Educational Leadership

(School) Climate Change

/ diameshia / Leave a comment

climate-change

I am a life-long learner. I am and have been proud to say that I matriculated  from every institution  I attended. (Except for current school of enrollment, of course). I have been a proud Brigham Bear, J.A.M. middle schooler, Bloodhound, and Gator.

I think that the most disappointing part of becoming an instructional coach is knowing the potential a school has to develop a positive and thriving climate, but not seeing that potential becoming a reality. Thus, I have decided to actively include in my coaching role small tricks to help schools develop inclusive and supportive school climates.

School climate is defined by the National School Climate Center (2014) as “the quality and character of school life… based on patterns of students’, parents’, and personnel’s experience of school life and reflects norms, goals, values, interpersonal relationships, teaching and learning practices, and organizational structures.”

In nurturing climates:

  • teachers are more likely to take risks
  • teachers and students find enormous growth opportunities
  • youth develop into citizens who can be productive members of a democratic society
  • students, teachers, and families all work together to create a shared school vision
  • educators model the joy and pleasure of learning for their students
  • students feel safe at school
  • teachers use literature that depicts marginalized populations in a positive manner
  •  teachers have student debates in their classrooms that focus on social justice issues

I wondered what I could do, as only a coach, to nurture the development of inclusive and supportive school climates. These are some tasks on my list:

  1. build collective teacher efficacy in content area groups
  2. build trust and maintain it!
  3. offer opportunities for teachers to connect and learn from one another
  4. hold high expectations, but create opportunities for success
  5. Glow, Grow, and Go
  6. use social media to help teachers brand themselves and their schools
  7. start with strengths

 

DeWitt, Peter. (2017). Collaborative Leadership: Six influences that matter most. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Flip Your Coaching!

/ diameshia / Leave a comment

As a teacher, it always irritated me to sit through long, boring informational meetings. I felt I was enough of a professional to be given the information and allowed to read through it on my own and ask questions about anything I didn’t understand. I am sure I can not be the only teacher who felt that way.

I feel the same way now. What I will never understand is why, once we know what “turned us off” as teachers, we continue to use those same arcane and ineffective practices as coaches.

In his book, Collaborative Leadership: Six influences that matter most, Peter DeWitt, explains how he used flipped faculty meetings to keep the focus on learning. I believe that it is highly important that we never forget that learning should always be our primary focus – information is vital to have and it should be presented in such a way as to maximize learning.

Flipped coaching is perfect for adult learners because it allows teachers to be self-directed. In DeWitt’s model of the flipped meeting, he used TouchCast (an app) to upload a 5-minute video explaining information he thought the staff should know before the meeting. He was also able to add pictures and links to supplement the information provided in the video. This flipped meeting model made DeWitt’s faculty meetings more productive and encouraged dialogue.

I have decided to make use of flipping in my coaching strategy for this year. A colleague and I started with the app, Flipgrid. I chose this app rather than TouchCast because (1) I do not use/have/like Apple devices, and (2) it is user-friendly, especially for those who are not technologically inclined.

We are currently using Flipgrid in our small group professional learning community, but I do hope to expand to a model that I use with teachers. I’ll let you know how it goes!

topLogo

 

Who Are You?

/ diameshia / Leave a comment

RafikiWhoAreYouOK. Obviously, I could not resist. Disney films have a way of being so profound and yet so simple. Primple? Or simfound? I guess I won’t try to coin any new terms today. But have you ever really, thoroughly considered this question: Who are you?

Reflection is a tool that allows you to continually mold and shape your response to this question. Although not always done formally or in writing, reflection has played a large part in many aspects of my life: academic, personal/familial, and professionally. That is precisely why I feel that there is SO MUCH to learn and SO LITTLE time!

If you have not yet begun to engage in self-reflection or do not do so on a regular basis, I hope this post provides you with the impetus for doing so immediately!

As you continue your professional path, begin a new school year, or seek to implement a new idea, consider these questions (Collaborative Leadership: Six influences that matter most):

  • Who are you?
  • What are your aspirations and values?
  • Who do you want to be to the educational field?
  • What do you know and what can you teach that is different from the masses?
  • How will your voice speak to a need in the field?
  • What will you do if you have hesitations about standing out and being yourself?
  • How will you know you are ready?

We cannot teach or lead others until we fully understand ourselves and our purpose. Reflect on these questions. It is okay (even preferable) if your responses change over time. This change is what will help you to lead effectively and positively impact your school community. Find your voice. And then… ROAR!!!

“Happy Teachers = Happy Students”

/ diameshia / Leave a comment

two algae covered turtles

While reading through a text for my own personal development, I paused on the quote “happy employees have happy customers” (Herb Kelleher, former CEO Southwest Airlines). It immediately called to mind a meme I see often on Facebook, Instagram, and all the other social media sites: Happy wife, happy life. (I’m not sure who to credit with that particular statement, but I can assure you that wives all over the world ensure that it is, in fact, a true statement 100% of the time!)

While it is easy to view this maxim as true through the lenses of business and home life, is this necessarily true for education? Can schools be seen and function as places of business, teachers as employees of these public “Fortune 500 companies,” and students, parents, and the community as our customers? Is it a foregone conclusion that if we make our teachers happy, our students are guaranteed to learn and to be excited about doing so?

Let’s examine some of the research.

Peter DeWitt, author of Collaborative Leadership: Six Influences that Matter, links teacher “happiness” to teachers’ feelings of self-efficacy (DeWitt, 2017). According to Tschannen-Moran and Hoy (2000), teacher efficacy is powerfully related to student motivation (happiness) and achievement.

Theodore Coladarci (1992; 2010) found that many school-level variables (i.e., small class sizes, principal’s conduct, and relationships with students and other staff members) affected teacher’s feelings of happiness and thus, their commitment to teaching.

Do you mean to tell me that after more than 30 years of research on school improvement, all we have to do to improve our schools is make teachers happy????

In short, no. Making teachers happy is not ALL, we have to do, but teachers’ happiness and sense of self-efficacy play a large role in successful schools. John Hattie (2014) identified the effect size of collective teacher efficacy at 1.57, meaning we can get almost FOUR YEARS of improvement in one single school year if teachers, as a collective unit, that they can effect change in student achievement! If THAT is not mind-blowing in itself, read on.

How can we make teachers happy?

While there is no one-size-fits-all approach to helping to improve teachers’ commitment to teaching, there are approaches any leader can take so that they can find their own answers to this question.

  1. Build a motivational and open school climate. Be approachable and flexible.
  2. Be likeable! Seek thoughts and opinions without being judgmental.
  3. Provide opportunities for teachers to feel and BE more effective!
  4. Be a partner, not a boss.

In a recent (non-scientific and VERY informal) survey, I asked educators that I know personally: What makes you happy? Overwhelmingly, the response was knowing that they had had some impact on students’ lives – whether it be through direct contact years after the student graduated or the immediate feedback of seeing a student “turn on” in class.

Teachers need to know that they are (if they are not yet, then that they can be) the most important factor of a student’s success. Because, after all, happy teachers = happy students = successful schools!

(For more details on teacher efficacy and making teachers happy, keep reading my blog!)