by admin on August 31, 2010
“A new professional (is) a person who not only is competent in his or her discipline but also has the skill and the will to resist (intuitional inertia) and help transform the institutional pathologies that threaten the profession’s highest standards.”
–Shuang Wang
Institutions resist change. Organizations resist change. Individuals resist change. It is hard to move past the battle cry of: “we have always done it this way and I don’t want to learn something new – what’s wrong with the old way?”
And yet, times change, people change, needs change, and professions change. Education is a profession that is always in the change process. However the people within the system find both frustration and comfort within the current school system. Are you on the comfort side or the frustration side? Do you resist change or are you part of the group wanting to banish sacred cows and dysfunctional norms and ways of doing business?
Teachers have straddled the professional fence. On one hand there is an expectation that classroom leaders be given more credit and authority to make decisions that impact the learning organization; and on the other, are unwilling to either police internal membership or step beyond the union walls of protection.
It is time to re-role the players in the education system from top to bottom. It is time to expect a new level of professionalism that moves systems beyond petty high school games of cliques and victims. It is time to define what a leader of learners is accountable for – be it in the classroom or within the adult community.
It is time to up level the game. It is time to truly shoulder the responsibility of developing prepared young citizens for the world they face.
Are you ready to up level the game?
Until next week… there are some new and exciting developments that I will be sharing in the coming weeks… Stay tuned!
LeeAnn
by admin on August 24, 2010
“We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results.”
– Herman Melville
One of the key components of a learning community is the collaboration. DuFour has identified the need for teachers to move from isolation to learning within the community of practitioners. Moving from theory to practice however requires both a skill set and leadership that moves the community members from past practices to new experiences.
Collaboration is an interesting word. The dictionary first states it is a process, and then goes on to define it as the act of working together. But what does it mean – the act or process of working together? For educators that have spent years in isolation, the act of working together can be a joke.
The emphasis for educators has been to focus test score results. Unskilled “collaborators” make it difficult for functional teams to develop. In one school from last year the staff was being divided by a teacher who constantly called the union on both the administration and other teachers because she wanted the principal removed. In many ways the staff was “cowed” by her behavior. The administration was frustrated by her inability to focus on the needs of students and by her constant drama within the adult community.
It seems obvious, but school districts must make collaboration or learning partnerships part of teacher’s evaluation. There must be training and skill development if learning partnerships and collaboration is to be successful.
School buildings that make collaboration and learning partnerships a priority are engaged in learning how to better meet the needs of students, parents and the community. The human element needs to be addressed or collaboration becomes co-blab-eration. The process becomes stuck and abandoned because there seems to be no benefit.
If you want support in developing learning partnerships, functional collaboration and developing the leadership for a learning community; call, let’s have a conversation.
LeeAnn
