Visionary

To be visionary as a leader, is to be visible. We have to be where the people are so that we can really see what is happening with their story. Not only that, we learn. We lead better when we know what is happening inside the walls because we are there too. However, we need to be active participants inside the classrooms. We are not gaining anything by just sitting at the back with our computers typing away at notes. True, there may be a time for that but that is not where the relationship will build.

Connection, modeling, and relationship is where culture will bubble. It may fester a little at first because it is a change. With all change comes an implementation dip. At first, teachers may not want you in their classroom. If we present it with a collaborative focus and give the teachers the choice with how it will look as well as address their needs, this will only help a relationship to grow even if it is a harder relationship. However, with time, gentle urgency, and persistence, leaders will begin to cultivate a culture of wellness and joy. The result is leaders are working alongside teachers and students, they are both listening and problem solving their needs as a team and leaders are giving teachers what they need the most, time and support.

There are many ways to be visible but our school chose to ease our way into the walls of the classroom and it really has been successful. Below is a snapshot of how we began to be more visible and supportive.

Phase One:  Admin/leaders visits teachers and observes them in a workshop structure.  They will also cover their classes so they could go watch other teachers do workshop. Admin plans the lessons that they are covering so that they have experience in workshop themselves.

Phase Two:  Admin/leaders continues to cover for teachers but now encourages staff to team teach rather than just observe.  Grade teams now have embedded team times that connect to a lunch hour for them to work on professional development.  Admin/leader holds a pd for team leads that develops a protocol for effective meetings.  The expectation is that the team leads will then plan the team meetings each week.

Phase Three:  Admin/leader takes on teaching a core subject and documents his/her own journey with workshop and posts the struggles and successes on google classroom or another platform.  This can also include videos and documenting other teachers and posting them on google classroom for teachers to learn from.  Within staff meetings, admin/leaders focus on implementing a 15 minute rule for housekeeping and the rest would be on professional development with workshop and assessment.  At first, the leaders plan most of this.  In this phase, leaders also introduce and educate about the importance of vertical teaming in order to better align practice in a workshop structure.

Phase Four:  The leader now collaboratively plans and team teaches with each teacher for a week diving into a module of their choice (stay tuned in another post about what modules could be included).  They will plan, teach, problem solve, and reflect together for that entire week.  Team leads will also plan all vertical and grade team times as well as staff meetings while admin sits in and supports within the teams each time.  Google classroom will still document experiences and teachers are also expected to document and bring their challenges or successes into staff meetings to share during the ‘taking action’ portion of the meeting.

This is a snapshot of what we did to take action immediately. We are continuing this into the years to come because we feel that this matters and it has made a huge difference in the learning of students, the relationship between teachers and admin, and has improved the overall wellness of staff because they don’t feel like they are alone anymore. It has become a schoolroom vs. a classroom. As Hilary Clinton once said, “There is no such thing as other people’s children.” We all matter, we are all responsible and we are not alone.