3 Challenges to Leading and How To Overcome Them

Before I made the jump to administration, I rarely led professional development. I'd like to think that I had a lot to offer my peers. So although opportunities to lead PD were scarce, why didn't I ever take
the lead?

Honestly, it comes down to one word: FEAR.

Fear of Criticism
As a leader, even if it's just temporary position, your shortcomings are often highlighted and your strengths are overlooked. Public criticism, or even worse, behind-the-back critiques can be the norm. As an administrator, criticism comes with the job, and I remember my first principal telling me, "Expect it. Take it. Get out ahead of it." It comes with the paycheck. Self-awareness is a must.

But for teachers, this burden is often too much. An excellent and innovative teacher, whom I've known for more than a decade, never lets fear hold her back. She pursued innovation and the opportunity to lead, but far too often cynical peers lambasted her for her efforts. We shared the same ideas and principles, but honestly, she was either stronger or more stubborn than I was because, as a teacher, I never had the courage to put myself out there.

While she was often a lone crusader, even when you work as part of a team, you face criticism. I worked closely with a voluntary group of about a dozen teachers who were responsible for the school improvement team and professional development. These highly dedicated, innovative and student-centered teachers faced a barrage of criticisms from their peers for their plan, leaving many to question their own efforts.

Fear of Failure
Faced with uncertainty of their efforts, these teachers feared that their efforts might fail. When all The team by no means failed and the professional development model and school improvement plan were great successes. 

eyes are on you, the pressure mounts and the fear of failure rises. For driven educators, failure is the worst thing in the world.

When we lead, failure is imminent. If we don't ever fail, are we actually leading? The best we can do is own up to our own mistakes, learn from them and make the necessary adjustments. 

Fear of Innovation and Responsibility
Many organizations, including schools, have deeply embedded cultures that fear change and innovation.  In such organizations, mistakes are seen as failures. All feedback is seen as criticism. Growth goals are minimized to ensure they are easily met. Sadly, I worked for ten years in one school and over that time I saw little innovation; the status quo always won out. If the leaders didn't seek change, why should I lead the charge?

Without the support of leaders, teachers will never feel comfortable expanding their comfort zones and growing. In a culture of learning, risk-taking and growth are encouraged. The expectation should be for teachers to explore and innovate with an understanding that mistakes will happen but only through the process will growth and excellence be met.

I'm proud to say that I've become more comfortable taking risks, leading the way and no longer am I crippled by fear. I'm not sure why this is the case? Perhaps, it was the change in schools? Perhaps it was becoming an administrator? Or maybe, it's just been my own personal growth and the support and encouragement of others. Honestly, I'm probably also selling old-self a little short. Regardless, I hope to foster a culture of risk-taking and innovation where nobody is fearful.

Related blogs 
Administrators Role in Encouraging Risk-Taking
Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone
Creating a Risk-Taking Classroom Environment

Meaningful Professional Development

Inspired by our school’s 2012 edcamp, we organized a group of teacher leaders last spring to create our School Improvement Planning Team.

In prior years, we offered little in terms of true professional development. Our PD lacked focus. When it had focus, it didn’t directly relate to instructional goals. Like many educators, despite 20 years of experience at 4 different schools, I can count one hand the number of quality PD sessions I’ve participated in. In my third year as an administrator, I’d done little to create quality PD within our school.

It was time for a change!

With a dedicated group of a dozen educators who formed our School Improvement Team, we set out to create professional development that was:

1.     Teacher-led

2.     Student-driven

3.     Research-based

After an initial brainstorming session, members of the School Improvement Team took to the classrooms, hallways and break rooms, and asked their peers, “What do we want to focus on for the 2013-2014 year?”

After whittling down the list, we decided to narrow our focus to ensuring instructional engagement for the entire class period (90 minutes).

We set out to equip teachers with an arsenal of resources, something that each educator will be able to use immediately. At the very least, we want to move our school in a unified direction by developing a common vocabulary and clear expectations. Ultimately, we wanted each of us to challenge ourselves to become an even better educator.

Our Process

We broke our faculty into 6 heterogeneous teams. Each team consists of approximately 15 teachers from a variety of disciplines, varied expertise and, of course, their own experiences. At least two members from the School Improvement Team were on each committee. Administrators would rotate between the six sessions.

With the ever-changing monthly focus (September’s focus was on beginning and ending class, November’s was on cooperative learning), we’ve sought volunteer teachers to serve as facilitators for the monthly sessions. For example, for our Cooperative Learning sessions, we sought out expert teachers volunteered to lead this session.

Each teacher is to take away at least one method from each of the monthly meetings to use it in his/her classroom. We’ve developed reflection sheets for purpose. At the beginning of each monthly meeting, teachers will be asked to reflect and share their experiences.

So how’s it worked?

The good

1.     We don’t need to pay high-priced presenters. Our teachers understand our students, our strengths and our problems and are experts.

2.     It’s grown teacher leadership. 

3.     It’s sparked collaboration and communication between teachers.

4.     It’s not the same-old-same-old lecture to the teachers format.

5.     The meetings themselves include solid instructional strategies that teachers can implement and use in their classes

If professional development intends to improve ALL teachers’ instruction, we must tweak our current process. Improvements include: 

1.     We must develop, measurable objectives for each meeting. These objectives must clearly define, “At the end of this session, each teacher will be able to…”

2.     Our focus must be on instructional strategies that will have the biggest bang for their buck.  PD sessions must focus on areas that will improve student learning.

3.     We must encourage further teacher reflection and projection.

4.     We must make sure that our PD goes beyond simple conversations. Talk is cheap. We must make sure it genuinely changes classroom practice.

5.     Individualize and differentiate future PD.

Even with room for improvement, our current approach to PD has produced exciting results. The first step in achieving this success: entrusting our teachers to develop, organize, and lead our professional development meetings. 

Looking forward, our dedicated members of the School Improvement Team will continue to push the envelope to ensure our professional development is meaningful and ensures improved teaching and learning. 

Edcamp Baltimore: A Great Day of Sharing and Learning

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Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending my 3^rd edcamp; this one in Baltimore. Approximately, 70 educators from as far south as Virginia and as far north as New York (maybe even New Hampshire) attended the unconference at Digital Harbor High School. As with all edcamps, the passion and energy were high—as one would expected when 70 committed educators come together on a Saturday.

Of the attendees, several I regularly communicate with on twitter. Despite being limited to 140 characters, I felt as if I knew these people already, but I relished the opportunity to have in-person conversations with them.

Conversation and ideas flowed from the initial gathering through the morning sessions, through lunch and until I left for the trip back to Virginia. I attended 4 great sessions.

1.     Flipped classrooms. Flipping is about much more than just providing direct instruction through video. For a flipped classroom to be effective, what occurs in class is even more important.

2.     The power of collaboration. Most educators that attend edcamps are pretty connected and see the value of twitter and other means of being connected. We must do more to bring more teachers onboard to increase their PLNs.

3.     Social media in the classroom. As teachers, we have a responsibility to model safe use of social media to our students. Doing so, however, requires that students, parents, administrators, trust teachers to do what’s right.

4.     PD and meet. Seeing the power of edcamps, each participant in this session agreed that we must continue our learning and participation by involving more teachers and administrators in the edcamp philosophy.

Despite the nearly 2:30 hour trip home (Washington even has rush hour on Saturday afternoons), I returned home energized and wanting more. The committed and passionate professionals I met today inspired me and represent some of the best-and-brightest in education.

A special shout out to the great organizers and sponsors of Edcamp Baltimore.

Kettle Run's First Edcamp: A Reflection

A special thanks to Kim Ritter, for co-writing this article and for co-organizing the edcamp.

On the Monday, October 8^th In-Service Day, Kettle Run High School teachers and administrators participated in their first Edcamp or KRHS Unconference.  After beginning the day with a quick greeting and orientation, schedules for the day were distributed. From this evolving menu, each staff member chose to go to 2 one-hour long sessions and 3 thirty-minute sessions.  At the conclusion of the workshops, faculty gathered in their departments for a focused discussion on the day followed by an entire staff debriefing in the auditorium.

Signs that it was a great day of professional development:  

·      Teachers were actively engaged, asking questions and taking notes as opposed to the traditional PD where teachers are grading papers, reading books, playing on their cell phones, crocheting, etc.

·      Conversations continued past the bell. Walking around the cafeteria, discussions regarding morning sessions continued.

·      The edcamp reflections completed at the end of the day also reflected that each session offered valuable insight and information.

Feedback received from teachers:

·      “I was glad to see the faculty members break out of their departments and attend workshops by other disciplines. This helps to encourage cross curricular activities that can incorporate today’s technology…It was also very helpful to have an end of the day department meeting to exchange ideas and information.”

·      “The day gave us a chance to learn what innovative ideas other teachers are using in their classrooms.  We get so caught up in our own rooms that we forget to access all of the talent that is around us every day.”

·      “[The day] was a wonderful opportunity for staff to engage in conversation about what is happening in their classrooms and to share those resources with each other.”

·      “Let’s make sure we do this again next year. I’m definitely leading a session next year.”

·      “It’s too bad we don’t have the opportunity to do this more often.”

Changes for next year:

·      Because there was no pre-signing up for sessions, several facilitators/session leaders expressed frustration with not knowing how many copies to run-off. Next year, we’ll make better use of online storage options (Google drive, Dropbox, our course management software). One of the problems I foresee, however, is teachers may not have real-time access to these because many of our school provided laptops don’t keep sufficient battery charge.

·      Expanding and improving the parent-teacher roundtable and student-teacher roundtable.

Science department chair Tammy Hagan led one of the more popular sessions on creating foldables. Because of the session’s popularity it was repeated in the afternoon. 

Twenty-eight staff members led 33 sessions over the course of the day. Truly a school-wide experience, one popular session incorporated a parent/teacher roundtable and another a student/teacher roundtable.

Kettle Run Edcamp

For teachers in our county, October 8 was an in-service day with each school responsible for creating their own professional development. 

After returning from EdcampLeadership, I approached my principal about using the Edcamp approach for our inservice day. Instead of paying for a guest presenter, who teachers may or may not have found worthwhile, we decided to host our own unconference.

Knowing the knowledge and expertise to move our school forward can be found within our own walls, our Edcamp was made by the teachers for the teachers. After all, who better understands what’s going on in our school and what we need, than our teachers?

Preparing for the Edcamp Kettle Run

1.     Because this was something new and because we had to turn in our plans to Central Office, many of the sessions were pre-created. Along with our school librarian, we created a google form and asked teachers to sign-up to lead sessions. Because it was a totally new experience, we needed to actively approach teachers—some mild arm-twisting—to lead various sessions. In the end, we had more than enough sessions (to see our schedule click here).

2.     In creating the sessions, we focused on our new teacher evaluation system, AngelLearning (our course management program), lesson planning, and 21^st century skills. Two of the more interesting sessions were a parent-teacher roundtable and a student-teacher roundtable.

3.     Our schedule:

8:00-8:15       Meet in the auditorium

8:30-9:30       Session 1

9:40-10:40    Session 2

10:50-11:20  Session 3

11:20-12:20  Lunch: Salsaritas

12:20-12:50  Session 4

1:00-1:30       Session 5

1:35-2:00       Meet in departments

2:05-2:30       Wrap-up

For sessions 4 and 5 we purposefully left several “spots” open. These were reserved for teachers to continue a morning session in more detail, repeat a prior session that teachers were unable to attend, or for a new session to be added. The spots were quickly gobbled up as teachers wanted to continue their AP Roundtable conversation, a repeat of foldables was offered and a new session was created by one of our math teachers.

4.     In creating the schedule, we did two things untraditionally. First, we kept the schedule secret until the day of the event. Secondly, we left teacher’s names off of the schedule because we didn’t want teachers to choose a session based on the facilitator/leader. We did, however, tell the facilitators where/when their session would be held. This decision had both positive and negative consequences, which I’ll discuss in my follow-up posting.

 I'll post a follow-up to the great day of learning in a day or two.