Our Mentor Center principal, Jessica Johnson, provides her first entry:
Throughout my first year as an elementary principal, I spent much time observing and learning about the school, its culture, and its history, and changing the things I could not live with. I worked hard with staff throughout the year in staff meetings and leadership team meetings to begin change processes to implement this school year. I thought my second year as principal would get easier, but now that I know how much work has to be done, it seems I’m working even harder than before. I still have hope that the third year will get easier.
Some changes at our school this year include: beginning stages of response to intervention and positive behavioral interventions and supports, school celebration assemblies, having the secretary manage my schedule and sort my mail, and meeting with each teacher to discuss his or her professional goals to tailor my classroom walkthrough feedback to individual goals. One other major change is providing biweekly substitute coverage (using ARRA stimulus funds) to allow grade levels to meet for collaboration during the school day. I have provided teachers with a meeting protocol to follow and take notes on that follows Dufour’s guiding questions for a professional learning community. I have found that some grade levels truly collaborate and accomplish great things together; however, other grade levels do not stay student focused or data-driven and revert back to venting or chatting if I’m not there to keep them on track.
I’m hoping administrators can offer some strategies or resources to help build the collaboration among grade levels so they are focused on student learning as a team, even when I’m not there in the meeting to monitor. I appreciate your input and hope that everyone is off to a great new school year!
re: Building a Culture of Collaboration
Hello Jessica,
What may be helpful in building a collaborative culture is helping the staff become acquainted with, and then consistently employing, the 7 Norms of Collaboration which are detailed in a book entitled The Adaptive School by Garmston and Wells. I have recently worked with some schools (including my own) on employing the norms and it's made a big difference culturally. One example is using the norm of "presuming positive intentions." When you make such positive suppositions about people, even ones you may have difficulty with, you find yourself much more open to their ideas and ways of approaching issues.
The seven norms include norms for excellent listening: pausing, paraphrasing, probing; as well as pursuing a balance of advocacy and inquiry (although in their latest edition of their book the wording on this is different;)presuming positive intentions; paying attention to self and others(this one is extremely helpful in guiding group dynamics in that it helps people see the impact they are having on others i.e. people who tend to present their ideas very forcefully;)and putting ideas on and off the table. There are rating scales for groups and individuals to regularly rate their adherence to the norms which is helpful when encouraging staff to work in a collegial manner as you say..."whether you are in the building or not."
Best wishes in your 3rd year, Jessica! Kathleen