Recently educators and students in our great state have been subject to unusually harsh weather, even for us. As the snow piled up and the cold set in, school districts all across the state were forced to use calamity days. However, for the great students and great educators, the work continues. Many districts are turning to online modules in their daily instruction, while others have turned to the use of blizzard bags. Both of these initiatives have strong merit. With this in mind, I cannot think of any educational professional development that does not mention that the most important component in student learning is the person standing in front of them instructing. It is not about "making up" days, or being granted additional calamity days, it is about having time for quality instruction.
In the last week I have spent "my calamity" days attending trainings on solidifying the coaching aspect of the teacher evaluation system and attending PBIS, to assure that we are positively impacting and teaching our students. I say this not in a bragging sense, but to say that in the majority of cases this is what educators do whether in or out of school. Educators have always wanted what is best for their students, but today because of the "Educational Tsunami, with some many changes and mandates in store, they are even more aware of the high stakes their growth and improvement play. So I decided simply to ask my teachers and others, "How are you getting better today?".
We have all heard, you are either getting better or you are getting worse, you never stay the same. I too believe this to be incredibly true. Self actuation followed by self motivation is what moves you to get better. Ultimately it is up the the individual to improve. Others may offer advice, guide, and even provide the resources for improvement, however one will only improve if they act themselves. I love the 6 W's as a reminder ; "Work will win when wishing won't". You simply cannot wish for things to happen, you have to work. Whether the weather by as the song goes "Sunny and 75" or is -20 below. You have to work to get better.
You may now be asking what did I do to get better, what did I learn. The first thing I would say, is that I tried to use these days as a re-newal of my passion. The big term starting to be thrown around the world of education is "re-Purpose". I do not know if that is new or not, but it has recently got fire. The Educational Tsunami has led teachers and administrators to really prioritize. We all must do a self reflection as to where we are in our teaching. Think about it, how many of you look in the mirror to see how what you are wearing looks before stepping out to school? We seem to have no trouble looking, seemingly time and time again, well then why are we so fearful of looking at ourselves and how we instruct?
So with that here are some of the finer points I picked up, "on my days off":
- Think of Coaching as: You may be building the framework for the house but the teacher has to step into the house and live in it, so they should want to have impact on the details (the carpet and cabinets)- eventually the teacher has to move into the house!
- Discussion during post conferencing is like being an attorney -- trying to lead them to what you want without telling them and getting evidence thrown out!
- As an educator, always look at it through the lens of the student --- make it about the student learning/growing -- their growth is your growth!
- Observations are to improve not to Remove! Ongoing professional conversations are paramount to evaluation success along with fostering teacher and student improvement and growth!
- Like in society and our own homes, modeling must be first and foremost!! You have to inspect what you expect!! If you wanna see it, you had best model it!
- How do you communicate?
- 7% conveyed in words
- 38% conveyed in tone
- 55% conveyed in body language
- While the words we choose make an impact it's how it is delivered that makes for lasting rapport and change. It's not what you say, it's how you say it!
- Assessments Expire too:
- Assessments are like a jug of milk and not a bottle of wine. Milk has a relatively short shelf life. Milk doesn't get better over time -- neither will assessments w/o change,
- If you are using old assessments you better question yourself -- do you like spoiled milk?
- Not teaching and testing the same old thing.....students not learning same old way!
I hope you are working in advance to weather the storm as the Educational Tsunami hits land!
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