Just over a week ago, I sat with two
elementary school teachers all day on a Saturday and half a day on Sunday as we
worked on an action plan to revamp the culture of their current school. The
work was hard. It was emotional work, visceral and exhausting. Change is not
just difficult, sometimes it darn near impossible. They knew it wouldn’t be
easy, but they were ready.
These were two very passionate and creative
teachers who, even if they had to go it alone, were focused on seeing some
changes. They were tired of their students facing, sometimes daily, negative
reinforcement. They shared how their school uses a digital tool that flashes a
giant red circle across the screen to indicate that the child has failed an
assessment. They frustratingly brainstormed how to create ways to showcase what
their students were doing well to counteract the struggles they faced with
language acquisition and skill building.
They wanted to do something about the blank,
white walls of the school. There were few, if any bulletin boards. The kids
were measured mostly on their performance on assessments. Their opportunity to
share and celebrate their other abilities, the ones that can’t be measured by
an online assessment, were few and far between.
There are over twenty different languages
being spoken at this particular school. There is a high refugee population, and
many, if not all of the students, live in impoverished conditions. According to
the National Association of School Psychologists, “These students bring their
unique individual cultures and backgrounds while bearing some of the challenges
and stresses of the refugee experience”. This is a school that housed many
levels of trauma, and somehow, someone thought that blank white walls, stern
rules, and flashing red dots were going to be effective methods of encouraging
these children to succeed. The teachers I spent the weekend with disagreed.
Saturday started, as many think tank sessions
do, with us just throwing a million ideas against the wall. There were laughs,
stories, tears, outbursts. The emotional roller coaster had three large drops
and five triple loops. You see, I was not there because I was from their school
or even their state--I was serving as their Critical Friend. My role was to
provide objective feedback, collaborate with them, ask tough questions, urge
them to focus on an action plan that was realistic and viable. When our day
started with breakfast and introductions, my teammates were friendly and
excited. Heads held high, smiles on faces, they were ready to tackle the
impossible. They knew it wouldn’t be easy, but they were ready.
By lunchtime, shoulders were hunched, tears
had been shed, and defeat was mounting. They may as well have had a giant red
circle flashing before them. However, we still had a long ride until we would
get off the roller coaster. Not only was there no action plan, they still
needed to uncover the root of the issue that they were trying to solve. As much
as they would have liked to pull the plug on the assessment software with the
evil red dots, that wasn’t their decision to make. They needed to refocus and
think of how they could return home with a way to change the culture of the
school and the mindsets of the educators within.
It took a few hours, but finally it surfaced.
They figured out what they could do to make a small, but meaningful shift in
the existing culture that would ultimately give their students an environment
that they could not only feel safe in but proud of. They needed to be the
catalysts for shaping their school into a place of visible learning.
Easy enough, right? Not so much. Honestly, it
probably would have been easier to change the assessment model than people’s
ways of thinking. They knew it wouldn’t be easy, but they were ready.
A plan emerged thanks to the coaching, tools
and support of Teach to Lead, Teach Plus, and ASCD, as well as those serving as
critical friends and of course, the work of these dedicated educators. My new
friends returned to their home state on Sunday, ready to introduce their plan
to their school on Monday morning. Will it work? Maybe, maybe not, but I
applaud them for taking the leap. They were not going to sit back any longer and
watch students get caught in the cross-fire of negative culture and poor
decision making. They came to San Jose to not only form a plan, but I believe,
to sharpen their voices and find their inner advocates.
The kids at their school are lucky to have
them and hopefully, the kids will begin to see their potential and embrace
their ability to learn one decorated wall at a time. They have warriors on
their side--teachers who are willing to sacrifice their time, money, and much
more, to show them that they are smart, and capable, and loved. Just in case
you forgot, that’s what great teachers do.
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