Sometimes some of the best professional development comes from collaborating with others. HS strategist, Sheri Crandall has learned this first hand, in her first year as an instructional strategist. Sheri had the opportunity to collaborate with other schools' teacher leaders and found it very enlightening and helpful.
Below Sheri documents her learning in her own words. Thanks for sharing.
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“We keep joking as teacher leaders that we don’t know what we don’t know, but thanks to other strategists being willing to collaborate with me, I have grown a lot over the last year and feel that I have gained a lot of insight.”
A year ago, I found out that I would be an instructional strategist for LMHS, but what did that new job entail? We started in June of 2014 by attending a symposium in Waukee, IA, where their instructional coaches shared their experiences over the last 6 years, as they implemented teacher leadership in their district. It gave us a great place to start and our first introduction to our four major roles of consulting, collaboration, observation and coaching.
After being in the classroom for 26 years, I was fairly confident that I was successful in that role, but in this new position, where every day looked different, was I being as effective as I could be? Since some of my greatest strategies in teaching came from collaborating with my colleagues, I decided to try this same technique with my new role. In November, I spent the day shadowing Waukee HS, Instructional Coach Mark Stallman. Mark introduced me to edcamp, one of their Professional Development models, and discussed the role he played in Waukee’s PD time. This was instrumental in leading to a revamping of our PD days here at LMHS. I was also able to be a part of their Building Leadership Team Peer Review team meeting and hear about the risks their teachers were willing to take. Their principal posed this question: “Do we want our students to be lifelong learners and take risks? If so, then how do we model the model?” This question not only pushed his staff to take some risks, but I found myself reflecting on his words as well.
Another question I often wondered about was the ability to coach another HS teacher that taught a content different from my own. Mark shared his experiences with me and said he felt he could be a better coach when he was outside his content area, sharing his belief that when you don’t know their content you ask more authentic questions – to make them think. I too have found, that my questions are much more thought provoking when I’m outside of my content area.
When I asked Mark about his thoughts on collaboration, he said, “Taking risks and sharing our experiences with each other is invaluable in helping all teacher leaders improve.”
In February, Melissa Hocking, Secondary Instructional Design Strategist Facilitator for the Cedar Rapids Community School district, helped me by facilitating a day of shadowing their teacher leaders, at Washington and Jefferson HS. I spent part of my day with the strategists at Jefferson HS, where I attended their team meeting and we were able to share with each other our successes and struggles and share strategies that we found helpful.
I spent part of the day with Sandra Metzger, strategist at Washington HS, where I was able to shadow her in an observation debriefing and Standards Based grading meeting with a Math teacher. I was also able to spend time with Melissa and learn all about their teacher leadership program at Cedar Rapids, and how their program was set up and the nuts and bolts of their program. I came away with great ideas on strategies and program ideas to bring back to LM with me. One example, was the way CR schedules and utilizes their model teachers. Sandra asked if I would be willing to reciprocate this experience and allow her to shadow me for a day.
In March, she came to LM to spend the day with me and again we were able to share and compare programs and ideas and both walked away with a sense of how empowering our collaboration was and could continue to be. When asked how she felt about our experience, Sandra said, “As a new instructional strategist, this year has been a challenge. I stepped away from a role where I felt experienced, comfortable, and competent, only to find myself with challenges I had not fully anticipated. Being in this role, however, has opened my eyes to see how incredibly valuable, and even vital, collaboration is to our profession. I can become both comfortable and competent as an instructional strategist, but it will only happen through experiences of learning collaboratively. I appreciate the opportunities I had to experience this kind of leaning with Sheri Crandall and other teacher leaders at Linn-Mar. I know that this is the beginning of a meaningful partnership that will help us support teachers and improve student learning.”
In March, she came to LM to spend the day with me and again we were able to share and compare programs and ideas and both walked away with a sense of how empowering our collaboration was and could continue to be. When asked how she felt about our experience, Sandra said, “As a new instructional strategist, this year has been a challenge. I stepped away from a role where I felt experienced, comfortable, and competent, only to find myself with challenges I had not fully anticipated. Being in this role, however, has opened my eyes to see how incredibly valuable, and even vital, collaboration is to our profession. I can become both comfortable and competent as an instructional strategist, but it will only happen through experiences of learning collaboratively. I appreciate the opportunities I had to experience this kind of leaning with Sheri Crandall and other teacher leaders at Linn-Mar. I know that this is the beginning of a meaningful partnership that will help us support teachers and improve student learning.”
Also, in March, Jill Versteeg, strategist at Johnston HS, came to visit us at LM and brought along 3 student support services teachers. Her SSS teachers are working to make some changes to their program and wanted to collaborate with the SSS teachers here to see what our programs looked like. During her time here, she and I were able to share how our programs worked and again different strategies. We shared our professional development models with each other and I walked away with a great example of how they combine their professional development with observations of their model teachers in a model they call Demo Day. Jill had this to say about our day together, “One thing I think I would say about the day is just how powerful the TLC grants are in terms of allowing for collaboration. Not just collaboration within your own district, but between districts across the state! Having the opportunity to talk with Sheri, Tina, and the special education teachers really enriched the conversation I then had with teachers in my district about things that are happening at Linn Mar that we may want to try.”
As my first year as an instructional strategist is quickly coming to an end, and I reflect upon this year, I realize how so much of what we have accomplished at Linn-Mar has grown from seeds planted by other strategists that were willing to dialog and share with us. How much more knowledgeable we become and how much more powerful a program can be, when others are willing to collaborate and share with us. In a couple weeks, we will be hosting Pleasant Valley School district, who will begin their first year of their program next year. I can only hope that we can be as much help to them as they begin their journey as others have been for us.
I’m looking forward to my 2nd year, and continued collaboration with strategists and coaches throughout the state of Iowa, as I continue to grow into my new roll.
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