 1/12, 2/9, 3/9, 4/20)
Group 2
Supporting growth through authentic feedback and real conversation
Wednesday 12:00 PM ET / 9:00 AM PT (10/14, 11/18, 12/9, 1/13, 2/10, 3/10, 4/21)
Group 3
Building a collaborative faculty and staff culture
Tuesday 12:00 PM ET / 9:00 AM PT (10/13, 11/10, 12/8, 1/12, 2/9, 3/9, 4/20)
Group 4
Helping faculty and staff increase ownership and agency over their professional growth
Thursday 3:00 PM ET / 12:00 PM PT (10/15, 11/12, 12/10, 1/14, 2/11, 3/11, 4/22)
Group 5
Building resilient and growth-oriented faculty and staff communities during a pandemic
Wednesday 8:00 AM ET / 5:00 AM PT (10/14, 11/18, 12/9, 1/13, 2/10, 3/10, 4/21)
Group 6
Building resilient and growth-oriented faculty and staff communities during a pandemic.
Thursday 12:00 PM ET / 9:00 AM ET pm Eastern (10/15, 11/12, 12/10, 1/14, 2/11, 3/11, 4/22)
Details and registration here -
One Schoolhouse Course
Faculty Observation & Feedback: It's Different This Year
October 19 - October 25 (with access through October 30, 2020)
12 hours of asynchronous sessions
Facilitators:
Andy Shaw, Folio Director of Professional Learning
Sarah Hanawald, One Schoolhouse Assistant Head for Professional Development and New Programs
Schools’ shift to remote and hybrid learning modes — and the nature of working in socially distanced school communities — has complicated the practice of classroom observation. In these unfamiliar classroom contexts, defined skills and competencies for delivering effective teaching and offering meaningful feedback are evolving.
This course will guide participants in developing practices that work in multiple modes (on-campus, hybrid, and online) and for complex situations, ultimately helping participants plan for a more mission- and values-aligned approach to observation.
Details and registration here -
Past Event - October Workshop: Equity and Inclusion Focus
Be a SMARTIE: Bringing a DEI Lens to Institutional and Individual Goal Setting
Monday, October 19: 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM ET / 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM PT
Learn about concrete steps your school can take to move along the continuum of inclusive schools by making equity and inclusion a central part of faculty and staff members’ daily work towards professional growth and improvement.
Details and registration her
Using myFolio New Features
Wednesday, August 19 - 12:00 PM EDT / 9:00 AM PDT
Zoom
It’s here - the exciting new features and enhancements in myFolio. Learn about the long-awaited updates and changes to the platform, and begin introducing them to your school community. See how “Themes” will help faculty and staff align their professional growth goals with your school’s priorities, mission and values. Explore the prompts and guided process that will make goals more meaningful and achievable. See where your school community will share insights, ideas and resources in the new community feed, and the new redesign that will make the myFolio experience more engaging and impactful.
For Folio member schools only.
Free
Details and registration here -
myFolio New Features Preview
Wednesday, August 5 - 12:00 PM EDT / 9:00 AM PDT
Zoom
Preview the exciting new features and enhancements in myFolio before the long-awaited updates and changes to the platform are launched on August 10. See how “Themes” will help faculty and staff align their professional growth goals with your school’s priorities, mission and values. Explore the prompts and guided process that will make goals more meaningful and achievable. See where your school community will share insights, ideas and resources in the new community feed, and the new redesign that will make the myFolio experience more engaging and meaningful.
For Folio member schools only.
Free
Details and registration here -
Folio Workshop: Ongoing Reflection as a Tool for Growth and Innovation
Wednesday, July 29 9:00 - 11:00 AM EDT / 6:00 - 8:00 AM PDT
Wednesday, July 29 12:00 - 2:00 PM EDT / 9:00 - 11:00 AM PDT
Zoom
This workshop is being offered twice; participants should select one of these sessions.
Great educators are self-reflective, continually thinking about what worked and what didn’t work in their daily practice and then using that information to make adjustments. By establishing shared structures, dedicating time, and working side-by-side with teachers to unpack and innovate based on reflection, school leaders demonstrate their commitment to reflective practice. In this workshop, we’ll explore how adult learners use reflection as a way to process, draw connections, find relevance, and make meaning from their experiences, learn about the common elements of effective reflection practices; think about how we might expand our reflection practices, brainstorm ways to help teachers use their reflections as the starting place for innovation, and create and receive feedback on a draft framework for implementing a multi-faceted, embedded approach to reflection with your faculty and staff.
This workshop is designed for Folio school leaders responsible for facilitating the observation and feedback process with faculty and staff.
Details and registration here -
Folio Workshop: Observation and Feedback — Focusing on What Matters
Wednesday, July 15 - 9:00-11:00 AM EDT / 6:00 - 8:00 AM PDT
Wednesday, July 15 - 12:00-2:00 PM EDT / 9:00-11:00 AM PDT
Zoom
This workshop is being offered twice; participants should select one of these sessions.
Given the uncertainties surrounding next school year, it’s important to focus on what matters most - those aspects that will remain relevant in a physical, virtual, or hybrid school environment. Observation and targeted feedback can positively impact faculty and staff performance and support community morale. In this workshop, we’ll work together to review the fundamentals of effective observation, explore how non-traditional observation methods strengthen and complement traditional scheduled classroom observation, brainstorm about observation protocol for enduring elements of effective teaching, practice observation through role play, and draft a framework for implementing a targeted observation and feedback approach that works in physical and virtual schooling environments.
This workshop is designed for Folio school leaders responsible for facilitating the observation and feedback process with faculty and staff.
Details and registration here
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Folio Member Spotlight: St. George's School
Friday, May 22 - 12:00 PM EDT / 9:00 AM PDT, Zoom
For Folio members
Justin Cerenzia, Dean of Teaching & Learning and Director of Merck Center for Teaching at St. George's School, will share his school’s reflection efforts and how that empowered faculty to become more adaptable. With the help of the Folio process, Justin and other school leaders were able to create the conditions necessary to adjust, pivot, and collaborate successfully during the shift to distance learning.
This event is open to Folio members only.
Click for Free Registration:
Friday, May 22 - 12:00 PM EDT / 9:00 AM PDT -
Town Hall - Dave Mochel: Trusting Your Wise Self
Wednesday, May 20 – 2:00 PM EDT / 11:00 AM PDT
Have you ever promised yourself that you will stop doing something only to repeat it that same day? Have you ever committed to a new behavior only to forget that commitment hours later? We may find ourselves repeatedly engaging in ineffective behavior simply because it is automatic and comfortable.
Life coach Dave Mochel will teach participants the practice and principles of Mindful Self-Regulation. This simple and powerful practice for honest and self-compassionate reflection allows us to access the wisdom and confidence we need in real time to be healthy, purposeful and effective.
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Wednesday, May 20 – 2:00 PM EDT / 11:00 AM PDT -
End of Year Reflection - Learning in a Time of Rapid Change
Monday, May 18 – 3:00 PM EDT / 12:00 PM PDT
For Folio Members
As a school leader during these times of rapid transition and change, you have undoubtedly been working alongside faculty and staff to help them navigate their new roles as distance educators. And yet, as a Folio school leader, you know that it’s not enough to provide emotional support and pedagogical guidance to teachers - that in order for real learning to occur, we also push teachers to pause, reflect, and make sense of the experience.
In this 90-minute workshop, participants will:
- Review adult learning principles to understand the elements of effective reflection practices and make the case for why reflection is vital for educators
- Brainstorm potential reflection practices in small groups
- Create and receive feedback on a draft framework for leading end-of-year reflection with your faculty and staff
This event is open to Folio members only.
Each workshop limited to 8 Folio school leaders.
SOLD OUT! Wait list available.
Click for wait list and more information:
Monday, May 18 – 3:00 PM EDT / 12:00 PM PDT -
Folio Member Spotlight: The Athenian School - Approach to Professional Development for Distance Learning
Wednesday, May 6 - 12:00 PM EDT / 9:00 AM PDT, Zoom
For Folio members
The Athenian School built-out distance learning professional development for their faculty by curating ideas and knowledge from current leaders in online learning and adapting those to their unique identity as a school.
The amount of information around distance learning practices can be overwhelming and by asking the question “How will this work in my context?” the process of selecting tools and processes can take a more strategic focus. Participants will discuss possible frameworks for doing the same in their respective schools
This event is open to Folio members only.
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Wednesday, May 6 - 12:00 PM EDT / 9:00 AM PDT -
Folio Town Hall with Dr. Arman Taghizadeh: How can we teach through something we never learned?
Friday, May 1 – 10:00 AM EDT/ 7:00 AM PDT, Zoom
In education, this time of year can be overwhelming under the best of circumstances much less the current situation. This interactive virtual program is specifically designed for school leaders to help provide support, address individual concerns and present concrete suggestions that educators can integrate into their personal and professional lives. Let’s use this crisis as an opportunity to challenge ourselves, to grow and improve as professionals!
Arman Taghizadeh, M.D. also known as “Dr. T”, is a Johns Hopkins trained psychiatrist who is Board Certified in both General Adult Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. He also specializes in Sports Psychiatry and is the founder of Mindset Training Institute (MTI).
*This Town Hall will be particularly relevant to Department Chairs and others who support faculty directly.*
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Friday, May 1 – 10:00 AM EDT / 7:00 AM PDT -
Folio Co-Lab: Reflection as a Tool for Growth
Thursday, April 23 - 12:00 PM EDT / 9:00 AM PDT, Zoom
For Folio members
Natika Stewart from the Folio Team will facilitate this hour-long conversation for Folio members to discuss strategies and tools for facilitating the reflection process with their faculty and staff.
Given the dramatic changes to independent schooling forced by the COVID-19 pandemic, these weekly Co-Labs help Folio members connect and access the resources and tools they need for remote leadership.
Registration is limited to 15 Folio members. As space is limited and demand high, please check your schedule to confirm your availability prior to registering. Once registered, you will receive a confirmation email with log-in information. If the Co-Lab is full, please contact our team (pd@foliocollaborative.org) to be placed on the waitlist. Materials will also be available at foliocollaborative.org following each weekly Co-Lab.
This event is open to members only.
Click for Free Registration:
Thursday, April 23 - 12:00 PM EDT / 9:00 AM PDT -
Folio Member Spotlight: Seattle Academy (SAAS)
Tuesday, April 21 - 12:00 PM EDT / 9:00 AM PDT, Zoom
For Folio members
Fred Strong, the Dean of Faculty for Arts and Athletics at Seattle Academy, will share strategies and lessons learned from his school's transition to distance learning.
There will be time for questions from participants following the presentation.
This event is open to members only.
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Tuesday, April 21 - 12:00 PM EDT / 9:00 AM PDT -
Leadership Coaching Conversation with Abigail Wiebenson
Wednesday, April 8 - 1:00 EDT / 10:00 AM PDT, Zoom
For Folio members
What’s on your mind? What is keeping you up at night? How are other school leaders handling our recent changes and demands? Abigail will lead this candid conversation about school leadership in a time of change and crisis. Folio members can participate in one or several of these weekly discussions.
Call limited to 10 participants.
This event is open to members only.
Click for Free Registration
Wednesday, April 8 - 1:00 EDT / 10:00 AM PDT -
Folio Member Spotlight: St. Mark’s School
Wednesday, April 8 - 12:00 PM EDT / 9:00 AM PDT, Zoom
For Folio members
Dr. Sarah Enterline, Director of Institutional Research and Samantha Brennan, Assistant Head of School/Dean of Faculty at St. Mark’s School will lead a presentation on their emerging remote learning assessment program.
Through this work, the school hopes to understand better which methods in virtual instruction are most effective and lead to the highest levels of engagement and satisfaction, as measured by weekly surveys of faculty, students and parents. As part of this research, St. Mark’s will be partnering with other independent schools to share research and learn from one another.
Dr. Enterline will preview this survey work and discuss plans for using feedback to inform real-time adjustments to their instructional approach.
There will be time for questions from the audience, following the presentation.
This event is open to members only.
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Wednesday, April 8 - 12:00 PM EDT / 9:00 AM PDT -
Folio Co-Lab: Structured Member Conversations
Tuesday, April 7 - 12:00 PM EDT / 9:00 AM PDT, Zoom
For Folio members
Natika Stewart from the Folio Team will facilitate this hour-long conversation for Folio members to share ideas and insights about how to use the Folio goal-setting process during just-in-time and remote learning.
These weekly Co-Labs help Folio members connect and access the resources and tools they need for remote leadership.
Registration is limited to 15 Folio members. As space is limited and demand high, please check your schedule to confirm your availability prior to registering. Once registered, you will receive a confirmation email with log-in information. If the Co-Lab is full, please contact our team (pd@foliocollaborative.org) to be placed on the waitlist. Materials will also be available at foliocollaborative.org following each weekly Co-Lab.
This event is open to members only.
Click for Free Registration:
Tuesday, April 7 - 12:00 PM EDT / 9:00 AM PDT -
Town Hall with Harriet Cooperman and Kathryn Beaumont Murphy: Current Covid-19 Employment Concerns: New Legislation, Paying Employees, Performance Expectations, and Lessons Learned
Monday, April 6 – 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT, Zoom
Harriet Cooperman and Kathryn Beaumont Murphy from Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s K-12 Independent School Practice will share their legal expertise about how schools can prepare to comply with the new regulations in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, including employment concerns.
This one-hour session will include content as well as plenty of space for participant conversation and questions.
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Monday, April 6 – 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT -
Town Hall with Brad Rathgeber: Continuity in Crisis: A Leadership Conversation around Distance Learning
Friday, April 3 – 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT, Zoom
Brad Rathgeber, CEO and Head of School at One Schoolhouse, will lead this conversation about best practices you should keep in mind as your school settles into this new way of leading and teaching for the remainder of the school year. Brad will touch on key concepts and strategies from the new One Schoolhouse course offering of the same name.
This one-hour session will include content as well as plenty of space for participant conversation and questions.
Click for free registration:
Friday, April 3 – 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT -
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Leadership Coaching Conversations
Wednesday, April 1 – 7:30 AM EDT and Thursday, April 2, 2020 - 12:00 PM EDT/9:00 AM PDT, Zoom conversation
Join fellow Folio members and school leaders in the second of a series of leadership coaching calls to speak candidly and productively about your school leadership during these times of crisis. Facilitated by Abigail Wiebenson, certified leadership coach and veteran school leader, participants will discuss current challenges and wins and harness the collective expertise and resources of the group as they lead school communities during this unprecedented time.
Each call limited to 10 participants.
Click for free registration.
Wednesday, April 1 – 7:30 AM EDT
Thursday, April 2 – 12:00 PM EDT/9:00 AM PDT -
Town Hall with Tim Fish: Applying Innovation Frameworks to Our New Reality
Tuesday, March 31 – 10:30 AM EDT/7:30 AM PDT, Zoom
In this conversation with Tim Fish, the Chief Innovation Officer from NAIS, we will discuss strategies Tim is hearing from schools navigating the transition to distance learning particularly well. Using some of the work developed through the NAIS Strategy Lab, Tim will walk participants through models that can help schools answer the question: What else should I be doing to support my teachers? This conversation will inform your leadership and give you a chance to strategize your next steps as a leader of faculty.
This one-hour session will include content as well as plenty of space for participant conversation and questions.
Click for free registration:
Tuesday, March 31 – 10:30 AM EDT/7:30 AM PDT -
FolioCollaborative Co-Lab: Sustaining Personal Connections with Faculty and Staff Remotely
Tuesday, March 31 – 8:00 AM EDT and 12 Noon EDT/9:00 AM PDT, Zoom conversation
Co-Labs are new weekly meetings for Folio members, focused primarily on sharing the resources and tools needed for the just-in-time learning that independent school leaders are driving. Anyone with a supervisory role for faculty and teachers will find these Co-Labs especially beneficial.
The Folio team will provide relevant content and moderate a discussion so that members have the opportunity to learn from each other and discuss how other schools are approaching similar situations.
Registration is limited to 15 Folio members. As space is limited and demand high, please check your schedule to confirm your availability prior to registering. Once registered, you will receive a confirmation email with log-in information. If the Co-Lab is full, please contact our team (pd@foliocollaborative.org) to be placed on the waitlist. Materials will also be available at foliocollaborative.org following each weekly Co-Lab.
Click for free registration:
Tuesday, March 31 - 8:00 AM EDT
Tuesday, March 31 - 12 Noon EDT / 9:00 AM PDT -
Folio Town Hall with Glenn Whitman: Using Educational Neuroscience to Support Remote Leadership and Learning
Friday, March 27 – 10:30 AM EDT (US and Canada), Zoom conversation
The next weekly Folio Town Hall – what type of virtual experiences can deepen learning? How can you intentionally build belonging into your teaching and leading in order to support the academic, social, and emotional needs of teachers and students? How can the most promising research in mind, brain, and education science inform the current virtual school reality?
This one-hour session led by Glenn Whitman (co-author of Neuroteach: Brain Science and the Future of Education and Director
of the Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning at St. Andrew's Episcopal School) will include participant conversation and questions.
Open to Folio members and non-members.
Click for free registration :
Friday, March 27 - 10:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) Leadership Conversations
Wednesday, March 25 and Thursday, March 26, 2020 , Zoom conversation
Join fellow Folio members and school leaders in the first of a series of leadership coaching calls to speak candidly and productively about your school leadership during these times of crisis. Facilitated by Abigail Wiebenson, certified leadership coach and veteran school leader, participants will discuss current challenges and wins and harness the collective expertise and resources of the group as they lead school communities during this unprecedented time.
Each call limited to 10 participants.
Click for more information and for free registration.
Wednesday, March 25 - 7:30 AM EDT
Thursday, March 26 - 12:00 PM (EDT)/ 9:00 AM PDT -
Coronaviris (COVID-19) Town Hall, Tuesday, March 17, 2020
Zoom online webinar
As a community, let’s leverage our shared and unique experiences to help each other through this period of change and uncertainty. Share with and learn from other independent school leaders around the country about planning for and implementing remote learning. Two sessions.
Click for more information and to register:
Tuesday, March 17 – 7:30 AM (Eastern)
Tuesday, March 17 – 10:30 AM (Eastern) / 7:30 AM (Pacific)