Campus Innovation

As part of my work for my graduate program at the University of Texas, I was tasked to do a Participatory Action Research project.  My project this year was to try and create an environment for ongoing professional learning on campus.  To do this, my principal Kelly Mullin and I created an Innovation Challenge to pose to our teachers.  This last week, our teachers had the opportunity to share which each other what they had learned throughout the school year.

To give you some context, what we sought out to do was to intentionally give the teachers time for self directed professional learning throughout the school year.  Once a week, we asked our teachers to put their planning on hold spend 45 minutes of their planning time on professional learning.  The teachers could pick a topic in an area that interested them, and on a topic that would help them become more effective teachers.  We also challenged the teachers to be innovative and connect their learning to the 6 C's of 21st Century Learning: Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking, Creativity, Cooperation, and Caring.  Teachers were also asked to complete two peer observations a month where they observed another teacher on campus to get new ideas. 

Last Friday was so exciting because we were able to see how the Innovation Challenge impacted the instruction on campus.  It was fun to see our teachers gathered around tables in our University Classroom on campus sharing their ideas from using Pinterest to supplement literacy interventions to Project Based Learning in Math.  Teachers started posting to their blogs like this one. http://blogs.utexas.edu/utes_socialstudies/

As we started this project, I was afraid that the teachers were not going to catch the vision and make the Innovation Challenge meaningful.  It is hard to find time as a teacher to dedicate to your own professional learning.  I saw that challenge.  Our teachers have many demands on their time.  I could see though the difference it made in the ones that put the effort to finding new ways to improve their instruction.  There was a different feel in their classrooms toward the end of the year than there was in the beginning.  I was very pleased and excited to hear how they began to crave time to collaborate with their colleagues.  This process has helped me become a believer in the power of self directed professional learning.  Thank you UT Elementary teachers and staff for making this such a humbling experience for me.

What does the Dad say?

A couple of days ago, my 4 year old son was coming up with a song (like he is known to do).  This day the tune was a spin off of What does the Fox Say.  He decided to substitute the word fox for the different members of the family.  He started with the baby and said "waaa", then himself saying "I love Star Wars", then to his mother who apparently says, "clean up you toys".  When he got to what does the dad say it was, "I'm too busy."  When I heard this I felt crushed.  I feel like I work hard to make him and my family a priority in my life.  I can see though where I get caught up in my own world at times. 

One of our professors in the UT Principalship Program, Dr. Nelson Coulter, started his class with us by having us write out the 4 most important things that we want people to remember from our lives.  He then told us to make sure those were front and center in everything we do.  (For more of this teaching, see Dr. Coulter's blog post http://www.nelsonwcoulter.com/2014/04/cluttered.html?spref=fb)  As I have worked throughout my first year as an Assistant Principal and in my final year of my Master's program, I think I have let that get away from me at times.  I am grateful to my 4 year old son for the subtle yet powerful reminder that no other success in life can compensate for failure in the home.

Teachers, as you look to teach like a superhero, make a list of the things that matter most, those things for which you would like to be remembered as a teacher.  If your students were making a song about you, how would they finish the sentence, What does my teacher say?