Showing posts with label leadership. Show all posts
Showing posts with label leadership. Show all posts

Friday, November 18, 2022

What Does It Mean To Teach?

What does it mean to teach? This is no longer a pedagogical discussion.  Your answer to this question, and the actions you take based on your answer in your classrooms, your buildings, your districts, your communities matter to the students who need you.  We must take back the narrative and stop letting others answer this question for us. This starts with how we talk about our profession with each other.  Being a teacher or administrator in 2022 absolutely comes with a lot of challenges.  Don’t give in to the Yabuts and the Icanots that may be lurking at the edges of conversations with colleagues. They are so tempting. Everyone needs to vent. Set a time limit for venting,  then work to turn the conversation to a new book you are reading, a podcast you like, something that went well in your lesson, a student that had an “ah hah moment”, or brainstorming on how to support or stretch students.  We are better together than working in isolation.  Lift up colleagues who need your support.  Research shows that teachers are most likely to leave the profession within the first 5 years.  This is happening more and more. Informal mentorship is so important, and is a benefit both for the mentees and the mentors. To teach means that you are more than a content expert. You know how to co-construct knowledge with peers and students.  


Talk positively about teaching in front of your students. We need future teachers. Grow them in your classrooms.  Celebrate their successes with them after they spend time in the “learning pit” wrestling with new learning.  Ask them what strategies worked or didn’t work for them. Listen to their questions and their thinking. You are their advocate. You can give them opportunities to amplify their voice in your room, or opportunities to try out their thinking. They are looking to you to help them see where they are and where they can go next in their learning. To teach means you can meet students where they are and weave connections between prior learning and new learning, and learning and the authentic world, making sure all your students are in that net that you are creating.  


Write an elevator speech. How would you respond when someone makes a statement to you that sounds something like, “well anyone can be a teacher…”.  This is no idle conversation.  There is a very real shortage of teachers and substitute teachers.  Legislators in Ohio and in legislatures across the United States have redefined the criteria to obtain a subsitute license, and a temporary teaching license.  People think they know what it means to teach because they have been students in classrooms or watched classes on Zoom during the pandemic, and have been on the receiving end of teaching.  Being on the receiving end leads to stereotypical descriptions of what teachers do since what is taken into consideration is the output. What is missing is the input, the many threads that are being pulled together leading up to that learning moment to weave the lesson or engage with the students in the first place.  Where we need to focus our advocacy is on framing the decision making not on the output but on the outcome.  To teach is to blend the mindsets of a scientist, an anthropologist, a psychologist, an artist, a coach, a counselor, and an inventor into one person who then chooses to do his/her best each day to make connections with children so that the children feel heard, and safe, and can move their learning forward to accomplish their goals. To teach is to respond in real time to a steady stream of evidence of learning and be a flexible thinker. That is the outcome. Teachers have developed an expertise that empowers them to accomplish this outcome.  Start your elevator speech with a statement about what to teach means to you.  End it with the outcome you hope to see from your work. 

Thank you for choosing to teach.   


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Tuesday, October 11, 2022

A Reflection on the UN International Day of the Girl 10.11.22

Today is the UN International Day of the Girl. 

"Our time is now—our rights, our future".


Before you read this, I want you to stop and think about a girl you know.  Maybe she is in your classroom, your team, your club, your neighborhood, or your family. What is her strength? What is important to her? What barriers might you be able to remove so that she can accomplish a goal or work to solve a problem?


I am going to share a story of a girl whose leadership impacted my work as an educator. I have been thinking a lot about her as I read the stories of young women across the world who are being denied an education.  The current data from UNESCO estimates close to 130 million young women are unable to attend school, especially secondary school.  I met her when she was 19, and a refugee from Baghdad who had lost a year of education in a refugee camp in Lebanon, where she wasn’t allowed to go to school because she had no transcripts. She spoke functional English, had experienced war, and faced classmates who were younger, and who had very different life experiences and cultural practices. Her goal, to graduate from high school, become an engineer, and help other refugees. The barriers in her path - the Ohio Graduation Test, American Literature, and 24 hours in a day.  She was added as a student in my environmental science class. On the first day, she got out her notebook and asked me what she needed to do to be successful.  I did a lot of research on the best strategies for supporting dual language learners in science.  She gave me feedback on what worked, suggested strategies that she found worked for her and then helped to implement those strategies in my classroom and work with teachers in the classrooms where other students who spoke various arabic dialects were struggling.  [Our favorite strategies - visual word walls, side by side text English/Arabic, sentence stems, and real time feedback in Google Docs] We developed a trust relationship which led to richer conversations, including what I could do to support other dual language learners  in our school.  She suggested we start a study team for other Arabic language speakers. This resulted in a daily lunch time discussion we co-led around culture, literature, math, science, language, and setting goals - often with her translating between 3 or 4 different dialects. She gained confidence and volunteered as a translator at the Cleveland Refugee Center.  She often stayed up until 4:00 in the morning completing assignments from her various classes, first painstakingly translating them, then writing responses in Arabic, then translating that back to English using Google translate, and eventually with her own growing English skills.  As her teacher, watching the  process she developed for learning and completing assignments, the importance of building working vocabulary and cultural experiences for dual language learners became important to me. Idioms, references to pop culture, local customs and phrases, lack of common experiences with classmates who had grown up in the community,  all posed significant challenges to her ability to actually get to the core of the learning she needed to focus on.  I was more intentional about the texts I chose for all my students to work with as a result. I looked for text with graphic support and explicit definitions of vocabulary. I spent time previewing texts to identify words or cultural phrases I would need to pre-teach, or find an alternative for.  We worked together to prepare for the OGTs. She was able to pass the math, social studies, and science OGT, and her academic grades and attendance met the requirements for a waiver request, allowing her to graduate.  Her goal, to become a chemical engineer.  She persevered through Tri-C, then Cleveland State University, and led her engineering teams as a student. I think she still stayed up until 4:00 AM and I would still receive requests to share feedback with her in a Google Doc all the way through her college career.  She is now a chemical engineer for a cosmetics company and has a daughter of her own.  


 As educators, it is easy sometimes to not really see the power that is inside the girls we teach. Deficit thinking prevents us from finding ways to build on a student’s strengths and closes doors to opportunities that we should be providing.  Girls are leaders at all ages. They bring their own experiences and perspectives to the table. They need advocates and allies who are willing to set aside time to help them find resources, network with other leaders, organize their work, build the knowledge or skills they need, and amplify their voice. They need a safe environment to do their work.  We should be careful of the messages we unintentionally send to them, “you talk too much”, “put your hand down and let someone else answer”, ‘you are too loud”,  “you are being bossy”... to a person, every young woman in leadership that I have spoken to shared that they had heard these statements or a variation, as they moved through school. To a girl who is working to find her own leadership voice, these messages can shut that down very quickly.  So, as we recognize the International Day of the Girl, let’s be intentional about celebrating the unique perspectives the girls around us bring to our work and clear the path forward for them as they accomplish their goals and find novel solutions to problems we all face. This starts with asking them what they need.    


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Thursday, October 6, 2022

How We Define Networking 10.4.2022

 


Four different speakers at four different sessions during the course of the Buckeye Association of School Administrators (BASA) fall conference today focused on networking.  Why did that stand out to me?  I have been reflecting on how to intentionally teach and reinforce networking skills for our students.  In the first session, the speaker focused on networking as a way to bring diverse voices to work on a problem, resulting in more creative and effective solutions.  To do this, students must first see the diversity in skills, in life experiences, and in opinion, as a strength and be given opportunities to seek out this diversity when they have a problem to solve. Then, students need an environment where they have the time to solve problems by building a network, while getting feedback from mentors or teachers.  Adults also benefit from this diversity of voices when faced with a problem.  When you think about building your own network, are you intentional about pulling in people from diverse experiences and backgrounds? (Thanks to Eric Gordan, Maria Carlson, and Cindy Moss for sharing their students and their innovative summer programming based on their profile of a graduate)


In the next session, the presenter posed the question, “What is your positional power and who are you networking with?” Networking in this model is like chaining batteries together.  For students who may feel their voice has not been heard or are working to make change in policy or practice, networking is a way to combine their positional power with that of other students, mentors and advocates to amplify their voice. This is the power of organizations like Voice4equity’s Policy Leadership for HS Girls Initiative.    As education leaders, we all have some level of positional power.  When you think about building your network, who can work alongside you to accomplish your goals or elevate your advocacy work?  (Thanks to Dr. Christina Kishimoto, Mia Prewitt for sharing Policy Leadership for HS Girls)


The third session looked at the idea of networking innovators and creators across districts.  For students, this is finding opportunities for students to build a network of leaders and innovators from other schools in the district and beyond the district.  With Zoom, it is now possible to create virtual events where students can work together on larger problems that are important to them. Programs like 4H, Buckeye Boys State and Buckeye Girls State, Student Senate, Key Club, Model UN, and Robotics competitions are all examples of programs that have built in opportunities for older  students to innovate or create together.  What else can we do? What opportunities are there for younger students to connect to others who have innovative ideas beyond their own classrooms?  As leaders, how can we identify the innovators within our own district and help them network across departments or across districts? What problems can we task this network with addressing? (Thanks to BIll Daggett for sharing his research)


FInally, the last session focused on networking as a way to find “wholeness”.  A network can help put a problem in contextt, offer voices of support, identify  resources, provide feedback, and strengthen collegiality.  As leaders, we know that sometimes it is hard to see beyond the 4 walls around us.  A network is that connection to the world around us.  Students need that same wholeness as they work to navigate the world of home and school.  We can model this kind of networking, sharing with students how we have used our network to help us work through a problem or find support.  We can also build time into the student day for them to connect to their own network.  It takes energy to maintain this essential network.  Take time over the next few days to take an action to strengthen or reconnect to the network that helps you to find “wholeness”  (Thanks to Superintendents Carey Buehler, Veronica Motley, Kim MIller, and Shelly Vaughn for sharing out their top 10 strategies for finding wholeness and living a full life as a leader)


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Wednesday, September 21, 2022

How We Can Learn Lessons In Leadership From Queen Elizabeth 9.20.2022

The power of an effective leader was certainly on display this week.  One article I read today said that more than 60% of the world’s population is estimated to have watched or listened to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth.  People queued for 12 or more hours just to walk past her coffin.  Leaders from across the world arrived in London to attend the state funeral.  What can we learn from her? 


First, step up and bring your all to the work you are leading. She understood the expectations for her role and worked within those expectations to build a bridge between tradition and change.  What feedback on how to shape a vision or navigate change can we give to young leaders? 


Second, look for opportunities to use your influence for the greater good.  She was a Girl Guide at age 11 and continued to serve as a patron throughout her life.  She understood the importance of providing girls with experiences to be out in nature, accomplish goals, and work through challenges as a team.  As adult leaders, are we intentionally creating opportunities for our students of all ages to lead around their own interests and passions? How do we build partnerships with community organizations like Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Kiwanis Key Clubs that can lead to mentorships and new opportunities to lead for our students? Do we search out our own opportunities to lead work that we are passionate about?


Third, be present. Interview after interview, people shared that the Queen listened. The Queen asked questions. The Queen made them feel comfortable. How do we help young leaders see the importance of building relationships?  What are the “moves” a skilled leader makes to make those around them feel valued or heard? We need to model these moves, and call them out when we see students using them so they can then begin to develop these necessary skills.  Students need regular opportunities to practice these moves. This is very different from typical group work or class discussion. 


Fourth, know your own strengths and blind spots. The Queen was confident. She certainly wasn’t going to lose her position as Queen.  That being said, she also built a vast network of individuals from many walks of life who had skills, knowledge or perspectives that she was able to tap into. She just as easily could have surrounded herself with courtiers who only agreed with her.   What opportunities do we give our students to reflect on their strengths as leaders, then network with others who can help them accomplish their goals?  How do we directly teach networking as a skill? What are you doing to expand your own network?  


Finally, be true to who you are.  Helping students see the power in authenticity may be one of the most important leadership lessons we can model for them.  


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