Beginning with the Brain

I have long loved learning about the brain and how it miraculously works FOR our body. Our brain figures out instantaneously how to respond to any given situation. Our brain knows how to respond to a positive event, such as holding your child for the first time, similarly, our brain also knows how to respond when we fear danger is near, such as the notion of being followed in a dark parking garage. So, when I came upon Chapter 2 – The Core Tenets of Listening Leadership in Shane Safir’s “The Listening Leader” it was easy to get pulled in to how the brain is working for us, and to draw parallels of how the brain leads the body and leaders lead an organization. First, we must recognize that our brain seeks survival. When anyone is feeling their survival is in danger, we don’t respond as we would if we were calm. As cortisol floods the brain, our ability to problem solve isn’t functioning as it typically would – this is what is called an “amygdala hijack”. “Here’s the good news”, Safir states, “As a leader, you can train your brain to recognize an amygdala attack hijack in yourself and others in order to choose a productive response”. To begin with, as listeners, we must address people’s basic needs – think of this as small deposits in someone’s emotional bank account. This might mean making the small details of your school environment feel workable, at peace, and physically appealing. In this first tenet, Safir refers to it as “feed the lizard” or the amygdala of the brain. This conjures the idea of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – first things first, I have to have my basic needs met in order to unlock the amygdala and let the real work to begin. As we learn how to create a positive climate where we are working for the good of our colleagues and the students we serve, it will be essential to know how to deescalate many types of situations. This is where the second tenet comes in to play, which is as leaders we are called to “Learn to listen in ways that calm the amygdala – both yours and others'”. Digging a bit deeper, we come to tenet number three, regarding social threats and how the brain jumps into survival mode. Our school setting should be such that it is low-threat but high-reward environment. In other words, creating an environment which is safe for students to take risks both academically and socially. Tenet four, is the best news of all, that every brain grows in the right conditions. Research shows that our brains are hard-wired for learning, to seek connections between information and with people. This is also a pretty daunting task! Since every learner brings to the table a different set of experiences and schema, we must learn to listen to them in order to create the right conditions for growth. I liken this to the work I put in to my garden. I can prepare the soil, and plant my flowers at the perfect time, but if I hope the rain will be enough to keep them alive all summer long, I would be sadly mistaken. Similarly, I can’t have access exceptional resources and a classroom full of students and hope that turning the pages of my resource will keep them flourishing. My work in the garden will take attention, it will take watering more than just the rain will provide. My work with teachers, or students will take some tending to. I must listen to their needs in order to prepare the right conditions for them to learn. Brains are wired to make connections, to create neural pathways and because of neuroplasticity, we have unlimited potential in our brains! Our brains can literally keep growing, and expanding due to our synapses and pathways responding to our environment. The challenge to all educators is to build the culture that believes in the ability for all students to learn, grow, and build both their emotional and brain capacity. School climate has an effect size of .72 according to John Hattie. If you are familiar to Hattie’s work, any effect size above .4 leads to positive impact for the learner. This statistically shows that one can never underestimate the importance of school and classroom culture. This brings me to the fifth and last tenet of this chapter which focuses on building the culture of the school. Leaders of the school are challenged to create an immersion of positive experiences for the staff and students. This releases oxytocin, happy transmitters, which our brain seeks a repeat of or more of. Let’s plan to create space for risk taking that allows learners (both students and adults alike) the opportunity to feel safe enough to try again and again. Let’s create a scenario where the process of learning is important as well as the product. The more I learn about the brain and the more aware I become about listening well, the more excited I become to work in partnership with the teachers I serve and the leadership team at my site. I can’t wait to dig deeper into this book at let Shane lead us into new levels of excellence.

Why Professional Development is Essential

As professional educators, we are called to embark on a journey of continual self-improvement and lifelong learning. But, what the journey looks like isn’t a one size fits all approach. This should sound similar, right? I mean we don’t approach the students in our classroom as though everyone learns in the same way, so why would we approach our own professional learning as though we need exactly what our teaching partner down the hall needs? Professional learning must be a part of our schoolwide culture, and this is evident in the “Take Action” portion of Embedding Professional Learning – Make Professional Learning a Priority. What a wonderful call to action outlined here:

• Seek to make professional conversations integral to school life – this includes thoughtful, probing conversations that propel forward.
• Stay focused on the literacy emphasis – targeted study of fewer, more powerful practices over a longer period of time in order to sustain change and improve results.
• Establish teams that work well together – forge connections of open communication and clear goals across all grade levels.
• Take responsibility for your own professional learning – join professional organizations, social media, book studies, conferences and become a part of your school’s professional learning leadership team.
• Collaborate with colleagues – coach each other, build in time for collaborative conversations where you can push each other to solidify your thinking.
• Participate in coaching experiences – having a trusting culture allows for a coaching experience to exist and creates the potential to greatly improve teaching through collaborating, planning, and co-teaching.
• Evaluate the role and influence of any adopted program – figure out how to adapt, modify, or work around the program, as programs serve as resources and frameworks, not total curriculums.
• Keep a reflection notebook – keep a notebook handy to keep a record of your thinking, insights, and questions.

These steps provide such a wonderful guide to get us thinking about how professional development can serve us. As an instructional coach, my primary role is to facilitate professional learning FOR teachers. I emphasize the FOR because I never want professional learning to be “done to” teachers. Professional learning, when done well, uses a teacher’s strengths and their curiosity to propel student learning forward.

I am a self-proclaimed nerd. I love to read professionally, attend conferences, and join professional organizations. You can find me “relaxing” by reading from one of the stacks of books that I have selected to become extremely excited about. I would consider myself to be a lifelong student, and I truly enjoy what I do. I enjoy being around children students as I do adult students. I love the way this chapter was written because once again, Regie Routman nails it on the head in so many ways with so many wonderful nuggets of learning in this chapter that I may have underlined nearly the whole chapter.

Again and again, I saw the importance of personal reflection in this chapter. The heart of professional learning should be about reflection – reflection of student learning, student and personal needs, philosophy, shared leadership, professional readings, and research. Teachers are powerful human beings by nature and seeking each other out to learn from one another’s expertise should also be a noted valuable tool that is mentioned repeatedly in this chapter. Your professional learning journey will no doubt shape not only your teaching, but it will challenge you to find, mentors that inspire growth and change within yourself. Who knows, you could quite possibly become one of those mentors that we read about someday.

Check out all of the posts from this book study by going to the Literacy Essentials webpage. There, you can select different articles to read and respond to and continue the conversation in the comments. In addition, consider joining our new Google+ Community to extend these discussions and connect with other literacy leaders.

Why Celebrating Our Students Is Worth It

I know I am not alone in this, but I absolutely love the idea of intentionally spending time on building community in our classrooms. When we think about engagement, all too often our minds go to students being engaged in a particular subject or activity, when engagement is so much more. In a time where discipline issues, students facing trauma, and larger class sizes seem to be plaguing nearly every educator I know, it is all the more important to be able to celebrate each other.

In Chapter 2 titled Celebrating Learners, Routman describes how essential it is to “notice and celebrate everything the learner has done well” and also points out that teachers who feel as though they are regularly celebrated by their administrator are more likely to remain in a school. Could lack of celebration be a part of why teachers are leaving the profession in droves? Could lack of celebration be why out students are being less and less engaged? My guess is yes!

So, when I read this chapter, I felt a strong nudge, or maybe even a gut punch to celebrate more and worry less, to think more positively, to notice others, and to be better about encouraging others. The “Take Action” steps that Routman outlines will serve me as a checklist when expressing gratitude and appreciation:

• Do your part to promote a positive and joyful culture
• Model joyful learning and teaching
• Take more time to celebrate small victories
• Plan occasions for the staff to socialize
• Reevaluate how planning and instructional time is spent
• Leave school at a reasonable hour
• Recognize that change takes time

“We all need to become gifted at showing gratitude and make visible for others and ourselves the little and big things we appreciate.”

I couldn’t agree more! Practicing an attitude of gratitude does make us feel better – not only about each other, but about ourselves.

When we challenge ourselves to think of what each of us can bring to the table, not just the adults, but the students as well, we will begin the see the value in each other. There were so many incredible nuggets of information that I took away from this chapter such as finding a learner’s strengths before their needs, and considering a person’s gifts. When we seek to celebrate our students, this is building an unmistakable community in our classrooms, in our schools, and the larger community as well. This chapter has reinvigorated me in an otherwise drained time of the school year. I can’t wait to celebrate with my staff and our students!

This post is part of a book study around Literacy Essentials: Engagement, Excellence, and Equity for All Learners by Regie Routman (Stenhouse, 2018). Check out more resources associated with the text at this website (https://sites.stenhouse.com/literacyessentials/), including a free curriculum for teaching an undergraduate course using Literacy Essentials.

 

Better Data Days Are Ahead

We’ve all been there, we collect data, make beautiful color coded spreadsheets detailing nearly every data point we could possibly collect on each possible child. We compare district data to state data, nationally norm referenced data against in class assessments. We highlight students’ projected growth in order to make adequate progress for each child. We look at whole class data and determine standards to re-teach. We attend collaboration and intervention meetings in order to discuss students who are receiving services and what progress is being made. We create, update, and review a school data wall. We can name multiple data points on each student in our classes at the snap of a finger. 

Face it, we are inundated with data. But are we always really looking at the data for all children and determining the next steps?
Chapter 6 “Supporting Curriculum and Assessment” made me pause and think about how important it is to take that next step in data. Jen dives deep in this chapter with some really important details to consider as literacy leaders in a building. Not only should we be tracking student achievement for ALL learners, we should carve out time periodically to review this data and determine next steps. Some prompting questions Jen outlines are as follows:

• What are the strengths and needs of each student?
• What students are you concerned about?
• What students have made the most growth?
• What observations can you make about your overall literacy data?

Jen suggests having these literacy team meetings each fall, winter, and spring to ensure that no student falls through the cracks. Each person has a crucial role in the process; the teacher reflects on each student, the principal reviews the student’s cumulative folder, the assistant principal listens and takes notes for student placement, and the literacy leader takes notes on students who are still at risk of failure.

As a result of reading this chapter, I have had some really great discussions with teachers and my administration about how we can create a better culture of data REVIEW. I am excited that our staff is ready to take the next steps in data review and that we are clearly beyond the idea of just being great collectors of data. 

This is going to be a great year. Teachers are asking for the next step in our data process and are ready to take it on and make it our own, and make it meaningful. I am confident that as a result, our teachers will feel a better sense of direction and purpose. And once again, the work that goes on behind the scenes will play out better in classroom instruction, in our relationships with our students and families, and will result in increased student achievement.

What has PD done for you lately?

As I come to the end of my third year as an Instructional Coach, I realize each and every day that there is so much to learn not only about the content of professional development but how to “hook” teachers into attending professional development.

Face it, we have all been there when we have attended professional development that we feel like is being done TO us instead of FOR us. Time and resources are precious, so as literacy leaders in your building or district, you are charged with the task of creating and delivering relevant professional learning opportunities.

What I loved about Jennifer Allen’s chapter titled “Study Groups: Developing Voluntary Professional Development” is that she spoke candidly about how teachers often are “thirsty” for professional development, and what they receive isn’t quenching their thirst with the perfect drink. Providing professional development should be about meeting the needs of your audience – whether it is a school faculty, a grade level team, or an individual. Professional development should be about learning, which takes instruction to the next level and leads to gains in student achievement.

However, professional development has to be more than this. It is the literacy leader’s job to create an environment where support is given, communication is open and honest, and teachers feel safe to try new practices. Teachers have plenty to “do” already. Professional development shouldn’t be just one more item on the “To Do” list to be checked off and move on; it should spur us on to be better at what we do! I have loved this entire book and have written so many notes in the margins that I have an additional notebook titled “Ideas for 2017-18”.

This book has challenged me to become a better instructional coach and literacy leader for the teachers I serve. Chapter 4 hit a chord with me, especially when Jen said:

Our goal is not to ‘become’ the teachers who we are exploring but to gain insights from their best practices in literacy.

She hits the nail on the head. This is the drink to quench us all, and it’s the opportunity to individualize the learning for all involved. She outlines perfectly what our role as literacy leaders is in study groups, how to pinpoint a focus our resources, planning, and scheduling, and establish a predictable routine. Jen outlines a possible agenda for professional development offerings:

• Discussion/Sharing
• Video Clip
• Reading Excerpt
• Toolbox
• Putting Ideas into Practice
• Follow-Up Between Sessions

Perhaps my favorite portion of the chapter was the section titled “What’s Not On a Study-Group Agenda”. Jen addresses the essential but unwritten components of environment and appreciation. Carving out time to create both a personal and professional side to the study group will allow teachers to feel appreciated and valued. Most people would be willing to work much harder for a group, team, or organization if they know that they are cared for as a person and a professional.

We can never underestimate the importance of providing some great snacks too! “It is collegiality, collaboration, and safe learning environment that make study groups work as a viable form of in-house professional development”. This book has challenged me to take my coaching to the next level, to take what this book has taught me and lift my skills to become a more effective literacy leader and for that, I will forever be grateful of this study.