Meta-Reflection: Communication and Collaboration

I entered this class with the assumption that leadership was not for me.  I am not outgoing enough, not opinionated enough, and not knowledgeable enough.  I felt that leadership was for those who wanted to be up front and in charge.  I assumed that this was a singular role not a plural role.  As I journeyed through this class, reading Zepeda and Hilty along with other articles, I realized that leadership is a collaborative effort.  I observed through case studies and examples that leadership by itself does not go anywhere.  “Teacher leadership is not about ‘teacher power.’  Rather it is about mobilizing the still largely untapped attributes of teachers to strengthen student performance at the ground level and working towards real collaboration, a locally tailored kind of shared leadership, in the daily life of the school” (Institute for Educational Leadership, Inc., 2011, p.88). This course targeted Standards 6 Communication and Standard 7 Collaboration of the Curriculum and Instruction Master’s.  Standard 6 says, “Communicates regularly and effectively with colleagues, parents, and students through a variety of mediums.  Standard 7 says, “Cooperates with other professionals to bridge gaps between schools and community and between departments/disciplines within schools” (Curriculum and Instruction Program Standard, 2012).

I was excited to enter into this class with an article and discussion about social justice.  We began by talking about how we view our students and how transformative this can be (Hirsh & Hord, 2010).  “While we can start with changing behaviors, if we don’t modify beliefs about our children’s needs and what is truly required to provide them with social justice, we will make changes at a superficial level and will not initiate nor sustain true and lasting change (p. 14).  This transformative thinking is how we can begin to change our schools in small ways.

Coaching was another big take away for me.  Entering this class, I felt like coaching was judgmental.  We talked about formal coaching and also how we could informally coach, collaborate and work together.  “Coaches assist with setting goals, encouraging action, acting as a sounding board, and giving feedback (Zepeda, 2012, p. 146).  As we discussed experiences that we have had in our schools, we all shared that the members of our staff approach changes, feedback, and collaboration.  There is a continuum of levels of use.  This range begins with non-use and continues through orientation, preparation, mechanical use, routine, refinement, integration and renewal” (Zepeda, 2012, p. 29).

As I learned more about shared leadership and how becoming a teacher leader did not mean that you needed to be up front and in charge of every committee, I began to see myself in this. Teacher leaders:

1. work well with adults

2. communicate

3. collaborate

4. knowledge of content and pedagogy

5. systems thinking (Teacher Leadership Skill Framework, p.3)

I began to look at my practice and notice how I am already a leader and where I want to go.  I thought about times that I communicated and collaborated with other teachers and staff members and how that influenced my classroom.  In my Leadership Portfolio, I focused on a 105 Minute book group that I was a part of to help prepare staff for longer class periods and to help staff and students see the importance of what they are doing here at school.  I then looked at a new class that a Spanish teacher and I are forming to introduce students to world languages next year. To demonstrate collaboration with the community, I focused on two specific learning opportunities that I presented to my students.  One was a cooking demonstration with the owner of Revel and Joule and the second was a trip to the Seattle Art Museum.  I connected these to our school’s CIP goals and our department SMART goal (https://elisephillips.wordpress.com/2012/05/08/exhibit-1-collaboration/). You will find all of the previously mentioned ideas in more detail in this artifact.

Looking forward to next year, I am excited to come with the confidence that I can be a teacher leader.  As I look forward to designing a new class with another teacher, joining a learning team, and working hard to communicate with parents and bring the community into my classroom.

References

Reflection #1

In our discussion on the article entitled “Building Hope, Giving Affirmation” and chapter 25 from Teacher Leadership: The “New” Foundations of Teacher Education, my group focused on the ideas of social justice and democracy in education and the importance of school-wide initiatives to move the needle forward. As I read the article “Building Hope, Giving Affirmation,”  I felt empowered as a teacher to bring about change in society.  This article suggested that social justice begins in education and I believe that if we teach this in our schools, we hold the power to change the world that these kids live in.  On page 11 it says, “Since the most significant factor in whether students learn well is quality teacher, and teaching is enhanced through continuous professional development, the link between social justice and professional learning is undeniable.”

While we have this power, we need to believe it before we can convince our kids of these truths.  On page 14 it says “While we can start changing behaviors, if we don’t modify beliefs about our children’s needs and what is truly required to provide them social justice, we will make changes at a superficial level and will not initiate nor sustain change.”  Members of my discussion group said that that is where they feel their schools are at.  My group talked about buy-in and the importance of all teachers being on board.  Heidi pointed out the importance of then being divided into teams and that while responsibility needs to be given to the teachers, these initiatives can only work if there is a strong principal with a vision.  The idea of democracy, which was focused on in Hilty’s book on teacher leadership is also explained in Hirsh & Hord’s article.  On page 14 it says, “Each person must feel empowered to speak; the outliers must have a a voice and be listened to, with the opportunity for others to exert persuasion.”  Perhaps this is the only way to move forward.  In my school, like all others in this district, there is a lot of change going on next year.  A lot of the teachers are coming at it in fear rather than through collaboration and open dialogue.  I hope that this can change and that we can ban together to face the changes and serve our kids.

References