Conflict?

Sometimes a solid conflict helps you to see your path with greater clarity.

A conflict can remind you of constraints, rules, hierarchy, focus, and more.

Meeting a conflict head on can clear the air for forward movement and focus.

And so the year begins and rights me once again in my direction to serve children well--to focus on their needs, challenges, and passions.

Whenever I tread the waters outside of that focus my boat is turned back to that place--the place of childhood dreams, play, learning, challenge, and growth.  A teacher's place.

Vision

I have a vision of great schools--places where children thrive and educators are treated with respect.

I have a vision for great schools where people work together to develop, grow, and change for the better.

I have a vision for great schools where the unimportant processes, events, and actions are streamlined so there's time for what's most important.

I have a vision for schools where most people serve children with skilled time-on-task each day.

I have a vision for schools with great buildings, wonderful playgrounds and sports fields, arts programs, and state-of-the art tools that make learning accessible to all.

I have a vision for schools where educators work with vision taking risks to try out new ideas, looking for the best learning venues and projects, and continuing to learn and share.

I have a vision for schools that are learning communities which include families, students, educators, leaders, and community members in the process, decisions, and actions on a regular basis.

I have a vision for schools where each group serves another--teachers serve students and families, leaders serve teachers, the community serves leaders so that everyone has the support and encouragement they need to do a great job.

I have a vision for schools where every child is treated with respect and there's an urgency to serve every child well.

I have a vision for schools where all have a reasonable schedule, and all work with care during that time to serve children well.

I have a vision for schools where all earn a fair salary so that they can devote their work time to school and still have time and money to enjoy family and friends.

I have a vision of schools where people work together for the mission of teaching and serving children well, and that mission is at the forefront of all efforts, discussions, share, and action.

That is my vision for schools at this time, a vision I am committed to, and a vision I'll continue to work for.

Out of Your Control

There are so many events in school life that are out of your control as a teacher. This reality can be very frustrating at times, particularly times when you can imagine a better path, process, or potential action.  Yet, the reality is that the teacher is one of the "low men" on the education hierarchy--hence you have to accept that fact that there are many events, actions, and outcomes that are out of your control.

So what's one to do?

First, advocate when you can, the best you can.  Accept the fact that sometimes no one will listen or respond.

Second, think about what you do have some control over including lesson planning, lesson execution, student response, research, learning, collegial collaboration, and do your best at those activities.

I have a strong vision for schools to become vibrant, transparent, fluid learning communities--the kinds of organizations where choice and voice matter for all including children, parents, family members, community members, educators, and leaders.  I want the only things "out of our control" to be those unexpected events--the kind no one can plan for.

As far as the important work of the day, I yearn for lead time, planning, many voices, many choices, research, discussion, debate, process, and care.  That happens often, but the idealist in me wants it to happen even more often.

Everything about the true mission of schools is positive--schools are about educating children well. There's nothing to hide when it comes to education--our goals are easily transparent, shared, and open because our goals are about forwarding what's right and good for children.  Yes, we're not always going to agree, but our decisions will be better if we all have the chance to think, plan, assess, and decide with lead time, care, and process.

But for now (and perhaps forever), some things are simply "out of your control," and there's not much you can do about it.

Problem Analysis: Student Response

As we think about teaching children well, we know that student response and feedback is essential. That becomes challenging when our classrooms are filled with many children.

In only four days of school, my students have produced a good four-five hours of thoughtful work that I need to review and assess with care in order to teach the children well.

The challenge here is time--where is the time to assess?  Most classroom teachers carve time out in the evening and on weekends for this--carving this time out during a teacher's free time schedule is challenging as it takes time away from other essential efforts such as family time, health routines, and other important events.

If we take Hattie's research to heart, and really make the time to teach well, we need to make time for careful planning and student response--efforts that take time. Yet, the average one hour more or less that teachers have a day on task for planning and response is simply not enough time for that.

What can we do about this?

First, in many cases, it's only classroom teachers that are bringing home large amounts of paperwork and online work to review. As school reconsider roles and responsibilities, I think it's important to spread out the responsibility for student response to all professionals in the building. Creating small advisory groups where every teacher is responsible for a small group's reading and writing will help with that.

Next, we have to look at professional development time carefully. Many schools are still resisting the move to more efficient and rich professional learning time use. The one-size-fits-all professional development event typically proves to be lackluster and impactless, while differentiated professional development time has the potential to provide educators with the needed response time.

Also, streamlining all events in the school building so that planning periods, before school, and after school time can be used for lesson planning and response will help too.

What other changes will help educators find the time they need to respond to student work and performance with care. To respond well takes about two-three hours for unit or writing work.  For example, I have a host of reading response work to review.  A good initial assessment of students' ability to utilize comprehension strategies to access text with understanding using this work will take a good three hours of thoughtful review, and that review will help to launch the classroom reading program with strength.

Some will read this and think, It's another cry from a teacher saying teachers have too much to do. I think that attitude has kept us from making thoughtful change in schools. Take a look at the roles and responsibilities of the professionals in your building, and think about how you can restructure and redirect so that all professionals have the time to plan, teach, and respond with care, thought, and success to each child in your school.

A busy week of prepping the year and getting my family ready for their school year adventures has passed, so I'll carve out the typical evening and weekend time to complete this response work.  In the meantime, I'll also continue to assess ways we can change our work day routines, roles, and responsibilities to make time for what's important to student learning, and advocate to change time that is not used well in this regard.  I welcome your ideas.

Quick Fixer?

The "quick fixer" makes change, checks of the boxes, and rarely consults others.  The "quick fixer" advertises the change quietly and with grandeur at the same time--making fast change look like the right thing to do.  The "quick fixer" lays an unsturdy path, a fragile structure, and a potentially dangerous situation.

We're all "quick fixers" now and then, and sometimes the "quick fix" is just the right solution, but most of the time the "quick fix" denies accurate, promising problem analysis and solution.  The "quick fix" is often the dead end road or lengthy U-turn that results in inefficiency and potentially problematic situations.

In most cases I'm an advocate of thoughtful, transparent, inclusive process that welcomes the voices of all involved; lays out a path to thoughtful solution, and impacts organizations, events, and individuals with promise and strength?  How about you?


Note: The book, Intentional Interruption, is a good read when it comes to the need for greater, more thoughtful problem analysis and innovation in schools. I recommend.