As you’ve hopefully noticed by now, my leadership strategies aren’t just a “learn about leadership” kinda deal.
It’s a “let’s actually build and launch your community into action THIS year” kinda deal.
And while “learning” and “doing” are closely related, there’s one ingredient that must be added to the mix to create the magic.
Commitment.
But guess what, in order for us to learn from each other, we all have to do the work and remember that time and commitment to practice it over and over again is all part of the package.
This week’s blog is all about some common questions that I have been asked so I thought I would put it all in writing. But here are a few things about my messaging that I want to be clear about when it comes to reading my posts and my ponderings.
I promise, #1: I will NEVER waste a single second of your time. You’re a school leader. Your time is SUPER valuable. And that’s why every second you spend reading my blog, watching my facebook lives, and downloading my freebies (and performing the actions, tasks, and worksheets) is perfectly optimized to get you a payoff.
#2: I will ALWAYS give you everything you need (and nothing you don’t) to get pro-level results: Likewise, I will never sell you short by just giving you high level information that sounds good in theory, but leaves you on your own to figure out the nitty-gritty details.
Nothing’s worse than wasting time trying to figure out the granular details that should’ve been covered to begin with, and I promise there will be none of that here. Especially with the freebies that I leave you with each week, so be sure to download them.
#3: I will FULLY support you in my private facebook group: There’s nothing I want more than to see you successfully build your efficiency and productivity and launch your community into action this year. Between the regular live Q&A sessions and peer support, our goal is to get you unstuck in a matter of hours or even minutes. If you haven’t joined yet, what are you waiting for? It is called Principals and Leadership.
I also promise that I will always bet on myself. I also promise you that you betting on yourself will get you through this really hard time right now. I am serious. I know it is super shaky right now but the best tool that you have is yourself. So I am telling you now. Right this second. Start betting on yourself. Turn inward. You already have all the answers you need.
When you bet on yourself you will ALWAYS win. Always. It will be messy and ugly at times but at least you are taking action. My betting on myself all started with modelling all of my expectations I will talk more about this later. I was vulnerable and uneasy. Every time I went to model my messaging, I had to turn inward, believe in my preparation and planning and go for it, even if it was messy and backfired. Well, that bet has payed off tenfold. I gained more clarity and strength when my community was overwhelmed or confused by my messaging because it forced me to pull away the layers and find more clarity in my messaging to gain a better outcome the next time around. I also gained confidence and results when it succeeded and it rejuvenated me to keep the momentum. None of those feelings would have happened if I hadn’t bet on myself or if I hadn’t stepped forward instead of stay in one place because it was too much. But….don’t kid yourself, I still have lots of stuck and overwhelmed moments too; it is what you do after those moments that matter the most.
Now let’s get to these questions that forced me to unpack my messaging and my promise. Remember, I told you at the beginning of the blog post that everything I give you is something that you can put into action right away and in your own way. My answers are geared towards action over talk. Every time someone asks me a question, I learn so much because it makes me framework my thinking and gives me so much more clarity and you all know that is my word this year…clarity. What a magical thing!
This first question came to me from a colleague and it really made me turn inward to find some answers. The question was:
How do I show my staff ways to set their learning destinations (that means beginning with the end in mind) so that it is clear and not too overwhelming?
This is a great question. My short answer is one thing at a time and model how you might do this in a professional learning community. Teach them to choose one learning destination and set 1-3 actions to get them to that destination. Use four questions to provide clarity…
- What learning destination is the biggest priority for me right now in my class…(example might be problem solving using multiple strategies)
- What are the biggest pain points that you foresee happening..(give up, overwhelm, too hard, too many steps.)
- What result do I want them to get from reaching this learning destination (to be able to solve all types of problems, to think and justify like a mathematician, to solve in multiple ways, to become deeper critical thinkers, to know what to do if they can’t solve the problem)
- What three actions can you take to get the results that you want? (ex. Co-construct criteria on what is important when solving problems, teach them how to use the criteria to solve the problem, show them how to use the criteria to provide proof and evidence of their thinking within the problem, teach them how to talk and think like a mathematician, co-construct criteria on what to do if I don’t know what to do next, teach them how to color code their math work (red, yellow, green) so they can measure their growth, find support, and collect their own evidence of learning,etc). I realize I gave you more than three actions so choose only some of these. Get your staff to start with brainstorming three and then prioritizing which action they will focus on first. The great thing is these are all learning processes that can be used in any learning destination that they choose. Ex. Priority – getting my students to write a story – co construct criteria on how authors hook their reader, try those strategies in their writing, give feedback to others using the criteria, set goals using criteria, edit using the criteria).
- The last question you get them to ask themselves and plan for is how you will you collect evidence of impact? This is so they can see if they are actually getting traction towards their learning destination or if it isn’t working. It is also so that they can bring their successes or struggles back to the community to coach or problem solve with ohers to extend their reach. Ex. Pic, videos, work samples, lesson plans, etc – check out my posts this week for how I shared evidence of impact with team teaching with a grade one teacher.
For learners (adult or student), success comes from knowing what the learning destination is and what success looks like, being involved in setting criteria, self-assessing their way to success, and collecting evidence of learning. It is an informed partnership with teachers. In the classroom, success involves individuals and groups of learners working together, using assessment for student learning to make learning and achievement possible for everyone. For educators, it requires collaboration with colleagues in coming to agreement about what success in their role looks and sounds like, and in using assessment for adult learning to guide their way
When is it too much for our teachers during this pandemic? How do I know if I am pushing them too far by doing professional learning during professional learning communities VS just giving them their own time to do their own thing to figure things out?
This one has been on my mind as well. This is a very different time and mental health must come first. However, the question that pops up in my mind is if I give them time to do their own thing, what will they do with that time and most of all is it good for their own mental health.
What I mean by this is, are they going to get in their grade teams without a plan or clarity of where to go next and talk about all of the awful things that are happening in our world making themselves even more overwhelmed? Are they going to get lost in the really hard stuff? As humans we tend to go towards the negative and wallow in it. I know I do. So my worry is that giving them time to do whatever they need might not be good for their mental health either. If I don’t have structure when I use my own time, I know I will continue to list off all of the things that aren’t going well and what I still have to do which only creates more overwhelm and increases anxiety.
My answer to this question is this: Consider a way to give them their time but provide a structure and an expectation to come back with an intention. Show them a framework of how they could set up their meetings so they can use their time how they need but always leave with a decision and an action on a priority they have chosen. Remember my promise that I will always give you tools to help you with my strategies? Well, here is a tool that will help you with giving your lead teachers a framework to start to build momentum and productivity within their meetings to begin to tackle that overwhelm. It is called the Leadership Formula template and it is meant for teachers to use however it works best for them but it helps them prioritize, leave with a decision and an action, and develop clarity in what they need to do.
Next, make sure that the residue of their actions that they are working towards lives outside of the meeting. This is called noticing your evidence of impact. Evidence of impact identifies the consequences of our actions and the extent to which program or project goals have been achieved. This evidence might be to teach others what they are doing with their overwhelm, how they are time managing, how they are continuing to move the learning forward in virtual setting, how to get kids using their word attack strategies more, how to infuse more basic facts into math workshop, what books they are reading and how they are infusing reading comp strategies into the transfer stage of learning, etc.
Teach your staff a structure that they can use when you do give them time to go off on their own. The focus can be anything that they need but the structure will provide traction and momentum.
The structure that I suggest within my leadership template is have them set a timer. They spend the first few minutes dumping all of the things that are on their mind on the table. We need this time too.
Next , list out problems or things that need to get done. Prioritize one and set one to three actions they can do to conquer that priority.
Make a decision on which action they will take before they leave the meeting, make a decision on how they will measure their evidence of impact through pictures, schedules if it is time management, lesson plans, videos, etc.
The leader sets the expectation that they will go and put that action into practice and come back the next meeting with evidence to teach others how it all went. Now this priority can be anything, it doesn’t always have to be curriculum.
Bottom line is yes teachers need time but the leader has to teach them what to do with that time so they can figure out how to get traction and momentum. We need to do this as leaders in our own meetings as well. Teach them how to figure things out and let them decide which problem matters most to them to figure out first. It will give them life skills, leadership skills, and ways to manage their anxiety or overwhelm so that they finally feel like they are getting somewhere and not stuck on the endless hamster wheel that keeps building.
We can’t just stay in one spot, we have to keep moving forward but the key is at your own pace. They key is to give them the tools for action. Paint a picture for them of what life will look like for them if they start to take action in the area that is getting them down. I call this the kitchen sink analogy. Imagine your sink full of dishes. If we don’t tackle it one dish at a time, the pile of dishes grows and grows. It will never go away until we dive in one dish at a time. We are definitely in a tricky spot in our world right now so providing them with a structure to find clarity for the needs that matter most to them will help.
How do I make my expectations clear to my teachers with how they teach and spend their time?
It is so hard managing humans but definitely expectations should be set or we will all go rogue. I would suggest building or co-constructing a criteria checklist asking a very specific question. Such as ‘what is important when…. (fill in the last part with a need of for your community)’.
We did one with our staff about expectations for report card comments and asked the question ‘what is important when writing report card comments?’ You can do it for any question or expectation that you want to make clear in your messaging. We modelled writing a report comment in front of them and they noticed what we included in the comments. They wrote one idea per sticky note then they worked in small groups to sort their ideas into similar groups with headings. Next, we created the criteria list as a whole staff on what is important when writing report card comments. We now have a roadmap of what expectations we expect when writing report card comments. This best part was this list of expectations didn’t come from the top down. It was created together where they had a choice in what needs to be in that list therefore we had more commitment and success when it came to writing our comments. Next we used that list of expectations every time we gave feedback and gave specific examples of proof and evidence.
Another suggestion I have is everything that you expect your staff to do you must do yourself. Model everything, be vulnerable and it will put you in a place where people will root for you. Be visible and in the trenches. Make everything matter to them because they see the value of what is in it for them.
My teachers don’t really seem to want to team teach or want me to be in their classrooms. How can I make them feel more comfortable?
This is a common question. The first thing I would suggest is before you go into anyone’s classroom your messaging in a PLC has to be clear about your intentions for spending time in their classroom. They need to know that is not coming from a place of judgment but rather a place of learning alongside and extending their reach as teachers and adult learning. You are there to learn and participate rather than just sitting at the back typing. Explain to them that you will get involved in the lesson, ask kids questions, etc.
I always leave with a trail or a residue of the learning that happened that day. I stick a sticky note on the door of all of the amazing things I noticed about the learning that unfolded that day. I noticed….that the students did a lot of the thinking. I noticed that you chose one teaching point per conference. I noticed the students gave feedback to one another. Etc. This builds trust and shines the flashlight forward on the teaching that happened. Keep the sticky notes positive and very specific. I also have a formula that I follow and I make sure my teachers know my pathway:
- Messaging on your intentions, the results you both want to receive, how you will gather evidence and how you will extend their reach with the teaching you saw happen, how they could extend their reach with the teaching they do and the successes they have.
- Set up pre meetings and set a goal with three actions of the feedback and support they would like from you – do these for the teachers who are on your list for supervision from the board office
- Go in to observe and participate and leave the ‘I noticed…’ sticky notes
- Another way to build trust and visibility is to cover for them (you plan the lesson) and they go and team teach with another teacher to teach a strategy based on that goal you set at the beginning of the year or have been exploring within your professional learning communities.
- Set up a team teaching time with them based on the goal that they have.
- An advanced option is to set up a week of hour long or half hour long times where you team teach together. I call it admin/teacher team teaching.
They now see you in action and a vulnerable master learner. You are working and learning alongside them and you are building their leadership skills by extending their reach and showing them how to coach and learn from others. This is very effective in our school and has been the best professional development for teachers, leaders, and the students seeing us work together and learn in front of them.
These are all great questions that surface in my school on a regular basis. By tackling the kitchen sink that is full of questions, we learn and we grow. I promise that you betting on yourself, developing a framework to provide clarity, and committing to the messy process over time will start to get you the results you are looking for.
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