I am acting as a Principal of a Middle School…
…isolation ensures that highly unprofessional practices are tolerated and thus proliferate in the name of…professionalism…”what works” morphs easily into what feels good, or keeps kids occupied or, “what I’ve always done and gotten good evaluations for.”
Upon completing my first round of observations, I have noticed that there an exceeding amount of unprofessional practices going on throughout our school. I have met with several teachers within our school in order to gain input as to how to resolve this problem. Collectively, we have decided to put our teachers/students into teams in order to force us out of the isolation that is our classrooms. Students and teachers, within each grade level, will be divided into teams. Each team will consist of four primary teachers, Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies. These teachers of each team will meet weekly in order to discuss students, concerns, and best practice. These teachers will also conduct parent meetings as a unit. Five times a year, each teacher is to video record themselves teaching in their classrooms. With that video, each teacher will work with their team counterpart (a math teacher from team A of the 8th grade will meet with a math teacher from team B of the 8th grade) in order to evaluate each other and adjust lesson designs accordingly, possibly implementing an alternate lesson plan template. This will force teachers to not remain in isolation and work together for the best interest of the students.
Taken from page 108, paragraph 4
“We have relied far too much, with miserable results, on a failed model for improving instructional practice: training, in the form of workshops or staff development.”
Continuing with the idea that a teacher should not teach in isolation, a teacher should not assume to improve the quality of their teaching by attending workshops alone. We can make significant strides if we pool our knowledge, utilize our best practices and refine them. We have teachers within our school that have endless capabilities. We can bring out the best in our own faculty if we focus on instructional practice within our school, with our teachers and team-based learning communities. By doing so, we encourage teachers to rely on the expertise within our school, as well as empower our faculty.
Taken from page 15, second paragraph
Over the years, I have persuaded teachers and administrators into doing something most don’t do very often of with a clear focus: tour classrooms.
As part of our new initiative, I encourage teachers within our school to tour other classrooms at least four times a year. When doing so, please make yourself aware of what is taking place in our school. Are you witnessing students learning? Can they articulate what they are learning? Can the teacher? Are the students actively engaged? If there wasn’t a “buffer”, what do you think parents might not agree with that is going on in our classrooms? Where can we improve? Where are we exceptional? How can we share those ideas?
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2 comments:
You are absolutely correct - many teachers do what is easy and keeps kids occupied, as opposed to what might be challenging, but worthwhile.
By implimenting things such as creating teams and mandating colleagues to visit and/or observe each other's practices, then we'll have a better community of teachers and learners because of it.
Mary,
I love your idea of teachers touring the school and observing. The teachers are observing the school, students, teachers and rules. The idea promotes teachers to witness what is working and what needs to be improved. I also feel this technique will give teachers a sense of PRIDE for their school.
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