"Teachers at Work: Improving Teacher Quality Through School Design" --by Elena Silva

[Connie Weber]

"Teachers at Work: Improving Teacher Quality Through School Design" --by Elena Silva

In Education Sector, Silva talks about how we need to "...fundamentally overhaul the way the work of teachers is organized within schools. Better teaching, in the long run, will come not just from attracting a strong pool of talent and giving them boosts in pay, but from changing the nature of the job. And the teaching profession is in many ways defined by the way schools are designed. Today, most teachers' work is isolated and fragmented, with no defined pathways for career development, few mechanisms for feedback, and a schedule that is disconnected from the reality of what teachers actually do and what students actually need. As a result, many schools are insufficiently attractive to talented professionals, and they squander the talent of those they manage to employ."




She talks about a promising model used in Generation Schools that builds on collaboration and teacher differences. "Instead of isolating teachers, the Generation Schools model organizes them into grade- and subject-based teams, designed to blend different types of expertise and levels of experience. The daily schedule and calendar are designed with time for regular and ongoing teacher collaboration and planning, giving teachers "time to learn from each other and to learn from their work," Brown says. In the mornings, all teachers teach 90-minute academic classes that average 14 students; afternoons are divided into shorter, larger elective courses and two hours of daily planning. Twice a year, grade-based teaching teams get a four-week break—three weeks to rest and one week to meet, plan, and observe colleagues. The breaks are staggered throughout the year, and while one group of teachers is on break, another team of their colleagues steps in to teach their students "intensive" monthlong literacy courses focused on career and college planning. The result is a school year that is extended to 200 days for students—20 more than the national average—without having to extend work time (and pay) for teachers."

Attached is the pdf for the report: "Teachers At Work"

[Laura Gibbs]

Hi Connie, I only read the parts you posted here, but this sounds really fantastic. A situation like the one I read about here would be tremendously appealing.

At the university level, there is a lot of collegial interaction and planning time but almost none of it is devoted to teaching issues (instead, it is devoted almost entirely to university service, and professional development of faculty as scholars and researchers, rather than as teachers). OF COURSE teachers have a lot they can learn from each other, but I have zero (literally: zero) opportunities to learn from the teaching that my colleagues do; it is all behind closed doors and there is no sharing - not in person, not online - about teaching methods. This feeds on the shame culture of the university in a very negative way: people start to feel insecure about their teaching simply because they do not get feedback from any of their colleagues about it. So, as a result of the insecurities, people then start to feel RELUCTANT to share their experiences about their teaching. Without officially mandated collegial interaction and feedback, which would bring out a sense of goals and accomplishment, we are left instead with feelings, sometimes intense feelings, of shame and insecurity. Sad, but true: of course we as teachers could be sharing and learning from each other at my school right NOW (there's certainly no rule against it!), but unless it is required by the institution itself as part of the job, it doesn't happen. Very bad indication of our learning culture in general, I would say.

Also, this idea of staggering people's schedules with these month-long breaks during which the students participate in a special curriculum during that time sounds really ingenious!!!

[Connie Weber]

Hi Laura,

Thanks for the reply. I read the article with great interest and have now read it again, underlining and annotating my printout. Elena Silva is super-thoughtful; she's bringing something very important to our attention. The Generations School model is quietly but fundamentally revolutionary for upgrading and enriching the teaching profession. I'd like a lot of people to know about it, discuss it, think it through as a potential model for their settings. I'm going to be showing the article to people in middle school where I work--there are parts of it that could be adopted fairly quickly. I love how the program is NOT costly; it just requires a shift in the way we use teacher time and human resources.

Yes, I hear you about the ISOLATION of teaching. It's so important that we do whatever we can for linking educators together, both at school and online.

If we could get a good discussion going on "Teachers at Work," chances are good that Elena Silva would come and join in. She's open to participation on educational networks; I wrote to her before and was received very enthusiastically and cordially.

How do we restructure schools and restructure education so that people working together actually have time together to think, plan, and reflect?

Interesting that US teachers have more "instructional time" with students and less time with each other than educators in other countries.

What stands out to me: how this model "compels collaboration." I also love the "career lattice" concept.

This would be a good article for discussion with policy-makers, board members, DOE people--and educators of all varieties. Got some ideas of how we can bring people in on this?

[Elena Silva]

Hi Connie. Thanks for the generous comments about the paper, and glad it's sparked some interest. Education Sector is hosting an online discussion about the paper (and the issue of teachers' work more broadly) next Tuesday and Wednesday on our site. www.educationsector.org.

Please join us and post questions--the discussion goes live on Tuesday morning.

Thanks! Elena

[Mike]

Hi All... hope this finds you well.

A very interesting article and i really like the core idea of re-designing the way in which we work.

As i read articles like this... it seems like we could be experimenting in a number of well thought out ways rather then continuing to create one size fits all schools. In Hope and Despair in the American City, Grant talks about school change in 3 broad categories:
* tinker and try and fix the broken pieces of the system
*disrupt the system
*replace the system

Looking at the design of how teachers work would touch on all three areas.

A comment- sadly teaching still does not fit my definition of a "profession". We say the word alot..yet in many instances still seem more like line workers in a factory.

How many of you out there feel that you can create change in your "professional organization" ?



thanks.... mike

[Laura Gibbs]

What a great question, Mike: I have ZERO ability to create change in my professional organization... but luckily, I have a huge ability to create change in my classroom.

Otherwise I would indeed feel like workers in a factory.

So, my school feels like a factory... but luckily I have the freedom within very wide limits to do what I think is best in the classroom. For better or worse, none of the factory supervisors care what goes on in my classroom, so long as I turn in grades. :-)

[Mike]

Hi Laura... hope this finds you well.

I am wondering if alot of us here at Fireside are not in a similar way alike in our efforts and abilities to create change in our limited circle of influence. As i look back at my experiences they were similar.... i was able to be left alone working with troubled kids not many others wanted to work with... so was able to do many things with out alot of interference.

The problem is expanding that influence into my cirlce of concern.... and then one runs into the difficulty of creating change from the bottom up. So i believe many of us....do what we can do...yet continue to be frustrated with the overall systems we may find ourselves in.

Seems that leadership then becomes a critical piece of the change puzzle.... yet how many leaders are around that really want to create the kind of place where change can be created from those that actually do the work.

As we continue to move toward more centralized control of power... this problem will continue to expand....and it is certainly getting more and more difficult to find places that allow the freedom you describe.

Don't have many answers on how to turn this around....... wondering what others are feeling?

be well..mike

[Laura Gibbs]

Hi Mike, I read Stephen Downes's blog every day, because he reports on so many other blogs I don't have time to read - and yesterday, he mentioned a piece by David Wiley on exactly this topic, and I could really relate to Downes's comment about how creative thinkers get filtered OUT, rather than being promoted up. :-)

======

When Innovation Gets Difficult:
David Wiley's post on innovation in institutions.

Imposing your will on bits and bytes is "easy." Leading an established institution through the valley of the shadow of reform and up the opposite bank toward innovation is "hard." But it is absolutely critical work, and precious few people are in positions that afford them opportunities to provide this kind of leadership.

Comments by Stephen Downes: My own take on the reason for this is that the process that select for "leaders" select people who precisely are not innovative. The greatest predictor for promotion in an organization is obedience. Creative thinkers are filtered out early in the process. That's why I still prefer to work outside the organizational framework - life is too short to spend trying to persuade people conditioned to conformity.

[Connie Weber]

Discussion taking place today at Education Sector:

Research and Reports, Discussion Room, Teachers at Work

Great panelists---

Submit a question?

[Connie Weber]

Here is the discussion of the study by the panelists at Education Sector. I submitted some questions, as did many others. The conversations are thoughtful. There are some good links posted by Elena Silva, as well.

[Mike]

Hi all... hope this finds you well.

I liked this question by you Connie:

Another question for you: Where do you envision this new breed of principal to be coming from? Where would you look for principals, and what "qualities of being" would you want to see in them?
Posted by: Connie Weber from Fireside Learning network, and Emerson School

Joel Rose from NYC Department of Education, School of One responds:




This is a great question. There is no doubt that we need to begin to cultivate a new generation of principals, particularly to serve in our most underserved communities. This is immensely challenging work, especially for school leaders who must turnaround schools that have been underperforming for so long. And our system does little to encourage these types of assignments. The job requires a unique skill set that includes the ability to inspire, to make tough decisions on human capital, to manage up into politically charged (and often dysfunctional) bureaucracies, to manage a budget, to engage parent communities, to work through challenging issues relating to infrastructure, and (most importantly) to be fully accountable for student outcomes. With this as the job description, I think many would-be principals would simply rather stay teachers or assistant principals -- especially since our lock-step pay system does little to encourage these types of assignments. If we are thoughtful, I do think we would be able to recruit this type of principal from the teacher ranks. We do have 60 or so teachers in every school for every principal. But it won't happen if we simply wait for them to apply. Districts needs to recruit aggressively to fill these position. We also need to understand that the principalship may no longer be a lifetime position. Turning around failing schools can take 3-5 years, and those who do it are often so drained that the thought of doing it again is simply unimaginable. So I think we need to think about the principalship as the most important position in a school district and think more strategically about where we find them, how we pay them, how we keep them, and how we can - over time - change their assignments to account for the challenges in the role.


thanks..mike