Dear colleague,
A few years ago, a principal I was helping with a yearlong PD program on the Five Key Beliefs texted this to me after a session:
The first thing I did was look up what it meant — I, like the principal, didn't know. I discovered that it meant getting something to come from something else that the first thing shouldn't be able to come from.
The next thing I did was think back on the experience the principal was referencing. It was early winter, and faculty was feeling the drag of that time of year. For this particular PD program, we were giving faculty a brief, video-based discussion prompt each month, hosted on their school's learning management platform. In the discussion, there were lots of comments that, on their face, were pretty negative.
- Why can't students just come to us motivated?
- Us teachers are expected to do everything by [society/admin/parents/students], and we have no support.
And so on. It was pretty heavy.
So prior to the hour-long live session with this group, all I did was read through their comments and group them on some slides (names removed) according to the day's topic (in this case, we were looking at the Effort and Efficacy beliefs). I pointed out promising practices, smart thoughts, and general connections between what folks had shared and how the Effort and Efficacy beliefs work.
But then once in a while, I would also point out some of these negative comments. (Again: names were removed.) They'd be right up there on the screen-share for all to see. And I'd point at specific things commenters said that I thought were interesting or intelligent or connected to how Effort and Efficacy work.
For example:
| Not seeing a video link? Click here. |
This is basically an old-school Gerald Graff move — name the naysayers. I did that, and I afforded them dignity. Because every human being we work with HAS dignity, regardless of the behaviors or thoughts they are currently sharing.
Just because a comment is negative doesn't mean it has no value for teaching and learning.
Just something I'm thinking about today.
Teaching right beside you,
DSJR
P.S. ‘Tis the season where schools are considering PD budgets for next school year. If you'd like to get me in the mix at your school, I'm happy to discuss a PD partnership with you. Just use this contact page to start the conversation.
Leave a Reply