So often, school administrators are spending so much time trying to drum up planning and ideas for the next professional development day. It is always with the best intentions in mind, however, we look to what the newest trend is or what other successful schools are adopting for teaching strategies. Now, hear me out before I get rolling on this topic. There is definitely a need for learning new strategies or systems for improving our pedagogy and teaching methods. That is part of our professional obligation and responsibility. However, I truly believe that there is never a one size fits all. So often, we focus on programs or trends that are buzzing in the education field and then hop on board in order to use it as professional development for all of the teachers. However, not all teachers need the same thing. In order to reach anyone and get them to commit and believe in it, it is important for each person to know what is in it for them. To put it bluntly, it needs to matter to them. That is where I feel that focusing on setting up a very specific framework that teaches each person how to solve his or her own top priorities. I believe as school leaders we should look for frameworks that lead them to the type of professional development that solves their biggest priorities as well as setting up a system that can be used over and over again in order to automate and systematize so that we are not always starting from scratch. What if, as a school administrator, we focused on setting up systems to solve problems for ourselves and then took it another step further by using that same system to show teachers how to solve problems? Better yet…what if that problem solving framework could be used over and over again to tackle all kinds of priorities and could be automated so teachers had a very specific roadmap of how to solve problems, how to measure progress through evidence of impact, and how to teach it to others? This system could be so engrained in your community, they would never have to start from scratch again, could tackle problems more productively and efficiently, and they would see their impact by the actions they chose.
A problem solving system requires teachers and leaders to look at five very powerful questions:
- What is your top priority? Think… what is the one thing that keeps you up at night?
- What results are you looking to get?
- What are the three actions you might take to get there? These actions must be very specific and have clear steps.
- What evidence will you collect and how will you know that you are making progress?
- How might you teach how you solved this priority to someone else? Think about what is the best way that you, yourself learn.
Once these questions are answered for each teacher leader and the administrator, the administrator can go to work teaching them a system that creates a roadmap with a start point, an end point, and three actions with dates that they want to reach those milemarkers at. It is very important to set deadlines so that the work actually happens. Within that roadmap problem solving system, it is also important to leave space for measuring progress along the way. As administrators, set an intention to support your teachers along the way as they conquer their top priority. Set up times to meet with them on progress, make space in meetings for them to work through the problem solving frameworks and coach others, and team teach inside the classroom with them focusing on an action that they chose to solve the problem. I have a digital course called School Administrator’s Academy that teaches you step by step how to IMPLEMENT a problem solving system that stems from professional development, to team teaching in the classroom, observing teachers, leading through modelling, and how to get teachers coaching each other using this system. Doors open for enrollment August 17th. Stay tuned for more info on how to enroll in this course starting tomorrow. I also have a free masterclass where I give you three secrets to motivate and inspire teachers in your community! Click here to enroll now! You will leave with a system for engaging and empowering teachers through meetings that you put into action right away.
If leaders have a very specific problem solving system in place, then teachers see a roadmap with milemarkers that they can curate along the way so that this particular framework solves their top priorities. Because they are choosing their own top priority, they can then curate their professional development so that it helps them to conquer that priority. So for our school, a grade 5 team decided their top priority was getting students to transfer and prove their co-constructed learning criteria in their work in ELA. The teachers set up three milemarkers to conquer that priority and did research in assessment for learning strategies that engage students and show kids how to provide proof and evidence of learning in their work. The three milemarkers were to co-construct criteria for how authors write stories with their students, mile marker two was to have their students show at least three ways where they included that criteria in their writing, and milemarker three was to have each student give three pieces of feedback to another student to coach each other using criteria language. Their professional development for that year was focused on Anne Davies and Sandra Herbst’s work on assessment for learning and they even attended a pd day with Sandra. Now the teachers were engaged and knew the expectation that they had in order to show progress of their students starting to engage and justify proof of their learning through criteria. This was a highly successful framework for the teachers, the administrators, and the students! Now they teach it to other teachers in the school so they can have the same success. You see….now that one team has a proven roadmap, all of us can use it and have them to coach us so that we never have to start from scratch again.
To get even more traction with this problem solving system, admin found ways to get teachers sharing their successes, noticing evidence, and coaching each other. As admin, set up checkpoints along the way where teachers would show their data from the problem solving framework, work samples, teaching tools etc to another colleague and coach them on how they were conquering their priority. Setting up milemarkers (three action steps), gathering proof and evidence of data that they were making progress, and mastermind sessions are all part of the problem solving framework that was set up. The best part about this problem solving framework is that it can be used over and over again. The only thing that changes is the priority and the professional learning that happens to help conquer that priority. In other words, it is a system that finally tackles problems and automates it so that you never have to start from scratch again. It is a system that all teachers will be able to use to make it their own and not have to keep learning and piling on new initiatives.
When it comes to your whole school pd days, leaders can use the problem solving framework in many ways.
- You can use it to teach teachers the framework and then modelled it as admin showing them how you used it to solve problems
- You can use this problem solving system is to have your teacher leaders use this problem solving system to tackle a top priority in their grade teams
- You may also want to set up a professional development to show them how to reflect on the evidence they are gathering
- You can use it to teach teachers how to coach each other on the progress they have made and what they did to move the student’s learning forward
- The problem solving system framework can also be a focus inside the classroom when you go to observe them. You may also want to use it as a focal point for trying out one of the actions if you are team teaching together
- Teaching teachers how to set specific, streamlined, and clear goals is another great place to use this problem solving system
I really could go on and on with how setting up a solid problem solving system can become the base of everything that you do and sets up a powerful growth minded, solution seeking, productive, inspired, efficient, and motivated culture of people who want to do the best work of their lives and know what to do to solve problems.
So there you have it, a few of my secrets for setting up a problem solving system. I know I went through this system quickly but I want to remind you again of my digital course that will show you exactly how to do this! I have put together a digital course that teaches you exactly how to implement this exact problem solving system step by step with me coaching you every step of the way. This course is called School Administrator’s Academy and it teaches school administrators a problem solving system that engages, motivates, and inspires teachers to solve problems and set up automated systems so that you can have your life back.
In this course, you will go from scrambling to try to do it all and never knowing how to get ahead, to solving one problem at a time using the problem solving framework, called the leadership edit system, and getting your teachers to solve problems as well. In other words, it is a system that automates and systematizes problem solving, classroom observations, teachers coaching teachers, ways to gather evidence of problem solving, and boosts productivity and efficiency. The doors are now open to enroll for School Administrator’s Academy! Click here to enroll.now!
Remember, you can also sign up for my free masterclass where I will dive deeper into the 3 Secrets to Inspiring and Motivating Teachers. I will give you even more secrets to making this problem solving system a success and something that you can put into action right away! Click here to enroll in this free masterclass!
Alright so there you have it! I have left you with some of my best kept strategies for setting up a problem solving system! Remember, the first time you set up any system will take some hard work and time but it will last for years to come so just think how good you are going to feel next year when all you have to do is fill in the blanks. I also have a free guide to help you set up a system to workshop your meetings to be more productive, efficient, and engaging. You can download it here! Happy systematizing!!!
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