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I believe teachers struggle just as students do. A school that focuses on building capacity in teachers and creating a culture where teachers are not “written off” and given opportunities to develop transfers this way of thinking into the classroom. There also has to be the belief that all students can learn, and it is crucial for the school leader believe this and ensure that the school operates with this belief factoring in to all decisions regarding students.

Our leader plays a role in helping rather than hindering students with their class placement. One vital role of the administrator is to match the teacher with the appropriate teaching assignment. We have all observed a difficult group of students thrive with a particular teacher and then fail miserably with another teacher the following year. Just as we try to place our students with the right teacher for success, administrators must also strive to place their teachers in the positions where they are best suited. Principals and teachers must have respect for their colleagues different teaching styles rather than expect that all classes will run in a similar fashion. It is time well invested to create classes that look at individual student needs and also teaching styles. I think my school does a very good job with our collaborative approach to creating classes and matching the student with the right teacher. Our principal is very respectful of our opinions and encourages honesty during this process. It is acceptable at our school to request a particular class because you feel that you will have the best connection with the group of students.

HI John,

There is no question in my mind that one of the major roles of the school leader is to insure that quality instruction is supported and promoted. That is why I strongly believe in the FULLAN DIMENSION of “KNOWLEDGE SHARING”. My issue is that we do not provide a process to allow this to happen. I was quilty as a school leader—-hopefully you and the others will not be as you assume more and more responsibility as a school leader.

Niagara

This year, I have taken an active role in allowing teachers to share their practices by participating in a professional learning community with another school. I found that teachers at the beginning were reluctant to ask questions as they were nervous about their colleagues’ opinions. As time went on throughout the year, I saw more people sharing in the hallways and in the staffroom. I began to see teachers setting up time to watch each other teach. I even began to see them taking their prep to learn from each other. Just recently, I saw one of our Long Term Occasional teachers teaching our grade 5/6 teacher a new Computer program called Comic Life. I was thrilled to see it happening. I still feel we are on the beginning of our long journey of sharing. Historically teachers have been isolated and have not wanted to share, but I feel it is my responsibility as principal to provide these opportunities and have teachers follow up on them. Though I am seeing more sharing, we are still at the very beginning of the continuum. I feel for staff members to truly learn from each other, it has to be programmed into a timetable and formally set up. This is my goal for next year. I also feel that principals need to learn from each other. We do a great job of sharing resources but we don’t truly collaborate. I believe that principals need to visit each others’ schools and do walk throughs with them. They then can truly collaborate on their important role of instructional leadership.

Hi Helen,

BRAVA! Thanks for sharing.

Niagara

There is nothing more professionally satisfying than being trusted to implement curriculum with the best interests of your particular class as only you know how to do as an educated and experienced professional. As an administrator I hope that I will be able to let go…that is, let the teachers do their jobs; let them exercise their professional judgment as to how their class learns best. I love working in professional learning communities especially those that share ideas and strategies as well as take suggestions and are open to new ideas. I’ll try anything new when student learning is the focus and kids can get more from their math experience than I was previously providing. I feel that as teachers we should never stop trying to improve as we can learn so much by sharing with others and therefore building capacity for all. But this takes an administrative team that will let this sharing and learning take place regularly. I also like the ideas of sharing with other schools not only department or division members. I think a good administrator will help to see that be co-coordinated with as little stress as possible so that everyone will take something away that is new and everyone will feel as though they have contributed.

As an administrator, one of the very attractive things about knowledge sharing, which is epitomized by a growth in professional learning communities, is that you are no longer solely responsible for helping or hindering the growth of your teachers. In the best possible way, PLCs are a democratic process. If two heads are better than one, than how much more four or five heads?

In the high school situation ten chairs can help lead PLCs. Currently in my school we have a literacy coach to assist with this. There is no doubt in my mind that teachers learn best working directly on their lessons with each other, and by asking tough questions as they modify their assessment tools. The principal can lead all this, but it is a shared responsibility.

Summary of the Learn Hub experiment:

I started out this topic with a question about the growth of a community in a school. How one would need to control it yet allow their employees to have a community that will allow for growth. I ask the question how this is done at your school? The responses where great. I was not sure of the overall tone or how the question would go over but it took and so I am very pleased.

What came out was a great sense that all administrators need to allow for teachers to rise to any occasion and allow them to also fail. Through failure comes some of life’s greatest lessons. However, it must be said that when one fails there should be some sort of safety net that we can fall into rather than hitting a hard floor. It is clear that only threw such things a PLC’s can this be accomplished. These groups are set up for sharing. Sharing ideas, beliefs, knowledge, and failures is one way that we can soften this blow. This can and should look different in every school community. What should not look different is the attitude of school leaders who needs to bring out the best in each teacher they have.

Motivation and management are two important things that directly affect the success of any organization. In order that employees reach a level of higher understanding and productivity they must be motivated and managed properly. In order to have a good grasp on organizational management, a leader must have full control over their employees, however, at the same time it is integral to the learning process that the manager encourages positive social interaction and a self-motivated active learning environment.

I think this all comes back to relationship building. In schools if the teachers feel that they need to protect themselves and have their guard up they might not be willing to take chances and have failures. If this does not happen then there will be no growth. If there is positive reinforcement and good relationship then perhaps if the staff is willing then there can be growth. What is also important is that administration continues to think as educators and allow people to grow with each other and as a community.