Helping my colleagues be more effective instructors will require me to focus on improving students during our team or faculty meetings. Faculty meetings tend to be more about school business. Team meetings seem to be the place to talk about effective instruction. However, in team meetings we could set aside time to talk about what is working in our teaching, maybe sharing teaching materials, and what still needs work in our classes. This reflection time is a productive way to learn from each other, seeing how effective instruction works. Thinking together, would also generate lots of possible solutions to problems with which each teacher would like help.
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We are preparing students for tomorrow, not 1991. We can't still teach like we did in 1991, and must change. Change is hard, but is much easier when there are others around you going through the same change. If I lead by example, then have conversations and share in groups, I can be there to support my colleagues through changing times,
James,
ReplyDeleteYou have great ideas and a positive outlook on how to help colleagues become more effective instructors. I completely agree--just a simple conversation with a colleague either in the hallway, lounge, or in a meeting can be very beneficial. I think the more "informal", the better! These conversations are a great way to discuss what's working, what's not working, how to improve, what to change, etc. Merely talking about your instruction and teaching style will open the door to new ideas and will provide an easy way to offer advice. Communication, collaboration, and teamwork is key in the education world.
James,
ReplyDeleteYour first idea of the informal collaborating is one that teachers often do but we do it so much, I hadn't even thought of it in that way! It is extremely important to be able to formally collaborate with our teams. Your suggestion of utilizing team time to share ideas rather than "school business" can help teachers generate new ideas to try in their classrooms. After the team meeting, you and the other teachers could meet again and discuss if/how the ideas shared worked, didn't work, or could be better.
James,
ReplyDeleteI agree that teachers spend so much time having informal conversations, we don't even realize we are doing it! I think having formal conversations of what is or isn't working in the classroom is also very important. We as educators can sit back and look at what we need to fix, in order for our students to improve!