ELLEN
BERG
Diary #9
Why Is It That Our Best Collaborations
Begin at Payday Happy Hour?
I am convinced that everyone needs to have a beer (or a Coke, or an iced tea, and perhaps a deluxe plate of nachos) with their colleagues every so often. Not only is your thirst quenched and your stress level decreased, you have the opportunity to build community and gain a real perspective on what others are thinking.
Tonight I went to happy hour with four of my colleagues: the seventh grade math and science teachers, the art teacher, and the social studies teacher on my team. We ate, talked a little shop, complained about minor injustices and determined the best place for a manicure in the St. Louis area.
Eventually the talk turned to curriculum matters (reading in the content area specifically), and my teammate said she knew she was too book-dependent, but she wasn't too sure how to break away. At a recent team meeting she had heard me describing backwards design, and tonight she asked me to help her learn how to apply backwards design to her own teaching. Our group talked for a good long while on the best way to plan, and we had a mini-workshop right there at the noisy, crowded bar.
Opportunity knocked, and we answered. The other senior member of my team and I have talked about working with "Kay" on decreasing her use of the textbook. Until today, I was under the impression that she did not want to change, that she was pretty comfortable with the status quo. However, through our conversations at happy hour, not only Kay but the seventh grade science teacher engaged in some pretty meaningful conversation about their practice and desire to strengthen their skills. Our impressions about this young woman were incorrect.Sometimes our meetings are too professional
I do not know that a faculty meeting or workshop is necessarily the best medium for reaching all teachers. Unfortunately, during these meetings we are often so professional and teacherish that we fail to see what less knowledgeable, less experienced, less brave members of our staff need. These members are afraid of looking stupid because many times the trust just isn't there. We don't bother to build those relationships because the expectation is that everyone is supposed to work together and ask questions and take risks.
However, we all know that is not the case. Faculty meetings are mostly business meetings, and real talk about teaching and learning rarely occurs though we know that ongoing conversations about our practices are critical for student and teacher achievement.
We cannot simply jump into meaningful conversations with our colleagues. Talking about what is happening in our classrooms – and being honest about it – is akin to getting naked in a public place. A trusting relationship must first be built, one where all participants feel comfortable, heard and respected, and that takes time.Erasing the boundaries that separate us
Four years ago I went to Costa Rica with a group of educators from across the state to learn inquiry-based teaching methods. Six staff members from Turner Middle participated, and of those six, two members are still at my school. Though we worked together as learners and teachers, we also got to know each other as people.
One night I was the evening's entertainment: all the women in the Turner group sharing a room watched as I blow-dried my hair. We laughed, ate together, and shared hysteria over the scorpions crawling around at one destination. The result? There is a lasting bond among us, and there is nothing we cannot say to each other or would not do to help each other out. As Marcine, my instructional coordinator, puts it, when you share hair implements, you pretty much erase the boundaries.
Currently my team is looking at ways to meet outside of the classroom. This summer we met several weeks before school, and we were the most energized and successful we have ever been. All of us feel a little lost as we enter second quarter, a little less sure of what others are doing in their classrooms and where we want to go next. Team time is filled with parent conferences, IEP meetings and paperwork while curriculum planning is pushed to the side under pressure from administration. Until we can work out our schedules to meet outside of school, we will have to rely on our payday happy hours. They're the most productive meetings I have had all year.
