Playing the Long Game

This year I am playing a long game when it comes to building partnerships with my colleagues and expanding design thinking pedagogy. I had an opportunity to offer a PD spark to the faculty at my school and chose to focus on the question of how might we shift how we think about what we do so that we are teaching the students in the room, so that we are acutely in tune with who they are?

We began with a brainstorm in AnswerGarden of the best possible outcomes of "group work". Here is the word cloud they created:

Next I asked my colleagues to turn and talk about the obstacles that interfere with students achieving those outcomes. When I asked them to share with the whole group, here is what they said:

• "they don't get along"
• "indifference"
• "they change topics rather than staying on one topic and delving into that"
• "they socialize"

At this point I invited my colleagues to go on a journey with a group of students. We watched a video of students engaged in group work. While watching, I asked my colleagues to look for instances of the positive outcomes being achieved, interference by any of the obstacles, and any unanticipated outcomes or occurrences. I explained that as the students in the video were working, things get a little heated. I promised to do my best to hit pause before the expletives started flying.

Thanks to Micah Shippee there is a clean version of this video with subtitles, so if you choose to use this with students you don't have to worry about the language.

Embedded here is the video version that I showed by colleagues. I stopped it at 1:38.

Now, full disclosure: I would have avoided all profanity if I had stopped at 1:37. I purposely used the explicit version and let it play until the first bleepable word before hitting pause. I did that for two reasons:

1. the dropping of the f-bomb is an indication of a change in tactic
2. it got a laugh from a room full of teachers who had just sat through an hour of blood-borne pathogens and other required training

After the video I asked if they agreed it was group work. They did. And we talked about all of the successful elements ( with evidence drawn from what they could see and hear) and how the obstacles emerged and, in some cases, were overcome. And then we wondered together about how to make our classrooms the kind of environments that promote that kind of collaboration. What we discussed is summarized in this slide:

The next day I surreptitiously delivered a small maker kit to each department's work room. Each kit had the same craft materials and one piece of a little bit. They looked like this:

 Each kit was accompanied by this note: 

 The Science department has already submitted their animal! When all submissions have been received, I will display them in Library with a sheet of paper listing the directions for the project, anyone passing through the library will be invited to post stickers on the sheet corresponding to their favorite animal or the one they think best represents the department that created it. They will be invited to write feedback on a post-it and leave it with the animal. Based on those votes, I will announce "the winner". That department will receive the "Leeroy Jenkins Collaboration Award" -- a costume warrior helmet.

They will be able to proudly display the helmet in their workroom for the rest of the month. While in possession of the helmet, they can decorate, adorn or build it out in anyway they see fit. At the start of next month, I will announce a new challenge. The winner of that challenge will be the new keeper of the helmet, and so on. My goal: together we learn to make, we have fun, we practice pedagogy, we take safe risks, we celebrate each other's creativity, and we build a culture of innovation. It is only Day 2 of this long game. Stay tuned for updates!

Outreach and Relationship Building

Full confession: I was worried about making this jump from the social studies classroom to the library. Let's face it, I had some obstacles to overcome:

1. I was certified in the Alternative Route to Certification in CT. Would people take my credentials seriously?
2. I taught social studies for 23 years. Would people trust my respect for and understanding of their non-social studies curricula and pedagogy?
3. This move is a professional challenge I seek voluntarily. Why do (some) people think I'm burning out and just looking for an easy coast through my last years before retirement?

OK. Question three is EASY to answer. Anyone who thinks I am coasting has no idea what a good library media specialist does, can do, or is willing to do. I aspire to be a great one!

Questions one and two are more complex, but they have a common thread: in this new role, how will I build relationships with people in various departments so they understand, trust, and call upon my capacity as a supportive co-teacher and resource? And, how do I manage this in the shadow of an incredibly accomplished, visionary librarian, with whom they are all acquainted and in whom they all trust?

Well, @mluhtala is not just accomplished and visionary she is collegial, professionally generous, and thoroughly respectful. I am not allowed in her shadow. I stand side-by-side with her, and that speaks volumes about her trust in me which transfers to the rest of our fellow faculty. In fact, when deciding on costumes for a spirit day at school, it was suggested that we be Peter Pan and his shadow. What a cool partner costume idea! And, you have to know that we look alike. A LOT a like. But Michelle said: no, period. We work as equals.

So, I have this tremendous partnership going for me. Now, how do I leave the library, meet colleagues, and encourage them to share their students and class time with me? How do I show -- not just tell them -- them that I can be a valuable partner? How do I advocate for myself and the value of the library in the important work they are doing with their students?

I started with book recommendations.

And my colleagues in the Science department.

The library is on the first floor. The science department is on the third floor. When were our paths ever going to cross? So I sent an email explaining that I wanted our students to know that the teachers read for pleasure. That seeing adults modeling this habit would increase their independent reading. I invited everyone in the department to share with me a favorite book -- fiction or non-fiction -- all they had to do was email me the title and author. When they sent me a recommendation, I took their picture and added it to a Google slide with a picture of the book cover. When I had about seven or eight recommendations compiled, I shared the slides with the department so they could see what the display would look like. Quickly, I had several other teachers send their suggestions.

For the month of October we have featured the science department's favorite books as a display near the entrance of the library. Some people chose what they are currently reading, one teacher recommended her favorite book from high school, another recommended an entire series! And these recommendations are being noticed! Students walk by the display on their way in and out of the library and say things like: "Oh, I have (teacher's name), what's that book?" or in conversation with a friend: "I read that, too! You would really like it."

So, to my science colleagues: thank you, thank you, thank you for helping to get students pleasure reading! And, thank you for entertaining my invitation, even if it felt a little funny to have a new Ms. Luhtala-look-alike take your picture when you weren't sure what I was going to do with it. Thank you for the opportunity to introduce myself to you and chat about books! Thank you for welcoming me to your department meeting and into classes to show students how to access great resources for science research. 

We are teachers and learners. Books are something we all have in common. What a great starting point; I hope this is the beginning of a long and fruitful collaboration!

Next month, we will feature the multi-lingual book recommendations of the World Language department. I sent out their invitation today.

Educators Eating Eggs

I wanted to call this post: Teachers Who Drive Jeeps Getting Coffee but went with the alliteration over the homage :)

This morning I met a former colleague, still friend, for breakfast. We had a fun conversation catching up on our summer ventures and how our families were doing now that the new school year is underway. Then we got down to business: how is it going at my new school?

I was honest with my friend, @monsmith359 . I told him that my first reaction was: I'm too old for this. I mean, honestly, starting all over, learning the names of 1300 students and 130 faculty members plus all of the staff, just for starters? On top of that, when school started I still wasn't really sure I am supposed to do. What is our protocol for buying resources? How do I catalog them? What do we do with weeded books? Let's be honest: I didn't even know how to check out a book to someone. And I knew there was more to my new role than these things I listed, I just didn't know where to start.

This was just SO different than any other start of school. When I taught Social Studies I ALWAYS knew what I was doing on the first day -- for the whole first week -- of school. I mean, really, I knew what each course I taught was all about, how it would evolve, what the end goals were. I didn't always do the same thing, but I knew how to plan for those classes, how to prioritize tasks, and how to get it all done. But now, I don't have a small classroom with 30 desks to arrange for a particular lesson. I don't have five discrete groups of students flowing through my room according to a bell schedule I have memorized and a rotation of periods I remember and particular and familiar curricula to implement. In my old role, those were the things I was forced to commit to memory quickly. Honestly, I don't yet know how the schedule rotates at my new school. Tomorrow is a Day F and you can see a snapshot of what I will be doing. Yellow indicates co-teaching in different classrooms or meetings in the library. Green indicates working in the MakerSpace. But without that snapshot, I still can't remember any of that.

The first week I was so exhausted that one night when my phone that was charging on the nightstand beeped at midnight, I reached for my alarm clock, turned it off, got in the shower, dressed for work including make up and product in my hair. I then went downstairs and emptied the dishwasher, fed the dogs, and started the coffee. Then, I turned to look at the clock on the stove which read 12:19. My reaction? OMG, we lost power?! Then I looked at my watch: 12:20. Oh No. It's the middle of the night. I tried not to cry as I walked back upstairs, got back in bed, and tried to go back to sleep.

It was such a relief when my department chair colleague said I was hired because I had a track record as an excellent teacher. Everything else I could learn.

Phew.

So last week I learned how to orient students (and myself) to Noodle Tools. I learned how to facilitate a book talk and build displays to promote books and increase circulation. I started to learn how to navigate Destiny as a library administrator. I learned who does book ordering and cataloging (not me) and who checks out books (also not me) and who re-shelves them all (you guessed it, not me). I am starting to learn the various platforms that combine to make our 24-7 digital presence and how to work within them. I am browsing through the stacks to learn the print collection and clicking through the databases to learn those, too. And I am learning the names, a little bit at a time.

Here are the skills I used that I already had: I facilitated a three-hour long professional learning session on SAMR. I monitored colleagues for technical overload and adjusted the conversation when we were co-planning a lesson and a unit. I answered student questions and admitted when I didn't know the answer. Then introduced those students to someone who did know and learned alongside them. I helped colleagues re-think their units by backwards designing from enduring understandings and essential questions. And I co-taught some classes helping to lay the foundation for student inquiry projects.

So back to my friend, Ed's, question: How's it going?

It's great. Really great. Every day I am learning something new -- sometimes out of necessity and sometimes just because the opportunity emerges. I feel valued and challenged and respected. I am having fun. What more can I ask of my new work-home?