In a school district with 188 schools and more than 19,000 educators, how can you help teachers develop leadership skills and grow in their careers?
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, one of the largest school districts in North Carolina, developed a Teacher Leader Pathway Program to provide teacher leaders with non-administrative leadership opportunities, like leading professional learning communities, coaching fellow teachers, and helping with larger class sizes.
In January, Kelly McKinnon, who is one of eight program specialists who run the Teacher Leader Pathway Program, piloted The Power of Habit course for a dozen teachers in the program. She said the course’s timing was perfect for a New Year’s boost.
“We always have fantastic feedback from the Crucial Learning courses, and there was a lot of, ‘This was really good. I can use this with my students, I can use this for myself. I can use this for the teachers I’m coaching, I can use this at home,’” McKinnon said. “Them feeling it was very useful and they could actually use it in their buildings is really important for us. If you can’t use the stuff we’re working on in your role, then we probably need to be looking at a different professional development course.”
The program, which encompasses more than 800 teacher leaders at 147 of the district’s 188 schools, provides exclusive access to all five Crucial Learning courses, beginning with the foundation of Crucial Conversations for Mastering Dialogue and Getting Things Done.
“Sometimes our teacher leaders are talking to their colleagues… and it’s the first time that they’re stepping into actually leading other adults,” she said. “Having that Crucial Conversations background is invaluable in helping them set the stage for the conversation, helping them set goals for the conversation. And we have a completely different coaching model and practice that’s aside from Crucial Conversations, but it really helps them deliver and conduct their feedback meetings more effectively.”
The next course for all teacher leaders is The Power of Habit, with Crucial Influence and Crucial Conversations for Accountability recommended for the multi-classroom leaders, who exclusively coach fellow teachers.
When she got certified in The Power of Habit in September 2023, McKinnon said she could immediately see connections between The Power of Habit and the other Crucial Learning courses in which she’s certified.
“I like the way it ties to some of the things from Crucial Influence about the cues and making sure you’re setting up stuff for your team, but then The Power of Habit provides a really good way to help our teacher leaders structure their coaching meetings around how to get to a particular consistent action,” she said. “It’s like you’re learning the skills for one, but it’s carrying through to a couple of different areas. What can I do as a teacher leader to make it easier? What can I help them do to remember these things? What pieces can I take off their plate instead, and how can they help hold each other accountable?”
McKinnon said she also saw correlations between Master My Stories in Crucial Conversations for Mastering Dialogue and The Power of Habit’s lesson on master scripts, or the stories people tell themselves to reinforce habits.
As with each Crucial Learning course McKinnon said she’ll be in the middle of teaching and has to write notes for herself about changes for her own life. She said the skills gained through The Power of Habit make revisiting routines and habits she needs to set less daunting.
“Previously I would’ve been like, ‘This is going to take me forever,’ but I don’t feel apprehensive about starting it,” she said. “I know I can get this done. I just need to sit down, schedule myself some time—I probably need to pull a little Getting Things Done in, and this particular weekly review is going to include adding these two routines and figuring out what the things are… I know I can restart in a certain way. It’s not as anxiety-producing.
