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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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Trust, Skepticism, and Innovation

I have a whole lot of questions and not many answers… This ride of coaching teachers and guiding them to best practices is tough work some days.  My thoughts are choppy and I fear it will resonate throughout this post but it takes me awhile to process and it’s sometimes hard to get things out. I’ve been thinking a lot about change lately. What it takes to facilitate change and how it looks to support it…
trust /trəst/
noun – firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.
What a tricky word… What a hard thing to when over and over you have been betrayed. Do we betray teachers? Do we disrespect teachers? Do we even trust teachers?
I will be the first to admit that I trust easily. Unfortunately I have been burnt many times by doing that but I won’t live my life being a skeptic. However if you beak my trust, it doesn’t get earned back easily, if ever.
So what if principal after principal breaks a teacher’s trust time after time?  What if coach after coach breaks a teacher’s trust again and again?
Do we need trust in order to make a change? A change in ourselves, our teaching, our actions? I feel like the answer is yes and when all else fails if we feel there’s no one to trust… we should be able to trust ourselves, except when we can’t.
Earning trust is hard work but rewarding when it is achieved.
Best compliment of my week was from a teacher that has been around for a long time and is actually ready to retire next year. In reference to me and the work I’ve been doing with the teachers she said, “For the first time I really feel like someone is listening to us.”
I am earning trust.
skep·ti·cism /ˈskeptəˌsizəm/
noun – a skeptical attitude; doubt as to the truth of something.
Can we be so skeptical that we get in our own way? Can skepticism be an internal barrier to becoming an agent of change, a innovator?
And after that complement was said, the next teacher said, “We shall see. I’ve given up that things will actually change. I am so skeptical that things will get better and that people will actually listen, that I’ve given up on hoping it will happen.”
I do not have her trust
in·no·va·tion /inəˈvāSH(ə)n/
noun – the action or process of innovating, a new method, idea, product, etc.
I keep trying… I keeping proving that trusting me will bring change and innovation.
I am doing things that are missing from professional development for teachers. We are talking about boundaries, external and internal barriers, prioritizing tasks, self-care… Wait, will these help their students become better readers and writers? Will this help their students ace the state exam? Who knows, but it WILL give the students a better, stronger, less stressed human being standing in front of them so I am willing to take a shot. My guess is that it is certainly worth a try because change never happened by doing the same thing… Trust me.