WHY
Let's face it working in a school is difficult and challenging that at times you can feel overwhelmed and unfulfilled. It's through working together that you get through. Teachers/staff in studies have reported feeling connected to one another and also described feeling as if they are completing something together. These emotions when activated keep us engaged in difficulty over time. In addition, if teams are effective than people learn from one another. They can do more than they could alone. They inspire and challenge one another.
What
I know that it takes time to get together to share the load but knowing how much easier our work can be when we are together accomplishing our goals is most rewarding. Let's take a look at the elements of strong teams and determine how to make your team stronger than it already is.
- A good team knows why it exists. It's not enough to give yourselves a name. That is a label and not the explanation of why you exist. You need to develop a purpose that is relevant, meaningful, and clear. When I think if this element I am reminded of the first and second grade teams. Their purpose is to support one another to make the work easier and student achievement grow. I sat in on both of these teams last week. They meet even when they don't have to just to get stuff done. For example, the first grade team worked to develop a rubric for fluency. The second grade team worked to plan the genre writing unit. In both cases they jigsawed the work and then discussed how and when they would implement.
- A good team creates a space for learning. It's critical that you don't meet just to meet. You should be learning from one another or creating opportunities to learn. When you work to trust one another you feel safe to make mistakes, take risks and ask questions.
- In a good team, there's healthy conflict. It's inevitable and most certain that when you are learning together there will be disagreements. Teams who disagree are engaged in constructive conversation and work to push thinking. The fourth grade team has gone through this and came out stronger. They were discussing the order of lesson in a unit and went back and forth if they should change or do them as listed. In the end they decided to do them as listed. Yes, they disagreed but they pushed one another to find the solution.
- Members of a good team trust each other. This means that when there is conflict you handle it. It's managed. If you know each other you listen to one another. You follow your norms and feel comfortable holding one another accountable. You also have a facilitator who makes sure it stays safe. Trust means that everyone participates and are heard. You share in decision making. You break in effective habits like dominance of one voice.
- A good team has a facilitator, leader, or shared leaders. You all can lead because you work to push one another. The leadership team member is there to share information but isn't the only person required to facilitate. It's important that you have a plan so you can function at high levels. However, together you build the plan and then implement the learning around it. I see this often in the PK, Kindergarten and third grade teams. They work together but it's not always clear who the leader is. They share in the work and take turns leading and/or facilitating. It's quite defined in the PK team. Each member has a specific strength so they share and switch from week to week depending on their topic.
So let's work together to fight the forces that try and attack us. Let's come together and raise our arms with positive result to celebrate.
As a brand new team, 4th grade has worked hard to set & stay focused on a clear purpose: "We believe that every student is capable of growth and achievement. We want to ensure these students continue to grow, both academically and socially. We commit to being responsive to student data and will use meaningful feedback to guide student learning." We keep this at the forefront and use it to drive our decision-making, asking ourselves "What is best for students?" For example, we differentiate our reading groups based upon level, across all three of our classrooms, and students get what they need by meeting with whichever one of us is teaching their group.
ReplyDeleteAs far as growing, we feel that our team is strong in all areas, but we are not consistent with using them at the same time. Being able to do so will help us make a bigger impact on student achievement.
As a new team our strength is creating space for learning. We have taken lessons and looked at the standards that our students need to understand and adjusted them to best fit the needs of our students. We come to our PLCs reflecting on what has worked in our lessons and the support we are needing to lift achievement. We all feel safe asking questions and sharing our mistakes.
ReplyDeleteAs a team we would like to reflect on embracing a healthy conflict. We will sometimes fall into a rhythm as a team in being compliant with the scope and sequence and have not dug deep to challenge ourselves and our understanding of the standards. Moving forward we would like to analyze how our feedback lifts student achievement and have a conversation about if we agree or disagree how our feedback supports student achievement.
2nd Grade:
ReplyDeleteOur strongest characteristic is that we trust each other. We can feel comfortable to talk about what is happening in our classroom and our lives and feel comfortable doing so. We know that we are always working for the same outcomes in both rooms. We also know that we can trust each other to pick up the slack when one person is needing more. We feel confident when asking for help from each other which makes the team work. We also work well to develop our plan for learning. When we meet, we try to look at all aspects of the learning and make sure we are both in the same space and have the same expectations when teaching.