My Reflections.
I found these pages to be invigorating and really spoke to me as a learner and leader. We are have spoken often about the statement " Because almost everything in education works!" and I think we all agree our desire is to have an impact on our students that doesn't just work but excels.
Working out what needs to be let go and what has the desired impact is a challenge I have daily. I feel like it is a constant battle to block out the external noise and focus on data.Data we gather in our daily discussion with staff and students to ensure we clearly know 'Where we are going?', 'Where we are now?' and our 'What Next?'
When I read the section on page 20 about the difference between behavioural change and structural change, I couldn't help but reflect on myself as a learner but also the challenges all leaders have when trying to change behaviour. It is difficult because we have to challenge and change others 'Theory of Action. The second point that spoke about past experience was interesting because I notice this with the two prac students who are currently in Year 6. The conversations around what makes an impact is constantly occurring and helps me as much as them. I have often thought we teach as we learnt at school and I feel this section summarised my thoughts.
The 3 questions stated before are an easy way forward and definitely doable. I think I will start the journey this week and use the 'Tool for Capturing Data' for Years 3-8 in my room this week. I hope to bring the results to the meeting so we can use it as part of our discussion.
For me personally I really like the : What?, So What?, Now What? protocol and think this would be a great one to use to drive our module meetings as it would ensure they do not just become a 'doing' session but remain focussed on the learning.
I look forward to discussing this section at our meeting on Monday.
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Chapter 3 delves deeper in the difference between the 'Bypass' and 'Engage' approaches and also reinforces the need to reduc... -
The first chapter focuses heavily on reducing change to increase improvement. The most interesting point I took out of th...
Leanda
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the depth you have gone into in your post. The words that jumped out at me at the beginning of the chapter were "stay small and stay focused" and that "everything in education is designed to pull me away from the learning of children". As a teacher I can sometimes find myself getting bogged down with things that really don't have any positive impact on me as a teacher, or me as a learning. The main lesson for my was to remind myself to stay focused on what will positively impact my students learning and the best way to improve as a teacher.
The second part the text spoke about was on the three key questions. This was a very interesting read. I intend to focus my attention on the third point "what's next" as I feel this is my area for improvement as a teacher. The sample theory of action on page 24 and the competing theories of action on page 25 are interesting reads and imbed the ideas we discussed in term 1. As a visual learning I would like to see and would benefit from seeing the the structured protocol "critical Friends" in action. This would allow me to fully understand the concepts that are being discussed.
Great comments Leanda, I am very interested to see how the tool for capturing data starts this week and what it leads to.
ReplyDeleteI liked how the suggestion was made to put our answer to 'where we are going' into a tweet. What would we say? It would also be interesting to revise with all of the staff where they think we are now before we use the tools to capture evidence of student learning. Would what we think is happening match up with our results?
I agree with you Jen "What's next" is our challenge as leaders because it needs to be less about we as the leadership team decide but more of a collaborative drive from all stakeholders. This 'what's next' includes my favourite of 'what we will drop' in order move forward. Perhaps Protocol C 'Let it Go' could be a valuable experience for us to embark when we look at our plans for 2020?
Jenny I feel as though you read my mind. I had similar questions as I was reading this section on protocols. I too learn better when I see a strategy in practice. I particularly resonated with the section on 'Where are we Going?' where it spoke about the 3Es. Equity, Engagement and Excellence. While I believe that we aim to do this, the reality in the busyness of the day to day classroom, to make accommodations in all areas, particularly for our most vulnerable can be exhausting. As a Diversity Leader I would like to be able to better support teachers in this area.
ReplyDeleteWhile I like the idea of the surveys for students, to collect data on their learning and how the teacher supports this, I feel that for younger students the language needs to be more age appropriate. Jenny B & I recently completed one with our EMU students and their response for every question was the same. It didn't really give us any valuable data. I believe that some of the exit strategies being used by Stage 3 are much more affective in collecting data. I do think that the survey for teachers on p197 would give much better data (if answered honestly) as to where the teachers need to direct/redirect their energies.
Interesting thinking everyone
ReplyDeleteI agree with Leanda in that I found this chapter really relevant and really spoke to me and I found myself continually reflecting on how we are travelling as a school in terms of clarity and focus. Event in the first paragraph we are challenged with answering what we are not going to spend our teams and organisations time, energy and effect on.
You have all commented on the importance of the 3 questions in their various forms.
Leanda also articulated how the most effective change is behavioural change and how difficult this is for us and others when we feel commited to a particular way. Again I believe that discussing ToA would assist as it is about beliefs and not structures or strategies. I would love our staff to try the survey with their children and I am curious to see how aligned these questions are in the TTFM data. I do agree with Elly's comment in that the children may not know what to say as the quality of their responses directed relates to how often we use this language with them on a daily basis. I would be interested in the results Leanda.
Good clarification of the three protocols.
Lastly
Literally everything that crossed my mind whilst reading this chapter has already been mentioned by all of you, which is great to see that we are all on the same page.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, when I first started at St Patricks, I was left a folder with about 9 questions that were beautifully printed and laminated on coloured card and was advised to display them in my room for the students. The 3 questions that were explained in the text were part of those 9 questions (with the we being an I), and like others I displayed them in my room for the students to use to question and guide their learning. Its funny that it wasn't until now (after reading the chapter) that I truly understood the impact those 3 questions have, and how I wished I had taken the time to truly incorporate those key questions in the classroom to assist students in taking ownership of their learning, especially when asking "Where to next?".
I too liked how the suggestion was made to put our answer to 'where we are going' into a tweet with limited characters. I would be very interested to see what the staff responded and to see if we are on the same paths. It would also be interesting to compare the responses to the data collected and evidence of student learning to evaluate as a staff whether student outcomes matched where we thought we were going. Like Jenny. B stated, that question of "what's next" is going to be our challenge as leaders, because realistically that it a hard question for most people to gather an answer regardless of their position.