A Balancing Act It Is!

As we approach the beginning of yet another school year, many teachers are thinking about priorities, building a positive culture and setting the stage for a successful school year for both students and adults.

When I worked with the National Schools to Watch Program, they provided in their vision three equal components necessary for high performing schools: academic excellence, developmental responsiveness and social equity.  Below, I am sharing a few thoughts around each from some of my recent reflections and conversations with teachers.

Academic Excellence:

• Pay attention to those rigorous academic standards! Let standards guide lesson and unit planning, as opposed to designing instruction around text books and other resources.

• Be intentional! Know exactly why you are teaching everything you teach.  Likewise, with respect to instruction, know why you do everything you do. 

• Frontload teaching “processes!”  There's a pay-off as the year progresses when processes become a habit of mind.

• Replace "What" questions with "How" or "Why" questions when designing essential and guiding questions.  Vary questioning strategies to engage all students.  *See Questioning Tips and Strategies   http://edtalkwiththelocks.blogspot.com/2012/10/questioning-tips-and-strategies.html 

Developmental Responsiveness:

• Classroom agreements should be established on the first day.  I like allowing students to participate in this process. * See Rules Vs. Group Agreements 
http://edtalkwiththelocks.blogspot.com/2012/08/rules-verses-agreements-control-or.html

• Provide opportunities for student voice and participation in decision-making.  (i.e. student choice regarding reading materials, flexibility with groups and work space, choice in demonstrating learning, etc.)

• Frontload teaching protocols and setting expectations!  Learning progresses more efficiently and more expeditiously when students have mastery of procedures and expectations.

• Be flexible with scheduling.  Blocks of learning should be scheduled around the needs and goals of the learners.  Schedule activities, conferences, meetings, etc. when time and transportation are easiest for students and families.

• Make time for team and community building.  There are a number of resources out there with age appropriate team building activities and ideas.  Even to have students pair share, then move to small groups to discuss their interests, goals, favorite activities, likes, etc. is a good start to building relationships.  Chief Seattle said, We are but one thread within the web of life. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together; all things connect." It's important to connect!

Social Equity:

• Hold high expectations for all!  Make certain all students are held accountable for the same rigorous standards-based goals; however, differentiated resources and strategies can be utilized to achieve those goals.  

• Focus on building positive relationships with students and families upfront. Use every means of communication possible. (i.e. newsletter, e-mail, social media, home visit, conference, you name it!) I have found in my career the greater connection I could make to a caregiver, the greater success I could ensure for the student!

• Respect every student’s culture through providing alternative resources, reading materials and activities that reflect diverse cultural experiences.

• Make sure students have an opportunity to work in mixed or heterogeneous groups.  Multiple perspectives are developed from collaborative social conversation; likewise, diverse thinking is collaboratively shared and modeled among group members.

I think it’s easy in the ever-present testing environment we live in to get caught up focusing on academic excellence.  I question whether our efforts toward academic excellence could be sustained if we did not address our students’ compelling developmental and social needs.  It is critical we give careful attention to how we teach students, how we treat students, and how we schedule students as we try to balance the three attributes of high performing schools within a meaningful, supportive context.  A balancing act it is! 

Best wishes for a successful school year my dear colleagues!