One thing I remember Lucy telling us many years ago was that the difference between good schools and great schools is that the great schools do everything that good schools do, but they also have structures like study groups to keep ongoing professional conversation going. Here are a few ideas of ways to build community in your schools.
1. Start a study group around a book or professional articles about a certain topic. Lots of schools do this, but the part they miss out on is the link to actual classroom work. Make sure that there are takeaways. For example, if reading Pathways to the Common Core or a series of articles on conferring, make sure you create some sort of homework for the group to go back and try out and recap during your next visit. This is the only way to keep your group from turning into a passive retelling session of a text everyone has read.
2. Find ways to visit each other's classrooms. It can be during preps, or you can ask the principal to arrange for a floating sub one morning in which multiple visits can occur. Have a theme to your visit. Teach in front of each other. Don't worry about performing for each other, but crack open the problems you have around conferring, working with strugglers (or non-strugglers), or listening to students read to assess their level or some specific aspect of their reading. Become critical friends of each other. Devote time during faculty meetings to teaching in front of each other or sharing your ideas. All we have is each other.
3. Finally, find a way to "publish" and celebrate your best work with each other. Whether it's in a school newsletter you share with colleagues or on a theme-based bulletin board in which you post your best lessons, materials, charts, or your best anything, find a way to share what you do so that you can learn from each other.
These are three very broad ideas for building communities around learning. Let's share whether you've tried any, or if you have other ways to share.
The world around us in education makes it very easy for teachers to feel divided. Let's let our practice unite us and strengthen us. It will make a huge difference for all of us, and for other people's children entrusted to us!
1. Start a study group around a book or professional articles about a certain topic. Lots of schools do this, but the part they miss out on is the link to actual classroom work. Make sure that there are takeaways. For example, if reading Pathways to the Common Core or a series of articles on conferring, make sure you create some sort of homework for the group to go back and try out and recap during your next visit. This is the only way to keep your group from turning into a passive retelling session of a text everyone has read.
2. Find ways to visit each other's classrooms. It can be during preps, or you can ask the principal to arrange for a floating sub one morning in which multiple visits can occur. Have a theme to your visit. Teach in front of each other. Don't worry about performing for each other, but crack open the problems you have around conferring, working with strugglers (or non-strugglers), or listening to students read to assess their level or some specific aspect of their reading. Become critical friends of each other. Devote time during faculty meetings to teaching in front of each other or sharing your ideas. All we have is each other.
3. Finally, find a way to "publish" and celebrate your best work with each other. Whether it's in a school newsletter you share with colleagues or on a theme-based bulletin board in which you post your best lessons, materials, charts, or your best anything, find a way to share what you do so that you can learn from each other.
These are three very broad ideas for building communities around learning. Let's share whether you've tried any, or if you have other ways to share.
The world around us in education makes it very easy for teachers to feel divided. Let's let our practice unite us and strengthen us. It will make a huge difference for all of us, and for other people's children entrusted to us!
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