collaborative 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!

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