Collaborate to Make a Difference

Those of you who know me, you know I like to discuss my belief in the 4 Cs to Lead.  The 4 Cs consist of connecting, collaboration, confidence, and creativity.  The 4 Cs are necessary traits for all successful leaders in any organizational leadership position, including leadership positions in education.  The 4 Cs build off of each other and when done well, create teachers & administrators who are change agents in their respective buildings.

Connecting is the most important “C” needed to grow as a professional.  I recently blogged about connecting and how relatively easy it is to do.  Connecting leads to collaboration.  Collaboration is equally important as connecting, but collaboration can positively affect the culture of a building or team in a more meaningful way.  I will share some of the ways you can effectively use collaboration in any environment (business, schools, classrooms, teams) to make a difference:

Sharing & Caring

In the New Lexington City School District, each building has a 30 minute Collaboration Time for teachers every day.  At NLHS, we meet in the morning before the school day begins with students.  We meet in Teacher Based Teams (TBT) based on content.  The Unified Arts classes meet in a group and our Agriculture classes also meet in their own group.  We have met in Grade Level teams and Advisory Teams too.  The meetings are structured with agendas and minutes.  Each TBT has a leader who is the lead facilitator for the group. 

In the meetings, teachers have the opportunity to discuss yearly & quarterly data, best instructional practices (we focus on best formative practices with data to back up the practices), and most importantly, are given the opportunity to discuss kids.  The meetings can be set up how the teachers’ feel would be most beneficial.  I would like to use the meetings (maybe once a week) as an opportunity to do a “20% Time” much like Google has in their corporate offices.  Give teachers the opportunity to create something or work on a project or product that interests them. 

We have had great success with our Collaboration Time.  Teachers have the opportunity to talk about their craft, practices that work and practices that don’t work, and focus on data that can be used effectively to facilitate learning.  The key is to have great teacher leaders on each of your teams.  When the leaders structure their meetings and have high expectations, the Collaboration Time is a success for teachers.  In the end, the students are the ones who win.

Watch Others Teach/Lead

Collaboration and feedback go hand-in-hand with each other.  Feedback is crucial to getting better in anything that you do.  Sharing feedback as a group or in a pairing is the best type of constructive feedback.  If you watch others teach, coach or lead, you can learn as an observer and visualize yourself and the practices in your position.  When observing others, make sure you supply good feedback.  Supply the feedback like you would for a student on an assessment.  Administrators and leaders need to encourage staff members to observe each other.  Share these experiences during staff meetings.  At NLHS, one of our goals during the 4^th Quarter will be to have all of our teachers observe another teacher at least once.

Model for Students

If a staff collaborates, students take notice.  They don’t have to be in meetings to see this.  When a staff works and shares together, the culture of the building will be a model of collaboration.  Teachers and Coaches need to model the effective use of collaboration and allow students and athletes to use collaboration.  In the classroom, have the resources necessary for students to collaborate.  At NLHS, we use our 1:1 initiative as collaboration tools.  We also use Quality Learning tools in classes to solve problems and create solutions.  Students can also demonstrate different forms of mastery for projects and assessments when they collaborate.  From videos to gallery walks, model collaboration so your students will collaborate too.

Find a Way to Make Time

It is imperative to find a way to make time to collaborate.  Maybe having someone record thoughts and discussion at lunch, and then share at the end of the week.  Try having your teachers have matching Prep periods so they can meet.  Use Staff Meetings as a time for collaboration.  Try to make it the norm to do more and meet more.  Start by having your staff brainstorm on ways they can meet more often to collaborate.

Our jobs have lasting effects in our buildings and on our teams.  Often times, one thing leads to another, and another, etc.  Collaboration can help with this.  Create more collaborative opportunities in your building and classroom so everyone in your building (teachers and students) are leaders.  Use the 4 Cs to Lead to create a building of connected collaborators.  As Dan Rockwell states, “Collaborating elevates everyone’s status. It says you matter. People participate when their participation matters.”

5 Steps to Great Coaching for Administrators & Teachers

I recently attended a workshop on coaching sponosred by the Ohio Department of Education.  The focus in the workshop was showing administrators how to successfully coach their staff in alignment with the Ohio Teaching Evaluation System (OTES).  While there were some good discussions that took place and I was able to connect with some of my PLN, some of the parts of the workshop did not really hit home with me.  That's not to say I didn't come away with anything either.  I started thinking about coaching and what it really means in education and not just what it means while working with an evaluation system.

When I think of coaching in education, I immediately think of coaching and sports.  Being a former teacher and coach, I truly believe that coaching is an extension of teaching in the classroom (especially if you have ever coached at the lower levels).  Students are always looking to learn new things and grow to improve at what they are doing in any activity or athletic endeavor.  As coaches  & teachers, that is one of our primary repsonsibilities: helping students grow.  As an administrator, it is no different with our staff.  We need to help them grow and become better teachers, the same thing a coach does with his or her players.

Whether it is in athletics or education, great coaching can completely change an environment and culture.  It has a big impact on the growth of a team and school.  Below are some strategies to maximize the value of coaching as an administrator and teacher:

1. Embrace Practice

I always remember what legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden would say in interviews about the secret to his teams' success.  Wooden always loved practices and didn't care too much for games.  Even with winning all of the games that he did, he found more value in practice.  In practice, he was able to teach and help his student-athletes grow.  Coaching in education should entail the same philosophy. 

As an administrator, let your staff try and try again. Provide them with feedback and get other teachers & students to provide them with feedback.  The best place for teachers to realize if something works is in the classroom.  As a teacher, use formative assessments as they are meant to be used: for practice.  Provide feedback for formative assessments, not grades.  Allow students to make improvements and practice.  Teams don't prepare for games without practicing, so why would we assign grades without the proper amount of practice?

2.  Effective Positive & Constructive Feedback

While an administrator or teacher provides feedback, as Carol Tomlinson states, it needs to be instructive feedback.  Provide staff and students with guidance in your feedback. While the feedback is guiding, make sure it also includes how you feel what you witnessed. I know OTES doesn't want to include how the administrator "felt" about methods and styles, but that is a big part of coaching. Great coaches tell players all of the time "Great job!" or "Nice effort!"  Teachers and students need to hear these types of comments.  Coach Wooden would always begin with positive feedback when he was going to give some constructive feedback.  I believe that is a great way to approach feedback as a coach in education.  

As an administrator, provide feedback that allows teachers & students to get better.  Show your passion!  Teachers should do the same. Provide instructive feedback to students mixed with encouraging, positive feedback.  Coaches who are constantly critiquing, yelling, and negative do not get good results.

3. Model 

Coaches at practice are constantly modeling for their players.  Whether it is a drill or formation, coaches demonstrate to players what it looks like when it is done correctly.  As administrators and teachers, we need to model what we would like to see in the building and in the classroom.  

As an administrator, host professional development for your staff.  Coach them on how to improve their craft with specific strategies & methods.  Model how you want staff and students to look. If its using technology as a tool for learning, then as an administrator, you should be using technology to assist in your learning and others.  If you want your staff to utilize social media for professional development, then you should be leading the charge. Teachers should also model for students.  Make learning targets come to life in your teaching so students can have them come to life.  Bring urgency and passion to the classroom so the students will do the same.  Good coaching includes accepting responsibility for yourself and modeling that so it rubs off on your staff & students.

4. Have their Back!

You can watch any athletic event and you will see coaches fighting for their players. Sometimes its arguing with officials and sometimes it occurs in the media.  It is important to show support as a coach.  Good coaches always develop trust and relationships within their teams.  It is the same in education.

Administrators and teachers need to encourage risk taking and innovative thinking.  If a teacher wants to try something new, administrators need to provide the teacher with the resources to do this.  If students find different ways to demonstrate mastery, teachers should share this with other members of the class to encourage forward thinking.  Support leads to confidence and creativity in the school and classroom.

5. Encourage Educated Risks

Coaches are always trying new formations and plays.  Depending on the situation, sometimes the plays are not practiced but yet implemented in games (don't try this at the Jr. High level of coaching  - just saying).  We can't continue to do the same thing all of the time because we will continue to get the same result.  Our country's current state of education will continue if we do this.

As an administrator, let people in your building take chances, encourage others to do this, and recognize people who take risks.  Failure is feedback.  Allow teadchers to do this and get help from the students.  As Dylan Williams states, "Making mistakes  in learning is actually better than not making mistakes."  Your building will grow because the culture will be based on creative thinking and trying different methods for the benefit of students.  As teachers, allow the students to take the same type of chances.  Focus on student learning.  If that leads you to innovative practices, then take the chance and try new things.  The term "outside the box" should not exist in education. Create an environment where there is no box.

Coaching is not easy. I remember my coaching days when I would teach all day and then go to practice for an hour and a half after that.  I would come home drained.  I was teaching during the day and then teaching during our practices.  When you watch games on TV, you envision yourself coaching and say, "I can do that.  I would be good."  What you don't see are the number of things that come with a coaching position.  The education field is similar.  You need to do the behind the scene things to be a good administrator or teacher.  You need to coach with the mindset of staff and student growth.  Its work.  If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.  Use the steps above to be the coach your building and classrooom needs.