On the Shoulders of Giants

Professional Pathway In a More Teacher-Driven Profession...

Professional development for teachers today is often done "to us," not "by us."  There is a lack of consistency in these top down PD initiatives, as different solutions to old problems are tried almost yearly, but never actually established or appropriately reflected upon by teachers and leaders.  These "flavor of the month" initiatives are met with a lot of eye rolling by teachers, because they rarely speak directly to the needs we have in our classrooms. What's especially strange to me about this model is that it does not set up teachers to be the experts in our own field. 

I imagine that in a transformed, more teacher-driven profession, most teachers would have a professional pathway that looks something like this--

1. Acquire the basics of teaching. Get over the hump of being a beginner through experience, mentorship, reflection.

2. Identify areas of interest, such as designing assessments, teaching the skills of collaboration to students, or connecting with communities around student learning, to name a few possibilities. 

3. Explore these areas deeply in their own teaching, drawing on available research and methods and developing their own practices that work for their students in their school context.

4. Participate in discourse around these practices within the wider profession.  Unfortunately, the discourse has often included only professors and researchers, and to some degree, preservice or beginning teachers through course work, but not experienced, practicing teachers!

5. Finally, share developments with other teachers, both in teaching/school contexts and outside. Teachers could write, present at conferences, and move into various leadership roles.

Many teachers already have a pathway that looks like this, but they do so, by going against the grain of the established professional development models, and they often don't get recognized or credited for their professional growth and knowledge.  

The result of a more teacher-driven professional growth model would be a more deeply skilled, empowered teaching force, in which we are clearly the experts at what we do.

 

[image credit: careergirlnetwork.com]

Extreme Teacher Leadership

This is one of those moments where I have so much on my mind, that I don't know what to write about. So I'm just going to level with you:

The past couple of months have taken a toll on me. Fulltime teaching and writing a book in my extra time, on top of my usual writing and teacher leadership activities, have been no joke.  I've pushed myself mentally and physically past what I thought was my limit. No, writing is not a sport; I'm talking about teaching without a full night's sleep too many days each week, for weeks at a time. (Serious empathy going out to the teachers out there who are new moms and dads and do this for their little ones).  

This weekend I'm spending time with family, and I feel like I'm barely here. I haven't had time to just be. I haven't had time to get my nails done or other seemingly unimportant stuff that grounds me.  

I'm not complaining. I'm proud and excited that I've written a book about an aspect of my teaching that I feel so passionately about and can now share on a new level; I love my students and I'm energized by teaching every day. I would not say that this feeling is one of being burnt out. It's just that there is a personal cost to trying to do so much at once.  

Yes, this should be called "Extreme Teacher Leadership"!  There are other ways, though... Check out the discussion by teacher leaders at the Teaching Ahead Roundtable on hybrid roles.   

 

[image credit: www.tourismontheedge.com ]

Dream Hybrid Roles for Teachers?

I've dreamt of a hybrid role that allows me to teach part time and lead part time.  Here, for example, was my birthday wish a few years ago... the image from that post was so great I had to repeat it here.

Right now, there is a great discussion happening at Teaching Ahead: A Roundtable hosted by EdWeek Teacher and CTQ.  Several teacher leaders, including myself, have posted descriptions of our ideal hybrid roles, and the discussion has been equally interesting.  

My post is about creating a multi-layered teaching position and I'm working on a follow-up.  Brooke Peters of the Odyssey Initiative has been writing about how to create a school around teacher leadership and she shares great suggestions and ideas for hyrbid roles gleaned from her travels to schools around the country.  Ilana Garon, Lhisa Almashy, and Linda Yaron describe their unique, ideal hybrid roles.

Check in now--follow up posts are coming out!

 [image credit: http://natalie.ukdesignernetwork.com/art/psele.jpg]

Is your class important? Conversation overheard on train...

Riding the train home from work today, I was sitting in the vicinity of two 14 year old-looking boys I'd never seen before. They were having a somewhat raucous conversation about taking pictures and posting them and then deleting them and getting girls' numbers and that sort of thing. My tired mind tuned it out, and when I happened to tune back in, the conversation had taken a turn:

"Nah, I didn't do that either," said the first boy.

"I might fail that class," said the second boy.

"Yeah, but she's a very, like, disorganized teacher, so I just focus on my really important classes, like U.S. History."  

"Yeah, me too."

I was quietly amused. I've been on both sides of this coin. I saw myself in both the "disorganized" teacher and the "really important" teacher they referenced. It was funny to hear the students' frank words.

What exactly makes students (especially adolescents) feel like a class is important? I think organization is an interesting idea to pick apart here. There is organization in the typical sense. Do you I know where things are? Do I lose students' papers? Do I check homework and collect assignments? Is there a sense of order in the physical space?  Organization in the traditional sense is important.  

Another huge factor is the organization of the learning experiences students have.  Are they sequenced logically?  Are they appropriately paced?  Do they lead students to conceptual understanding?  If students feel like the individual experiences they have in a class seem to be part of a unified curriculum--where small ideas have a clear place in connection to larger concepts, which have relevance in their lives and the world--students are more likely to find meaning in the work...and that makes it "important."  

 

[image credit: robertmanni.com]

 

Flipped Hierarchy

I often dream of a flipped hierarchy in education, where at the top of the pyramid are the classrooms with teachers and students, and below us are all of the other people in supportive roles, holding up the most important work we do.  

If you are not a teacher, but you're looking at this image, thinking, "Yes, that's exactly how it is," then you should try talking to some teachers.  

I'm fortunate to feel supported at my school by colleagues, school leaders, and parents, but that's not necessarily the norm.  And there are still outside forces that threaten these conditions.  Do teachers feel recognized and supported by the people/organizations that influence and govern their profession?  The answer, by and large, is no.  And when teachers aren't supported, students aren't either. 

If we are really most important, then let's flip the hierarchy!

The Era of the Lockdown Drill

My mother used to tell me about the shelter drills she had to do as a kid growing up in the early cold war era.  It was foreign to me, and I understood only the part of it that resembled the fire drills I grew up doing in school.  Friends in California also had earthquake drills. Today, I experienced my first lockdown drill, and it felt like the beginning of a new era.

The creation of the lockdown drill was in response to the recent horrific school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.  It is only sensible to take precautions and be prepared for such a possibility, since preparations could save many lives.

I was struck by the emotional content of practicing for this kind of threat. The students understood it was just practice, and most schools have some procedure for an 'intruder alert," but I had never been asked to practice before, and none of us had ever imagined the situation as seriously as we did now. We did not act in total seriousness. We followed the procedure correctly and tried to keep the mood light, to balance out the fear the situation invoked.

Without going deeper into this topic, I'll just say, it feels like a new era. I wonder what other precautions, beyond the realm of gun control, we could be taking to ensure that individuals with the power to do harm, choose not to?

 

Low-Key List of Resolutions for 2013

I'm not a big resolution-maker, and I'm not for setting myself up to be a big resolution breaker either. Here are a few low-key resolutions--or reminders--to myself on the eve of 2013.

1. Listen longer before responding.

2. Ask more questions.

3. Listen to more music. Buy a few good albums.

4. Try to plan due dates for student work around days when I'll actually have time to review the students' work. Schedule the review time.

5. Spruce up my classroom environment seasonally. Find something deliciously wintery to decorate when we get back--better yet, have students make it.  I always invest a lot of time in my classroom environment in September, but forget to reinvigorate it later in the year. 

6. Write, or don't write. But avoid thinking about writing, and not writing.

7. Learn how to subscribe to blogs, so I can read and comment on my favorite bloggers' blogs more regularly.  (Yeah, I still don't get the whole rss feed thing; I mostly use Twitter as a feed but I miss a lot that way.) 

8. Email people back right away whenever possible.  A quick response is better than a lengthy, delayed one or none at all. Every piece of writing does not need to become a "project" in my head.

9. Dont be afraid to make the case for something I feel strongly about. Don't hide my true beliefs behind the guise of being diplomatic or fair-minded. That's not what diplomacy and fairmindedness are. Everyone has a right to voice his or her perspective--including me. I can respect others' opinions without agreeing with them. And I actually show others more respect by speaking up when I disagree than by holding it silently. Even worse, don't be "lazy" to make the argument. This is a sign of not caring.  If that doesn't match my actual feelings, then something is amiss. Speak up.

10. Keep getting to know my students. I've only known them a few months, really. Don't create fixed ideas in my mind about who they are.  Give them the space to change--they are 13; they tend to do that. Keep a big heart for them. Bring food sometimes. Every interaction--whether instructional or casual--counts more than I realize.  

Happy New Year!  I'd love links to your New Year's posts or comments about your own reminders.

 

[image credits: paulawiseman.com, http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewendyhouse/411993081/]

Teacher's Journey to Discover What Sticks With Students

Florida teacher of fifteen years, David Menasche, has brain cancer in advanced stages. At the end of years of treatment, he's decided to spend what are likely his last days travelling the country, meeting his former students.  He wants to see what became of them and find out what kind of difference he made in their lives.  

This is an amazing venture, and his video is worth watching for the example it sets of strength of human spirit.  It's also interesting, because of what he finds about the difference his students tell him he made for them, or at least what they remember of it.  What does this say about measuring good teaching? How do students' memories of us years correlate to the impact we had on them, both while we were teaching them and long term? I hope we'll hear a lot more from Menasche about what he finds.

Watch a quick news segment about him here: CLICK 

(Sorry, embedding was not available. Below is only a screenshot.)

 

Teachers Observing Teachers (My first radio gig at BAM!)

I participated in a radio podcast segment with BAM Radio Network, ("The Voice of the Education Community") on the interesting and important topic of teachers observing other teachers. I was invited, because of a blog post I wrote in 2010, Understanding Why So Few American Teachers Observe Each Other.  It was a discussion that included me, and two other educators, Elena Silva and Lisa Dabbs, moderated by Rae Pica.  

I liked the format and how the 10 minute presentation came out.  Each of us commentators came from slightly different angles, and I think together we were able to shed some light on the topic.  And this is a topic worth paying attention to, not only because teachers can learn a great deal from observing one another, but because many people are interested in seeing peer observations become a component of teacher evaluation.  I'm not against it, but I'm also not quite ready to jump into it either... check out the segment!

Teachers Watching Teachers: Keys to Peer Observation

 

Classroom Management and the "Like" Factor

In a department meeting this week, we opened by reading a poem by Lau Tzu.  Although the translation was slightly different, here are the lines:

“Simplicity, patience, compassion.
These three are your greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
you reconcile all beings in the world.” 
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

In discussing this poem in relation to teaching, I thought about the meaning of the teacher having compassion for him or herself.  

And then, a comment someone made in a conversation on Facebook about classroom management popped into my head.  It was a comment on a post by a teacher about classroom management. (Was it Jose Vilson? He often has interesting conversations about teaching going on there, so it could have been started by him...) Anyway, someone had asked for words of wisdom about classroom management. I don't know if this was just somebody's thought or if it's a known quote, but someone wrote:

"It's not about if the students like you.  It's about if they think you like them." 

Suddenly, this thought connected to Lao Tzu's message.  If the teacher does not have compassion for him or herself, the teacher will be looking to the students for approval--to see whether he or she is doing a good job.  If the teacher-- let's say me, since I've been in this position before--if I am looking for the students' approval of me and my teaching, then I won't be focusing on giving the gift of compassion to my students. 

There's something confusing about this. The student's response to learning experiences I set into motion is probably the most important element for me to keenly observe and make meaning of as the teacher... The lesson here, though, is that I should be making meaning of student responses so that I can determine next steps for their learning. Not to tell me whether I'm a good teacher or not.  That's an egocentric response on my part.

We need to have compassion for ourselves as teachers, so we can, in turn, give this to our students as they make their way through learning.  Their response to us is often determined by whether they think we like them and believe in them. It's egocentric of them, but they are the children! They are allowed this! 

 

[image credit: tcfofbrevardnc.org]