Entry #21: "If the work's worth doing,
it's worth sharing" with colleagues.
It was hard getting back into the swing of things at school. I was really
tired from the time change and travel. A few of my kids wanted to know if
I had fun and why I "always seem to be going places." One boy
said he wanted a job like mine because he's always wanted to travel.
It was pretty funny listening to the way the kids perceive what I do. I
usually ask them how I did on a lesson or try and check on the interactions
we have, but I've never really thought about how they define my job.
The notion of becoming a teacher to see the world is a novel one. I tried
to explain to the kids that while I really value the opportunity to attend
national meetings and network with teachers from all over the country that
my sightseeing on these trips is necessarily pretty minimal. I could tell
they didn't really buy it.
I knew they were boxed in by their view of travel, any travel, as glamorous.
I then switched over to a few remarks about the kinds of things we do at
national meetings. They weren't much interested in talking about our agenda,
but they were curious about whether other teachers at our school were involved
or not.
I mentioned the other teachers who are active in my Critical Friends Group
and other "extras" and tried to explain why we're involved. I
hope the part about trying to make schools better, by making ourselves better
teachers, sunk in for them.
On Wednesday I'm going to Chicago to participate on the planning team of
"Opening the Door: Teaching, Learning and Leading In the New Millennium".
As I prepare for the week, my students' questions have given me pause. I'm
feeling a need to continually check-in with my own practice to ensure that
my travel is directly linked to a deepening of my efforts in my classroom
and at my school.
My students aren't the only ones who raise their eyebrows about what can
be seen as "my" work. I'm always concerned about maintaining good
team relationships on staff, too.
My goal in my work at home or away is to keep the kids at the center and
not to build my individual portfolio or resume. I am resistant to suggestions
that I leave the classroom to take a job at the Cluster or District office.
But there is a need to regularly ask myself if I am neglecting my classes
or adding to my colleagues' burdens by being absent.
I think the key here is in the turnaround. If I don't return with lessons
which I explicitly share with my kids and colleagues, then I should not
go. I don't think there's a formula, like "x" days per month or
year, but rather a question of quality and accessibility.
Maybe in my quest "to make the work public" by keeping this diary
and writing on listservs etc. I've lost sight of the need to share with
my most immediate circle. I don't think it's enough to absorb the lessons
and apply them in my own planning. It's very easy to come back and just
struggle to regain my footing and sleep patterns and then before I know
it, the week is over.
Maybe when teachers ask, "did you have fun" or "was it a
good trip," I need to see their questions as openings to cut to the
heart of the work I was doing on the trip. Up to now, I've pretty much issued
a disclaimer about how it really was a working trip.
I did share last week's diary with my administrators, but now I think I'll
share it with the teachers who work in my community and a few others who
I think will be interested. I need to set aside my concern that others might
see me as being pushy, if I give them my diary. If the work's worth doing,
it's worth sharing. I guess it's time to open yet another door to my practice.
It will be interesting to see what the response is.
Building leadership capacity is critical
As I mentioned earlier, I'm going to Chicago on Wednesday. In terms of linking
this work to my school, I invited my principal to attend and send a team
from our school. He accepted and three people will be participating. Spreading
the word and the experience is key to our future success. I hope that the
conference has the effect of sparking more colleagues' interest in taking
part.
Building the leadership capacity of this work is critical. We have too few
faces at the table. Sometimes we get so hung up on getting the work at hand
done that we shortcut around the issue of continually fostering the next
layer of leadership.
This morning I'm going to a meeting about our efforts to get the local CES
( Coalition of Essential Schools) Center up and running. We are trying to
conduct a needs and resources assessment in order to plan our summer professional
development package. Everyone on the planning board is extremely busy and
our workloads will impact directly on what we can offer in the way of training
in the summer.
Here's the rub. Working to include more "resources" and people
means working closely with new folks. First we must identify them, then
we must support their initial efforts at facilitation. There's no quick
way to do this type of work.
People need to feel welcome, they need to feel safe, they need to be supported.
How do we do this? They look at the required workloads and don't see room
for their lives? How can we communicate our need for their voices and experience
without scaring them away? They look at what we do now and don't see all
our mis-steps or confusion along the way.
As we refine our own skills and expertise, how do we create a safe environment
for the new teachers to join us in the fray?
While I've linked these questions to the work of the Center, they are just
as critical to my school's progress or the work of the National School Reform
Faculty. Building new leadership cannot be tabled in any area of our work,
nor can it be left to chance.
If we are serious about the work, if we are serious about outreach and diversity,
we must focus on this component today and every day in all layers of this
process. We cannot afford to become comfortably overburdened in our present
configurations. We must consistently reach beyond today's leaders in search
of the next.
In "The
Hero's Journey" ( Brown & Moffett, 1999), they talk about the
recursive nature of our quest and how "we never really arrive at the
point of being a hero" or ending our quest. Perhaps the key is to always
keep that point in mind so we can continually refuel and regroup for the
long haul.
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