Pete Mazzagatti, high school teacher for Woodstown-Pilesgrove

Transcription

1 THE LEADING Teacher Iside Oh, the places teachers will go, p. 2 Coachig across subjects, p. 3 Create your ow career path, pp. 6-7 Sprig 2013 Vol. 8, No. 3 EVERY EDUCATOR ENGAGES IN EFFECTIVE PROFESSIONAL LEARNING EVERY DAY SO EVERY STUDENT ACHIEVES CHARTING NEW CAREER PATHS FOR TEACHER LEADERS This ewsletter is sposored by By Athoy Armstrog Pete Mazzagatti, high school teacher for Woodstow-Pilesgrove Regioal School District (N.J.), is busy. I additio to teachig social studies fulltime i the classroom, he was couty teacher of the year for , is oe of the most active members i the couty s teacher of the year orgaizatio, is active i the district s pilot dissemiatio of the McREL teacher evaluatio model, ad has just bee amed istructioal facilitator for the school year, which meas he s leavig the classroom at the ed of the year. Accordig to the latest MetLife survey of the America teacher: Challeges for school leadership, there are may more teachers like Mazzagatti who are takig o active leadership roles. Accordig to the survey, half of teachers (51%) already have a leadership role i their school, such as departmet chair, istructioal resource, teacher metor, or leadership team member, ad 51% of teachers are at least somewhat iterested i teachig i the classroom part-time combied with other roles or resposibilities i their school or district, icludig 23% who are extremely or very iterested i this optio (p. 5). While this idicates that may teachers have a strog desire to participate i school leadership, 69% of teachers are ot iterested i the traditioal career path of becomig a pricipal (p. 5). (See sidebar at right). For may teachers who wat to take o leadership roles but do t wat to move ito a pricipalship or leave the classroom, the career optios available to them are typically limited to iformal duties, such as committees, teams, buildig represetatives, etc. However, ew types of teacher leadership roles are emergig, where teachers are coectig ad makig cotributios to the field o state, atioal ad global scales, all while remaiig i the classroom. I a perfect world, I would like to remai i the classroom, explaied Mazzagatti. For my istructioal facilitator positio ext year, I will aid teachers i doig their jobs, Cotiued o p. 4 The job of pricipal is becomig more complex ad stressful 75% Three-quarters of pricipals feel the job has become too complex. 69% Seve i 10 pricipals say the job resposibilities are ot very similar to five years ago. 59% Job satisfactio amog pricipals has decreased ie percetage poits i less tha five years, to 59% very satisfied from 68% very satisfied i % Half of pricipals feel uder great stress several days a week. Source: MetLife, p. 5 Your membership i Learig Forward gives you access to a wide rage of publicatios, tools, ad opportuities to advace professioal learig for studet success. Visit to explore more of your membership beefits.

2 ADVANCING THE STANDARDS Jacquelie Keedy Oh, the places teachers will go I the classic childre s picture book by Dr. Seuss (1990), Oh, The Places You ll Go, readers are take o a whimsical adveture with a cheerful pajama-wearig boy as he makes his way ito a everchagig world, full of ew pathways ad discoveries. Durig his travels he experieces challeges, difficult decisios, sticky situatios, ad lots of excitemet ad fu. I the ed, the character discovers a few ispirig lessos: Choose a path, make thigs happe, ad ejoy the jourey. I a similar fashio, the Stadards for Professioal Learig provide practical guidace to each professioal learig jourey. Servig as a teacher leader is both challegig ad rewardig, due i part to its multifaceted ad dyamic role. However, it is ever-chagig ad ca lead to ew pathways for teacher leaders ad the Cogratulatios! Today is your day. You re off to Great Places! You re off ad away! Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You ll Go! idividuals, teams, ad schools they support. The Leadership stadard specifically iforms the work of teacher leaders, ecouragig them to desig roadmaps for their ow learig ad leadig. It describes the essetial elemets for supportig professioal learig ad sigificat school chage to icrease results for all studets. As you examie the role of professioal learig ad begi to chart your ow path, cosider the lessos from Dr. Seuss. Choose a path ad get started Which path best makes learig a top priority? Examie your optios ad the get started. As a teacher leader, how ca you share your learig goals ad demostrate your commitmet to learig? Actively participate i professioal learig. Ask for feedback from colleagues ad admiistrators. Expad your kowledge ad skills as a leader or coach by observig others ad seek to uderstad the latest research o professioal learig. Also, ackowledge your resposibility to develop others. As you model how a leader puts his or her ow learig first, be sure to set high expectatios for yourself, others, ad for all studets. Be proactive; do t always wait for thigs to happe Although the road may be bumpy with bag-ups ad hag-ups, teacher leaders ca make thigs happe to esure quality professioal learig. Help others uderstad the critical lik betwee professioal learig ad studet achievemet by challegig practice ad ieffective professioal learig. Work with the pricipal ad colleagues to idetify alterative, research-based approaches to make ecessary improvemets. Work through whatever chaels you have to create time for learig ad idetify the resources you ad your colleagues eed to support your developmet. Use your voice, from wherever you sit, to proclaim the role of professioal learig i movig schools where they eed to go. Ejoy the jourey Give yourself permissio to have fu alog the way. Ejoy your role as a teacher leader kowig you will gai experieces that will erich ad iform your work. As you lear with others, create ad share your ow lessos about the culture ad coditios ecessary for you to support your colleagues effectively. The more you share what you ve leared, the more your peers will also grow as leaders ad as learers. REFERENCE Dr. Seuss. (1990). Oh, the places you ll go. New York: Radom House. Jacquelie Keedy ([email protected]) is a seior cosultat at Learig Forward. 2 The Leadig Teacher Sprig 2013 Learig Forward

3 Kathy Smith IN PRACTICE Coachig across subjects at the secodary level As told to Valerie vo Frak Our school bega focusig o readig strategies for at-risk high school studets as part of a Respose to Itervetio approach. Now with the Commo Core State Stadards requirig that all subject-area teachers teach readig ad literacy, we eed these literacy strategies to support all teachers. Every year we take oe teacher from each cotet area foreig laguage, math, sciece, Eglish, social studies, physical educatio oto a literacy committee durig their plaig period oce a week to team with the three literacy coaches. I the literacy committee meetigs, we talk about how to support studets with the readig demads that those cotet areas require. The cotet teachers set goals, work to implemet the istructio, ad the we examie the data. If thigs are workig, we move to a ew goal. If thigs do t appear to work, we parter i thikig of ew istructioal strategies. Teachers voluteer for the committee ad we cycle through a group each year. We ve reached about 45 of the 200 teachers so far, ad those teachers take their learig back to their professioal learig commuities, which meet every other Wedesday. We ve see a lot of success. I worked with a AP social studies Kathy Smith (ksmith@csd99. org) is a readig specialist/ literacy coach at Dower s Grove North High School i Dower s Grove, Ill. teacher o a sophomore class o teachig specific questioig strategies to maeuver the college-level textbook. We also revamped her study guides to help studets formulate their ow questios so they became idepedet ad could create their ow study tools. Her pass rate was the highest sice she bega teachig the class 83% makig 3s, 4s, ad 5s. Aother social studies teacher had 11 kids fail her first quiz. We teamed up to thik of some strategies, such as three-colum otes (i the first colum, kids write mai ideas; i the secod, defiitios; ad i the third, a memory cue such as a drawig or example), more guided study guides, ad a readig process. Her last quiz had oly three fails. Oe of the most effective strategies I ve foud is Robert Marzao s sixstep vocabulary process. Most of our sciece teachers ow use that process because the liaisos to the committee shared successes. Math teachers have foud it successful, as well. We use Jim Burke s readig process for its very structured approach to readig. It s good because it ca be adapted to specific cotet areas. Plaig writig, draftig, ad revisig ca be applied i ay cotet area. Havig the teacher aalyze samples ad havig peer review are also helpful. We always rely o the teachers expertise, because they kow what their cotet demads. Coaches share the strategy, ad the disciplie teacher kows how to apply it, or we work together to figure it out. The teacher liaisos also preset some of the strategies they ve tried i class to teachers durig literacy luches. A lot of people like to hear from cotet teachers, ad the they take away ideas ad also may joi the committee. This year, we switched to a ope-house format durig plaig periods. Whe cotet area teachers share successes, other teachers start to buy i ad the more step up ad joi the committee. The beauty of coachig is we ca develop ideas with the cotet teachers, because it s two brais together. I offer my kowledge, they offer their kowledge, ad we come together ad the kids beefit. Valerie vo Frak ([email protected]) is a educatio writer ad editor of Learig Forward s books Learig Forward Sprig 2013 The Leadig Teacher 3

4 COVER STORY Creatig ew career paths for teacher leaders Mazzagatti Cotiued from p. 1 so I will have a impact o the kids. But I will miss the kids. I would like to go back to the classroom evetually if a positio opes up that allows me to do both. A HYBRID ROLE FOR TEACHERS As a teacher represetative for New Jersey s pilot teacher evaluatio program, Mazzagatti was asked to provide iformatio ad assistace to the departmet of educatio. Mazzagatti met umerous educatio leaders i D.C., egaged i various projects ad workshops, ad brought his learig back to his district. My district sees the beefits ad pays for substitutes for me whe I m goe from the classroom, said Mazzagatti. The Ceter for Teachig Quality (CTQ) ad its iovative Collaboratory are helpig teacher leaders develop these types of hybrid roles as teacherpreeurs, who divide time i ad out of the classroom. Previously, teacher roles have bee limited to models that have bee desiged apart from their ow creatio ad at best oly serve their school or district, said Kiser CTQ fouder Barett Berry, who coauthored Teachig 2030 (2011) with a team of 12 teacherpreeurs. The ext wave of teacher leadership is whe teachers ca icubate ad execute bold ideas i both policy ad pedagogy beyod schools, states, ad eve atios. Both the cocept ad examples from practice are featured i the forthcomig Teacherpreeurs, also co-authored by Berry. Berry recogizes that ot all teachers wat to be teacherpreeurs, but he feels that to solve may of the problems facig educatio today, teachers will eed the opportuity to make their ow cotributios to the field that do ot require leavig the classroom. Teacher satisfactio cotiues to declie Teachers satisfactio with their jobs i public schools has declied 13 percetage poits sice 2001, from 52% to 39% very satisfied, icludig five percetage poits sice last school year, to the lowest level i 25 years. Less satisfied teachers are more likely to be located i schools that had declies i professioal developmet (21% vs. 14%) ad i time for collaboratio with other teachers (29% vs. 16%) i the last 12 moths. Blow the doors off your classroom Video by Rya Kiser o how to create a video learig commuity. VGaPLHVmv8U&feature=youtu.be FINANCIAL SUPPORT Mazzagatti admits that he is fortuate to have a supportive district. Other teacher leaders are ot as lucky. For some teachers, the Ceter for Teachig Quality offers support by buyig all or half of a teacher s cotract i order to free the teacher to work o leadership iitiatives. Teachers i residece are supported full time by the ceter to work o their activities, while teacherpreeurs teach i the classroom for half of their day or week ad the work with the ceter durig the other half. We do t view our role as empowerig teachers or usig them for someoe s arrow reform ageda, said Berry. Istead, we try to ope doors by coectig, readyig, ad mobilizig teachers. Accordig to Berry, these hybrid roles require a special brad of teacher leaders, ad they eed the right support to fuel their ow 21st-cetury teachig ad learig reforms. Oe such teacher leader supported by the ceter s teacherpreeur opportuities is Rya Kiser. Kiser, a 8th-grade Eglish teacher i Hillsborough Couty, Fla., teaches i the classroom i the morigs ad speds his afteroos workig o various research ad policy issues, with a specific focus o advacig teacher leadership. His biggest project, though, is developig video-based learig commuities that allow teachers to lear from each other i well-facilitated, olie spaces, with a special focus o Commo Core implemetatio (see sidebar above). Beig a teacherpreeur meas that you have a balace of time that helps your ow iterests ad helps those who have a vested role i you, explaied Kiser. It is helpig the district as well. Right ow we are tryig to recreate my role i 30 other schools over the ext three years. I sped a lot of time advisig o policy for district, state, ad atioal issues; go to cofereces; ad talk to whoever might have iterest i havig teachers at the table. Kiser applied to be a teacherpreeur because he felt that he eeded a richer ad more rewardig career path that offered challeges to help him avoid stagatio. This ew role allows me to pursue a deeper skill set ad make a bigger impact i the classroom. It is a great reward that is ot about moey. It is really about opportuities to craft ew career lattices. (See box at left.) Ufortuately, fiacial grat support is a rarity for the majority of teacher leaders, so Mazzagatti ad Kiser have advice for teacher leaders lookig to expad their cotributios to the field. CREATE A SUPPORTIVE CULTURE Accordig to Mazzagatti, teacher leaders ca oly develop as well as district leaders allow them to. You ca fid Cotiued o p. 5 4 The Leadig Teacher Sprig 2013 Learig Forward

5 Creatig ew career paths for teacher leaders COVER STORY Cotiued from p. 4 time after school ad weekeds, said Mazzagatti, but some opportuities are beholde to what the district allows. I am very fortuate i that my district always says yes. The key to garerig district support, says Mazzagatti, is to clearly make the coectio from the additioal activities to the beefits for teachers. I take the servat leadership approach, i that I am always lookig for ways that I ca serve the teachers I am tryig to help, explaied Mazzagatti. For example, I look for how I ca make the coectio from our Teacher-of-the-Year group to the opportuities it creates for our teachers. Those of us who approach our leadership roles that way have good resposes from the district because everyoe beefits. Icreasig support for teacher cotributios, for Mazzagatti, begis with district culture. Fid out where your structure ad foudatio are before you get started. If you look at opportuities ad iitiatives, ad see what is right for kids ad educatio, that is where you start for chagig culture. LOOK FOR IMMEDIATE OPPORTUNITIES The easiest way to start chagig culture is to look for leadership opportuities, ad each small leadership role ca lead to bigger roles, Mazzagatti explaied. Give your busiess card out to people ad ask, What ca I do for you? A lot of thigs do t get doe because people do t kow how to ask. This is ot about advacig your career as much as it is about advacig everyoe s career, advacig the school, ad advacig the kids. Teacher roles that allow you to make yourself ad your work more visible, said Mazzagatti, are such activities as academic team leader, buildig represetative, techology metor, district team member, etc. Teachers ca t be afraid to get up ad go. If we have the right thig i mid ad it is a soud idea, the oly limitatios we have are what we put o ourselves, said Mazzagatti. Kiser shares a similar setimet. Start off doig the work, he said. It is easier whe people fid that your work is idispesable. Pursue projects that you are passioate about ad fid forums to demostrate them. You ca pitch articles to publicatios ad cotribute to virtual commuities where there are optios to egage with others. Fid where others are plugged ito opportuities ad joi projects that your school or district or system ca t live without. The resources will follow. Lear who district leaders are ad what the hierarchy is. Figure out who are decisio makers, he said. For Kiser, creatig more opportuities for teacher leaders to expad their work beyod the classrooms meas trasparecy, commuicatios, ad results. Teachers eed to be more willig to egage stakeholders, appreciate both sides of a equatio, be solutios-orieted, ad ivite themselves to the table. Stakeholders hear a lot of complaiig ad have a ageda they eed to accomplish. They eed to see that teachers ca offer solutios ad ot complaits whe they step out of the classroom. District leadership will be more ameable whe they see workable models with studet results, accordig to Kiser. INCREASE VISIBILITY The future of chagig career paths for teacher leaders depeds o visibility, said Berry. The America people have a lot of respect for teachers as idividuals, but what they do t have is a deep uderstadig of the power ad potetial of teachers as a collective to trasform learig. To help icrease visibility, said Berry, teacher leaders ca take advatage of readily available tools ad chaels icrease the exposure of their work. Look at the MetLife survey, where 23% of teachers are very iterested i servig i a hybrid role (p. 5). This is a big umber of teachers watig to make cotributios to the field. Teachers ca use blogs, YouTube, ad other tools to icrease their visibility. They ca lear ad coect with other teachers i perso or virtually it is time for teachers to o loger keep their good ideas i silos. REFERENCES Berry, B., Byrd, A., ad Wieder, A. (I press). Teacherpreeurs: Iovative teachers who lead but do t leave. Sa Fracisco: Jossey-Bass. Berry, B. (2011). Teachig 2030: What we must do for our studets ad our public schools Now ad i the future. New York, NY: Teachers College Press MetLife. (2012). MetLife survey of the America teacher: Challeges for school leadership. NY: Author. Available at Athoy Armstrog (athoy.armstrog@ learigforward.org) is publicatios editor for Learig Forward. Lear more Learig Forward BELIEF All educators have a obligatio to improve their practice. The Ceter for Teachig Quality Coect with teachers ad other educatio stakeholders by joiig the Ceter for Teachig Quality s free virtual commuity, the Collaboratory MetLife teacher survey webiar The Alliace for Excellet Educatio ad paelists discuss the fidigs for policymakers ad educatio leaders to ote as they work to eable school leaders to meet icreased expectatios for educatioal outcomes. media.all4ed.org/webiar-mar Learig Forward Sprig 2013 The Leadig Teacher 5

6 TOOL Create your ow career path New possibilities are emergig for may teachers who wat to take o leadership roles but do t wat to move ito a pricipalship or cetral office positio. There are a rage of ew teacher leadership roles, where teachers are coectig to other educators ad makig cotributios to the field o state, atioal, ad global scales, all while remaiig i the classroom. Use the questios o the ext page to explore ad braistorm possible activities ad opportuities that exted your work, roles that make your work more visible, projects that you are passioate about, ad the structures ad supports that would make such opportuities viable. Workig with a team or o your ow, use these reflectios to determie your ext steps i advacig your leadership ageda. MORE FROM METLIFE S SURVEY Curret teacher leaders are more iterested tha other teachers i becomig a pricipal or i a hybrid teachig role. Iterest i a hybrid teachig role is higher amog mid-career teachers, high school teachers, ad those i urba schools or schools with high proportios of low-icome studets. Iterest i becomig a pricipal is more commo amog ew ad mid-career teachers, high school teachers, or those i urba schools. Source: MetLife, The Leadig Teacher Sprig 2013 Learig Forward

7 TOOL EXPLORE THE OPPORTUNITIES What other roles, resposibilities, activities, or projects outside the classroom iterest you as you cosider your career pathway? What deeper skillsets would you like to pursue ad how will they help you o your jourey? What types of opportuities for expadig your ifluece are available to you? What types of opportuities are ot curretly available that you would like to see available? How ca you make the coectio from your iterests to studet results? How ca you make the coectio from your iterests to other beefits for the school? Who has a vested role i your iterests ad how ca they assist you? Who shares your desire for positive chage i your areas of iterest? How ca you egage them as parters? What models do you see that might offer lessos for you? What steps ca you take to make teachers more visible as leaders to ifluece chage ad impact your school or district s culture? Learig Forward Sprig 2013 The Leadig Teacher 7

8 Learig Forward Member Services 504 S. Locust St. Oxford, OH Member ifo: NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID CINCINNATI, OH PERMIT NO. 770 The Leadig Teacher is published four times a year by Learig Forward, 504 S. Locust St., Oxford, OH 45056, for $49 of each membership. Copyright, Learig Forward, All rights reserved. School-Based Professioal Learig for Implemetig the Commo Core LEARNING FORWARD STAFF Executive director Stephaie Hirsh Director of strategy ad developmet Frederick Brow Director of commuicatios Tracy Crow Director of learig Carol Fraçois Director, Ceter for Results Reé Islas Director of busiess services Leslie Miller Director of marketig Robert Tess Associate director of e-learig Tom Maig Scholar laureate Shirley Hord Seior advisor Joelle Killio Distiguished seior fellow Hayes Mizell BUSINESS OFFICE 504 S. Locust St. Oxford OH Fax: [email protected] BOARD OF TRUSTEES Jeff Roeberg Presidet Julie Blaie Presidet-elect Keeth Salim Past presidet Mark Diaz Joh Eyolfso Clara Howitt Deborah Reee Jackso Myra Whitey Editor: Athoy Armstrog Desiger: Kitty Black Explore four uits created to help pricipals ad teacher leaders develop their capacity to facilitate schoolbased collaborative professioal learig. Complete with backgroud iformatio, tools, slides, ad hadouts, the four modules cover key topics i leadig professioal learig tied to implemetig cotet stadards: Maagig chage, facilitatig learig teams, learig desigs, ad Stadards for Professioal Learig. Learig Forward is the ew ame of the Natioal Staff Developmet Coucil. COPY/REPRINT POLICY: Please see for details ad a form to submit a request. BACK COPIES: Articles from all Learig Forward publicatios are available at o additioal charge to members i the members-oly area of the Learig Forward website. Nomembers may purchase ad dowload idividual articles or etire publicatios for a fee. POSTMASTER: Sed address chages to Learig Forward, 504 S. Locust St., Oxford, OH DOWNLOAD THE UNITS AT: implemetig-commo-core/ professioal-learig-uits