Leadership: Why Every Teacher Should Be a Researcher

    The theme of this module in our course was teachers as researchers. While my previous entry was specifically about action research (AR), ultimately it is important for all teachers to think of their work in the classroom as research and to be intentional about using a framework and making decisions based on data.

Action research uses the following process:

Phase 1: Planning (Come up with a testable question, do some secondary research, design the process) 

Phase 2: Action (Complete the primary research and data collection cycles)

Phase 3: Analysis (What does the data show?)

Phase 4: Conclusion

and from phase 4 we can cycle back to phase 1. Ideally action research would be completed collaboratively (and there are other models we can consider, such as Collaborative Inquiry, which ultimately have a similar process and the end goal - to try new things and learn from it - is the same).

If we are not able to engage in formal AR (collaborative time is not always given, common goals may not be determined) then we should make a best effort to engage in this process on a smaller scale for our own educational practices. I can see this process being used in two ways. Many educators likely are doing this very informally, but we could all benefit (as would our students) from thinking about it in more depth and making sure to complete the process.

In our day to day teacher we are constantly assessing student learning, collecting data and making decisions based on that data. Often this process is based on intuition and anecdotal data that is not tracked. This does not make the  process wrong, but likely we could be making more efficient decisions to improve student learning by being more intentional. I see this process as:

1. Plan a lesson including intentional decisions for assessment for and/or as learning
2. Do the lesson and collect the data (it could be fully collected such as a simple exit ticket using Google Forms/Quizzes or it could be as simple as using a thumbs up/side/down survey where you jot down the counts)
3. Reflect on what the data tells you (record your reflections, especially if it informs something to do differently in the plan next time)
4. Make an informed decision about student learning and use it to inform the next cycle

By using the process more formally on an individual basis we making an effort to limit our biases (which we all have - and what makes them a bias is that we often don't recognize them).

On a larger scale, as educators we often have a goal for ourselves for a semester or school year. Sometimes this goal is more personal in nature (i.e. to improve work-life balance) and sometimes it is purely about student learning (i.e. to improve on giving descriptive feedback). Although this goal may not be a collaborative effort we can still engage in a more formal process to work through this goal. We are more likely to hold ourselves accountable and, I would guess, are more likely to succeed. The point in both the day-to-day example and this is the same: be intentional!

Plan (don't skip the research)

Collect the data

Reflect (write it down)

Make informed decisions

Where this can (and does) become difficult is that by not being collaborative we can remain stuck in our isolated classrooms. It becomes important to have conversations with others in the building about your work to keep away from that bubble and to seek feedback from others. If we all engage in work like this it will start to lead to some meaningful collaboration, or at least will allow us to support each other in individual endeavours!

Leadership: The Value of Action Research

    This section of our course looked at teachers as researchers and the importance of grounding our work in educational research. We actually had to consider a topic and to create an action research outline. This prompted me to tackle a topic that we talk a lot about but will require some pointed effort and time: critical thinking.

If we are going to spend valuable time trying to improve such a vital skill, then it is important for the strategies we choose to be based on research and to do the work across the subject areas. By involving teachers from across the building students will see this work happening in most (if not all) of their classes and will start to see how those skills transfer. The ultimate goal is to change mindsets/habits of mind of staff and students, which often comes after starting to see results.

It we are going to be teacher researchers then it is important to have a framework to use for our work. Action research provides a framework that forces us to consider a formal plan that involves specific actions, data collection, analysis and reflection. Without these steps we are not likely to make improvements in our practices and we will not know if our actions are likely to make a lasting impact on students and student learning.

Leadership: Leaving the Classroom

 For this entry for my AQ course we have been asked to consider whether we would potentially leave the classroom for a leadership role.

I have discussed this with a few people but I don't think it was overly public knowledge. My answer is yes. I actually was really considering going into the instructional coach (IC) role, I really hope this role makes a comeback in our board when everything settles down. For some reason this leadership role has always appealed to be more than becoming a curriculum leader (though this is something I have also considered).

I like this role because you get to engage with teachers and students from a group of schools and build relationships while helping the system innovate and move forward in education. My informal leadership within my schools has often been around leading by example through trying new assessment and instructional strategies and sharing those strategies with those around me. This is the nutshell of the instructional coach role - you work with teachers looking to try new things and help them navigate those changes.

I also appreciate that this type of role would allow me to build on my skills for working with adult learners. I have facilitated many workshops at this point but have not done much formal work with other teachers of the coaching nature. In the last couple of years I have also started to realize that there is another role I would like to end up in at some point, and the IC role would be good experience to prepare me for this. But that is another story for another day!

Leadership: Triangulating Assessment Data

 In the third module of our leadership course we are looking at pedagogical leadership and one of the sections focused on pedagogical documentation - specifically, triangulation!

If you have followed along with any of the themes of my writing on this blog over the years you will likely notice an evolution of my interest in student assessment & evaluation (heck, I took the A&E AQ course in 2013), so of course this topic stood out to me.

This is a topic that I have found many educators (including myself) have really struggled to effectively wrap their heads around. It is a topic that is easily overwhelming, but it is essentially for equitable assessment, evaluation and reporting and it is fundamental for pedagogical leadership. We can have great instructional strategies and presence, we can even be good at sharing those strategies, seeking feedback and reflecting on - but without connecting instruction with assessment (and realizing that they must go hand in hand) it is difficult to claim that we are accomplishing the ultimate goal as teachers. We must put students at the centre of our work and remember that to improve student learning we must be able to effectively assess student learning.

Triangulation informs all types of student learning. We should be using it to assess students for, as and of learning stages as well as to determine student grades at the reporting stages. By being able to collect information from our students in different ways we are better able to uncover what a student knows and understands and the depth to which they understand and can apply their learning. This is where using the achievement chart and evaluating student work using levels starts to make a lot more sense. Student achievement is found in depth, not in a number we can come up with because of "correct" answers given.

The most overwhelming part of this (that pedagogical leaders should first tackle for themselves - or at the very least be actively working on tackling) is how to do this in an effective way that does not result in an overload of data! We can't (and shouldn't) record every little observation and conversation (or even formative products for that matter) that we have with students, it would result in way too much data to use at the reporting stage. We should, however, use these opportunities to inform our instruction (identify groups of students needing help, or whole class intervention/changes in lesson plans needed), to give students descriptive feedback in conversations or during observations (depending on the age of students some of this can be recorded by the student even). And we must also be intentional about choosing observations and conversations (transparent to students) that will be included as opportunities to show assessment of learning and record that data for later use in reporting.

Leadership: Positive Professional Development Experience

 This entry comes after some learning about effective professional development facilitation in our Teacher Leadership course. Thomas R. Guskey discusses backward planning needed for this type of professional development to happen - and makes it quite obvious why so much PD tends to fail. The big take away from this article is to note that these 5 things need to happen when planning teacher learning:

1) Desired student learning outcomes - what specific outcomes do we want to see and what evidence best reflects these outcomes (the decision should be based on data)

2) New practices & policies to be implemented - determine practices based on evidence (actual research, with citations) that will result in the desired outcomes

3) Needed organizational support - ideally needing school leader support and school resources (release time, technology, instructional materials) as well as feedback for teachers as they implement new strategies

4) Educator knowledge and skills - what must educators know and be able to do to implement the practices/policies?

5) Optimal professional learning activities - the set of experiences that will allow 4 to happen

So where have I seen this in practice?

A few years ago the Instructional Coordinator for Assessment at our board created the Secondary Assessment Leadership Team. This was a team you could apply to and 1-2 candidates were selected from each school location. We participated in an assessment camp that happened in the summer over 2-3 days and then had full day PL release during the year as well as some evening PL sessions to attend. This was continuous learning over time geared at building leadership capacity in the board in assessment with the goal of improving student learning. Here is how each of the 5 planning items were addressed:

1. We wanted to see student learning improve through changing assessment practices in the secondary portion of the board to better align with Ontario policy. This shift should see assessment & evaluation provide students with more varied opportunities to show their learning, get descriptive feedback and have a more transparent assessment experience in school. By doing this we believed that we would see improvements in student wellness and academic achievement. I don't know if the central data collecting for these goals happened. It may have happened on a school by school basis through student surveys and monitoring grades and final evaluation results.
   
   
2. Our work was all grounded in research. The learning of the SALT team used thoughtfully chosen resources over a period of time. For example, one year our work was focused around "Developing Assessment-Capable Visible Learners" by Nancy Frey, John Hattie and Douglas Fisher. We also had board developed smaller resources created by teachers based on research that as SALT leaders we could use with our school staff.
   
   
3. I have partially addressed this above - you can see clearly that we had board level support and resources (time release, reading materials) - and this support extended to the school level (at most locations). Principals were briefed about the work of the SALT team via a video conference and (ideally) the SALT lead was with the principal at the time. Release time was provided for school teams and principals could use the school discretionary release days for this purpose as well. SALT leads were expected to plan professional learning for their locations and this often occurred during provincial PA days, staff meetings and early-release days. Feedback for teachers would have been more dependent on how each location planned.
   
   
4. Our first year with the SALT team focused on improving final evaluations. Much of the practice was grounded only in the use of products and exams were still common-place in many locations. The Secondary Assessment Steering Committee felt that addressing final evaluations was an important starting point with the most impact as it would help steer more teachers toward changing practices in other places. We use our Final Evaluations checklist a lot that year and addressed teacher knowledge around Growing Success, equity, triangulation and analyzing final evaluations next to the overall expectations of a given course.
   
   
5. The SALT team sessions were set up to have us look at part of the resource we were focused on that year and also evolved to include leadership and facilitation skills (including planning for PL). It always included time to work on our planning while sharing and getting feedback from fellow group members. We often used reflective time to debrief on things we had tried since the last meeting so that we could adjust, learn new things and plan for the next leadership opportunity.

I had never really thought about these explicit steps for planning professional learning/development in the past, but I will definitely refer back to this learning for my future facilitation opportunities!

Leadership: Inspired to Learn!

    This entry is for my Teacher Leadership course and we were asked to take any topic from the module that resonated with us and describe it along with "its importance to being a pedagogical leader."

One of the candidates in the course has inspired my own learning when they created their AQ course outline titled "Nurturing Learners in the Classroom." The purpose of the course is to learn more about:

• Science of learning
• Factors contributing to student learning
• Myths in learning
• Executive functioning
• Content retention
• Educational system models
• Teaching students about the brain and growth mindset

The above topics are all ones that I have explored (or at least asked about) in the past and these ideas have sparked me to want to start to dive a little deeper into one or more of them again.

Too often we think of teaching and pedagogy as being based on the topic we are teaching. Too often we make it through our B.Ed programs and still do not really know how people learn or what is required to build classroom cultures and school systems that are actually equitable. It is actually vital to being a good teacher to understand how humans learn (and how this is different depending on developmental age) and to analyze and reflect on our own teaching using this lens.

If you are going to be a pedagogical leader (which can be thought of as "supporting teaching and learning. It includes instructional leadership—supporting classroom teachers in their key role of implementing curriculum" according to Michael B. Abel) then it should be considered essential to understand the science of learning and how we can best take advantage of what we know about the human brain to be effective educators and to lead others into using these best practices.

Thank you, Rachel, for inspiring me to further my learning and return to parts of education that reignite my flame!

Leadership: 10 Admired Leadership Qualities

    I am currently completing my Teacher Leadership Specialist AQ and it has brought be back to blogging. I am hoping that it will serve to help me build some momentum and bring life back into this blog after some time away. So bare with me a little while I get my writing legs back under me!

Leadership is a complicated thing, and as teachers we are often informal leaders among colleagues and friends. Here are 10 leadership qualities I admire in others and am striving to make qualities that I see in myself:

1. Build relationships!
   My outgoing department head is very good at making this a priority in his leadership. He always remembers to ask how things are going before he dives into the work and our department meetings always put an emphasis on getting to know each other before sharing information or diving into the learning. This is something I always have the intention of doing, but my outcome-focused personality tends to take over - so it is a work in progress!
   
   
2. Be a conversational wizard!
   My former principal was fascinating to watch. She could take a conversation likely to get heated and turn it into a calm moment that resulted in a plan of action. I am still not entirely sure how she did it but the foundation of her approach was to allow each person involved to be heard and she was firm. I only wish I had more opportunities to observe more carefully before she retired.
   
   
3. Have a clear vision but build it collaboratively!
   Shared visions are always a lot more effective and motivating for the people that you lead. Having a voice in a conversation always makes me more inclined to buy-in and I see the value in making sure others get this opportunity. Some circumstances may make this more difficult (i.e. when change is needed but routine is firmly grounded) so when the vision may not be shared it is important to find other ways to allow voices to be heard, the vision to be clearly communicated and for the vision to evolve as change begins to happen and collaboration is becoming more common.
   
   
4. Always ground the work in student achievement and well-being!
   My former principal always used to say "the students are our clients - it's not about you." It is human nature to feel ownership over what we do in our lives, but it is so important to step outside of that nature and realize that we are not perfect and many of us have experienced a lot of privilege in our lives (so it is even more important to reflect, listen and avoid becoming defensive). Our classrooms should be student-centred and so should our leadership work.
   
   
5. Lead by example - take risks!
   It is vital to practice what you preach. As teacher leaders we should be an example of what we want to see. This is why I feel it is important to continue to work on effective assessment & evaluation practices grounded in policy and to be innovative and reflective about classroom practices.
   
   
6. Be vulnerable!
   This is connected to #5 - to lead by example you also need to share practices and learning with others. Being reflective in a public way allows others to see that you are fallible and that in being innovative there will always be failings but persistence ultimately pays off.
   
   
7. Seek feedback!
   Part of being fallible is realizing that there is always room for improvement and being proactive to ask for feedback from others. This is another aspect of leading by example and being vulnerable but it important to recognize on its own. All of the best leaders I have had were ones who found ways to seek feedback from students and colleagues.
   
   
8. Have courageous conversations!
   Change is not created by shying away from what might be difficult. I have learned that allowing these conversations to stay away from "getting personal" involves careful listening in combination with bringing a "third point" to the conversation. This is usually in the form of a resource that is impartial so that it can be referred to when the conversation needs to be grounded.
   
   
9. Empower others to lead!
   My outgoing department head's expertise was not in my subject area, so he was very good at asking us to lead professional learning for our group when we had something to offer. He knew that it would be more valuable and meaningful coming from a colleague than coming from him. By helping others around us develop leadership skills we become stronger leaders ourselves.
   
   
10. Be knowledgeable!
    It is pretty difficult to create buy-in when you don't have the vital knowledge to support it. Knowledge of best practices including instructional & assessment practices, knowledge of policy (curriculum, Growing Success as well as board and school policy) and knowledge of school & department protocol/processes (where to find things, who are the resources in the school). Leadership is not likely to be respected if the people being lead have more knowledge (a leader can still need to learn, it helps to be open about that learning but needs to be acted upon in a timely fashion).

At this point I feel pretty comfortable with myself for #4, 5, 6 and 10 and that given some more formal opportunity to lead that I am getting more comfortable with #3, 7 and 9. I am continuing to work in the short term on #1, 2 and 8.