Tagged: feedback
Thinking Aloud
There are some great minds out there in different circles. Leaders and teachers doing creative things to explore and examine Who we are and Who we want to become. You just have to look at the steady stream of books being published about the importance of people, relationships, community and culture development in schools, and for life in general.
It’s all great stuff!
For inquiring minds, it creates time and space for contemplation and introspection. However, this is only where the seed is planted. The real growth happens when the germination of ideas breaks through the soil to reveal one’s conscious effort and energy to put words into action. Not only to learn more about Who we are, but to understand why we are the way we are.
It all starts with the notion of ‘Working From Within.’ We need to work on ourselves before we expect our culture or community to change. The climate of our culture, environment and community is a direct reflection of who we are as individuals.
Challenge: Over the course of a week, when chatting with people about a concern or issue do an audit on whether the person you’re talking to is doing one of two things:
- Looking at external factors or forces to explain or make sense of how things could be better; or,
- Looking within to explain or make sense of how things could have been handled differently.
There are many ways you can view the above circles depending on the situation and context.
How can we increase the circle of “What I say to other people,” in the way of honest feedback or challenging negativity without placing pressure or straining the relationship?
While all these books tell us to have radical candor, give feedback, be open and honest…. it’s all great stuff, it really is. In theory. In practice, when feedback is given or there is challenge, the reality is, that after such an interaction, things shift. In the end, we are human.
How can we truly express the things we want to say or more importantly need to be said with grace and honesty, in a way where others understand and the relationship deepens?
We all know of people who are forward and have a steady stream of consciousnesses. We all know of people, who live in their heads and keep it locked there. And then there is everything in-between.
Right now, it feels like (it is like) we are always skimming the surface. We talk a big game, yet we’re constantly traversing and balancing our weight on a tight rope filtering through these circles.
Is it just in schools that it is like this? A lot of us have never left school in the way of a being a student and then coming back as a work place. I wonder what it is like in the police force, hospitals, business firms, law office, construction site……….
It’s not what we say to people, it’s how we say it. Easy to say, more difficult to do.
Developing a culture starts with you. Parts to the whole. What is one thing you’re going to do to be true to your inner thoughts?
Microcosm for Creating Change
Innovation, Agency, Empowerment are words that should not be used lightly. As professional educators, we believe with absolute conviction, that we can create the change we wish to see. As a School, we wish to challenge the purpose of report cards. Removing report cards would be an unwise and bold move to do all in one swoop. Therefore, we decided to explore this through a microcosm. To gauge whether our thinking, values and philosophy are in-line with being practical and realistic in terms of, if not report cards, then what?
A smaller and measurable scale needed to be the way forward, a pilot.
A microcosm!
In essence the definition of a microcosm is:
A community, place, or situation regarded as encapsulating in miniature the characteristics of something much larger.
We have created a microcosm, a small world where we have brought parents, teachers and students together to pilot a new initiative in PREP from March until June, of this year.
Our own inquiry into: How can we effectively provide meaningful, dynamic and timely feedback that causes thinking and promotes learning and growth together?
We invited parents to Look 4 Learning as an authentic opportunity to see learning in action.
Parents recorded what they heard and saw and then shared their discoveries, questions, concerns and connections. We weren’t telling parents what we do (that’s blind trust) we were showing them what we do everyday and who their child is at school, where they spend most of their day, and young lives.
As a school, we have gone through a grueling process of establishing expectations around report cards and how best to meet the needs of our community as far as a formal document goes. We keep simplifying and seeking ways to satisfy parents in terms of what they know and have experienced in their schooling life.
We explained to parents the ‘input’ (time) vs ‘output’ (impact) aspect of what is involved in the process of writing report cards. They got it. Great! They understood that the time it takes to write report cards, is time taken away from doing all the other things that has a positive impact on learning, without sacrificing the learning conversations, planning, pedagogy, data collection……… Report cards is a static point in time, let’s use dynamic ways (Seesaw) to document learning and provide feedback that encourages and support the learning process.
The idea around what does authentic feedback mean and how feedback should cause thinking become the focus of the conversation. How can we create a solid partnership between parents, teacher and student to develop shared goals where it is valued in the learning process become important too as the discussion evolved.
The power of partnering with parents and teachers led to a deeper understanding of the importance of creating a situation where ‘really’ knowing our students is central to what we hope to achieve everyday. Knowing where they are in their learning and planning for that process of what needs to happen inspires effort and attitudes towards learning which is incredibly motivating for all stakeholders.
Over the next 4 months we are going to put report cards on hold and pilot what we believe to be a more effective and meaningful approach in understanding our students as learners and provide balanced authentic feedback. We have developed six drivers to provide feedback to students and parents that promotes richer and deeper conversations about learning and our learners.
We will review and evaluate the effectiveness of this pilot in June with our parents. Where could this lead? We don’t know and we’re not meant to know just yet. We find that quite liberating and exciting!
Why do we have reports? We have to do and be better. If it is a formality to facilitate the process of a student moving from one school to the next, that’s not good enough. We can work around that. We’re in education! Our parents are with us. They are in with two feet and we’re open to see where this all goes.
We think we have the right balance between being authentic, informative and also ensuring a deep sense of accountability and responsibility in doing these things well.
Where did all this inspiration come from?
From Alan Atkisson and Sam Sherratt. They were the sun providing light and energy in us asking, Why and Who are we?
We accept the challenge to innovate, lead change and transform to impact and ripple out! Out of touch traditions and norms must be challenged and at-least a re-think should occur.
Who are we and who do we want to become?
The Amoeba of Cultural Change should be happening from, and out of, Education. We should be setting the scene for change and leading it. Education has been idle and mainstream for too long. There are some great things happening out there in schools. We need to connect and explore ideas together to reach a tipping point for others to follow, and then lead from the front. Walking the walk, now that is a school I want to be part of. We’re on our way!
Who are you in the Amoeba?
Where do you get your light and energy from to shake education up and try something new?
How do you cultivate change in your school?
Learning From Our Students
Teachers do a lot of reflecting, but do we ever truly reflect?
The type of reflection I’m referring to is the type that drills down to the core and demands to explore and examine the inner workings of who we are, how best we teach and why things worked out the way they did in our practice, style and approach.
Do you venture outside of yourself and look to blame others when things didn’t work out or do you look within and accept the home truths that laid buried beneath the surface?
Who are you? What is your tendency?
As teachers, we expect our students to reflect all the time. “What could you do differently next time?” or “Write a piece on what you now know and understand because of this experience.”
Do we leave enough room for teachers to do the same? I’m leaning towards a ‘no’ here.
I guess this is where I have a problem with it all. We get our students to reflect, yet teachers are the worst at it. Yes, there are those 6 times in the year we skim over the reflection piece of a planner – agreed. But, it is more about getting through it, as opposed to that true excavation of how to be better, increase intrigue and insight for the next opportunity to improve. I believe that there needs to be a section (time allowed) where students give feedback to teachers on how we could have taught them better. Imagine that! An opportunity for us to learn from our students and see things through the eyes of a 6 or 10 year-old.
We would discover things about ourselves that we would normally ‘overlook’ and, therefore would ‘look over’ to seek ways to simplify, improve and learn from.
Give students a voice to build a real culture of honesty – that will lead us towards being and doing better for them and for ourselves too.
I also believe that (now I’m taking a side Sam) teachers need to not only reflect about the pedagogy, they also need to reflect about what they bring and don’t bring to each unit – not just as a teacher, but as a person. We are great at using terms like growth mindset and innovation for education, redefining, being a capacity builder…. what does all that mean if we leave out the biggest piece – how is your practice changing you?
Feedback on job applications… are you kidding?
Feedback.
In all schools it is seen as an essential component to learning, vital in the formative growth of students. Without feedback, how can there be development?
“How do you give feedback to your students?” ask administrators.
And, administrators do their best to give feedback to teachers too… albeit in ways that are far from perfect.
Feedback is crucial.
So, why is it that when teachers painstakingly spend hours preparing CVs, pouring their soul into covering letters and holding their dreams in their fingertips as they press send on that email… their chances of any feedback are non-existent?
Days or weeks waiting, wondering, wishing.
Then, out of the blue… the inbox reveals the clinical phrase “we regret to inform you that your application has been unsuccessful”.
But why? The teachers ask… what is wrong with me? Is my CV crap, is my experience insufficient, was my covering letter poorly worded, am I the wrong type of person?
Well… who knows? And fat chance of fixing any of those issues next time. Learning from the experience? Non-existent.
So, where is the feedback then? Has anyone ever received feedback on their job application?
Time Space Education 