The Ego has Landed
What is the organisational culture (collective values/principles) that underpins your practice?
Up until last year the staffing retention and staff changes at the school has been relatively stable for quite some time. We have a wide range of teacher ages, some nearing retiring, others that are new to teaching and some in the middle of their teaching career. The environment seemed a positive and close-knit one. Teachers I worked with were supportive of each other and work together for the benefit of the students. In the Science department it was always a 'open house' to sharing ideas and visiting others classroom and in general a very positive environment to be in. This nurturing and supportive environment allowed my own teaching practice to grow by allowing me to have the confidence to share my ideas, take on constructive criticism and feedback from others and also being encourage to try out a vast array of different learning ideas and pedagogy styles within my own classrooms. It always felt safe to fail and to take things back to the drawing board and revisit an idea from a different and/or more informed angle. Our values at the school focused around 'Teamwork, Respect and Integrity'. This was talked about in assembly and staff meetings and from where I sat I always felt secure, safe and even encouraged to try new ideas within my practice and gained confidence from the support and feedback I received from my peers and superiors.
As a whole school we would focus on improving student achievement by initiative such as 'Amber student'. During this time staff would collaborate to support students who were border line for passing their NCEA Level 1 and discuss strategies that we had found useful and ideas that would maybe benefit others. We also attended morning PD to collaborate and learn skills that would enable us to improve literacy school-wide by incorporating the ideas learnt into our individual subject programs. The environment was often jovial and again it was easy to reach out and gain support from colleague or also to collaborate with others and share ideas within the group.
Last year, it often felt we had stopped moving forward as much and I became aware that our school as a whole appeared to be behind the times a little with regards to other schools and the changes that were taking place to better suit the needs of the 21st Century student. Last year saw the retirement of some significant staff members, the Science HOD, DP and Principal and we now have a new Principal and a relatively new Senior Leadership Team.
Source: https://twitter.com/manitoulinarts/status/697464841158656003
What are the current issues in your community of practice? How would your community of practice address them?
At present, I am not finding the goals, values and direction of the way we are wanting to move the school forward very clear. I suppose it is because it is quite early in the year and the leaders are finding their way also in their new role. It often feels that during PD sessions we are just being given lots of information but little time to reflect, collaborate and discuss ideas and learn from our each other. I think its also because everything is being just set up new and new goals and values are being compiled. One of the ways I have tried to support other that are feeling the same are by sharing key articles or literature on ideas such as inquiry learning and goal setting via email.
A suggestion of having smaller PLG's has been made and I think this would be really beneficial and would really like to be a part of this. Having time to meet with others and share and discuss ideas in a supportive and trusted group could be beneficial not only to building the school climate and culture but also for improving the quality of programs being offered and learning that is taking place in the classroom.
I sometimes have informal short 'chats' with others who are trialing new things or who are interesting in things I have been doing in my classroom. I would like to get out there and move forward more in this direction but I get the feeling it is not the right time? I suppose it doesn't feel like an environment where it is safe for me to do so at this moment in time. I have had my 'wings clipped' by a few situations when I have given feedback or shared innovative ideas and this has made me less incline to speak out and discuss the issue.
I also get the feeling that there are lots of ego's at play at present. I also sense that some teachers are feeling uncomfortable with having to collaborate and share their teaching practice with others, and even their subject area, as we move forward rather silently towards a more future orientated learning environment. At present, I think I can just try to build relationships with others within my school and continue to collaborate with the teachers that are interested in sharing ideas and reflecting on their practices. Engaging in the Mindlab CoP also allows a way to reflect, listen to others, share ideas and learn new ways to improve classroom practices, work better with others and improve my students learning experience.
From taking part in the Mindlab course I have been trialing new innovative ideas and initiatives that are more in-line with 21st century teaching and learning practices. Within the old environment, these ideas would of been actively highlighted and encouraged and feedback would of been received on them, but it doesn't actually feel like this happening at the moment and if anything I seem to getting some negative feedback, especially with regards to the digital technology initiatives. It appears, as a Ag/Hort teacher, I am treating on the toes of other subject area teachers. It appears ego's have a large chunk to play when trying to create a professional collaborative environment and appears to be one of the current issues in our community of practice.
This situation has allowed me see and highlight the fact that people ego's are sensitive to this change and in some situations some teachers are not keen to share or collaborate. This obviously makes it difficult to move forwards into a new era of education when not all are willing to work in a collaborative manner, or are resist to change or sharing.
I teach in a subject area where often it is not the teachers first subject and they come in with little resources or knowledge of the subject. I am Science trained but moved into Ag/Hort later on in my teaching career. It has been reassuring to be part of a professional learning group outside of the school and interesting to see how well it works. When I first started teaching Ag/Hort I knew little but I attended 'moderation days' each year and during these days, more experience teachers would kindly share resources and ideas freely, to us 'frantic', new teachers of Ag/Hort. Obviously those frantic teachers, showed their appreciation with a gift of a bottle of wine or two. ha. As the years progress, I find myself now in the situation of sharing my resources to new (and frantic) teachers on the moderation days. I am still waiting for my bottle of wine, ha. I think this collaboration and willingness to share ideas and resources is one of the many benefits of working with others in a collaborative environment and one that benefits our students, school and reduces the stress of the already overworked teacher.
Source: http://shifting-vibration.com/2015/09/is-ego-good-or-bad/
My questions if you are reading this blog
How do you encourage and enable collaborative practices within your school?
How do you enable the reluctant teacher to feel that it is safe for them take down their protective barriers and let go of their ego's and embrace being part of a collaborative group?
What do you do if a teacher totally refuses to become involved and participate within a group?
What advice would you give to me on how to build collaborative relationships with others and breakdown those silos between subject areas without getting the backs up of the individual subject teachers involved?
References:
Hongboontri, C., & Keawkhong, N. (2014). School Culture: Teachers' Beliefs, Behaviors, and Instructional Practices. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 39(5), 66-88. Retrieved from http://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2332&context=ajte
Stoll (1998). School Culture. School Improvement Network’s Bulletin 9. Institute of Education, University of London. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Understanding-school-cultures/School-Culture:
Wilson, M. Building a culture of Success. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_8Bjz-OCD8
No comments:
Post a Comment