PLCs Filling Buckets

picture by blended.blog

Pandemic-related school closures pose challenges to schools and districts all around the world. Transitioning quickly to an online platform illuminated the issue of a lack of access to high-speed internet, devices, and other resources, especially for our most vulnerable student populations, particularly those that are English-language learners, those with disabilities, homeless, or are growing up in poverty. As educators think about starting school in the fall, there is good reason to be concerned about these students being even further behind than their more privileged peers. School leaders* need to take pause. 

In education, we often get desensitized to the process of labeling students. Joy Kirr, the author of Word Shift, said, "Labels- whether we think them or say them aloud-influence the way we feel about people. They limit our students, confine them to the borders of the label, and for that reason alone, I want to stop labeling students, even in my mind." And as educators, we're all familiar with the Pygmalion effect- the psychological phenomenon in which one's expectations about a person can eventually lead that person to behave and achieve in ways that confirm those expectations. 

As leaders, let's be cautious about the words we use and the mindsets we have as we collaboratively work in our PLCs to educate our kids. Recently a member of my PLN, Traci Browder, led a fantastic chat about "Filling Buckets (celebrates growth) vs. Filling Gaps (assumes deficits)" for the #LeadLAP community. The thoughts shared by my PLN resonated with me and inspired me to think more deeply about labels, mindsets, and closing the achievement gaps. 

What if we approached our PLC conversations from a strength-based mindset? What if we acknowledged what the kids do know and have mastered and build from there? One of the main reasons I became an educator was to ensure that students had more opportunities by making certain that I could provide the best education possible. What if we filled our students' buckets with world-class educational opportunities? What kind of growth could our kids experience if we intensely focused on fewer standards-especially for the upcoming school year? Could we fill our student's buckets with specific, timely feedback about their progress towards mastery of a clear target? These are not new questions, but perhaps there is more relevance as we think about what was taught and what students have actually learned following the last couple of months of remote learning.

Admittedly, I'm not an expert about all things PLC. But, I do have a wealth of classroom experience, and maybe a few insights that I think will help leaders guide educators to fill the buckets of our students.

• Make sure that all kids have access to grade-level essential curriculum. There might be the temptation of thinking that presenting kids with lower-grade curriculum will catch them up. It won't. It will make them fall farther behind. Instead, we need to make sure that all kids have access to grade-level essential curriculum and then provide extra time for interventions to specifically re-teach skills. Some students will need even more time for the daily remediation of foundational skills. But, the time to re-teach skills does not come at the cost of sacrificing teaching grade-level curriculum. According to John Hattie's research, if students that need all three levels of support get that help and if it's done well, student achievement can advance two or three years! That's within one school year!
• Keep high expectations for all kids. "In teaching, you have to believe that every single student (100 percent of your students with no exceptions) can improve a great deal and that you're willing and able to make it happen. You have to believe that you are the biggest difference-maker in each student's life. You have to believe that no matter what else is going on in that learner's life, once class starts, you can make the magic happen. You have to believe you can connect, inspire, and energize every student. If there's just one molecule of doubt in your mind, students will sniff it out and lose faith because they know you don't have faith in them either." Eric Jensen
• Identify the most essential standards. After this spring, I think we'll need to revise the previously identified essential standards. We need to determine the biggest rocks. What are teachers willing to give their time and attention to, to at least teach twice? What are they willing to create common assessments for? What are teachers prepared to devote time to for planning interventions and extensions? What are they willing to guarantee that their students will master? Now is the time, particularly this year, to get really focused on the most essential skills that students need to learn.

Before school was suspended, we were beginning to see positive changes in student growth. Teams chose a couple of standards to teach for a few weeks. After learning a few Mastery Connect tricks with settings, teachers could only view those two standards and the data from their common formative assessments. The overwhelming feeling of seeing all of the standards that kids had to master through the year disappeared. It seemed doable, and teachers were willing to do whatever it took to move kids from red to green. It was exciting to see student growth- especially the growth of our ELLs.

 

I'm looking forward to building on this baby step. I do know that a more in-depth focus on a couple of standards increased motivation for teachers and students. 

• Tap into the expertise of teachers. Many teachers don't think of themselves as the school leaders that they are. They need more opportunities to lead their colleagues in discussions about how to improve teaching practices that will better engage our kids in the learning process. This year, we worked hard to get teachers watching other teachers teach. It was a growing process for everyone.
• Teach students the 3M Process: Milestone (Where am I?) Mission (What's my goal?) Method (How do I get there?) Have the students track their data and their progress. Encourage students to try various ways of learning so that they can figure out how they learn best. Teachers must give students regular, specific, and positive feedback. Useful feedback fills their buckets because it's specific enough for them to know what they need to change to master a skill. Seeing their progress is self- motivating and they'll grow when given opportunities to reflect. Teachers should provide feedback about the choices that students make (strategy), how hard they work (effort), and the mindset (attitude) they bring to learning.
• Teach academic vocabulary and integrate reading and writing into everything. Give students multiple opportunities to write persuasive arguments, support their thinking with evidence, draw inferences and conclusions from text, and problem-solve. 
• Build a Professional Learning Community. I often hear teachers say that they're "going to PLC" "doing PLCs" or "having a PLC" when in fact, the school community is a PLC. Meeting the needs of so many diverse learners cannot be done by one classroom teacher. It takes collaboration, with positive mindsets* and attitudes to ensure that every child is learning. Members of a PLC make a commitment to each other to continuously learn, to turn their insights into action, and they're hungry to see evidence of student learning.

It goes without saying that buckets can't be filled if the school doesn't have a culture where learning is of the utmost importance. Students definitely will not excel if they don't have trusting relationships with teachers, administrators, staff, and other students. In the book, Lead Like a Pirate Shelley Burgess and Beth Houf say, "They (leaders) are intentional about transforming schools into extraordinary places where students and staff are willing to go the extra mile because they feel safe, valued, and supported by leaders who believe in their capability to create magic in the classroom...PIRATE leaders embrace the notion that their primary role is culture first, culture next, culture always."

There are so many unknowns about starting school next year. But what I know for sure is that I'm more motivated than ever to take on the challenges that may come. I'm expecting to see more than the typical "summer slide." "Teaching isn't hard, but having evidence that students are mastering skills is tough. An effective teacher says, "I don't just want them to get it right. I want them to become so proficient that they rarely get it wrong. Only then, we'll move on...In mastery there is not trying hard, doing your personal best, or being just good enough. The mastery process is a personal quest." (Jensen) Filling student buckets is not about everyone getting a trophy for trying and praising students for doing less than rigorous work. It's about appropriately challenging students so that they'll be prepared with confidence, hope, and the skills needed for a great life.

We have a moral imperative to come together as professionals like never before to ensure that every child is learning and mastering the most essential skills. Nothing will get better at school unless there are shifts in mindsets and actions. We cannot fall into the trap of allowing Covid-19 to be an excuse for students not to be college/career and life ready.

Are you willing to join me and take on the challenge?

*School leaders: teachers, administrators, staff, and anyone else who influences positive change

*Mindsets: I highly recommend that leaders read, Poor Students, Rich Teaching by Eric Jensen