Anne Jolly's Diary

Entry 21: The countdown is underway! Today I grasped the spiral notebook which functions as my brain, and headed in the direction of the first team organizational meeting. My face registered a smile as I walked briskly down the hallway, but my feelings kept flip-flopping from "Oh boy!" to "Uh oh!" Every thing I've read suggests that preparation time is critical to the success of the study group process. Teachers need time to explore this option, discuss it, anticipate benefits for their students, and commit to the effort before undertaking this process.

Time. That's the rub. We have only one school year to go from ground zero to implementing this fully functioning professional development model. But teachers are miracle workers.

I proceeded from team to team, and my "Uh oh" feeling shifted towards a conviction that this process will work, even with less than optimal preparation time. Teachers participated, asked questions, digressed off task, then bounced right back on target. Some were energetic and receptive, while others were thoughtful and analytical. Predictably, a few seemed less convinced of the need for the project. Two teachers on one team graded papers during the meeting. (Mind you, they were not being rude. These gals are so type "A" that they can't just sit and listen. They grade papers while they eat lunch.) A few teachers were obviously preoccupied, probably needing to pull things together after school was locked-down for four hours yesterday while police searched for a fugitive who ran into the surrounding woods.

Most teams probed to find out exactly what I want them to do, or whether or not some idea is "right." I have to keep explaining that "right or wrong" is not the issue when developing a process. We need to know what works and what doesn't work. And what I want has nothing to do with anything. Each team decides what they need to do to grow professionally and to help their students succeed. Initially, most teachers looked uncertain, then thoughtful, and then brightened when they realized that they have autonomy under this process - autonomy, reduced isolation, and an opportunity to succeed at a challenging activity. Sounds like a recipe for success to me!

Entry 22: Where am I, and who are these teachers? I worked with this faculty for whole year, and I thought I knew a lot about them. I had an attack of "drop jaw" when I realized how little I actually know about individual teachers and their real strengths. Our P.E. teacher is a real innovator. Forget the traditional P.E. "square dance" routines of my day. Her students work in teams to develop and perform their own energetic dance routines. She focuses on building leadership in students, motivating them, and helping them to feel successful. I asked her again to start keeping a journal of her strategies as part of the documentation for the P.E. Impact Team.

One math teacher uses six available laptop computers with her students. She rotates the laptops among groups and says it works wonderfully for involving students in learning. She offered to let other teachers come in and watch how she sets up this procedure and how students respond. A social studies teacher livens up his class with a "multi-media theater creator" He uses an LCD projector, computer, and special screen almost daily to involve his students in some real-time learning. He readily agreed to let teachers observe his techniques and the student responses.

Another teacher is a national presenter for Cable in the Classroom. She offered to conduct a workshop for teachers on how to use cable to enhance student reading and writing skills. Two teachers agreed to show the faculty their method of documenting student writing progress. One math/science teacher agreed to share a student collaboration process she uses called TRIBES which would work to involve students in the reading/writing process. A language arts teacher agreed to train the faculty in Power Writing techniques (turns out he has a whole workshop already prepared for this) and to be a resource for alternative assessments and rubrics. All of these teachers agreed to be resources for other teachers.

I gleaned that much information by listening to teachers in the team meetings. No telling what remains to be discovered! A fellow teaching friend of mine once remarked, "When you get a group of teachers together, ideas just bubble up from everywhere." Think how many years of collective experience these teachers have, and what resources they will be for each other!

Entry 23: For days I've been getting things together for my first official meeting with the language arts Impact Teams at middle school #2! The barren atmosphere disturbs me when I enter the school. Last summer the system pulled out the carpet, with its 20 years of accumulated dust and mole spores, and exposed the gray, stained concrete. Some day they have plans to install tile - some day. Teachers have brightened up the walls, but that dismal expanse of concrete defies every effort to create a feeling of warmth.

One teacher here wants to bow out of this project because she is going to retire at the end of the year. She came to the meeting, however. We reviewed the learning community philosophy, discussed how a collaborative group focus could offer advantages for students, and ran through action plan development and team logs. The two teams decided to meet three weeks per month as individual teams, and one week per month to share ideas and information. When the retiring teacher left, she didn't mention the possibility of not participating. I took a deep breath of relief.

Entry 24: One of the first things I read when I started this process was that if the principal doesn't support it actively, you might as well forget it. In this case - not a problem! The principal at my school proved his commitment to this process. He suggested that the librarian videotape teachers using effective instructional practices in reading and writing and make these tapes part of an instructional video collection at the school. I knew he'd really bought into this process when he purchased eight new four-drawer file cabinets, one for each team. That means that teams can keep student materials on reading and writing in a central team location.

The real eye-popper, however, came when the principal announced that he is totally changing the way we do faculty meetings. That's right! Our faculty meetings are turning from business meetings into professional development events! During faculty meetings, Impact Teams and individual teachers will showcase particular strengths and innovative strategies. With all of the teaching talent and the principal's commitment, my last "Uh oh!" has evaporated.

Entry 25: The time for my first meeting with middle school #3 has been arranged. I no longer know if I can make a difference there. I probably can't, but if I can arrange for teachers to talk and work together with a focus on student needs, they will make a difference. If the principal actively supports it as well, this faculty will impact their students' achievement. I believe that the countdown is proceeding well, and the blast-off will be successful!