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#IMMOOC Week 3 (3 of 3): What if we took better care of our teachers?

I love the “What If” questions Couros laid out in Chapter 7 of his book, The Innovator’s Mindset. Several of these questions make the assumption that the teachers are healthy and taken care of, both by themselves AND by their district.

Is it such a crazy question to ask, “What if we took better care of our teachers?” Should we start there? This year we modeled our professional learning around the statement, “Put your own mask on first before you are able to help others do the same.” Every time we are on a plane we are reminded of this. We are no good to those around us unless we ourselves are taken care of. As a staff we looked at this from several angles. We started the year learning about how we perceive our students and one another and how we are perceived. It’s all about perspectives and experiences that shape our thinking. Now, we are working through the importance of self-care while working with students who’ve experiences trauma. In this work we are being forced to evaluate our own trauma and recognize the coping skills, or lack there of, we have developed. I have been focused on teacher care now for several months. Here is an article to read more: The Elephant In The (Staff) Room

We always put kids first and of course that goes without saying but may I ask, “What if the teacher doesn’t have his or her mask on, can he or she really help the students around them?”

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#IMMOOC Week 3 (2of 3): Do you want your students compliant, engaged, or empowered?

As a rule follower I like compliancy. I like order. However the interesting part is that my learning is messy and it is here and there and everywhere and it doesn’t follow any rules! I’m compliant in the fact that as part of my job I need to be up on best practices so I research. I’m engaged with what I see people doing and sharing. I’m empowered to create new things based off what I have learned.

I see this in some of the staff at my school. I provide online courses and they HAVE to choose 2.5 hrs of courses. It’s compliance if they stop there. If they apply their learning to their work, that’s engagement. And if they are empowered to create new things based off their learning, they have crossed over to empowerment! As of now, I have about a third of staff empowered. That’s not enough… So my next question is… does compliancy foster a barrier to empowerment if the task is something they don’t want to do in the first place?  Does it actually prevent you from being empowered?

And that my friends takes us full circle to mindset… It’s all about mindset.

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#IMMOOC Week 3 (1 of 3): 25 Ways to Build Trust with Teachers

When I taught women in prison, trust was a four letter word to them. It took patience and hard work but it happened! One day as I was passing out markers, I was in the middle of saying, “The first person to ask for a specific color is the first person to NOT get that color,” when I was interrupted by a woman asking me for the blue marker. I finished my statement and gave her a different color. HOWEVER, the next day when I passed out the markers, without saying a word I handed her the blue marker. Later she told me, that was a turning point for her to starting trusting me.

Here’s a few more ways to build trust…

1.) Listen

2.) Be authentic

3.) Pop in their room to just say, “HI”

4.) Ask about their weekend

5.) Be transparent

6.) Listen

7.) Bring them a cup of coffee

8.) Do what you say and say what you mean

9.) Support them

10.) Trust their judgement

11.) Listen

12.) Involve them in decisions

13.) Make mistakes with them

14.) Ask for feedback

15.) Self-reflect in front of them

16.) Listen

17.) Empower them

18.) Do something outside of school

19.) Always have candy in your office

20.) Follow up with them

21.) Listen

22.) Say when you’re wrong

23.) Share resources with them

24.) Thank them

25.) Give them the blue marker

 

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#IMMOOC Week 2: Staying Positive with an Innovator’s Mindset

I’m struggling.

I’m struggling to stay positive while trying to, what seems like, moving mountains and making change. Teachers are begging for change. They want to reach ALL kids. They want to have high expectations. They want kids to know they are cared for. They want to do right by their students day in and day out, but they also want to be less stressed. They want to find the joy in teaching again. They want less compliancy and more empowerment. They want to be treated as professionals that are able to make decisions as to what is best for kids.

So when you are trying to change things and make things better, there is a heavy weight on your shoulders. There is a level of skepticism and if you have the honor of teachers actually coming around and believing in you to create that change, you better come through.

I have hope though…

I am rooted in what makes someone an innovator. I refer to George Couros’ 8 Characteristics of Innovators to help me keep on keepin’ on the path of change.

1.) Empathetic – I am empathetic to Teachers’ needs, at least I genuinely try to be.  Sometimes I might take on too much of teachers’ feelings. I go to bat for teachers and have their back on so many issues. I find positivity in the fact that I have administration that is willing to listen to what I have to say.

2.) Problem Finders – I pride myself in being able to bring people together to discuss problems and find solutions. And if we don’t find solutions we find positivity in the process.

3.) Risk-Takers – For me if I take a risk I usually go big. So when they risk fails I take it hard. I take it personally. I know this about myself so I do my best to talk myself into a good mindset and I try to remember how thrilling and exciting it is to take risks. I find positivity when my risks pay off. I understand and accept that not all things will work out on the first try so I keep going!

4.) Networked – I find ENERGY is being networked. I turn to my colleagues, my mentor, a friend, or my PLN to talk through and process. It’s an energy like no other! What’s not to love!?!? So much positivity!

5.) Observant – I watch. I listen. I don’t miss much. I notice when someone seems off. I notice when teachers are not saying a word but saying so much. I watch what people are doing, how they are doing it, and most importantly WHY they are doing it. I watch for trends. I watch for successes. I watch for ways to support.  I find the positivity in having the opportunity to continually learn and support.

6.) Creators – This is my favorite characteristic. I am an idea person. I NEED people to take my ideas and process with me until I can get it out and create a plan. It is exciting. I find positivity in empowering others to join me in my creations making it OUR creations!

7.) Resilient – I am ALL in! Work hard, play hard, right!?!? This is what makes me want to push out the negativity! I find the positivity in being strong enough to bounce back and if a massage or a pedicure (#PDicure) helps me bounce back then so be it!

8.) Reflective – Sooooo, I mean, I started a blog. What more do you want!?!? Seriously though, blog or no blog, some days I feel like i reflect more than I breath! (Wait, is that a good thing?) When the reflections becomes negative and becomes a comparison or a shoulda, woulda, coulda, and I feel that weight on my shoulders, I know I need to stop myself and go back and focus on the positive.

Soooooo… I do it all over again.

1.) Empathetic…

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#IMMOOC Week 1: I’m Starting From Scratch and I’m Gonna Break All the Rules

After reading the intro and chapter 1 of The Innovator’s Mindset my head just kept spinning. Well, actually it was already spinning it just starting spinning faster. So much so it forced me to really take a look at what needs to change and I actually became quite overwhelmed! Sooooooo, I’m gonna start from scratch!

Starting from scratch involves questioning all stakeholders. Community, district, administration, teachers, parents, and students. What learning opportunities can each of the stakeholders create for one another and even themselves? (Ok soooooo this wasn’t helping my feeling of being overwhelmed! WHERE DO WE START?) Ok, ok, like I said before, we are gonna start from scratch so let’s do just that! I wanted to look at all the things we as educators are asked to do and start to weed some things out to get down to the essentials so we could start there.

About 2 weeks ago, I decided to scrap my PD I had planned for the teachers and decided to have a climate check in. I had them sign on to Padlet and asked them to simply type any and every task they do as teachers in a day, in a week, in a month, in a school year… I asked that the tasks be kept as judgment free as possible. So instead of “Hang my lesson plans on the door even though no one looks at them,” we would type, “Have lesson plans in folder on door.” I reminded them that this activity could get negative but that was not the point and we wanted to keep things as positive as we could so if needed, I could take this data and have a constructive conversation with administration. It took a minute or two but then the juices were flowing! I did this with all three grade levels (6th-8th) in their grade level teams. I rarely get thank you emails for PD and that day I got 4 emails thanking me for allowing them to get things out and recognizing their struggle. Yep, I needed to keep going and do something with these lists…

In Chapter 1, Couros references a TEDx talk by Carl Bass, “The New Rules of Innovation.”  Bass says innovation is about, “taking risks and breaking the rules.” Two things I was about to do… At that moment I had to ask myself, “What is best for these learners?” Do I continue on and do a close reading strategy PD or do I BREAK THE RULES and actually talk, in an open space constructively, about the OVERWHELMING tasks that come along with teaching. So I took a risk and started planning next week’s PD. With the help of a fellow coach I have SO much respect for and a former boss that happens to be a certified Life Coach and therapist, I feel innovation coming on… (Is that even a thing?) I was stoked! “Stressed brains can’t teach and stressed brains can’t learn!” Here goes nothing to help alleviate some of the stress.

I started the PD with having teacher journal about what made want to be a teacher and what the best part of teaching was. I then went into a lesson on external and internal barriers and looking at exactly what we have control over.  We do not have control over WHAT we are asked to do but we do have control over HOW we receive it and react to it. Keeping in their minds what they journaled and knowing what they have control over, I took out the lists they as a grade level typed the week before. I reminded them that looking at the list of 80+ tasks might get them feeling some kind of way but again to be rooted in what made them want to be a teacher. At the moment, nothing was coming off the lists. I asked them to look at the list with know what is best for kids; label each task E for essential for learning, I for Important for learning, G for good for learning. I had them do this individually for their own personal reflection. As teachers were finishing I had them highlight their E’s on a master list and their I’s on another master list. These were for me to keep. It was awesome to see that so many of them agreed on the essential tasks! That was it. We didn’t solve the world’s problems but we took another baby step in self-awareness. Again I was thanked throughout the day via conversations, emails, and text messages. The best comment was probably from a teacher that is getting ready to retire next year. She said, “I’ve been around for a long time and at least someone is listening to us. This is the first time I feel like someone is listening to us.” Feeling like I have a HUGE responsibility to follow through on this, I called my principal and said I needed at least 30mins at our next leadership meeting. He said ok and I felt empowered.

I took the lists, without saying which went along with what grade level, and presented to our leadership team. The lists of 72-94 tasks took them aback. We had an amazing discussion around things like leadership vs. management, compliance vs. engagement, the reasons behind asking the teachers to do certain things and did it forward our mission. Again, nothing was solved but there was a sense of empathy and it was a bit of a gut check.

Couros says, “Any time teachers think differently about who they teach and how they teach, they can create better learning opportunities.” I would like to challenge leadership to read that quote as, “Any time leadership thinks differently about who they lead and how they lead, they can create better learning opportunities.”

I’m done with status quo… I’m starting from scratch and I’m gonna break all the rules! #innovatorsmindset