Do Your Words Match Your Practice?

Do your words match your practice?

I ask this because I read a wonderful note by an educator that was in direct opposition to that individual's work.

I would answer for myself that my words outpace my practice, and that my words actually challenge my practice.  I know who I want to be, how I want to practice, and where I want to be, but my vision as expressed in words often leads my action. I strive to meet my words, and often do--but I want to be cognizant of the fact that my words often outpace me.  I would probably be described as more of an idealist than a realist in this regard.

As I currently think of my practice, the words related to collaboration are giving me the most challenge. It's difficult to collaborate in traditional education systems that are often not structured for optimal collaboration. We're moving forward with PLCs and increased released time for planning and response, but our time to collaborate in meaningful ways, in my opinion, still doesn't match the potential and promise optimal collaboration holds for teaching children well.

With the new year here, I will commit to developing collaborative skill with greater effort so that the words in my posts truly illustrate my action as well as my intent/vision.  How can I do this?

• Transparency with kindness. Share questions, observations, and ideas with best intent, expectation, kindness, efficiency and clarity. 
• Wait time. Growing up in a busy, small house of eight I learned to multitask in a busy environment.  Most, however, don't operate with that level of speed, quick transition, and circuitous manner.  Hence, I must work to present my ideas logically, and then give people the time they need to respond, digest, and question the idea. Collaboration requires respect for needed time.
• Less humor. As a fan of late night comedy, sometimes my way of dealing with conflict is to make a joke, which works in some circles, but when you're working to do meaningful work those "late night" jokes don't always serve to move the agenda forward in a positive way.  I find that my students often do the same thing--used to the sarcasm and humor of sitcoms they often don't know when to take a discussion or novelty seriously, and when it's time for humor.  With limited time, staying on task with respectful attention is important. 
• Knowing each other.  Some of the best collaborators I know, stop to take the time to know their teams well.  That's important, and when genuine, it's a terrific way to build positive collaboration.
• Keep the discussions and work child focused--when we put children in the center of our work, we all benefit and the collaboration grows.
• Acknowledge obstacles and strategize with the team about ways to remove the obstacles. Sometimes taking the time upfront to work out the challenges, saves time in the end. 
• Revisit protocols. Recently our team deviated from our protocols which created a bit of disharmony for our team.  It's important to stick to the protocols or thoughtfully and inclusively change them if needed. 
• Meet challenges, confrontations, and requests with a smile and time to think. At times what you're asked to do may alarm you and you're tempted to respond accordingly, it's best to take a break at those times, think on the matter, and then respond (disarm, as my colleague refers to it).

So in response to this morning's first #satchat question about what challenging goal will you set for yourself this year, I am choosing caring collaboration. I'm going to grow this skill with strength.  I look forward to any resources, posts, or literature you can offer me to inform this goal and work. 

The Sunshine Award: Bloggers Share

Like a chain letter, the Sunshine Award is spreading over the Internet prompting bloggers to share personal/professional facts and ideas. When I first saw this on the Internet, I wasn't too interested because it seemed like a popularity contest, but now that I've been invited to respond and I've completed the tasks, I have found the task to be wonderful pushing us to interact, think about one another with greater depth, and wonder about what's important to us as we pose questions.

The toughest part of the task was choosing only eleven people to tag as once I got started, I realized I'd like to tag all of my PLN to get to know them better.  Instead, I looked at my latest Twitter "connects" and picked the last people to comment or ask a question.  I look forward to hearing their answers, and reading other's interactions as well as on their own blogs as this connection chain continues.

The Sunshine Award Rules

• Acknowledge the nominating blogger.
• Share 11 random facts about yourself.
• Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you.
• List 11 bloggers: they should be bloggers you believe deserve some recognition and a little blogging love!
• Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate
• Let those 11 bloggers know they have been nominated. (You cannot nominate the blogger who nominated you.)

I was tagged by the thoughtful Illinois educator, Dea Conrad-Curry.  Reading Dea's eleven random facts and answers to Fran McVeigh's questions helped me to gain a fuller understanding of Dea's vision and work in education, her dreams, and life events.

Thank you Dea for sharing this award with me!  I've added my facts, answers, tags, and questions below:


Eleven Random Facts

1. I'm the oldest of six children, four brothers and one sister.
2. I have fifty-six first cousins.
3. As a child I spent a lot of time celebrating special events with my big, extended family.
4. I traveled to Paris and the country of Turkey for my honeymoon, a trip of a lifetime.
5. I have encouraged my own three children to follow their dreams.
6. Scrabble is my favorite game.
7. I met my husband while we worked at a mountain resort during college.
8. I wish I didn't have to work so hard when I had young children as I would have enjoyed spending more caring, creative time with my children.
9. I like to draw.
10. I read the newspaper and watch the news almost every day.
11. I love the synergy of a class of young children who are all invested in an exciting, meaningful learning endeavor.

Answer's to Dea's Questions:

How long have you been blogging?

I have been blogging for about three years.

Have you done other kinds of formalized writing?

Before blogging, the only published writing I did was a chapter for a professor's book about first year teachers. Other than that I wrote daily in journals and for my students. 

When do you do your blog writing?

I typically write first thing in the morning.

How often do you publish a blog post?

I usually publish one post a day, sometimes more. 

How do you increase traffic on your blog?

I publish the link to my blog on Twitter and Google+ after writing.  Then I often link my blog to other posts, comments, and teacher-to-teacher correspondence when helpful.

Do you care if you have readership on your blog?

I think it's exciting to have readership, and I like the idea of helping others with my ideas and experiences. While I look forward to increasing my readership, my main purpose in writing my blog is to find the best ways to teach well. 

How long does a typical post take you to write?

A typical post takes about 30 minutes to write and publish. 

What is your writing process?

My writing emanates from my questions and needs.  Hence, typically I am mulling over a new idea, requirement, or issue, and when I reach a point where I think my share is valuable, others can help, or that I have a good plan, I write. 

Do you have anyone else read your blog before you hit "Publish"?

I usually only consult others if I feel the post will be controversial or problematic, otherwise I self edit. Once I publish, I often go back into the post and read it with new eyes.  That often leads to a next edit.

What is the most traffic you've had on a single blog post?

My most popular posts have been related to classroom design, the role of a teacher, the new Massachusetts' teacher evaluation system, and the writing process.

Eleven Tags

1. Dea Conrad-Curry, @doctordea
2. Sue Dunlop @Dunlop_Sue
3. Heather Scott @h_sunshine
4. Cathy Mere @Cathymere
5. Karyn Saxon @waylandelass
6. The Radiant Orchard @th_purpl_lady
7. IamOkema @IamOkema
8. J.M. Muzi @MuziLearningLab
9. Frank Watson @FollowBlueFlute
10. Renee Coates-Smith @coatssmithr
11. Paul McGuire @mcguirp
12. Anyone else who would like to respond, please do. 

Eleven Questions (Please "connect" your answers with me @lookforsun via Twitter)

1. In your professional work, what name, nickname, and/or title do you prefer?
2. What part of your professional work are you most excited about?
3. When did you decide to enter or choose the professional work you do?
4. What is your greatest professional challenge at this time?
5. If you could change or impact one aspect of our world, what would you change or impact?
6. Describe one place that you like to visit?
7. What draws you to a blog post?
8. What is one skill that you bring to a collaborative group that helps the group succeed?
9. What is one project, research, or study you are working on now that you're excited about?
10. Describe one highlight moment in your career.
11. What is one piece of advice you would give to young professionals starting their careers. 

Your Greatest Critics

In many ways it's easy to present to those you don't know, or share your ideas online with a mostly anonymous audience.  The true critics in your midst are those you live and work with--the ones that know you well and witness your daily strengths and challenges.

Yet, if we don't take the time to meet the challenge of presenting to our colleagues, we certainly won't grow or develop in the many ways possible.

Hence, next Wednesday, like many colleagues before me, I'll make the time to share to our school-wide audience. This share is daunting in many ways. First, I work with many talented professionals so I don't want to waste their time with a less than useful presentation. Next, I know that others have contributed to the work I'll share and have completed similar work as well.  Hence, I want to make sure that I acknowledge the fact that the work is ultimately a shared effort--the result of the thoughtful, caring work of many professionals in our system.  Finally, I want to make the connection between this work and student learning making sure that I keep students' needs and interests at the center of the presentation.

In many education environments, teachers have little voice and choice. Therefore many of us haven't challenged and developed our skill at presenting to one another.  Our school system has opened up this opportunity through PLC's, summer institutes, and in-service professional development. We're reaching towards the kinds of vigorous, student-centered collaboration that creates dynamic organizations. The share, critique, and growth is yet to be a simple, fluid process as we still have room for growth with regard to these efforts.

Next Wednesday, I'll reach out.  In the meantime, I'll make the time to prep this short presentation so that I demonstrate the respect and care worthy of the many dedicated professionals I work with.

First Day Back: Attitude is Everything

What you do on the first day back after the holiday break makes a big difference for the second half of the school year.  This is when you set the stage for what's to come.

Hence, first think about your own attitude.  How are you feeling on this first day back?  It's likely that your feelings are similar to your students--a bit of melancholy about saying good-bye to sleeping in, play, and spending lots of time with family and friends.  There may be also a bit of excitement about the challenges, adventures, and learning opportunities in the year to come.

I'll start the morning with a bit of free writing/drawing while students settle in, and then we'll have our class meeting.

I'll start the meeting by sharing my feelings about what it feels like to be back.  I'll also share my excitement about meeting new challenges and goals, and relay the fact that there is no better feeling than working hard and achieving something worthwhile.  I'll ask the students about how they feel, and what they hope to accomplish during the second half of the school year.  I'll emphasize the fact that we're a learning team, and that means everyone is a contributor and we're all here to help one another learn.  I'll ask them what they want from me during this second half of the year, and I'll relay my goals for them.

I'll also remind them that mindset and effort are what's most important.  I'll review this blog post and simple video with them, the back-to-school newsletter, and upcoming assignments.  After all that talk, they'll certainly be ready for recess (indoor or out--depends on the temperature).

We'll spend some time reviewing an old math test and making corrections, dipping our feet into new reading response requirements, reading, and an author film.  A good day for the first day back--the day that sets the stage for the second semester.

Happy Day, PLN!

Less Things More Time: Simplicity

Many years ago when we cleaned out a loved one's home after a death, I realized that most things have little value.

We fill our homes with items, many which have little meaning to us.

Less things means more time to do the things you value and be with the people you love.

So today I'll start the new year with yet another purge.

Emptying my drawers of clothes and items I no longer wear or like.

As the year moves forward I'll lessen my trips to stores and increase my time with treasured experiences.

I'll keep the items that bring me and my family joy and happiness including a few games, decorations, serving pieces, important pieces of clothing, photos and creation tools.

As I move forward I'll also think of my time with less time spent on useless items and activities, and more time for what bring joy and meaning to life.

Less things, more time; such a simple notion, but a challenging one in our consumer culture.