Monday, August 26, 2013
Jeanna Scheve's Blog: Jeanna Scheve's Blog: Challenge #1: Collaboration ...
Jeanna Scheve's Blog: Jeanna Scheve's Blog: Challenge #1: Collaboration ...: Jeanna Scheve's Blog: Challenge #1: Collaboration to "Teach Up" : This is the first of a series of blogs I want to write in ho...
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Jeanna Scheve's Blog: Challenge #1: Collaboration to "Teach Up"
Jeanna Scheve's Blog: Challenge #1: Collaboration to "Teach Up": This is the first of a series of blogs I want to write in hopes of soliciting a challenge amongst educators. I mentioned not long ago that ...
I Challenge You: Collaboration to "Teach Up"
This is the first of a series of blogs I want to write in hopes of soliciting a challenge amongst educators. I mentioned not long ago that I had taken on a new role. I earned my masters degree, with the hope of being able to engage in instructional partnerships. They call it "instructional coaching", but I have a problem with that phrasing. I've learned that the moment you say you are a "coach", it coincides with every other meaning for coach that a person had before - leader, superior, know-it-all. Though this is the LAST series of meanings I ever intended, I naively went with my training and introduced myself as an "instructional coach" to a new staff. Mistake #1. Not only was I a new staff member, but the idea of instructional partnerships was not well known. I successfully isolated myself. Where is the "edit" button in live conversation? What I meant was partner. Purely and simply - a partner.
In 2007, this vision hit me like a Mack truck. My whole department of science teachers had left (for various reasons) and that included my colleague, mentor, and friend, Kelli. The collaboration I had with her on a daily basis helped me to "teach up". I learned so much from her and at the same time, she empowered me to develop my own classroom and style of teaching. Starting the 07-08 school year without that "partner challenge", I came to the realization that every teacher should have access to someone to bounce ideas off of, someone to help look at student data, a resource for tips and strategies, an outside perspective to walk around in my class and help me to see things I was missing. I was lucky to have teachers in my building that wanted that kind of partnership as well, and we helped one another to grow.
Despite the verbal beating I gave myself after that first meeting with staff, about three or four forgiving teachers actually began coming in with problems we could solve together. As a teacher, I was always searching for that collaborative peer (regardless of their subject) who just got kids - knew how to work with them and make them tick. Classroom management, lesson organization, individualization, and assessment methods are all things that no matter what our specialized content, I could collaborate with other educators on. I fell in love with collaboration. As a mentoring program coordinator for five years and a mentor for seven, I was re-energized with every meeting with both new and veteran staff members. This became my calling: I wanted to help teachers, to be there for them as someone who understands kids and had success in the classroom for thirteen years. Nine years as a presenter in multiple formats and levels also helped to hone in on collaboration skills.
Yet, the idea of me in my own classroom and you in yours is still very much engrained. In my own classroom, the greatest growth I experienced, hands down, was from collaboration. I wanted to steal ideas from the best of the best and make them my own. I wanted to be someone's favorite teacher; that one they felt connected to; the one who made a difference. I didn't settle for mediocre from myself or my students, and my heart was wrapped around those students that were hardest to reach. My vision as a collaborator is to inspire growth and help others find fulfillment in a field that is so precious and important to me. Our future (that's our students) literally depends on it.
I truly think that this is where most educators start in their careers. Hungry, determined, and ready for a challenge. Somewhere between loading up our young teachers with extra duties that no one else wants, and letting teachers of seniority determine that "those" kids get dumped in the newbies room, the sink or swim of the first year alone is daunting. If they make it a second or third year, they've got a shot at pulling through. After about 5 years, you feel like you've gotten the hang of it, but if you are not challenging yourself, you may end up rolling down the road of contentment....or become just plain idle. Don't be the teacher on idle...embrace collaboration. Take every opportunity you can to learn about yourself as an educator and greet each day with, "What am I doing to get better today?"
This has a ripple effect. Your students will notice! I was honest with my students when we tried new things. They were given ample opportunities to voice their opinions or concerns, as I asked for their feedback after I tried something. I was transparent in saying, "This is a new way of doing things. It'll either flop or be awesome." They knew if it flopped, I'd own it and say, "Wow, that stunk. Let me try again." What happened next? Well, my students knew they could take risks, too! They were taking more chances in their projects, in asking questions, and in receiving feedback. Wouldn't it be awesome if we, as educators, collaborated and took risks in this way? The same way we expect students to in our own rooms?
Therein lies the needs for collaboration. It keeps you fresh and on tap with what others in your field are doing. New ideas spur on new passion. We have too much to do in education to be on our own islands. We must break down walls and build bridges with our colleagues. As an instructional collaborator, I want to give my teachers everything I've got. If I don't know something, I'll find out. If a strategy we tried isn't working, we'll try something else. It is a journey we take together, and all for the benefit of student learning and achievement. .
My challenge to you: Take a planning period or get a colleague to cover you so that you can go sit in another teacher's room. Ask them if you can sit in (what a compliment) with the intent of walking out with a new idea to try. Follow up with them and ask questions or converse about what you saw. This practice alone is a great way to get your bridge started. Let me know how it goes.
In 2007, this vision hit me like a Mack truck. My whole department of science teachers had left (for various reasons) and that included my colleague, mentor, and friend, Kelli. The collaboration I had with her on a daily basis helped me to "teach up". I learned so much from her and at the same time, she empowered me to develop my own classroom and style of teaching. Starting the 07-08 school year without that "partner challenge", I came to the realization that every teacher should have access to someone to bounce ideas off of, someone to help look at student data, a resource for tips and strategies, an outside perspective to walk around in my class and help me to see things I was missing. I was lucky to have teachers in my building that wanted that kind of partnership as well, and we helped one another to grow.
Despite the verbal beating I gave myself after that first meeting with staff, about three or four forgiving teachers actually began coming in with problems we could solve together. As a teacher, I was always searching for that collaborative peer (regardless of their subject) who just got kids - knew how to work with them and make them tick. Classroom management, lesson organization, individualization, and assessment methods are all things that no matter what our specialized content, I could collaborate with other educators on. I fell in love with collaboration. As a mentoring program coordinator for five years and a mentor for seven, I was re-energized with every meeting with both new and veteran staff members. This became my calling: I wanted to help teachers, to be there for them as someone who understands kids and had success in the classroom for thirteen years. Nine years as a presenter in multiple formats and levels also helped to hone in on collaboration skills.
Yet, the idea of me in my own classroom and you in yours is still very much engrained. In my own classroom, the greatest growth I experienced, hands down, was from collaboration. I wanted to steal ideas from the best of the best and make them my own. I wanted to be someone's favorite teacher; that one they felt connected to; the one who made a difference. I didn't settle for mediocre from myself or my students, and my heart was wrapped around those students that were hardest to reach. My vision as a collaborator is to inspire growth and help others find fulfillment in a field that is so precious and important to me. Our future (that's our students) literally depends on it.
I truly think that this is where most educators start in their careers. Hungry, determined, and ready for a challenge. Somewhere between loading up our young teachers with extra duties that no one else wants, and letting teachers of seniority determine that "those" kids get dumped in the newbies room, the sink or swim of the first year alone is daunting. If they make it a second or third year, they've got a shot at pulling through. After about 5 years, you feel like you've gotten the hang of it, but if you are not challenging yourself, you may end up rolling down the road of contentment....or become just plain idle. Don't be the teacher on idle...embrace collaboration. Take every opportunity you can to learn about yourself as an educator and greet each day with, "What am I doing to get better today?"
This has a ripple effect. Your students will notice! I was honest with my students when we tried new things. They were given ample opportunities to voice their opinions or concerns, as I asked for their feedback after I tried something. I was transparent in saying, "This is a new way of doing things. It'll either flop or be awesome." They knew if it flopped, I'd own it and say, "Wow, that stunk. Let me try again." What happened next? Well, my students knew they could take risks, too! They were taking more chances in their projects, in asking questions, and in receiving feedback. Wouldn't it be awesome if we, as educators, collaborated and took risks in this way? The same way we expect students to in our own rooms?
Therein lies the needs for collaboration. It keeps you fresh and on tap with what others in your field are doing. New ideas spur on new passion. We have too much to do in education to be on our own islands. We must break down walls and build bridges with our colleagues. As an instructional collaborator, I want to give my teachers everything I've got. If I don't know something, I'll find out. If a strategy we tried isn't working, we'll try something else. It is a journey we take together, and all for the benefit of student learning and achievement. .
My challenge to you: Take a planning period or get a colleague to cover you so that you can go sit in another teacher's room. Ask them if you can sit in (what a compliment) with the intent of walking out with a new idea to try. Follow up with them and ask questions or converse about what you saw. This practice alone is a great way to get your bridge started. Let me know how it goes.
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