Stories from the Field
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We WILL Be a Team!
I was very excited about my new school assignment. I was coming from a strong central office and staff development background so I was eager to “walk the talk” and put in place a strong professional development program for my staff. I soon realized that most of the staff had never attended a conference, curriculum development opportunity, or any professional development except for an occasional district-sponsored mandatory inservice or a random “sit and get” motivational session. There was little concept of standards-based professional development where the content of the session was tied to desired student outcomes based on thorough analysis of student data in the job setting.
It was also disconcerting that there was very little money for the vision of an expanded professional development program at the school. One of the first tasks was to get money by writing grants. The staff was supportive in providing their ideas and assisting with writing for several grants that first year. All the while, I was exhorting them to reach out and seek opportunities they would like to attend in keeping with our newly resurrected school mission. I was continually on the prowl myself for professional development opportunities that would enhance our instructional program. I frequently put materials in their mailboxes suggesting various opportunities. No one bit! No one wanted to go anywhere, learn anything new or do anything much differently. To compound the problem, miserable conflicts with each other began to emerge after the polite “welcome the new principal” period. It seemed as if I mediated more adult-to-adult interactions than student interactions those first few months.
I finally had the infamous staff meeting where I passionately told them that enough was enough. I told them that our job was hard enough without squabbling with each other. I told them that we had to have each other’s backs and that we had to become a team. I told them that furthermore, no one had taken up the challenge to request to attend any professional development opportunity. I told them that I couldn’t bear to work in a stagnant environment with no risk-taking and no growth and where people didn’t work together. I asked them how could we expect our students to buy into a culture of being leaders and learners if we ourselves were not willing to do so. I ended my rampage with the pronouncement, “WE WILL BE A TEAM!”
I had previously requested that we send a team to a conference being hosted by a neighboring district entitled “Building the Leadership Team.” Within a few days of the infamous staff meeting, about six teachers put in their requests to attend the team-building session with me on a Friday evening and Saturday morning! I remember one of the speakers at the conference was Rick Dufour who has written several books on leadership including, The Principal as the Principal Staff Developer. As he spoke, the teachers on either side of me would jab me occasionally and say, “That’s what you said!”
In addition to being a wonderful two days of teambuilding with my colleagues, the teachers were enthusiastic and eager to share with their colleagues back at school. It was the beginning of many more meaningful professional development opportunities together and more important risk-taking and innovations on behalf of our students. Teachers were selective about the opportunities they attended. They brought many new ideas to our school. One of the caveats of attending a professional development activity was that they had to come back and present their materials to the rest of us at a staff meeting or at our summer retreat. The best professional development sessions we had were ultimately the teacher-led sessions about our work, at our school, that would affect our kids. Way to go, TEAM!
See Sticky Issues for a follow-up to this story.
