Topic: Professional Social Capital

We have gone through the same frustrations, the social capital is strong enough to move us forward slightly but not enough to affect and sustain meaningful change. We have tried to build bridges between teachers by holding vertical meetings to discuss curriculum and teachers do communicate better professionally, but there is still too much closed door mentality and not enough collegiality. Holding another teacher responsible occurs much less frequently. We continue to try to expand the core group but nothing in education happens immediately.

It is interesting that you point this out as it was a widely used practice in Iowa during the late 80’s and early 90's. In my first job as a high school science teacher our school was involved in a program called TESA (Teacher Expectations/Student Achievement). We were given the opportunity to observe each other in action and provide feedback. Some of this was done by allowing us to sit in on each others classes, while other times a video camera was used to observe the teacher, and then that teacher and a co-worker sat down and viewed the video together. This practice began in the early 70s and I can honestly say, having been involved, it is a much more effective program than the current mentoring programs which are funded (where TESA was not). This process helped me develop quality skills in the classroom as I started in the profession. It also helped me stop saying"OK" thirty to forty times in a class period. I actually saw on video two students that were keeping track on a note card and then a dollar bill exchanged as a result of some wager they must have made concerning my use of this phrase. It was embarrassing to say the least, but it was an effective way of making me a much better teacher.
The practice was not as well received by all of the teachers involved and as you may have guessed, was not favored by the teacher association/union. It was later a practice which was eliminated by the union through negotiations and thus the poor teachers once again were allowed to go into their rooms and perform poorly without any guidance from their high performing peers. Their substandard performance was once again protected by their relationships with their high performing peers. Collective bargaining, in my opinion, has caused more damage than good in terms of advancing our profession.
I constantly ask myself why good programs which improve teacher performance are lost when there are far fewer poor teachers in the profession than good. I guess the good teachers are not as focused on contractual issues and therefore are not the ones making those decisions.
I still offer this opportunity to the staff in the building in which I work. I offer to substitute for teachers to provide them the time to engage in this highly effective practice. There have also been teachers who I have highly encouraged to watch another more effective teacher and gleen what they can from both the observation and the discussion which follows.

I LOVED the banging pans story. I'm trying to think of ways to effectively bang pans around here. I've got a neighbor who yells way too much at his kids, teachers and professorial colleagues who are blah at best, etc. What's keeping us from banging more pans - even when we know it's the right thing to do - other than fear of social rejection?

Um, thanks, I think?

I just think there's too much work to be done to just keep doing what we've done. Someone's gotta stir up the pot and get things moving. That's what leadership's all about, right?

And why aren't you calling me Scott? =)

Personally, I found Chapter 7 very intriguing.

I think that I am going to do what was suggested by the authors: a survey of the faculty. I am curious to discovery if my list of opinion leaders will match the list created by the teachers.

As far as a step for banging pans, I'm starting with me. If I put myself in a position to be held accountable and be vulnerable, I hope that it starts the culture shift. I'm encouraged by the CEO story in chapter six (Subtitle: The Power of One). I do see glimpses. There is a group of teachers, the I-Team, that meets with me regularly to help develop schoolwide goals. After a year of working together, we are having some honest conversations. They will call me out if I start to "back off" based on pressure from others (i.e., parents or other administrators). Now it's time to grow that culture to the greater faculty. As Ian Jukes says; there is a lot of "TTWWADI" happening.

Next, how do we demand teamwork as Dr. Yunus did?

There is a section of this chapter that talks about coaching (subtitle: Blind Spots). As a building administrator, I find the idea of coaching so critical for sustained change and growth. I dedicate a great deal of my funds (release time)for teachers to collaborate and know each other as coaches. Ironically, I sometimes feel that I must defend this decision and answer the question of "well, they went to the workshop and now they can apply it".

On a separate note, there has been several mentions of "walk throughs". I have been involved with them on several levels and learned about them from one of the best (my personal opinion), Dick Elmore. But, I have struggled to implement them on a regular basis without a level of resentment. Suggestions?

Bottom line: I can't wait for August to put some of these thoughts into action.

Just in case I forget.... Thanks, Scott, for promoting this book and the conversation.

The too much on my plate saying is something I deal with also. Usually it's an organization issue rather than actually being too busy. We all need to work more efficiently but the full plate teachers need to prioritize what's relevant and important. In my situation, their plate would have more room if they implemented technology in the curriculum and allowed the students to share the responsibility for learning.

I think social capital is a very tricky thing. I think that Chapter 6 and 7 are very much alike. They share the idea of teacher buy-in and/or teacher leaders. I was just reading an article about Nelson Mandela in Time Magazine. The writer broke down strategies of leadership that Mandela had used through his years.One of them was how he led by listening. He said that he was like a goat herder, he led from the back. Meaning he would listen and then form a consensus. Mandela even learned the culture and language of the Afrikaners, his own captors. Thus being able to relate to them better. This is something that allows for social capital. Related to education, that means learning as much as possible of your teachers so that you can have your own social capital and know how to get into their "world".

An important note about lesson study is that the feedback is about THE LESSON, NOT about the teacher. The premise is that the group has worked on the lesson together and the teacher who delivers the lesson is not being critiqued, the LESSON IS.

I have been reading over this group 5 forum, and I'm seeing a lot of moaning about sub par colleagues and teachers. I think this line of conversation is like beating a dead horse. Telling people they are bad teachers WON'T help them get better. Personally, in response to this book, I am spending more time thinking about what the critical behaviors are that would help myself and others shift to more productive ways of working. I have to begin this process with myself as an educational leader, in order to model the behavior I'd like teachers to practice with their students.

The first step in teacher learning communities practice is deciding what the essential standards are, then deciding how to assess whether kids are learning.
What do kids need to know?
How do we know they know it?
How do we teach it if they don't know it.
and the one too often neglected in the age of the achievement gap.

What do we do for the kids who already know it?

This reflects the idea of finding the key behaviors... it's fascinating to me how this book is fitting so well into my other studies, in a way that will improve my practice

Out to lunch, for sure. Let's bring in the bean bag chairs and the magic brownies.

I love it! You're right of course, but please include an ROTC course for my son, who has forced me to reevaluate all my Northern California, progressive education, whole language and granola based learning biases.

I especially appreciate this closing section, " It strikes me that we need a much wider conversation with parents, policy people, downtown office people, legislators, city council folks, and business people about what we want learning to be about and how we'll go about it. We must fundamentally rethink and reexamine our mental models and our values around learning. Not an easy task. But without the larger conversation we will be going about the same business and expecting different results—and we all know that's crazy"

This is really true on many levels. It resonates with me because I have begun to see that everyone (especially those outside schools) has an opinion about what school should "look like" and how it "should be done" and assumes that everyone else is on the same page. Very few people I speak with outside education have considered alternatives to the way they were educated, even when they feel a sense of dissatisfaction with that education and a disconnection between their schooling and the reality of their grown up lives.