You're an Educator. What Can You Stop Doing This Year? (Opinion) | Big Indy News
Connect with us

Uncategorized

You’re an Educator. What Can You Stop Doing This Year? (Opinion)

Published

8 months ago

on

When people ask us how are jobs as teachers or leaders is going, how school is going, our go-to response is typically, “I’m busy,” or, “Things are busy,” or “It’s just really busy.” You get the idea, right? However, if you do a search online, you will find conflicting information about whether we are truly busier than we have been in the past.

For example, these articles from the Atlantic and BBC suggest we are not as busy (yes, they were published before the pandemic). This article from Psychology Today suggests that during the height of the pandemic, we were busier than ever because of Zoom meetings being scheduled to keep up with the changing nature of the pandemic, and this one from Canadian Business (also before the pandemic) says we are definitely busier than before.

Regardless of what the articles may say, many of us feel busier than we have been in the past, even if we are looking at the past before the pandemic with rose-colored glasses. What we really need to do is not get caught up in debating whether we are busy, but instead, we need to focus on making sure as we move forward to reduce or replace the actions, strategies, or initiatives that are no longer impactful.

A Focus on De-implementation
A few months ago, I published a book called De-implementation: Creating The Space to Focus on What Works (Corwin Press), and from the time I was researching the book to now as I write this post, I have engaged in workshops, coaching sessions, and one-on-one conversations with educators who are looking at engaging in actions in the new school year that are more impactful, at the same time they make space to spend more time at home with loved ones or friends.

De-implementation is the abandonment of low-value practices (van Bodegom-Vos L, et al.). What I suggest in the work I do around de-implementation is that there are two ways to look at the idea of abandonment.

One way to view abandonment is to partially cut back on something. This usually happens because we are required to do it, but we can pull back to meet our needs. The second way to view abandonment is to replace the action because it is just not working for us.

Additionally, to scale down or replace can be slightly complicated, so I am suggesting that there are two methods of de-implementation. One is an informal reduction or replacement, for which we don’t need a team to make the decision and can begin today or tomorrow. The second method is a formal replacement or reduction for which we do need a team and to engage in a process that will take time and some effort.

I have had the opportunity since last year to survey more than a few thousand educators, which includes teachers, leaders, school psychologists, and many others, and I decided to look at the top areas that they would like to partially pare down or replace. The following are the examples of reduction or replacement that came up the most. A few of these are also covered in my book on the topic.

As always with a list, something you would replace or scale back may not be on my list, so connect with me on social media to let me know where you would begin the process.

Partially Cutting Back

Email – This example comes up all the time, and I focused on it in the book as well. People need to set boundaries over when and how often they check email.

Meetings – Just like in a few of the articles above, we seem to find ourselves in meetings for meetings’ sake. It’s time to reduce the number of meetings and make sure we start those meetings by developing success criteria. Here’s a YouTube video that helps describe what that might look like.

Assessments – Teachers have consistently told me that they will reduce the number of assessments they give to their students because they don’t always have time to grade them or learn from those assessments anyway. They want to give fewer assessments so they can build in more time to learn from student responses.

The time spent after school – Many teachers have said that they would like to spend less time in their classrooms after school. Teachers shouldn’t feel that they have to spend countless hours after school, unless of course, they want to or are engaging in deeply meaningful actions while they are there.

Fewer walk-throughs – This has been a huge topic of interest. Walk-throughs can be impactful if we engage in them correctly (check out this YouTube video on the topic). Unfortunately, whether it’s due to a directive or a lack of knowledge of the purpose of walk-throughs, some leaders are doing them just to say they do them. Leaders are reducing the number of walk-throughs so they can be more purposeful with their approach.

What Educators Are Replacing

Zero-tolerance policies – School districts are moving away from zero-tolerance policies that can be harmful and discriminatory and moving toward more equitable approaches such as restorative justice. This would be under the umbrella of formal de-implementation because it takes time.

Traditional grading – As another example of a formal de-implementation due to the time it takes to do it right, schools are replacing traditional grading with standards-based grading.

Traditional meetings – Educators responded on surveys that they are replacing agenda-driven meetings with more of a flipped process in which they can learn from one another around a challenge they are facing in their school or district. The collective leader efficacy process can help with the goal of having more purposeful meetings.

Time in their office – There has always been a struggle for leaders when it comes to leaving their offices. The balance between engaging in management actions as opposed to instructional leadership is often a complicated journey. Leaders, instructional coaches, and teachers on special assignments are scheduling time in their calendars to get into classrooms and learn from students.

In the End
Partially scaling down on or replacing something requires a cultural shift. Regardless of how busy we feel, people do not like to reduce or replace. In fact, in 100 percent of Mentimeter results from workshops and keynotes, educators were more likely to choose to pull back on or replace something they felt was being forced on them, like a district initiative, rather than something they were doing in their own practices that they like even though it might not be working.

The following questions are meant to help with that culture shift. When at PLC, department, building, or district meetings, consider asking the following questions when considering new actions or initiatives.

  • How is this new action going to be more impactful than what we are currently doing?
  • If we engage in this new initiative or program, what is an initiative or program we can take off our plate?



Read the full article here

Related Topics:
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Uncategorized

Adnan Syed of ‘Serial,’ Newly Freed, Is Hired by Georgetown University

Published

3 months ago

on

December 23, 2022

By

Adnan Syed, who was freed in September after he spent 23 years in prison fighting a murder conviction that was chronicled in the hit podcast “Serial,” has been hired by Georgetown University as an associate for an organization whose work mirrors the efforts that led to his release, the university has announced.

Mr. Syed, the subject of the 2014 podcast and pop-culture sensation that raised questions about whether he had received a fair trial after being convicted of strangling his high school classmate and onetime girlfriend Hae Min Lee in 1999, will work for Georgetown’s Prisons and Justice Initiative.

Mr. Syed, who was 17 at the time of Ms. Lee’s death in Baltimore, has steadfastly maintained his innocence.

The university said that Mr. Syed, now 41, will help support programs at the organization, such as a class in which students reinvestigate wrongful convictions and seek to “bring innocent people home” by creating short documentaries about their findings. The program, founded in 2016, “brings together leading scholars, practitioners, students and those affected by the criminal justice system to tackle the problem of mass incarceration,” according to its website.

Georgetown University, which is in Washington, said that in the year leading up to his release, Mr. Syed was enrolled in the university’s bachelor of liberal arts program at the Maryland prison where he was incarcerated.

“To go from prison to being a Georgetown student and then to actually be on campus on a pathway to work for Georgetown at the Prisons and Justice Initiative, it’s a full circle moment,” Mr. Syed said in a statement. “P.J.I. changed my life. It changed my family’s life. Hopefully I can have the same kind of impact on others.”

He added that he hoped to continue his education at Georgetown and go to law school.

The new job this month culminated what has been a remarkable year for Mr. Syed, whose case has again received widespread public attention after a flurry of recent legal activity.

In September, Mr. Syed was released from prison after a judge overturned his murder conviction. Prosecutors said at the time that an investigation had uncovered various problems related to his case, including the potential involvement of two suspects and key evidence that prosecutors might have failed to provide to Mr. Syed’s lawyers.

In October, prosecutors in Baltimore dropped the charges against Mr. Syed after DNA testing on items that had never been fully examined proved Mr. Syed’s innocence, officials said.

Ms. Lee’s family filed an appeal with the Maryland Court of Special Appeals after prosecutors dropped the charges.

On Nov. 4, the court said in an order that the appeal could be heard in court in February.

Marc Howard, the director of the Prisons and Justice Initiative, said in a statement that Mr. Syed’s “commitment to the program and to his education was clear from the moment he stepped into the classroom.”

He added that Mr. Syed “is one of the most resilient and inspiring people I’ve ever met, and he has so much to offer our team and the other students in P.J.I. programs.”

In a Georgetown University article about the hiring, Mr. Syed said that he was in disbelief when he first saw a flier for the program.

“It became this domino effect to see us be accepted,” he said. “It made it become something real in the eyes of others, that there are opportunities. There can be a sense of hope: a sense of hope that things can get better, a sense of hope that I can work hard and still achieve something, a sense of hope that I can still do something that my family will be proud of.”

His attachment to the school was evident on Sept. 19, when he walked out of prison for the first time since he was a teenager.

Amid a throng of reporters and his supporters, Mr. Syed walked down the courthouse steps in Baltimore, smiling. He gave a wave.

And in his hand, he carried a binder with a Georgetown sticker. His graded papers and tests were inside.

Read the full article here

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

At Berkeley Law, a Debate Over Zionism, Free Speech and Campus Ideals

Published

3 months ago

on

December 21, 2022

By

“Supporting Palestinian liberation does not mean opposition to Jewish people or the Jewish religion,” the group said in a statement to the Berkeley law community. Members of the group did not respond to messages seeking an interview.

After learning about the bylaw, Mr. Chemerinsky met with the university’s Hillel rabbi and spoke with several Jewish students, but, aside from concerns within the law school, the reaction was relatively muted, he said.

That changed, he said, after Kenneth L. Marcus, the civil rights chief of the U.S. Education Department during the Trump administration, wrote about the bylaw in September in The Jewish Journal under the explosive headline “Berkeley Develops Jewish Free Zones.”

Mr. Marcus wrote that the bylaw was “frightening and unexpected, like a bang on the door in the night,” and said that free speech does not protect discriminatory conduct.

The article went viral.

Mr. Chemerinsky said he learned about Mr. Marcus’s article, which he described as “inflammatory and distorted,” while he was in Los Angeles for a conference. Mr. Chemerinsky said he typed out a response to the article, which was appended to it, and then didn’t think much of it. That afternoon, he was deluged by emails. At an alumni event that night, the law school’s perceived hostility to Jews was “all anyone wanted to talk about.”

In an interview, Mr. Marcus, a Berkeley law school alumnus, said that he was contacted by law students there who were concerned about the bylaw. He said he spent weeks trying to support them and wrote his article after Berkeley did not “rectify the problem.”

Not allowing Zionist speakers, he said, was a proxy for prohibiting Jews. The provisions, he said, are “aimed at the Jewish community and those who support the Jewish community,” even while acknowledging that the policy could allow Jewish speakers and bar those who are not Jewish.

Read the full article here

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

‘Better Defined By Their Strengths’: 5 Ways to Support Students With Learning Differences

Published

3 months ago

on

December 21, 2022

By

“People with learning differences are human,” wrote Deanna White, a neurodiversity advocate and parent learning coach in response to a question we posed on LinkedIn. “Unique individuals and wonderful humans that are better defined by their strengths. So stop focusing on the weakness.”

We invited our social media followers across Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to weigh in on the most effective way schools can better support students with learning differences.

Responses ranged from shifting educators’ mindset—like highlighting student strengths—to more far-reaching changes that would require schoolwide or district support.

Focus on students’ strengths

There are many ways of encouraging students to play to their strengths, as educators Winston Sakurai and Phyllis Fagell demonstrated in an August 2022 article by Education Week Assistant Editor Denisa Superville.

They detailed how they shared their own learning struggles as a way to connect with their students. Their personal successes show students, who may be struggling academically or socially, that anything is possible.

Here’s what other educators had to say.

1. Help them understand their learning strengths and challenges and growing them as strong self-advocates.

2. Devoting time and money to developing teachers’ abilities to differentiate.

– Amy S.

By having high expectations and giving them exposure to high-quality materials and experiences, even ones that seem “above them.” They will shock us with their insights every time.

– Angela P. 😒😒🥴

Meet students where they are

In a 2015 primer on the topic, EdWeek Assistant Editor Sarah D. Sparks wrote about how “differentiated instruction”—the process of identifying students’ individual learning strengths, needs, and interests and adapting lessons to match them—became a popular approach to helping diverse students learn together. Respondents largely agreed.

Time to work with every student. If you can meet with a child for a bit of time to help with exactly what she or he needs, it might ignite both learning and understanding.

– Alison K.

So many ways…start with environment, a.k.a. The Third Teacher.

  • Reduce obstacles

  • Increase supports

  • Meet kids where they are

(h/t @drncgarrett)

–Matt R.

Small class sizes, strong positive teacher/student relationships, differentiated instruction, and reflection.

–Yvonne E.

Smaller class sizes

In a 2017 Opinion essay, former teacher Marc Vicenti wrote about “the daily wear and tear on educators when trying to juggle a full teaching load and meaningful relationships with lively young people who all have different needs and experiences.”

“We can either choose to be less effective in our practice or exhaust ourselves—neither of which is beneficial to students or our own well-being,” he wrote.

Smaller class sizes are one way of mitigating the risk of burnout while working to meet each student’s needs.

Small classes, small schools, local control. I am the principal in a pretty small school in a small community and I know every child, and every family and we can build programs to meet our students’ needs. A country run or state run school system can’t do that.

– Ryan G.

Increase funding to actually lower the student-to-teacher ratio. This allows teachers to give more time to the individual.

– Cathleen W.

Fewer standardized tests

Standardized tests have long been criticized for narrowing instruction and for holding all students to the same standard when “students enter school at varying levels and learn and grow at different rates.”

The backlash against standardized testing renewed interest in alternative ways to evaluate students’ learning progress, like “performance assessments—the idea of measuring what students can do, not merely what they know”.

STOP standardized testing.

– Dawn W.

Fewer standardized or timed tests, teaching to mastery, not according to a schedule.

– Autumn

Give students a voice

Sometimes it’s best to go to the source to discern how to best tackle an issue. Giving these students a voice can not only empower them in their learning, but also help educators understand how to have the biggest impact.

Ask them how they learn and what helps. Give them a voice!

– Grisel W.

Yes! Listening to what students need and giving them a voice is something we need to do for all students, but especially those who need more help in the classroom.

– Victoria D.



Read the full article here

Continue Reading

Trending