How has the BCTLT positively changed and supported our district?

My first year of being a Model Teacher in our district is quickly coming to a close. This has been a great year of growth, reflection, and being inspired by others. At the beginning of the year, I was blessed to start my journey in a new building AND grade level. Being a part of the BCTLT helped me come out of my shell to get to know the staff in our building in order to help meet any needs that I could help my peers with. If not for being a Model Teacher, I may not have focused on building those relationships, which has made this experience very empowering for me. Personally, I feel like the BCTLT has helped blend our district into a more cohesive machine. We are given the opportunity to collaborate at our MT meetings and I have gotten to know and work closely with people who I may not have been able to if not for this position.

Another great aspect of the BCTLT is giving the staff the ability to have their voices heard through different avenues. Our staff is trusting of us and how we will respectfully take their questions and concerns to people who can create change. The leadership team is very thoughtful and methodic about our PD days, whether in district or facilitating groups on CFA days. I honestly think this has been the best support from the BCTLT, because when you have people who feel like they are being heard, there may be more openness to new ideas.

I appreciate the knowledge I have gained from being on the BCTLT. I have been given the opportunity to take part in the Steve Ventura training and bring the ideas and desire for improved feedback, and rigorous assessments to my peers. I have had great conversations with other districts and been given great suggestions as well. I love learning and I love sharing the great things we are doing with others.

Fierce Conversations- An eye opening experience

There are many skills that I still continue to try and strengthen throughout the year, and communication is a constant! This year has been a big change for our district and myself. I changed building, grade levels, and joined the TLT. I stumbled upon the Fierce Conversation class offered through GWAEA and immediately got excited. 

After just one day I was inspired! This inspiration came from the leaders of the class, as well as the peers who I was attending with. There were many different quotes of the day, but this one stuck with me the most:

“You can lead a horse to water but can’t make it drink. But- you can salt the hay.”

{Our job is to encourage others to think outside the box and then let them find the paths themselves.}

Which makes me reflect on how I have encouraged others by "salting the hay" in our building/district. In our building, we have tried surveys, quotes, and even a bathroom bulletin board. Our talks lately have been a lot of about goal setting and feedback based from our Ventura training. Both goal setting and feedback are CRUCIAL piece in being...anyone who aspires to do better with their lives or the lives of others. If you stop by our staff bathroom in Atkins, you will now see a line of goal setting sheets, tips, and ideas to help with personal goals and student goals. I am so thankful our MT team has a common (yet a little silly) place to share resources!

I know how important goal setting is. I see it in my classroom, my personal life, and my profession. I am going to take a piece away from my first day at Fierce Conversation and let silence do the heavy lifting.

Silence allows us to go deeper. Memorable conversations include breathing space and people process differently.

**The person with the quickest answer ISN’T always the brightest**

I will remind myself to listen to others, be an open ear without judgement- knowing that's maybe all they need. In the hardest of times, we often just need to know that our voice is being heard.

Whitaker. Impact. Opportunities. Rambling.

"Leaders often make decisions based on their most negative and resistant employees. That is human nature. We worry about how the most cynical staff member will react or how the few “gripers” will talk about us or this new idea in the lounge. Being aware of their potential reactions is fine. However, making decisions with them in mind rather than our most positive and productive people is a big mistake. "

http://toddwhitaker.com/~toddwhitaker/cms/uploads/Motivating_Teachers_During_Difficult_Times.pdf

As we continue to have the conversations of how we can help the climate and culture in our building, I stumbled upon this article. Which got me thinking- "AMEN!"

This article along with a great conversation with local Eastern Iowa Educators just reminded me to MODEL. Model- expectations, instructional strategies, communication with parents, how to build relationships. All of this modeling of course benefits our precious students, but also our life-long learning staff members! The modeling needs to start at the top and work its way down so we can see that "buy-in" in worth the effort to making a change. 

Now. Going back to the previously talked about "gripers" in Todd's article. If we truly sit and think about the impact we can make with staff who is willing to jump in and take a chance with the BCTLT, it far offsets those who aren't yet ready to dip their toes in the TLT waters. So who can we make the greatest impact with? That is the question to focus on. I have been trying to rack my brain to get the small percentage on board and excited about the opportunities when there, staring me in the face are people who see those opportunities and ready to go!

Student advice at its best

I recently found this video on Upworthy and it came at a time when I needed it. This time of the school year, we can get frustrated with our students, especially while assessing. "You know this!" "Try harder." In my past 9 years, I have been guilty of saying all of these things. 

Over the years, I have learned to change my words because of the impact they have on our students. 

As a Model Teacher in our district, I want to help educators to empower students to reach their potential in ways they can take pride in. 

https://www.facebook.com/Upworthy/videos/1125589414148582/

Our staff rocks!!

Just as I was thinking of how we could boost the culture in our school, this happens!

Our staff is phenomenal! 

Culture and Climate

We had an interesting discussion this week in our model teacher meetings about culture and climate of our schools. As a new teacher to the building, it has been an adjustment to learn new staff and figure out how to read personalities.
Culture is the personality
Climate is the attitude

The question on everyone's mind was- how do we change the climate of our building? What a great question!

Thank to an amazing first grade team, I feel like our climate continues to improve every time we work together. Our culture is what makes our group function and gives us the ability to challenge one another's thoughts. We have taken time to find out what is important to one another to build our relationship.

A question to continue to ponder....When you can't change someone's attitude; how can you change the climate of a building?

Creating a community

Our building MT team has been brainstorming ways to keep bringing up the BCTLT and how we can be used in Atkins. So, together we started a Pinterest board. Here we can pin ideas, cute snacks ideas, and strategies to use in the classroom.
Since we started this, we have put mints in the lounge with a sign that says, "Thanks for your commit-mint!" Although it wasn't a huge gesture, it was a fun little breath of fresh air. :)
We also asked our janitor to put a bulletin board in our staff bathroom. Using this bulletin board, we are going to put up strategies of the month, inspiring quotes, and other bathroom talk.
I'm hoping to get some ideas for learning labs out soon!