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Regardless of the fact that all independent schools have their own distinct personalities and cultures, there is one thing that we all have in common: a drive towards excellence that is never stagnant. We are always pushing forward. We look to innovate, to be change agents. We look at curriculum and assessment and strive to ensure that students have many pathways for their learning. We focus on experiences that build and develop character and grit because it is beyond important that the extraordinary young people that are in our care enter the world with kindness in their eyes and a passion to get involved and change the world in their hearts. We are rarely satisfied with where we are in the moment because this moment is a stepping stone to still greater and better things that await ahead. We have chosen an endless journey. A promise to be the best. And given the amazing things that we see in our schools every day, that our students continue to surprise, challenge, and humble us daily- would we really want things to be any other way? I’d bet most, if not all of you, would say “not really.” I know I wouldn’t trade this gig for anything in the world.
However, in the push for change and the push for refining and reforming practice, I think it is easy for one crucial component to be overlooked. How are we preparing our teachers to exist, grow, and flourish in this environment? This brings me to my HMW question for this year:
How might we align teacher learning and professional development in order to ensure our students are learning in vibrant, dynamic classrooms that honour them as individuals while providing them with ownership over their own learning?
Something struck me this summer when I was reading through some of the articles that I had not had a chance to get to during the end of year madness. For every article I read about what teachers need to do or be next, or the importance of forming relationships with students that allows them to feel safe and take risks, or the importance of feedback and having multiple opportunities to try something and show learning- I could not help but feel that there is an invisible missing piece. How are school administrations modelling these aspects for their teachers? How are strong relationships of trust being fostered between school leadership and faculty so that teachers feel safe to take risks and try new things? How are teachers given feedback so that they know (and really know, like feel it their bones know) the first attempt is not expected to be perfect? How are teachers able to personalize their growth and learning as an educator?
This is where my mind is at these days… and sometimes it is a bit of a swirling mess. I am about 5 months into this work- aligning school goals and our professional growth policy with how teachers are expected to run their classrooms, teach, provide pathways, and think of their students as co-creators in learning. If we want the classroom and learning experience to change and evolve for our students, how can attempts to create an environment like this for faculty be made? If we want educators to inspire the incredible young people that we are so fortunate to have in our care, how can attempts to create a space that inspires teachers to learn and grow be formed? If we want teachers to focus on personalizing the learning for the students in their classrooms, how can attempts be made for teachers to personalize their learning yet ensure it is still aligned with the overall goals of the school? So many questions to tackle…
We cannot expect teachers to evolve their practice if how teachers experience professional development and support doesn’t evolve as well. And make no mistake, as someone who is in a leadership position in their school, I am calling myself out on this task.
There have been days so far this year that I feel real progress is being made, and other days- not so much. I will do my best to keep you all posted!
Couldn’t agree more with your comment when you say, “We are rarely satisfied with where we are in the moment because this moment is a stepping stone to still greater and better things that await ahead”. While I do my best to live in the present, I always have an eye towards tomorrow. How will be be different than today? How might I improve? What would I change? Positive classroom relationships with students are critical and I equally value the opportunity to form such relationships with my colleagues. When we form strong bonds with our colleagues we don’t have to “assume good intentions” because we truly “know” them. We know what they value, how they work, and what motivates them. The formulation of such bonds takes time, shared experiences and an investment/alignment of vision. I appreciate the opportunity to work alongside you. Keep rocking the journey- one foot in front of the other- dancing along! #bettertogether
I think the thing I need, as a classroom teacher, is the support to try something different in my teaching and not be nervous about the consequences of an activity or method not working out the first time. I think that I also need the support of the administration when it comes to time to reflect on these new teaching methods and create best practices for myself. This does not necessarily have to happen with the administration (could be a colleague or department head), but if the reflection does not happen (in my experience) it does not often become integrated into the teachers’ repertoire of activities/methods/design.
@tfaucher,
Some salient and sober points here. I wonder if there is a brave enough administrator out there willing to tackle that perennial teacher pain-point known as TIME. I mean, really unpack it for the masses of educators, whom, I have a hunch, define it in vastly different ways.
Every teacher I know would rather have more TIME in their job than MONEY; however, often when they receive that extra TIME, it quickly fills up with deeper and deeper teaching and learning tasks. This often equates to greater engagement and achievement for the students, but it doesn’t give the teacher any more perceived TIME. Like a student in an exam who thinks that extra 1/2 hour will suddenly garnish them with genius dust, teachers fantasize about how they could be better educators, if they just had more TIME!!
I have taught in public schools with 30 kids to a class, 1/2 of which have behavioural issues or special needs. The only TIME you often have in those classes is the TIME to get through content in as engaging a way as possible. Forget personalized learning. Forget assessment as learning. Teachers in these circumstances adapt to a constant imperfection of practice that is always never “good enough”. I remember saying to a colleague in Australia who had had one particularly bad day in the classroom that if she showed up to work and said hi to those kids every day, THAT was teaching. Most of those kids came from broken homes and this teacher represented the only consistency and support in their lives. Was she living the educators dream of innovating best practice? No, of course not. There was no TIME for that. Was she a teacher! Damn right, and a damn good one at that.
My contention is that the same thing happens with independent schools, that carrot and donkey allegory is true no matter how much TIME or RESOURCES you have, because, for the most part, teachers are perfectionists and teaching is an impossible art!
My experience has been, despite all the extra TIME spent coaching, mentoring, house parenting, etc., there is still way more TIME to improve your teaching and learning practice in private schools. More money for PD, more support from admin, more incredibly rich and wonderful peer support groups like Cohort21. However, TIME will never feel any more plentiful, and that sense of never having arrived or developed best practice will most likely always hang over our zones of proximal dishevelment.
What I feel administrators need do is unpack ALL of the various ways in which TIME is perceived by their faculty as being a necessity from which to improve teaching and learning. To potentially develop a scale upon which teachers can see how far along their growth already is and how experienced they already are and that their daily task of doing “good enough” pedagogy is sometimes just that. There is no end to how much personal assessment one can do for students; no stopping point when designing the perfect learning space; no fixed amount of connection between students, parents, and teachers where an equilibrium of empathetic communication has been accomplished. One can always do more. This is what makes this job so wonderful and dynamic. It’s also what makes it insane.
Teachers are doing a wonderful job and this sense of needing more TIME will be personal to each and every one of them. Administrators should respect that and try and move school policy towards a practice of fair but not equal treatment as, like the students, we all learn in multiple ways and at different times in our lives for different reasons. Teachers don’t need more PD. They need therapy!
Eric
“Administrators should respect that and try and move school policy towards a practice of fair but not equal treatment as, like the students, we all learn in multiple ways and at different times in our lives for different reasons. Teachers don’t need more PD. ”
Exactly! This is the main thing myself and a small team are working on this year. A professional growth policy should have multiple entry points that can challenge teachers no matter if it is their first year or 30th year teaching and allows them to personalize what they are focused n. It also needs to allow for some flexibility on how they are going to work on it and the types of evidence they will collect to show their growth all the while still connecting to something they are passionate about (but still directly ties to the school’s mission and vision). A tall order!
I agree, in most cases, teachers do not need more PD, but it needs to be streamlined, applicable to the classroom and their own growth, reflective, mentored, and given time to work on. They cannot be pulled in multiple directions being told that each new initiative is just as important as all the others. This year we drastically changed our Amended Start schedule to provide individual and collaborative time for teachers to work on their goals, share their learning with others and ask targeted questions that they needed to ask to be able to move to the next step. It is crucial that teachers can create a culture of collective efficacy and see themselves and their colleagues as learners and experts.
I really like your point about time never feeling more plentiful. One of the main stressors I see is when people do not know where to focus their energy, how to divide their time, or worse- when they think they are nailing an initiative and a conversation with a colleague who has a different perspective leaves them feeling confused or like perhaps they have missed something. Those are all huge time wasters and can often leave people feeling defeated. We are hoping to create a space where the time is felt well spent, more fruitful.
It has been a really exciting 5 months! More more this has been something that I have become increasingly passionate about…. hence a bit of a rambling preamble 🙂 I will be posting more specifics and nuts and bolts of our process in upcoming posts.
Thanks, Eric for your comments! They both reinforced many of my own thoughts as of late and given me a few things to consider as well!
See ya Friday!
@tfaucher I would add these questions as well
How might we apply what we know differentiation and student learning to the way we approach professional growth for our staff?
How might we re-imagine the way we use TIME in order to support professional growth and evaluation?
How might we honour and support teachers in different stages of their carrier (New, Mid, Seasons, Near end) in order to best support and nurture professional growth.
Some to add to the list 🙂
Thanks, Justin!
Looking at differentiation and honouring stages were two of the starting points when my team and I really plowed into to revamping the growth policy this summer- so it means a lot to see that echoed here as well. I am trying to use blogging as a way to get some feedback outside of the HTS bubble on this and it is nice to see some of my thinking reflected back here.
Yes! TIME! We cannot make more of it. The paradox is that is both renewable and finite in the same instance. The question around time that we are looking at isn’t so much about how it can be reimagined in a physical sense….we are not making any time table changes at the moment. We are trying to change the perception and feeling about time…. as in time spent isn’t time wasted. It’s my biggest struggling point and where I am asking for the most feedback currently as we go into our third revision. It only matters what I think to a certain extent. I want to know how my faculty feel, what suggestions they have now that they have been engaged in this process for the last 4.5 months. What is working…. and why? What isnt….. and why?
Back in July I was not anticipating this project to take on the life that it has, but I am so thankful for all the twists and turns it has taken so far 🙂
Thank you so much for the comments and the questions! So helpful for me to have another space to think in!