Learning How to Rest and Not to Quit

I'm writing this post to think through a hardship I encountered leading a PLC.

Many books on Instructional and Educational Leadership that I have read give really great advice on how to be a great leader, but very few actually give you guidance on when to stop a project because you feel like it's causing more harm than good.

I am by no means a quitter.  I absolutely understand that grit and resilience are factors that allow a group of people to make a change.  Especially in the hardest of times when you feel like it's going nowhere. 

But thinking this through, where do you draw the line between grit and just plain too stubborn to stop?

It's no secret every leader has faced self-doubt.  I wonder though, is self-doubt your subconscious telling you that you are headed in the wrong direction? I don't have the answer to that.

I guess it is normal to feel the urge to quit.  Leading has always been messy.  Hopefully, clarity will present itself after a break away from it.  Disconnecting might just be the answer that I need.

The quote below does resonate with me... although I have to admit I don't think my leadership capabilities are there yet.

Teacher Leadership: What We Give, Is What We Get

Return On Investment (ROI)

"Everyone is a Leader.  So Then Why Doesn't Everyone Lead?" was a blog post by Jimmy Casas (@casas_jimmy) on March 11, 2018.

First, I echo Mr. Casas' sentiments completely.  I firmly and strongly believe in the concept of Teacher Leadership and their ability to influence Administrators, their colleagues, and other respective Teacher Leaders (in addition to their students).

No doubt about it, Teacher Leaders are the linchpins that influence culture and contribute to the health and well-being of any school.   "So why then doesn't everyone lead?"

What I have come to conclude is that it has everything to do with the relationship and investment the district is willing to put into training their teachers for this role.

The concept of a "return on investment" hit home for me when I realized just what the role of a Teacher Leader potentially 'returns.'

Teacher Leadership: It's a commitment.  A mindset.  An Art of Teaching, Coaching, and Leading.  A dedication not only to Instructional Leadership but to Servant Leadership as well.  The list goes on.

The above that I mention are just some of the "returns on the investment"  a district would benefit, or gain by investing in its teachers.

If sustaining Teacher Leadership is indeed a mutual "invest and return" principle that I just mentioned, what is the district or school leader willing to invest in their teachers to become leaders?

What resources and time are they willing to commit to foster this relationship?  What promotions are they willing to give their Teacher Leaders?  How do they, collectively, foster them so this mindset generates a staying power to create more Teacher Leaders?

Yes, all teachers are leaders.  Yes, everybody should be leading.  However, the relationship and investment that I mentioned previously have to be there on both sides.

It's a marriage.  Plain and simple.  Both parties cannot commit 50/50.  Instead, both need to invest in each other 100%.  That's how a healthy relationship can persevere and sustain a strength-based approach to leading and learning that is symbiotic.

The commitment to be a leader is demanding.  This role leaves any teacher open to criticism as doers and overachievers by their peers because they have no official administrative title.

Below is a quote that answers how to promote Teacher Leadership in any school.

If you are interested in reading further about Teacher Leadership:  Is Your District Striving or Sustaining, read my previous post here.

Teacher Leadership and the Ideal Classroom

Learner-Centered Innovation: Week 2, Season 4 #IMMOOC

Image via DevOps

Dr. Katie Martin expresses that, "teacher leaders can serve as linchpins that move systems and structures to a culture of learning and make a significant impact for those they serve."

The way that I try to create and improve my innovation ecosystem is to lead and participate in a bridging committee between the Middle School and High School World Languages Department.  Yes, it is rewarding, but it might just be the most frustrating educational experience I have ever participated in.

Vertical and horizontal alignment buzzwords aside, it's been a rocky road from the beginning.  I was so ill-prepared on how to lead it, this year we had no other alternative than to hit the reset button. Mission Impossible commences.

Slowly though, we are moving together and paving a path of least resistance.

One reason I am so obsessed with this PLCs is that I strongly believe in the concept of Teacher Leadership and Collective Teacher Efficacy as being the most effective denominator of student achievement.

For me, this is a non-negotiable and PLCs are exactly the strength-based teacher driven change that Dr. Martin mentioned in her book.  This is my way of trying to improve my ecosystem.  Despite major setbacks we experienced as a team, I will not give up.  Our work is too important.


The question was posed of what does our ideal classroom look like?

There are so many factors and @RichViolanti's post nailed it when he writes these tenants:

What's Your Message, By Richard Violanti 

In addition to his list, I would look for a teacher whose passion clearly shines.  The classroom is nothing but a vessel if there is no one passionate about what they are learning and creating.

Below is also a picture of George Couros' 8 Things to Look for in Today's Classroom:

______________________

Teacher Burnout and Finding a Balance

The struggle between teacher burnout and finding a balance is an absolute constant in this profession.

With the unrealistic demands made on teachers and leaders alike, (oversized classes, grading, paperwork, and duties, etc.) the need to find ways to cope with how to spend our time and energy needs to be brought to the forefront when we examine school culture.

Teacher-student relationships are jeopardized when teacher burnout is apparent.  Our mood affects the culture of our classrooms and school, so this balance is imperative to find.  Most important, we must examine the real issue and not just apply bandage solutions. If, for example, grading burns you out, then a close examination of pedagogy is what needs to be addressed. 

While each situation is different for each person, the fight against burnout can be curbed through a diligent prioritizing of keeping students at the core of our practice.  One who finds this balance is compelled to work beyond proposed limits.

Dr. Amy Fast's (@fastcrayon) book "It's the Mission, Not the Mandates," echoes this statement when she advocates knowing your "why" so that your work becomes meaningful and purposeful; Consequently, those who know their "why" are those who do not regard their role as a vocation, but an avocation and have heightened resilience to burnout.

The truth behind this post, however, is that the chase for this balance is the same as the pursuit of happiness.  You have to work at it constantly and consistently to procure and sustain it.

Below are two great comments that contribute to the discussion of balance:

1) Teacher Kareem Farah (@kareenfarah) tweeted, "Teacher burnout can be a consequence of exhaustion but also a result of stagnation.  It is critical that districts develop teacher leadership that keeps great teachers in the classroom but allows them to elevate and scale their expertise."

Yes, the notion of teacher leadership hits home for me.  On any given staff, there are always the race boats, the sailboats, and the anchors.  Giving others too little to do is just as harmful as giving others too much to do.

2) "Give teachers their planning time.  We NEED that uninterrupted time every day.  There's so much pressure for technology-rich lessons, parent/ community contact, and relationship building, but there's no time to do it all in one day." (Kaitlyn Yvonne, @MrsEdMath)

These two tweets summarize the dichotomy within a culture that can be found in every school.  As teachers and leaders, we are those who care for others.  Therefore, we must be cognizant that we take care of ourselves first and foremost before we are able to effectively take care of others.


Personal Resiliency and The Basics of Self-Care

A question was posed in an #Edutopiachat on how you would approach a teacher who is burnt out. My answer is "approach with empathy and an open ear, some coffee and a nonjudgmental attitude," but what I neglected to add was patience.

It is my hope that we retain the great teachers in this field.  There is so much to do and we need teachers to fight the good fight.  Don't give up.

Below is a list to help you achieve this balance: 

Eat
Sleep
Drink water
Move
Connect
Pause
Acknowledge
Reflect
(Repeat)

2 hours ago

The Greater Purpose of Schools

#InnovatorsMindset Blog Challenge Week 1

What do you see as the purpose of education?  Why might innovation be crucial in education? "Change is an opportunity to do something amazing."  How are you embracing change to spur innovation in your own context? 

Picture From George Couros 

It can be said that morality encompasses fairness, altruism, and empathy.  These are what is considered crucial to our notion of humanity and what sets us apart from beasts.

The purpose of education is to empower students to be contributors to society and to give students the drive to care for others besides themselves.

Activating a student's internal drive is one purpose that I hope to embrace this year.  Creating ways to get students passionate about a worthy cause is something that sparks students' intrinsic motivation to learn, to grow, and to ultimately be a leader.

Innovation is crucial to education because if we settle and continue to teach in the traditional academic mindset, it will absolutely crush curiosity.

Therefore, as educators, we must sieze every opportunity to innovate ourselves.  If not, then we are not only fundamentally failing our students but our society as well.

I hope to push myself this year to model the behavior of being the continuous learner.  We are tasked with making our students academically proficient-- but we must prioritize students understanding that they must leave school with a greater purpose, their "why," and to share their legacy with the world.

"You can't make anyone change"... But what you can do is create those conditions for them to "unleash their talents" and passion.

Innovator's Mindset, by George Couros #IMMOOC, Season 4

Twitter Bootcamp! Grow your Professional Learning Network

This is an amazing opportunity to grow your PLN.  Every Educational Leader, Instructional Coach, and Teacher benefit from Twitter because it is such an amazing tool to use for professional growth. 

It also puts you in contact with experts in the teaching field from all over the world, offering fresh ideas for everything from student engagement to differentiated instruction to conflict resolution.  

Take advantage of Jennifer Hogan's Twitter Bootcamp starting up soon.  She is a must follow on Twitter (@Jennifer_Hogan)    

I can't tell you how much this Bootcamp means to me.  I first started Twitter in September of this year with barely anyone in my PLN.  After this boot camp, Jennifer helped me expand my PLN.  

Here are the numbers after I took from her Bootcamp:

Your Tweets earned 238.1K impressions over this 28 day period

Amazing right!! Numbers speak for themselves.  What I loved the most, however, was all the relationships that I gained through this experience.   

I'm proud to be joining and getting to know this new cohort starting soon.  So, dive right in!!! You have all to gain and nothing to lose.  

The next 21 Day Twitter Bootcamp starts March 5th!! Click here for the {{link}}.



Image from @sylviaduckworth

PLCs: It's okay to hit the "reset" button

My district is in year 3 of PLCs.  I love the concept of a PLC.  Maybe even borderline obsessed with a hint of crazy about it.

Since our district is at its nascent stage of the process, I used Learning By Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work (DuFour, DuFour, Easker, Many, 2010) to help guide me.

Here are the main takeaways from this book that helped me understand more about PLCs:

1.  The PLC is not a program, it is a mindset.  It's an on-going and continuous process that has a profound impact on the culture of the school.  You know your PLC is in trouble when teachers think its a mandate, not a mindset.  Everyone needs to be all hands on deck.

2. Understand the Professional, Learning, and Community in PLC.

"Professional"-  implies that the work of professionals is rooted in best practice.
"Learning"- the highest levels of learning for all students is significantly impacted by the quality of adult learning.  Teachers have a moral imperative to keep learning.
"Community"- that collaborative teams are a must for ensuring the highest levels of learning.

3. Interdependence is a keyword.  Teachers cannot work in isolation or independently, nor should teachers be depending on other teachers to do all the work.  In order for everyone to take ownership of the process, promote the concept of teacher leaders working interdependently and collaboratively.

3.  The team is not a PLC. The PLC is the school community and the team is the engine that drives that improvement.  Whose driving?  Teacher Leaders!  This concept is huge for me.

Teacher Leaders are instrumental in facilitating meetings, not Administrators. As a balance, having an Instructional Coach to help guide you is imperative.  I benefited from the guidance of having many planning and feedback sessions from both my phenomenal Instructional Coaches to make sure the PLC was on track.

4. Begin with the "Why?" to establish the mission.  A lot of times teachers confuse this with the "how?"

The team needs to start with a shared fundamental purpose for the PLC and then only after that can they collectively establish the vision (the What?) and the values (the How?) to meet the goal.

They are known as the four pillars:

5. Norms are necessary as well as a protocol when conflict arises.  Luckily, we have not had any Fight Club scenes and hopefully, it never gets to that point.

6. Ground your work on four questions to drive collective inquiry and action research:  Learning By Doing (DuFour, DuFour, Easker, Many, 2010) has them listed as:

• What is it that we want our students to know and be able to do?
• How will we know if each student has learned it?
• How will we respond when some students do not learn it?
• How will we extend the learning for students who have demonstrated proficiency? 

The above should be the go-to questions for teachers.  The PLC leaves teachers inherently vulnerable when sharing their work, so it helps to keep the focus on student learning and not the mentality of "why weren't students taught this last year."  Keep the entire process as positive as possible.

There are so many things that are inextricably linked that its hard to give a silver bullet answer to what makes a PLC work.  The process is messy and you have to give yourself permission to hit the reset button.

Also, I firmly believe in giving teachers a manual that helps guide them through the process.  I have spent hours learning about this process and in keeping a commonality of understanding for the entire district, a book or handouts is a must.

________________
Learning By Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work (DuFour, DuFour, Easker, Many, 2010) is a wonderful resource to have a guide you.   Another resource I used was Every School, Every Team, Every Classroom by Robert Eaker & Janel Keating, which is also a title from Solution Tree.