I had a "deep thought" earlier this afternoon. Make sure to read carefully...these don't come very often!
I realized earlier that in our unique position, we must always be "on guard", and I don't mean to say that in a negative way. What I mean is that we, not just as ITS but especially as new ITS, need to always be confident and prepared. Obviously we aren't going to know everything about everything all of the time. I know I have changed my own procedures for the way I would like things to go several times already this year. However, generally when I make decisions, I have good reasons for them and so far it's been easy to stand behind them and reinforce them because I have thought them through.
Today I experienced what (in retrospect anyway) I feel was a pivotal moment for me. My reaction to teachers' "feedback" on a decision that I made regarding the lab schedule could have gone one of two ways - either they could have "walked all over me" and kept the schedule the same way it has been OR I could have stood my ground, provided my rationale for what I was doing, and proceeded. What do you think I did? I know exactly what most would predict...the nonconfrontational route, right?
Well, you would be WRONG! I actually stood up for what I feel is in the best interest of the students. I met with my tech team and presented my new (somewhat "radical") structure for the lab schedule. The meeting served two purposes. The main purpose was to show them the changes I had made so that they could assist their team mates with the new procedures. The secondary purpose was to get their honest feedback on this new system and make sure there weren't any serious problems with my plan. The initial feedback was interesting to say the least. They were definitely taken aback at my proposition and started to question things about it.
Me, being the nonconfrontational person that I am, quickly proceeded to validate their concerns...but this time I immediately countered with the pros of the new set up. I had honestly thought this whole thing through and was actually able to squash most of the concerns they stated. After letting the idea sit, and talking through the potential pitfalls, one teacher took the lead and said "I think this might be something that could grow on me." The feeling in the room seemed mutual.
So, only time will tell whether or not my idea will be well-received and work out. And if it doesn't work out (for good reasons that I can understand, of course!) then I'll make yet another adjustment. But for now, I am glad that I went with my gut to not back down at the first sign of disagreement. I feel confident that I did the right thing and prepared to discuss it tomorrow with anyone who reads the email I sent out.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
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3 comments:
So, in the last week what has transpired? Are teachers learning to like your somewhat "radical" notion about the lab schedule?
I'm curious...how did you change up the schedule?
HA - just now reading these comments! :)
Sandra - The teachers have not groaned one bit since the initial reaction from my tech team, and on top of it I am getting a better description of what they are actually doing in there. This is especially helpful when I am not on campus.
Kim - The lab schedule I am referring to is an "open" schedule where each team has a "preferred" day but teachers sign up as they please from week to week. The schedule is housed on a public calendar in Outlook, and most of the time it was hard to read at a glance, as there would be random appointments on the calendar which made it difficult to figure out who started at which time, especially when they overlapped. What I did was create set times in the lab which are hour long blocks basically set to each hour. I set them up as recurring appointments and also indicated which grade levels could possibly be in the lab on each day. This made it easier for teachers to determine if they are able to come in quickly and easily. The recurring appointment is labeled similar to "(OPEN - 2, 4) 12:00 - 1:00" which indicates that no one is signed up from 12-1 because it says OPEN, and that between 12 and 1, only Kinder and 4th can come. Therefore, on 3rd grade's preferred day, there is no need for Kinder or 4th to ask permission because 3rd physically can't be in the lab at that time. I also went ahead and added a short set of questions in the Outlook appointment to determine what subject area, what the project is, and whether there would be a student sample. This helps them be more specific than "Gizmos" or "Kidspiration". There is still lots of work to be done, but so far so good. We are moving in the right direction.
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