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Elisa B. MacDonald
Skillful Intentional Team Leadership
LEAD teams with intention.
GROW leaders' mindset and skills.
IMPACT teaching and learning.
Free Resources
Blog & Articles
"I love that after all these years and to this day I find resources from you and use them to better my practice and I share them with all my colleagues!"
Erin Finn, Assistant Principal
free templates
Free Resources
Learning Forward Conference Boston

Bestseller Intentional Moves
Table of Contents

Bestseller The Skillful Team Leader

The STL 10 Primary Intentions

STL Team
Function, Impact Matrix

STL Phases of Collaborative Inquiry

Blog, Vlog and Published Articles
Blog Vlog Articles
Anchor 1


3 Moves to Cultivate Diverse Perspectives
Create a collaborative culture that not only welcomes diversity of thought, but expects it.
Elisa MacDonald
Mar 22, 20231 min read


5 Levels of Engagement in a Team Meeting
Popular Instagram post. Principals, administrators and coaches often sit in on teacher team meetings. It can be hard to know how to participate in a way that is useful to the team. Plan with the teacher leader or team in advance to show up in one of these 5 ways.
Elisa MacDonald
Feb 11, 20231 min read


Facilitators Build Trust With Clear Parameters
Whether you are a principal facilitating a change initiative or a teacher leader facilitating a content-level team, set clear parameters.
Elisa MacDonald
Feb 5, 20231 min read


Become a Better Collaborator By Committing to a Personal Norm
Let’s show up as our best selves so that, together, we can have the powerful impact on student learning of which our teams are truly capable
Elisa MacDonald
Jan 20, 20231 min read


The "Best Of the Year" List: A team-building activity for the new year
The “Best of 2022” lists are out & they inspired this great teacher team-building activity! Build trust and community with prompts that get teams talking long after your PD/meeting. Here's how: (10min) 1. Craft 5-10 fun and instructionally-focused prompts. (See examples below.) 2. Share on a slide or handout. Or for a little fun, write on paper scraps and place inside a bowl at each group table so groups can pick one at a time. 3. Give small groups 1-2 min per prompt to share
Elisa MacDonald
Jan 1, 20232 min read


Lead Teams with Intention: Three Moves to Start the School Year
Published in Corwin Connect. Click here or read below. A great introduction to Intentional Moves, including 3 strategies to help you...
Elisa MacDonald
Oct 11, 20224 min read


Everyone in the MacDonald household is excited for the arrival of this package!
5 years in the making and my book, Intentional Moves, arrives! My puppy, Oscar, is particularly interested! I could not be happier with...
Elisa MacDonald
Aug 22, 20221 min read


3 Habits of Highly Effective Teacher Teams
When time is of the essence and the goal is to drive deeper student learning—here are 3 ways to keep teacher teams focused and productive
Paige Tutt (Writes article based off of my blog)
Aug 19, 20221 min read


3 Habits to Make Teacher Teams More Impactful: Start the school year with these collaborative moves
Three team habits that transform learning
Elisa MacDonald
Jul 29, 20221 min read


K-13. Who says school has to stop at grade 12?
Four months into the pandemic and learning gaps are already evident. What if we rethink the school timeline? Unconventional, but needed.
Elisa MacDonald
May 18, 20204 min read


Virtual collaboration: Time for Impact
Due to school closures, teams have had to make due with meeting virtually, but could this crisis bring with it an unexpected gift?
Elisa MacDonald
Apr 6, 20205 min read


Virtual Teams Can Work!
Leading a team can be challenging under normal circumstances, add video to the mix and a whole new slew of hurdles emerge. Nevertheless, wi
Elisa MacDonald
Mar 25, 20205 min read


Ed Leadership: Research Says Looking at Student Work Yields Insights
Bryan Goodwin and Heather Hein cite Elisa MacDonald in this Ed Leadership ASCD article https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/looking-at-student-work-yields-insights Educational Leadership April 2016 | Volume 73 | Number 7 Looking at Student Work Pages 79-80 Research Says / Looking at Student Work Yields Insights Bryan Goodwin and Heather Hein Years ago when I was a graduate student teaching college composition, my supervising professor presented the group of us teaching composi
Bryan Goodwin and Heather Hein cite Elisa MacDonald
Apr 1, 20165 min read


A School on the Move: Four practices led to a Boston elementary school's dramatic turnaround.
Published article in Ed Leadership ASCD online. "Four practices led to a Boston elementary school's dramatic turnaround." Click here to...
Elisa MacDonald
Jun 1, 20151 min read


Turn obstacles into opportunities: ... skillful approach to move past barriers to learning
Published article in Learning Forward's Journal of Staff Development Click here
Elisa MacDonald
Dec 1, 20131 min read


Leading in Schools on the Edge: An initiative to bring cohort of leaders into low-performing schools
Published article in ASCD online. Click here
Elisa MacDonald
Sep 30, 20131 min read


Buoyed on all sides: A network of support guides teacher leaders in high-needs schools
Published article in Learning Forward's Journal of Staff Development Click here and go to page 32
Elisa MacDonald
Dec 4, 20121 min read


Back on Track: How an Urban High School Strategically Led At-Risk Students to Success.
Published article in ASCD online. Click here
Elisa MacDonald
Oct 4, 20121 min read


Maximize Team Impact
Published in Middle Ground Magazine Nov. 2011. Based on excerpt from bestselling book, The Skillful Team Leader prior to publishing. Grouping people together and calling them a team does not necessarily result in collaboration that transforms a school. Just about any book on the subject of educator collaboration speaks of the importance of high-functioning teams, and just about any episode of reality TV where individual competitors are obliged to collaborate on a team projec
Elisa MacDonald
Nov 1, 201110 min read


When Nice Won't Suffice: Honest discourse is key to shifting culture
Top 10 most read Learning Forward article of 2011. Published in the Journal of Staff Development. Click here And a summary of article...
Elisa MacDonald
Jun 1, 20111 min read
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