I'm writing this blog from Germany where I'm teaching this week. I got up this morning (Saturday) to snow covering everything including my rental car. So I was scraping ice before I drove to class. I'm envious that I am missing the warm weekend in Oklahoma! I haven't read your blog entries for Week 1 yet but am looking forward to getting to know those I don't know a bit through your posts, and reacquainting myself with those I do know.
This week, your readings will focus on building community of learners in a school. Some topics that you will read about include roles of teacher leaders in a school and how to work with different stakeholders, some elements of effective professional development that supports communities of learners, how to lead groups and collaborate with others, and how to develop a school literacy program.
This week, respond to this blog after you read the chapters. Which characteristics of effective leaders are a strong point for you? A challenge? What did you take away as a commonality of working with each of the different stakeholders that a reading specialist or literacy leader needs to collaborate with? Which of the types of collaborative PD in Appendix 18.1 have you experienced? Which would you like to experience?
Respond to each other, comparing your answers to theirs.
I'm looking forward to seeing you on Saturday, Jan. 27. We will begin working on your big assignment that is broken up into four tasks, by creating a needs assessment survey together to use to determine the needs, desires, and activities already in place of teachers in your educational setting. We will also begin the creation of your personal learning plan. I'm really looking forward to seeing/hearing about your Self as a literacy leader posters!
See you soon!
Some characteristics of effective leaders that are a strong point for me are empowerment, setting goals, taking initiative, and being reflective. I am strong in empowering others because of my upbeat and positive personality. Bringing people up comes naturally to me. Goals are always important to me and I am always striving to reach one. I am not really a follower and take initiative myself. Reflecting and introspection are some of my favorite things to do. I do it in my work and my personal life. Some characteristics that are a challenge are extensive knowledge of the curriculum and significant teaching experience. Since I am a newer teacher these are things I need to continually work on. I lack the experience and knowledge my co workers who have been teaching for longer. I am working on that and ask them for help/mentorship.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that reading specialist or a literacy leader needs to work with many different types of people. There were some common themes between Best Practices of Literacy Leaders and The Reading Specialist. Both books talked about how a literacy leader needs to work with other teachers, the administration, and people of the community/parents. I agree with this wholeheartedly. In order to make a school successful you need to collaborate with everyone who is in a child’s life and get them involved. This also showed me how intense and how much behind the scenes work a literacy leader does.
I have experienced a few types of collaborative PD mentioned in the book Best Practices of Literacy Leaders. As a kindergarten team we have done the PD analyzing and reflecting of data. Our kinders take the STAR EL test and every quarter we get together to analyze our data and talk about where we go from there. As a new teacher our admin had someone cover my class and I was able to observe some HQT in my building. This was so helpful because everyone does things differently and I was able to get some tips and tricks I never would have thought of! I would like to experience the study group PD. Growing together through teacher related books and articles as a team would make us a better team I believe. We would be more on the same page.
Bre,
DeleteEmpowerment is such a great strength to have as a leader. I did not mention it in my post specifically, but I feel like it is a characteristic I am not particularly strong in. It really helps to have an upbeat and positive person on your team, so I am sure are a fantastic addition to yours!
I too realized how much a literacy leader may do behind the scenes. My only experience with literacy leaders is my own school's literacy coach and reading specialist, and there are many things discussed in the texts that they are not responsible for in our context. It was interesting to see what I could be tasked with if I were to go elsewhere.
It seems we have similar desires in PD experiences. I agree that reading together could make a team stronger. I often wish that my teammates were reading the texts I am reading in class so that we can discuss and implements new practices and strategies together.
Bre, I like how you mentioned being reflective as a quality of a great leader. We are constantly reflecting on our lessons, classroom management, and relationships with our students. It's nice to think that that this regular part of teaching is one aspect of making a great leader. I wouldn't always consider being reflective a strong suit of mine in the past. Since reading these chapter this week, I have tried to be more reflective in my interactions with colleagues and with a teacher I am currently mentoring. Empowerment and goal setting come easy to me if I feel comfortable in a situation. If I don't feel like I have all the information or don't know people as well, I am less like to take risks this way.
DeleteOur ELA team has never done a formal book study, but over the course of a year, many of the team members read the book, The Book Whisperer, by Donna Lynn Miller. It changed the way that we structured our reading curriculum in middle school, by making self-selected texts and independent reading a greater part of our day-to-day instruction. As you said, it definitely helped is "be more on the same page."
Bre,
DeleteI love what you said about the study group PD. I also think that it would be so helpful for all of my teammates and I to pick an area to study together. This way, we would all be learning more about a similar topic and could bounce ideas back and forth with each other. I think it may be hard to get all of my teammates on board with it, but I think that it could really be beneficial for us as a team.
Leadership Characteristics:
ReplyDeleteOne characteristic I feel that I am strong at in regards to leadership is teamwork and respecting others. I am a part of several committees, and I try to always bring positivity (trying to view change as optimistic), open-mindedness (being open to others’ ideas), and purpose (keeping the group on task) to these meetings. These traits will further help me as I move from being just a member of these committees to a facilitator and leader of these groups. I like that Bean emphasizes in several of her chapters that,”...most frequently the leadership role is one of influence rather than authority.” (Bean, 2015, p. 88). Being able to work in a team with and respect others will help me influence positive change at my school and among my colleagues without being seen as an evaluator or authoritarian
One area I feel may be a challenge is communication, more specifically active listening. Even just being a classroom teacher, I feel like I have a million things to do each day at school. I sometimes have a hard time shutting off that task-oriented part of my brain when others are talking. My mind keeps going, and I don’t hear everything someone is saying. Or worse, I think I know where their conversation is going, and I find myself finishing their sentences. These are two things I am already trying to work on as we speak. This section about active listening and clear, congruent speaking are serving as good reminders to me professionally and personally!
Sometimes I get a little nervous about being the one who drives decisions about goals in a group setting because I feel like it is a lot of pressure. I hope to grow in confidence in this area throughout the rest of this course. Additionally, empowering others is something that I really think is valuable, but I have not been purposefully seeking out ways to empower others who are not always seen as leaders. I have made a conscious choice to look for ways to highlight my colleagues and empower them to become more of a teacher leaders.
Working with Stakeholders:
The commonality I took away from working with different stakeholders is there is no “one size fits all” way to work with others. Each group of stakeholders--students, teachers, specialized personnel, and administrators--will have different needs depending on the school context. The way a reading specialist interacts with these groups all depends on the school and the reading specialist him/herself. Of course, students need individualized instruction to make strides in literacy. Newer teachers may need lots of guidance while veteran teachers may just need advice occasionally. Similarly, working with librarians, school psychologists, counselors, and other curriculum leaders will look different in different schools, but the reading specialist should reach out to these other professionals and ask for advice from them as well. Working with a principal requires knowing what that principal needs from the literacy leader. No matter which stakeholder a reading specialist is working with he/she should always seek to be available to answer questions/concerns, pursue congenial relationships with stakeholders, and try to make stakeholders’ lives easier in whatever way the reading specialist can.
I couldn't get my whole response to the questions to fit in one comment--curse of being an over-writer. So, the rest of my response about PD is a separate comment. I apologize for the inconvenience!
DeletePD Opportunities:
ReplyDeleteI have been a part of Teams of Learners with my fifth grade team and ELA team of teachers. Additionally, I have worked with the teachers in my grade level and grade levels above and below to develop and align curriculum. Through my work with the Oklahoma Writing Project, I have been a part of Partnerships with External Resources.
The PD that sounded most interesting to me was the Lesson Study. I love the idea of developing a lesson as a team and having one person teach it. Then, evaluating the lesson and others trying the modifications. What a fun and non-threatening way to come up with engaging lessons where all the work is not on one person. I also would love to be a part of classroom observations and walkthroughs at my own school or at other schools. Since I am the only 5th grade language arts teacher at my school, I wish that I could see how other teachers in other districts teach the same standards. Additionally, observing other teachers in my building would be interesting to see different uses of technology and classroom management.
Jenny,
DeleteThe active listening section of the text was interesting. I had similar thoughts as you while reading and I'm glad that I'm not the only one that feels as if it is hard to do this. I just feel like I unintentially struggle to be a good active listener because like you said we just have so much on our plates and going through our minds as we teach. This is definitely something that I struggle with when having a student teacher at times too, just because we are always on the go. It's hard to just sit and give 100% of your attention to listening since your attention is being pulled in so many different directions.
Jenny,
DeleteI could not agree with you more when quote Bean's,”...most frequently the leadership role is one of influence rather than authority.” I know that in my own experience, a positive attitude and really being able to communicate respectfully will create more influence within a school community than any amount of doctrine. Teachers (anyone really) are more willing to change paths, absorb information, and take suggestions from knowledgeable leaders when they feel like they are being met with positivity.
While there are many characteristics of effective leaders that I feel I need some work in developing, there are a few that are strong points for me. In “The Reading Specialist”, Bean states “the ability to work as part of a team is an especially important competency for reading specialists because most frequently the leadership role is one of influence rather than authority”. I feel very strong in my teamwork abilities. I work very closely with my grade level team and although I am the team leader, I feel the team roles are distributed very equally. Our conversations are always productive and positive and luckily we have yet to come to a conflict we were unable to quickly resolve. Relatedly, respect for others is another area I feel very strong in. I am reflective and therefore aware of my own limitations and greatly respect and value the strengths and ideas of others, even those that may conflict with my original opinions. Diversity of perspective is absolutely an advantage in my eyes. I am also very goal oriented, although until these readings I never realized this to be such a large characteristic of leadership. In addition to being goal-oriented, I am a great planner, organizer, and time-manager. As mentioned, there are some areas I feel need development. The most challenging leader characteristic for me is risk-taking. Although I have begun to see improvements in myself this year, I notice I still shy away from asserting myself and my opinions in front of teachers who have taught longer than I have. I catch myself worrying they will not want to listen to someone with much less experience, but as I’ve started experimenting with speaking out I’m realizing that isn’t at all the case. I definitely need to develop a stronger sense of self and an ability to speak up when I have ideas.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading about a literacy leaders’ role in collaborating with many different stakeholders, it seems clear that a literacy leader must develop the ability to work with many different types of people. It is as if the literacy leader is a connecting piece between each of the different stakeholders, and has the opportunity to bring them altogether under the common goal of improving student learning. This is a big task to undertake, and a challenging one I’m sure. One of the biggest ideas I took away is that a reading specialist, or literacy leader, must be open and respectful of each stakeholder’s opinions and needs while still bringing them back to the main focus.
I have experienced more types of collaborative PD than I assumed I would have. At my school we have weekly PLC’s that include our grade level team, our literacy coach, and occasionally others (principal, reading specialist, curriculum coordinators, ELL teacher). These PLC’s are a sort of mix between two types of PD mentioned, Teams of Leaders and Analyzing and Reflecting on Data. I have also experienced Curriculum Development, through serving on both the math and reading committee in different school years. I have also participated in some Classroom Observations and Walkthroughs, as last school year we were given to opportunity to choose two other teachers in the school to observe for an hour of class time while our reading specialist covered our classroom. The experience was fantastic and I hope to get the opportunity to do so again soon. Finally, there is a teacher at my school who often shares links to great webinars, Collaboration through Technology. I have never experienced a study group, and am really interested in doing so. After reading through Bean and Dagen’s description, I had a thought that this type of PD would greatly aid in helping me keep up with readings and research after graduation from this program. I have wondered how well I will do with keeping up without courses helping me to, but participating in this type of PD would be perfect. I also have never experienced a Lesson Study, but the idea seems great.
Mykal, you and I have experienced very similar professional developments. I too saw that PLCs were a mix of Teams of leaders and analyzing and reflecting on data. I have had to attend PLCs in the three districts that I've worked in but while they are similar, they also have been very different. I think this idea kind of goes along with what the author was trying to explain when saying that reading specialists can have varying roles and responsibilities given different factors and the context of the school. In Edmond, we had the counselor, school physchologist, both reading specialists, instructional coach, teachers and vice principal/principal sit in on PLCS. The meetings were very data driven and the data that we talked about all came from the assessments. In Norman, our PLCs usually just involve the principal and grade level teachers.
DeleteMykal,
DeleteI could really relate to what you said about risk-taking! If I feel comfortable and in my own team, I have no problem throwing out an idea. But like you, if I'm around a group of teachers who have been teaching longer or in an area that I am less familiar with (such as early childhood), then I am less likely to throw out my idea. You are so right--when we do take those risks, they usually pay off. I realized I began to take more risks earlier in my career when my principal kind of forced me into it. She would call me out in faculty meetings and ask how I was using a particular strategy or handling a parent situation. It was uncomfortable, but also empowering. My principal was being a great leader by recognizing positive things that I was doing in my classroom and forcing me (whether I wanted to or not) to share it in setting that I was not as comfortable in.
How does your school schedule your PLC's? In the middle school part of our building, we meet more in departmental groups for our PLCs. All the ELA teachers meet once a month during lunch. I don't mind giving up that time, but I always wish we had a little bit more time. I'm always curious how other schools make this work. Do you meet during your shared planning time? Or, does your school do a special schedule a particular day a week?
Jenny,
DeleteLuckily my team has common planning time. So we do our PLC meetings every Tuesday during our plan time. Our literacy coach often rearranges her lunch time for that day though in order to attend each grade levels' meeting. She is fantastic!
Bean described a multitude of characteristics for effective leaders. I found myself identifying with a couple of different characteristics: the ability to form relationships, and along with that, trustworthiness, and being reflective. I find that I form relationships fairly easily. I find myself asking people about themselves and really trying to get to know them on a more personal level. I feel that along with this, I am a trustworthy person. I keep sensitive information to myself, and keep up with the commitments I make. I feel that these two characteristics coincide, given the fact that relationships can often times be formed based on trust and mutual respect. I also find that I am a very reflective person. Throughout my day of teaching, I often think about how I could have done something differently, or spoken with a child or colleague differently. I use these reflections to drive my instruction, as well as my future interactions with students and coworkers.
ReplyDeleteTwo of the characteristics I found myself identifying as challenges for me were communication and conflict resolution. I find that communication is somewhat problematic for me because I am not the best active listener. I oftentimes multi-task while listening to someone, and need to be better about devoting my full attention to them in order to show them that I am listening and care about what they are saying. I find that in both my teaching and personal life, this is an area where I would like to improve. In terms of conflict resolution, I tend to take a very passive approach when faced with conflict. I am very much a people pleaser and want everyone to be happy with the outcome. In future leadership roles, I hope to find ways to grow more active in conflict resolution, while still maintaining the ability to find a resolution that suits everyone.
The common theme I saw was the communication piece. In interactions with all stakeholders, a literacy leader needs to be able to effectively communicate with all of the different groups, in a way that is most appropriate for them. For example, a literacy leader needs to know how to communicate test scores with parents, as well as communicating that with teachers. Those two conversations are very different, but convey the same idea. Each group also needs to feel that the literacy leader is hearing them. I feel that this is something that can be so challenging. Being able to actively listen and convey to people that their opinions are valid is something that I find commendable.
I have experienced a few of the collaborative professional development activities. For our PLCs each week, we participate in Analyzing and Reflecting on Data. We meet with our principal, assistant principal, and sometimes our reading specialists, to discuss how our interventions are going, the growth we have seen, and where we see changes needing to be made. I find it helpful to discuss these interventions weekly helps hold us accountable, and gives us an opportunity to bounce ideas back and forth about what’s working and what isn’t. I also have participated in curriculum development. We as a school have felt that our writing hasn’t been streamlined across the grade levels. Each grade level feels that there are gaps from the previous grade. Because of this, we have created a writing curriculum development committee that has member from the lower grades. Our goal is to come up with a more tiered approach to writing, so that we can build upon what the previous grade taught.
The one I would be most interested in experiencing was a lesson study. I think that there is something so unique about forming a lesson with other teachers, and each trying it in different stages of development. It allows for such a collaborative piece of teaching that I think we sometimes miss out on. It gives teachers the time to be a teacher, and observer, and give and receive constructive feedback.
I could really relate to your comment of conflict resolution. I didn’t include it in my post but I should have! I tend to be passive as well and I think I need to learn more/better conflict resolution skills. The traits of trustworhiness and ability to form relationships are so important- and I also forgot to include these in my post! The ability to form relationships is paramount in a literacy leaders daily life so it’s great that you feel strongly competent in that area, I feel that’s probably a strength for me as well. Same goes for the trusthworiness trait- It’s going to be very hard for people to be able to take what you tell them and implement it in their classroom or for administrators to take your advice if you have not earned their trust. Two essential traits.
DeleteI could really relate to your comments about building relationships. That is so key to being a leader and motivating others to seek you out for support. We had an instructional coach in our building only part time last year and she was so frustrated that we didn't seek out her help and like she was useful. It was just hat
Deletesince she was only there part time we didn't have time to work on building that relationship and trustworthiness. She's at our building full time this year and it has been a remarkable resource.
I also really appreciated your honesty on conflict resolution and it made me think about myself. I struggle with conflict resolution as well but it wasn't something I'd considered when reading this week.
The text this week addressed many different characteristics of a leader. I felt connected to quite a few, in particular, my developed philosophy of teaching, my ability to form solid relationships, being a lifelong learner, and reflective nature. The biggest constant in my classroom, is that I am always seeking information. I crave information about everything, my students needs, learning styles, best teaching practices, student responsiveness to activities. The more my students begin to grow, the more motivated I stay to keep learning to keep supporting their growth. Each year just gets better and better. I think my reflective nature and desire to figure out how to do things better has aided in my continued learning and growth. The biggest challenge I face is in seeing myself as someone who can make a difference, particularly for other teachers. I am quick to listen for ideas but hesitant to give my ideas without prompting. I have just recently begun to find my confidence to share and work with other teachers without being asked. I have always been great about working with my teammates but I have finally realized that my range of grade levels taught and my personal growth has a lot of value to others.
ReplyDeleteWhen thinking of working with all of the different stakeholders that a literacy leader needs to collaborate with, the most common theme I noticed was empowerment. The literacy leader has so many diverse roles that they may be asked to meet. All of these roles ultimately lead to empowering all stakeholders to be equipped to aid in student achievement.
It would seem that I am involved in more collaborative PD than I realized. In my building, we routinely participate in teams of learning. We meet as grade levels on Wednesdays each week and as departments each Tuesday. We use this time to discuss lessons, teaching practices, map standards and often combine time to analyze and reflect on data. My building is also in a massive partnership with an outside source. We are partnered with Learning Sciences International and receive professional development quarterly. In between the huge PD days each quarter, a team comes to our building every two weeks to provide coaching to identified leaders in the building. Those leaders then are tasked with coaching and building leaders out of other teachers. I am beginning to participate in walk throughs and observation. This method of collaborative PD is very interesting to me and I am anxious to participate in more. It is a way to really get an idea of what other teachers are doing, what is working and see what it looks like in action. Walk throughs seem like a great resource and learning tool for all involved.
Audra,
DeleteI discussed a very similar challenge in my own post. I struggle to speak up, even when I have great things to share out of fear that others with more experience will shrug it off or become defensive. Like you, I have recently began finding my confidence, but it is definitely a work in progress. The longer I am in my position and teaching with the same teachers, the more that confidence grows and I feel more willing to take risks. I have to say that from my time with you in our previous class, you absolutely have experience and opinions that are of a great value, especially in regards to the higher elementary/middle grades.
I agree that walk throughs and observations are a great resource and learning tool. In my post I mentioned that I got the opportunity to choose three classroom to do an observation in. I learned and saw so much, and was able to put new things into practice back in my classroom. I hope I get the opportunity to do more.
Audra,
DeleteI am really taking a lot from your post! Seeking out information from others has been so beneficial in my teaching career. My fellow teachers, my PAST teachers, and online blogs and webinars have given me priceless information and expanded my ability to teach to a variety of student learning styles and abilities. I recently changed grade levels as well, and I am gaining so much information from educators like yourself who are willing to take the time to support and guide me. Additionally, it has been so rewarding to be able to be a resource for the new teachers.
Audra,
DeleteI have experienced something similar with not wanting to speaking up. Being a relatively new teacher, I find myself following the crowd out of fear that my ideas aren’t good enough or that other people will be quick to shoot them down. My hope through this program and with more experience is to gain more confidence in myself and my ideas.
There were many characteristics presented in the texts to describe an effective leader. I feel strongly about my ability to collaborate with others, provide a positive and enthusiastic approach to instruction, and my aspiration for effective and collegiate instruction at my school. As I have an open mind and am easy to talk to, I know that my peers can share comfortably their ideas and engage in meaningful discussions about school related issues. Another characteristic that I exemplify is listening to and providing feedback. Sharing thoughts and approaches is very important to me, as I believe it allows for better practice and can help benefit student success and learning. Another quality I feel strongly about is that I am also a very positive person. I enjoy sharing my love for literacy with others through being positive, encouraging new and exciting literacy approaches, and celebrating the successes and achievements seen from teachers and students. The last characteristic I exemplify is having collegiate and high expectations of the literacy program at my school and in the community. That is why I sought out the reading program at the university level.
ReplyDeleteThere are a few challenging characteristics that I can identify in myself. The first is that I am lacking in the knowledge of developing a plan of action. I do not have much experience in this aspect and am not familiar with the requirements and process of developing or choosing an effective program. Also, I am not as informed about state and federal issues and much as I would like to be. I have not inquired about the current issues affecting the school system as much as I would like to. However, as the semester progresses, I hope to further educate myself in these areas to prepare for my responsibilities as a literacy leader.
There were a lot of commonalities of working with others in the chapters of the texts this week. Collaborating with principals, fellow teachers, students, and families were brought up on various occasions. While collaborating with others, literacy leaders are also able to practice attentive listening, encouraging collegiate discussion, create a comfortable and inviting atmosphere, and provide and receive feedback from others. Last but not least, maintaining an enthusiastic and positive attitude will help with keeping others motivated and encouraged. In result, this will encourage effective literacy practices.
I try to experience as much literacy focused professional development as possible. Keeping myself up to date with the new studies and strategies is how I maintain liveliness in the classroom. Fortunately, my school site also provides a variety of professional development opportunities that I always take advantage of. Book readings is a strategy that we are currently practicing this year. Also, meeting with our grade level teams to collaborate and practice professional development occurs every week.
At my school, we focus a lot on the studies done by Marzano. One of the design questions that Marzano focuses on is teacher self reflection. We formally self-reflect at least two times a year, but I try to self-reflect as much as possible to improve my instruction. Our principal also encourages walkthroughs and observing other teachers during instruction. During these experiences, a checklist or a 3-2-1 worksheet is completed to use as a reference and to refer to after the observation. It is useful, because it encourages us to find 3 strong practices to take back to our classroom, 2 strategies we would like to know more about, and 1 question we may have that would like to be answered by the teacher. Our school also has provided us with many opportunities of professional development with technology and literacy. However, engaging in literacy resources online like PBS or the IRA has not been formally introduced to us. I would like to look into these online resources provided by Bean and incorporate the content into my instruction.
Your comment about your level of knowledge in creating an action plan explains exactly how I am feeling as well. I am interested to learn more about the process. From my experience of working with you in previous class, your reflection of your strengths is spot on. Your enthusiasm always motivated to keep working hard when I felt lost or confused.
DeleteTheresa,
DeleteI am impressed by the level of PD that your school offers. That is a weakness at my school. I often find myself trying to get teachers to come with me to workshops or read a new book together, but more often than not no one participates with me. I too am very interested in the online resources.
Theresa,
DeleteI love the professional opportunities you have at your school. I think it is so important for us as teachers to be able to see what other teachers are doing in their classrooms. It is easiest to witness that practice firsthand and take notes (such as the 3-2-1 like you mentioned) and discuss those things with them after. It gives that teacher an opportunity to be a leader and also gives you an opportunity to further your growth and continue being a life long learner.
Strong, effective literacy leaders certainly are most productive when they are able to gain the trust and support from other teachers, parents, and administration. It is said time and again in Bean’s writing, Literacy Leadership and the ability to communicate and collaborate go hand in hand. I know from the teacher’s point of view, it is much more pleasant to listen to and learn from someone who you are confident has everyone’s very best interest at heart. That being said, and although it is not specifically mentioned, a lot can be said about the power of a positive attitude. I believe teacher, students, parents, and others are looking for positivity in the leadership. If a literacy teacher is positive about the work they do and others are doing within the school, great things can certainly come of that.
ReplyDeleteI know that for me, the challenge will be handling conflict and taking risk. I know that to be a leader in any area, these two sticky points will arise. When people hare so passionate about their students and their ultimate success, it is difficult to keep conflict at bay. I have experienced many occasions when the teacher feels they have more experience and expertise in the area of literacy education even when there is an in-house reading specialist. I can see how it would be difficult not to accidently step on a few toes along the way. Also, I am one of those who struggle to take risks or move in a different direction if I see that a strategy is effective for the majority of the children. I can definitely see where I might struggle to take risks and step outside my comfort zone.
I have experienced many different types of collaborative PDs. The one which I find most beneficial are classroom walkthrough. This year, teachers have the opportunity to visit other teacher’s classroom for the morning or afternoon to see how they are doing things right! This is always such a positive experience and is so helpful in finding strategies we can take back to our own classrooms. Also, we all gather together each week for grade level PLC meetings. These meetings include grade level teachers, the reading interventionist, and one member of administration. We use this time to discuss STAR test scores, progress, and struggles. Also, we discuss future plans for intervention strategies and students who we have identified “at risk”. This is a great time to strategies with each other!
The PD that I think would be the very most interesting is Lesson Study. I love watching teachers teach. Even if the lesson is not quite as effective as they hoped, it is so beneficial to the lesson through the children’s eyes, make adjustments, and try variations which may be more beneficial to the students. Also, this could really effect how well a teacher knows the material they are presenting. I know for me, it takes a couple of times teaching the same lesson to feel like I can explain the concept in more ways in hopes to reach more students.
I too would like to have more experiences with lesson studies. When reading about this, it reminded me of working with my student teacher to develop a lesson and then we video taped her teaching it, and then reflected on her teaching. I'm not sure if I understood it just right, but I did find that it was a helpful means of reflecting on teaching. My student teacher noticed things that I had been pointing out to her that she might say, but watching it really made a bigger impact over me just telling her what I saw. When I taught in Edmond, our reading specialist would push in and help me teach. We often would plan a lesson together and I would teach it, after the lesson, we would talk over what went well and what we could improve upon.
DeletePaige,
DeleteHow often do you get to observe another teacher's classroom and are the teachers chosen for you? I have done this before, one time per semester and the teachers we were observing were chosen for us. I loved the experience, but I do not think the 5th grade teachers who watched Kindergarten teachers felt the same way. It sounds like your experience was better, so I would love to hear more. Risk taking is also a topic many of us have discussed. In my opinion the more comfortable we are about a topic, the more passionate we become. I bet we'll all get there eventually.
Paige,
DeleteYes, I agree that a positive attitude is key in a leadership role. Bean states throughout the chapters about leadership which empowers and encourages others. When a person has a positive attitude, others can see a goal as attainable and are encouraged to work together to reach the goal.
Week 2 Blog – B&D Chapter 2, 18; Bean Chapter 4, 8
ReplyDeleteWhich characteristics of effective leaders are strong points for you? Which are challenging?
The reading reflected several characteristics of effective leaders that are already strong points for me. Teamwork is a strong point for me because I am a team player. I enjoy helping others and appreciate when team members express their point of views allowing me to gain different perspectives. For team work to flourish, an effective leader must build relationships. As a teacher who has experienced many challenges of this profession over the years, I can empathize with teachers when they feel overwhelmed about their classroom management or when a teacher is frustrated about where to begin when trying to set up literacy workstations. I have been fortunate to have held the position at my school as a mentor teacher to those who were in their first few years of teaching. I realized a strong point for me was listening to others concerning their needs and frustrations about the curriculum and/or classroom management. I like to motivate my co-workers about reading and encourage them that the work and extra time they are putting into their class or individuals is worth it because literacy goes beyond the classroom. A quote in The Reading Specialist book (p. 91) caught my attention: “Leaders who are seen by colleagues as ‘having all the answers’ will soon find themselves without anyone to lead!” I tell my colleagues that I do not have all the answers, but we can work together to find them. Empowering teachers is not necessarily a strong point yet because I feel I still have much to learn. However, I do enjoy sharing with my co-workers information from a workshop, conference or from my graduate classes that I have found helpful and could easily implement with my students. Communication is not one of my strong points in front of a group when I am not comfortable about my expertise in an area. I do not make eye contact and I stress out about making presentations.
What did you take away as a commonality of working with each of the different stakeholders that a reading specialist or literacy leader needs to collaborate with?
Stakeholders (teachers, administration, students, parents and the community) see reading specialists or literacy leaders as a resource for various situations such as encouraging, supportive, helpful, communicative, knowledgeable, and committed to student achievement. Best Practices of Literacy Leaders (p.28) states, “Commonalities among these descriptions of teacher leaders include educators who influence their peers and school community through collegial interactions; work both with the classroom and the overall school system; and focus their efforts on improving schools, specifically focusing on student growth and achievement.”
Which of the types of collaborative PD in Appendix 18.1 have you experienced? Which would you like to experience? I have experienced study groups within my building, teams of learners within my building and within my district, analyzing and reflecting on data with our building instructional coach, classroom observations and walkthroughs. I’d like to experience collaboration through technology.
Michelle,
DeleteYou brought up an important part of being a leader, especially a literacy leader--EMPATHY! I hadn't thought about that as a quality of a good leader, but it definitely is. Having empathy for our colleagues and recognizing that we don't have all the answers will build even more trust and collaboration, which will only make our team stronger. Being a good and active listener strengthens your team as well. That is one area I am working on. I have to try not to think about my response while the person is still talking!
You mentioned that you don't enjoy making presentations to groups of people. You have a wealthy of knowledge about literacy instruction and classroom management, and so many of us benefit from everything you share in our class discussions and presentations! I, on the other hand, love giving presentations. This just shows that literacy leaders can have different strengths and still be great mentors and teammates to help their colleagues.
Michelle,
DeleteI love that you mentioned yourself being a motivator. Sometimes it's hard to remember to be positive and look on the bright side of things when you're submerged in requirements, data collections, and all of the other responsibilities of a teacher. I see myself as a positive and cheerful individual, but could definitely work on my motivating skills towards others. Motivating others is such a supportive skill to have. It is a great strategy to maintain a lively and positive atmosphere, like mentioned in our texts. Helping teachers, families, and community members feel comfortable enough to share and engage in discourse will promote successful collaboration. And as Bean repeatedly states, collaboration is key to achieving goals.
Echoing what Jenny said above, I believe empathy is SO important to being a good teacher and a good leader. Since you are able to identify well with various teacher struggles because of your own experiences, I believe this will help you tremendously in being able to relate to other teachers and making it easy for them to trust you. Your experiences and length of career are great assets for you as a leader! I'm sure that being a mentor teacher has also taught you a lot about leadership as well. So much about literacy leadership is essentially like being a mentor.
DeleteBean mentioned teamwork and being able to collaborate with others as a key characteristic for effective leaders. I feel that my ability to work well with others on my team is a strong point for me. I definitely feel that groups of people that work together have to find their “groove” or make it through the “groan zone” that bean mentioned. Thinking of my team that I work with this year, I feel that we definitely experienced this and work really well together now. I honestly can’t think of a team that I have worked with that it didn’t take a while to learn about what each of our strengths were and how we could distribute leadership responsibilities amongst ourselves. I think the groan zone concept is definitely something that reading specialists should keep in mind and not give up trying to work with a group just because it doesn’t start off smoothly. I also like that Bean pointed out that leadership is more that the action of one individual, rather is it is the interactions occurring among multiple people. I believe this idea goes along with teamwork. I feel that when I work with other teachers, my librarian, reading specialist etc, they help me to make my ideas better and I help them. We feed off of each other’s ideas thus making better lessons and learning environments for our students. I also feel that I am reflective on my teaching and am always trying to do better so that the students can flourish.
ReplyDeleteAn area of challenge for me is definitely standing up for what I believe to be right and not being easily silenced by others. I don’t want to come off as someone who knows all the answers. I’m thankful for the knowledge I’ve gained in this program and look forward to becoming certified as a reading specialist. I think that my degree and certification will help me to feel more comfortable voicing my opinions especially around teachers that have taught for way longer than I have. I only feel this way because I know there are teachers who think that you can’t possibly know what’s best until you’ve taught for say 20 + years or so. I do not believe this to be true. In fact, I always tell my student teachers that I am looking forward to learning from them because they have really good ideas at times and 0 years of experience within their own classroom.
Reading specialists and literacy leaders can have many different roles and responsibilities. Roles might vary across schools. For example, a principal with no background might rely more heavily on a reading specialist to make decisions whereas a principal with that knowledge may be able to contribute more to those decisions with the reading specialist. They can work with teachers, administrators, students, parents and community members to help bridge gaps. I feel that one person cannot make a difference alone and that a reading specialist or literacy leader can use this knowledge to help increase student learning and progress.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteJamie,
DeleteYou and I have many similar qualities of a leader! As I was relating to your post about being self reflective, I realized that there are many times when have been too hard on myself when it comes to constructive criticism and forget to celebrate my successes. I have been focusing too much on improving my skill than embracing my progress and effectiveness. Sometimes we just need to take a step back and perceive events in a more positive light. It's easy to get caught up in all of the requirements and deadlines of a teacher that the successes are overlooked. According to the texts, being a leader includes being a positive, lively, and encouraging individual. And to maintain that mindset, we need to remember to celebrate success when we self-evaluate ourselves in our practices.
Your connection to the groan zone was a great reminder. When taking on a new role or responsibility, there will be growing pains and it is normal. It is also important to not let that be discouraging and maintain a positive attitude. I also appreciated the way you voiced your concern about the perception of younger teachers. I sometimes worry about that too but luckily have found myself a team/staff that loves and embraces newer teachers because of fresh ideas and enthusiasm. I know that this is not always the case though, so having the degree to back up what you're saying can be a confidence boost.
DeleteI have experienced the following types of PD: study groups, teams of learners, curriculum development, lesson study, analyzing and reflecting on data, and collaboration through technology. My least favorite of these has definitely been study groups, because too often the books are chosen by other people and I am not interested in the topics. I have served on literacy, social studies and science committees to help directors heading those departments develop curriculum for the districts I’ve worked in. I have a little bit of experience with lesson study in that I helped my student teacher create a lesson, she taught it, we videoed her and then met to discuss what worked and didn’t work. I would like to do this more often because I think it was an effective means to reflect on teaching. In all of the districts that I’ve worked on we meet as grade level teams to discuss student progress once a week or every other week. When I worked in Edmond, our principal had us give grade level assessments every two weeks and we’d look to see what skills were our strengths and what skills we needed to work on. This was helpful because teachers who had strengths were I needed to improve and vice versa could share their ideas and this helped me to build up those weaker areas.
ReplyDeleteI would like to experience more partnerships with external resources. Last semester, my student teacher’s professor who evaluated her had a lot of knowledge from her years as a teacher, reading specialist and principal. I enjoyed talking to her when she would come to evaluate my intern and she even gave me ideas for my multicultural unit. I think more teachers would benefit from having partnerships with other stakeholders. My student teacher’s professor also enjoyed being in our classroom because she said it gave her better insight as to what the classroom was like now compared to when and where she had taught and that she could use this information to better prepare her interns. I on the other hand, got to try out new ideas that I hadn’t thought of before. It was a win-win situation.
The “groan zone” that Bean mentioned definitely stood out to me too. You bring up a good point when you mentioned most all teams go through this type of period and this shouldn’t be used as a reason to give up on your common goal. However, I do think if all leaders had more of the characteristics of good teacher leaders we read about this week that the “zone” probably wouldn’t last as though or be quite as bad! I think it’s great that you have such an open mind from learning from your student interns, etc. One of the most important things I’ve learned in the past 4 years working in the schools is that there is ALWAYS something to learn, or maybe just a different way to do something that is more effective for students or make your life easier. It’s great when it’s both!!!
Delete***Dr. Beach- I originally posted this at 5:40 pm yesterday, I'm 100% sure. I made sure it was posted and I could see my entry before I logged off my computer. I logged in today to read others responses and mine was gone. I had originally written this in Word so was able to repost my original***
ReplyDeleteA few characteristics of effective leaders that I believe are a strong point for me are: being self-reflective, being an effective communicator, being organized, and being cognizant of diversity around me. Being able to self-reflect is an important characteristic in virtually every job-but especially for anyone in a leadership role. I am constantly self-reflecting on how a lesson or an exchange with a colleague or parent went. I try my hardest to learn from all these instructional experiences and interactions to make the next experience/interaction better. As Bean and Dagen point out on page 31 of Best Practices of Literacy Leaders, "teacher leaders are not born, instead they grow." Without self-reflection, I do not believe being an effective leader is possible. I feel as if communication is one of my biggest strong points- I can be both an active listener as well as clearly express my views to others. With all the different roles and responsibilities that reading specialists are required to undertake, self-organization is key to be able to work with others and accomplishing not only the tasks that you set forth for yourself, but those that are given to you. I strive to be an empathetic person, and always try to put myself in others’ shoes in hopes of being better able to understand their beliefs and way of life. A more challenging characteristic of an effective leader for me would be taking risks, I tend to think there are more black and white rules and I want to follow them very closely. I think I tend to play it safe more often than I should. Additionally, as some of my classmates have mentioned, the notion that so much responsibility is placed on a reading specialist is a little daunting. Especially thinking about making decisions for the whole school or district.
Some of the stakeholders that reading specialists are expected to work with include administrators, fellow teachers, students, speech and language therapists, special education teachers, ELL teachers, Title teachers, parents, and the community. A commonality in working with these stakeholders is that reading specialists always need to be prepared to explain their views (have research to back it up), respect opinions of others, make suggestions without demands, and to hopefully instill in them some encouragement as well as excitement about literacy learning.
I have not experienced any of these collaborative PD experiences as a classroom teacher of course, but I have been a part of collaboration through technology (webinars, etc), analyzing and reflecting on date (through our schools RtI and PLC meetings), as well as some partnerships with external resources as an SLPA in the schools. I have been able to observe our reading specialist for a brief period but I would love to be able to complete some classroom observations and/or walkthroughs. I would also like to experience all the other PD activities like study groups, being a part of a “team of learners”, developing curriculum, lesson studies, etc.
Melinda,
DeleteI am glad you brought up the responsibility aspect of becoming a literacy leader, as I forgot to mention this in my own post. I agree that thinking about making decision for an entire school is daunting. I still have moments where get a little anxious when I think about how I am responsible for the learning of 28 students! I can't even imagine how it will feel when I am responsible for both students and teachers, but I think it is important to remember that it is a collaborative effort. Just like with my 28 kiddos, I am not in it alone. It may feel like the responsibility is all on me at time, but there are so many others working alongside me.
I also mentioned respect to stakeholders in my post. I think this is so important. Each stakeholder will have their own views based on their relation to the school and students, but each view should be respected and taken into serious consideration upon making decisions and taking next steps in planning. This can be difficult, as there are so many opinions to marry and groups to connect. All in the name of student achievement though!
I also forgot to mention RTI meeting in my post! These meetings would absolutely be considered analyzing and reflecting on data.
Melinda,
DeleteI liked your connection to the quote about "teacher leaders are not born, they grow." I agree with this wholeheartedly. When we begin our education careers (or any career) we don't know what we don't know until we discover it. We don't know our "why?" until we figure it out. We grow into our leader roles by the experiences (both good and bad) that we encounter. As far as taking risks, I think your fears are common. I think I walk the fence as far as being a risk taker, and sometimes I wish I would have thought through by risk before I jumped. I'm wondering if having a healthy dose of fear and bravery would be good for all of us.
Melinda,
DeleteI liked your comment, "without self-reflection, I do not believe being an effective leader is possible." I do not take time to self-reflect as often as I should. Many times I am too busy unless I have to stop and fill out a required reflection. However, many times that does not require much thought. But your statement reminds me that I have no choice but to self-reflect if I want to become an effective leader. I would like to make this happen more often. In what ways do you self-reflect? Writing in a journal? With an assessment? Talking to peers? I also agree with your statement, "Additionally, as some of my classmates have mentioned, the notion that so much responsibility is placed on a reading specialist is a little daunting. Especially thinking about making decisions for the whole school or district." The few interactions I have had with reading specialists have been through workshops. However, through our readings about the many hats reading specialists wear, I too, am a little nervous about making decisions beyond my classroom. Bean states, "they (reading specialists) described the many ways they served as leaders, performing activities such as ...leading curriculum development efforts, and working with other professionals and community members..."
This week’s reading focused a great deal on effective leaders and what makes them “tick,” so to speak. According to Bean (2015), one of the keys to being an effective leader is communication skills. I feel that this is one of my strong points. I see myself as a good listener and I adhere to behaviors that describe active listening. This is a skill that I’ve grown into. I do not think that I would have been able to truthfully make this statement 20 years ago. I think experience guides me to listen more than I speak. Bean also states clear congruent speaking as a key to being a good leader. This is also another area that I feel confident in, as long as I am speaking/presenting on topics that I have confidence in. I have the opportunity to speak in public on a fairly regular basis and I feel that it is important to engage the audience. One of my common questions when I present to other educators is, “How could you use this in your classroom? What changes would you make?” Letting my audience know that I recognize their expertise invites them to share, and I often learn great information from their ideas. I learn just as much as I share.
ReplyDeleteBean also cites Teamwork as a key quality for effective leaders. I teach at a small school with 3 teachers per grade. I recognize my prejudice in this statement, but my teaching team is the best. We regularly share ideas, plan together using each others’ strengths and we know when to laugh and when to be serious. We work very well together. My building as a whole is a strong team building. The lower elementary at my school is less inviting and it can be difficult to get the “buy in” of some of those teachers. My working with OWP as a coach has also encouraged me to work with many different personalities. I seem to enjoy working with some of the more difficult ones. I enjoy empowering those who less important, or lacking in knowledge.
A leadership challenge that I see myself having is the propensity to take on too many jobs. I have a difficult time sharing responsibility or asking others for help. That flaw has tendency to wear me out physically, emotionally, and mentally due to the 110% effort I give to the 90 directions I go in. I have gotten better with saying, “No thank you, or Not at this time.” I am definitely a work in progress.
Working with the different stakeholders as Bean and Dagen (2012) describe, I liked that statement on page 31 “teacher leaders are often risk takers who are both goal oriented and action oriented.” I think developing quality relationships with administrators and teachers is extremely important, but I also see a need for a willingness to “step on toes” if it is important to our students.
Tamee,
DeleteI think it's very common for us teachers to find it difficult to say "no" to volunteering our time for tasks. I know many teachers that agree to take on tasks even though they are juggling other various responsibilities. We persevere very well and when we do our job we give 110%. But even though this is a complete and valid fact, Bean reminds us that effective leadership doesn't come from one individual, but multiple individuals working together to achieve a goal. I, too, need to remember to ask for help, if needed. This will help with distributing the workload and also allows for collaboration, like mentioned heavily in the texts. Bean brings up the idea of collaboration continuously throughout the texts and emphasizes that success cannot be achieved alone. Working together with the faculty, families, and students is what will make a leader's vision achievable.
Tamee,
DeleteI completely agree with one of your strong points as being an active listener. I have enjoyed our conversations in which you actively listen and participate in. You are easy to communicate with.
You are very fortunate to have team members with whom you collaborate well with. This collaboration I assume makes goal setting easier. Bean states, "the ability of the leader to help others to first decide upon goals or a vision, and then work with the group to reach them." I noticed you put that it is hard for you to turn down a job. Bean states that leadership is shared and distributed among personnel in different ways. As a leader, you will have permission to share and distribute leadership so you do not have to carry the burden alone but with the support of others.
Part 2 -
ReplyDeleteExamining the PD discussed in Appendix 18.1, I was thrilled to see those I have participated in and saddened that most of these opportunities were on my own, away from my school.
I have had done an online study group and thoroughly enjoyed it. We read the The Writing Thief by Ruth Culham.
I would love to see my 3rd grade team or my ELA team work collaboratively on a learning goal. We work together well, but not in this type of scenario.
Curriculum Development - I working with the OSDE last summer on the OAS ELA Curriculum Frameworks. I enjoyed the process and would love to become involved with other opportunities as this one.
I have participated in data team meetings, but I agree that little is done to change instruction in many classrooms. I would like to be a part of one of these programs where instruction is also changed based upon student needs. Presently we group our students according to their data. Because I generally work with the low performing students, I regularly feel that I am the only one considering what needs my students have. I would like to see this done to the betterment of our lessons and thus our students.
I have participated in classroom observations. I enjoyed this opportunity, and would love to see it occur more often.
Other than working with OWP or the Payne Center, I have not participated with outside PD programs. If done with the right needs in focus, I think this would be a great opportunity for teachers.
I have not done any professional online collaboration, but would be interested in learning more about these opportunities. I have used Reading Rockets when I needed to familiarize myself with a topic. I felt that that time was well spent.
Tamee,
ReplyDeleteI can absolutely, 100 MILLION% relate to your struggle with "no". I think this must be a commonality among most teachers. You mentioned something that struck you in reading Bean and Dagen, “teacher leaders are often risk takers who are both goal oriented and action oriented.” This struck me too, but probably because I have such a propensity to say "yes, yes, yes!!" Im willing to bet you're the same way. I say yes because I am goal oriented, and to me the quickest way to solve a problem and reach a goal is to jump in feet first and do it myself (I know this is so wrong, but I guess I think I'm saving time by not having to explain my plan and bothering others to jump on my band wagon...Im so wrong! Im going to work on that! lol)