Reflection: Be Uncommon—Forget the Same-Old, Same-Old and Wow Your Teachers This School Year

Reflection: Be Uncommon—Forget the Same-Old, Same-Old and Wow Your Teachers This School Year

by | Aug 26, 2016 | District Office Leadership, Education, Principal Leadership

Same-old Reflection Pic

This month we focused on starting the school year off right and bringing teachers back with a bang!  Why? Setting the right tone and tempo are vital for a successful school year.  The first couple of days back for teachers must be treated as if it was the first time they are walking into the school.  We abide by the profound words of Teddy Roosevelt that “people don’t care how much you know till they know how much you care.”  If student success is our ultimate goal and there is no greater impact on student achievement then the classroom teacher, then ensure you are empowering them by starting the year in exceptional fashion.

Perfecting Their Craft

Allow teachers the time to perfect their craft.  Starting the school year off right with students is paramount, so the first couple days of PD should give teachers the time to ensure they are fully prepared to start the school year perfect with their students.  So, how do you do this when there is an enormous amount of information, much of it mandated, that needs to be covered?  As we learned from master teacher and instructional specialist Carrie Barber, model what you expect in the classroom. This doesn’t have to be just for the first week; let this be your model for the year.

Flipped Meetings

Flip your faculty meetings and create online presentations, which can range from narrated Power Points to podcasts.  Trust that if you free up teachers’ time to work in their classrooms, they will complete all necessary trainings.

Support Your New Teachers

Lastly, remember everyone needs support, but your new teachers need it more!  Simply, remember MTL:  ensure they have a great MENTOR, give them the TIME they need, and be sure to actively LEAD them.  New teachers should never feel alone or forgotten.

Have a great start to the year and remember that the first 15 minutes of your day matter.

Keep it simple and let us know what you think.

Joe & TJ

New Teachers, New School Year, New Opportunities

New Teachers, New School Year, New Opportunities

by | Aug 16, 2016 | District Office Leadership, Principal Leadership

NewTeachers

This month TheSchoolHouse302 is focused on bringing teachers back into the best culture imaginable.  Doing so couldn’t be more necessary for all teachers but especially for new teachers.  New teachers need to be welcomed into a supportive and encouraging environment with very clear and high expectations.

What do new teachers need?  MTL!

#1: Mentor. New teachers need a qualified mentor, informal and formal. Some districts and states have formal mentoring programs, but all new teachers need a buddy—a familiar face in the school, maybe on their team or in their content area, to answer questions. Pick your new teachers’ mentors carefully, but make sure that they each have one, assigned by you. That can make the difference with their success in their first year.

Challenge: Check in each week with your mentors to see how you can support them and their mentees. We often do check-ins with mentees but check your mentors for the support they may need.

#2: Time. New teachers, just like everyone else, but maybe more so, need time in their classrooms. Consider what’s most important for teachers as they return to school. Carve away as much time as you can for new people, uninterrupted. Get new teachers into their spaces as often as possible before students come back, and make no excuses about letting them enter their rooms in the coming weeks. If you set the expectations correctly, harbored in a great vision and mission, then let the teachers do what you hired them to do! Time, time, time is the most important thing that all teachers need to come back to, but especially people new to your school.

Challenge: Free up time by modeling what you expect from your own teachers.  Flip your meetings and offer recorded videos that communicate the information. For more, listen here to a seasoned teacher talk about modeling what you expect during the first days back.

#3: Leadership. New teachers need a strong leader. They need to see you as the center of the school and the lighthouse for which they can rely on when the waters get rough. In the opening days, make sure to touch base with each new teacher individually to let them know that you’re their ultimate support when they need anything.

Challenge: Visit every new teacher once a week through the first marking period.  These visits should be informal and quick, but they should see your face and know that you are there for them and their students.

The bottom line is that new teachers need support. It’s our role to support them with MTL!

Tell us how you plan to support new teachers this year by leaving a comment.

Joe & T.J.

Reflection: Be Uncommon—Forget the Same-Old, Same-Old and Wow Your Teachers This School Year

Forget the Same-Old, Same-Old—Bring Teachers Back with a Bang!—4 Simple Strategies

by | Aug 3, 2016 | District Office Leadership, Education, Leadership, Organizational Leadership, Principal Leadership, Teacher Leadership

Bring Teachers Back

In August, administrators should be well underway with planning for the first few days back with teachers. But have you planned the same old back-to-school first day boring and mundane stuff that you’ve always done, or are even required to do by law, or are you prepared with something exciting? If you follow dereka206.sg-host.com, tell us something new and different that you’re doing in a comment below. If not, we’re here to help with four very simple strategies to set the right tone for a great year.

Strategy #1: Give Teachers Time

The most important thing that you can give teachers in the two or three days that they’re back to work before students arrive is time. When teachers leave, they pack their stuff. Why? Because we tell them to. Why? Because we have to clean the school and move furniture and relocate people and set up technology, etc. etc. etc. A quality learning environment takes time to build. Let teachers have as much time as possible in their rooms before students arrive. Just because teachers are back before students, doesn’t mean that their time should be consumed with meetings and professional development. Time in their spaces is time well spent.

Challenge #1: Give teachers time in their classrooms, and walk around the school to hear the buzz. With time in their rooms, take your time as the school leader to visit each one to reconnect after the summer. Building and maintaining strong relationships is critical for success.

Strategy #2: Don’t Talk Too Much

Of course there are things to review, but, please, don’t talk too much. If you’re spending hours or days in the auditorium or library, presenting new information to teachers, you’re likely wasting your time and theirs. What teachers need more than anything else when they come back to work is time to prepare for the arrival of students. Of course, you do have logistical stuff and mandatory trainings and some PD that covers “the new thing” that’s happening this year, but resist at all costs the need to gather folks for large periods of time in common spaces. Chunk these meetings out—if you have three days, give teachers one full day and gather them for two mornings rather than for a full day of sittin’-n-gittin’. Remember, not everything needs to be covered in the first couple of days, in fact that is a common misconception and error.  Use this time to ensure that everyone is clear on the vision and goals.  Be sure to ignite the passion necessary for a good school year.

Challenge #2: Anything that can be communicated in written form, should be. Reviewing the teacher handbook, new procedures, or anything strictly informational should be put into one-page directions/documents for handout, not presentation. Rely on your teacher leaders, such as your department chairs, to cover essential information in a timely manner.

Strategy #3: Make It Fun

Whatever “it” is, it should be fun. That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be hard work preparing for kids to come back, but it certainly doesn’t mean it has to be boring or dreadful. Coming back should be exciting and upbeat. That starts with leadership. As the leader, positivity is critical. If you communicate in any way that summer-is-over-woe-is-me, then that’s exactly what you’ll get from the staff. These are the most important jobs on the planet with the most rewarding set of circumstances and the most explicit set of goals and accomplishments to celebrate. That has to be fun.

Challenge #3: Prepare positive responses for when folks communicate the challenges that we all will experience this year or the simple feeling that they’re not overly excited to be back. Don’t feed in to it and find every opportunity to keep the passion for teaching alive.

Strategy #4: Celebrate Summer Successes

Most teachers didn’t spend their time over the summer sitting by the pool. They worked, and some worked hard for the profession. They took classes, they wrote curriculum, they attended conferences, they taught summer school, and much more. Celebrate that to kick off the year with great things that folks did since they last you saw them.

Challenge #4: Have someone in the office reach out to the staff prior to their return to collect information about fun things that folks did with their summer months, to include professional activities. Celebrate great vacations and acknowledge any new accomplishments and contributions to the profession.

Bring teachers back to school with a bang and tell us how it feels. Remember, as the leaders of your school or district, the tone you set for your teachers is the same tone teachers will set for their students!

Joe and T.J.