OPTIMISM
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence. This is the quote that I am using to stay positive about the Professional Learning Community. Our team recently got together to debrief on our first PLC and talk about what we can do moving forward to our next PLC.
As we talked about the process and the first PLC, one thing was abundantly clear; the concern over teachers following through without an administrator driving the wagon. Jen, Rebekah, and I are leading the entire project at this point, and although the topic was considered important enough to be chosen as a PLC topic by administration, it is not being led by any administrators. The initial feedback was mixed from the staff. Many of our colleagues agreed that the information was necessary for the students, while others focused on the fact that there were no administrators involved in the process, and therefore little need to follow through. As a tech leader, this is hard for me to hear, because so much time has been spent on trying to get something, ANYTHING, to be a part of our curriculum when it comes to teaching technology and digital citizenship. Our students are being left to learn technology on their own without ever realizing the consequences of their actions. Additionally, it is difficult as parents of young children to see our own kids (all of whom attend other school districts) truly understand technology, and understand their choices and how technology SHOULD be used, learn these things in a devoted weekly technology special. Unfortunately, at Red Lion we do not have the luxury of a computer class, so for teachers to say it isn’t being enforced is demoralizing, upsetting, and honestly terrifying. To calm myself down and focus on the positive I read an article that focused on what to do when staff doesn’t follow through. (LINK HERE)
However, OPTIMISM is what drives us forward. In our team debrief we discussed how there would not be a change in specials classes offered here in Red Lion. Therefore, we have to find ways to get this information across in a productive way so that the students in Red Lion are learning just as much as our own children in other school districts. Looking at the positive side, there were many teachers who we heard had taught the lesson, did an excellent job with it, and valued what was being taught. As I watched some of the Flipgrids (can be accessed from these two links – FIFTH GRADE FLIPS – SIXTH GRADE FLIPS) that came in I was impressed with the teachers and what they had to say, even though there are only a small few that completed the assignment at this point. In order to maximize the responses we agreed in our debrief that we would send a reminder email or two prior to the next PLC at the end of November.
The next thing we discussed was the timeline as we move forward. At this time, we do not believe we are going to be able to present at any more PLC’s for the remainder of the year. Therefore, we have to lay out our yearlong plan in our next PLC. The timetable as we move forward will be to teach one lesson per month in each of the remaining months with the exception of April. (Due to PSSA assessments).
Our final discussion point was how to involve parents in the information being presented. We agreed that it was extremely important to get this information into the hands of the parents as they will be modeling and monitoring technology use outside of the school environment. We decided as a group to see what our peers thought would be the most beneficial way to get this information into the hands of the parents. Ideas that have been presented include presenting a special night, having them attend a session during parent/teacher conferences, or having them see a presentation during back to school night.
One final point that we did discuss was how awkward it was to talk to a group of people, all of whom, had their cameras and microphones muted. It made it very difficult to get a read on whether individuals were listening, paying attention, or even present as we were speaking. An article that I read on reading your audience (LINK HERE) talked about the importance of reading the audience in order to know if what you are saying has value. As a learning point, I believe I will be requesting for the next PLC to leave cameras and microphones on during the presentation. So here is to OPTIMISM driving the future of our PLC’s!
