Finding Our Voice – Speaking Out to Build Support For Our Work

1. Finding Our Voice – Speaking Out to Build Support For Our Work NCTE Webinar March 27, 2012 Steve Zemelman, Director, Illinois Writing Project Harry Ross, AssociateProfessor, Department of Secondary Education National College of Education, National Louis University

2. Meet Our Presenters • Steve Zemelman • Director of Illinois Writing Project • Co- author of Best Practice and 13 Steps to Teach Empowerment

3. Meet Our Presenters • Harry Ross • A professor in the Secondary Education Department at National Louis University • Works with teachers in Chicago high schools • Co-author of 13 Steps to Teacher Empowerment

4. The Situation: Teachers Need to Speak Out – but Wisely • Widespread budget cuts and union-busting • Unsupported administrative mandates • Policies by politicians and bureaucrats who don’t understand teachers’ work • Teacher job satisfaction has decreased by 15% since 2009 and is the worst in 20 years. • http://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/contributions/foundation/american-teacher/MetLife-Teacher-Survey-2011.pdf

5. The Situation: Teachers Need to Speak Out – but Wisely • We can’t sit back passively while our hard work is getting bashed. • Reponses need to be carefully crafted and echoed by many voices. • Susan Komen emails as an example of what’s possible: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/04/health/policy/komen-breast-cancer-group-reverses-decision-that-cut-off-planned-parenthood.html?pagewanted=all

6. The Situation: Teachers Need to Speak Out – but Wisely • Knowing more about skills and strategies makes it easier to speak - and not lose our jobs in the process. • Levels of advocacy teachers can engage in: • Promote change in your own building • Build understanding of your work among leaders in your district • Inform parents and community members about what it takes to achieve deep learning in classrooms • Influence state and national policies

7. Agenda for this Session • A few stories to illustrate the sorts of teacher efforts we’re talking about. • Your thoughts on the educational issues in your school and community and how teachers address them (or not). • Concepts for re-thinking our roles, influencing policies in our schools, and effectively using our influence. • 4 key strategies for using our voices wisely.

8. Overall Perspective • We are not telling you what issues to address or what stands to take. Those will be your decisions. • We’ll focus on the thinking, attitudes, and strategies that can help you to speak up and make change happen. • That’s what has been a missing link for so many teachers.

9. Wallace Foundationwww.wallacefoundation.org Learning from Leadership: Investigating the Links to Improved Student Learning, by Karen Seashore Louis, et al., University of MN (2010) Some conclusions from the study: • When principals and teachers share leadership, student achievement is higher. • When teachers feel attached to a professional community, they use instructional practices linked to improved student learning. • Higher-performing schools provide more opportunities for influence by teacher teams, parents, and students. What happens when the school improvement process is top-down, without significant teacher collaboration? See Charles Payne’s So Much Reform, So Little Change: The Persistence of Failure in Urban Schools (Harvard, 2008).

10. Some Teacher Stories • A high school teacher collaborated with a fellow teacher to teach a previously out-of-control class. • An art teacher figured out how to win permission to have students paint murals in the hallways. • A teacher uses Facebook and Twitter to fight back against ignorant comments about teaching.

11. Survey of the Audience • Now we’d like to hear from you. We have two questions: 1) What are one or two issues you believe need to be addressed – in your school, district, community, or nationally? 2) How are teachers addressing these – or not? • Write a phrase about each question on the next slide –with your “A” tool – or in the chat space on the bottom left of your computer screen. • Raise your hand by clicking on the hand icon if you have a microphone and want to share.

12. Survey of the Audience • Possible Issues to be addressed: Overload of Initiatives - Lack of Time for Collaboration - Administration Doesn’t Consult Teachers - Data Mandates – Other Issues Write in the space below:

13. . Now it’s your turn!

14. Listening to your stories

15. Learning from Community Organizers • Organizers have a whole vocabulary and way of thinking that most of us as teachers have never been exposed to. • We acknowledge teachers have a lot on their plate, and that students in your classroom are your first priority. • It’s also important to think and act outside your classroom and your building as well.

16. Some Ideas for Rethinking Leadership • Traditionally, many teachers focus just on their classrooms and don’t think too much about wider roles. • In a school community everybody leads and exerts an influence of some kind. • We can be intentional about the roles and actions we take and plan carefully to maximize our influence. • Leadership is not about who you are, but what you say and do.

17. Some Ideas for Rethinking Leadership (cont.) • Influencing other teachers and a school can take many forms besides leading professional development workshops. • Some community organizing strategies: • Build relationships – within your group & across groups • Find self-interests in common • Don’t fight battles you can’t win • Choose activities that appeal to multiple interests & individuals – e.g., a book-reading group, action research together.

18. Positional vs. Relational Power • Positional power – gained from an official position, like a principal. S/he evaluates subordinates, may be able to hire or fire people, and gives out rewards or punishments. • Relational power comes from how a person relates to other people, inspiring respect, or maybe fear. • Good principals exert relational power. Often it’s what enables them to get things done. Positional power is actually rather limited. • If we understand relational power, we can use it intentionally to influence actions and policies in our schools and communities – and build support for ourselves.

19. Building Relationships • Community organizers use “one-on-ones,” person-to-person sit downs with someone they need to work with. This may be an opponent or official who would rather not be bothered. • These meetings are not for gaining support for your ideas, but simply for the two of you to get to know each other better, and build trust.

20. Act Strategically • Don’t go out on a limb alone. Get plenty of support – a “floor team” – 3 or 4 other people who will second your idea and back you up. • Meet with likely detractors and get their objections in advance so that they feel consulted. • Don’t take the principal by surprise. • These principles apply at your schooland in larger contexts.

21. Choose a Focus • Carefully choose a focus for your advocacy and your arguments. Don’t try to fix everything at once. • Many schools have too many initiatives going at once. There is simply not enough time or energy to get tasks all done, so efforts get diluted and scattered. • If a group has a long list of priorities, it can be difficult for people to know which ones to respond to first. • Don’t get distracted by personal comments. Stay focused.

22. Comment on these strategies • Tell us your thoughts about these strategies – either on this slide or in the chat box – and raise your hand to make a comment. Write in the space below:

23. Listening to Your Stories

24. 4 of the 13 Steps Build Bridges Talk to “the Man”/ “Woman” Look inside the black box Speak Up

25. Build Bridges (Especially with fellow teachers who see things differently than you do) • How it helps: builds a basis of trust and understanding so that more of the faculty can work together; relieves stressful situations; strengthens connections even with fellow professionals you think you already know well.

26. Build Bridges (cont.) • Use short (half-hour) one-on-one meetings to get to know each other’s background and values. • Don’t try to press an agenda. Rather, learn about the person and share your own background as well. • Look for shared interests, focus on kids’ learning, and keep the conversation constructive, but don’t be afraid to ask hard questions. • Big meetings aren’t usually the best place to tackle sensitive topics. It’s better to take these up one-on-one – though that’s a different situation from the more introductory discussions.

27. Talk to “the Man”/ “Woman” (the Principal, that is) How it helps: enables you to understand the principal’s thinking and to share your own; builds trust and the relationship so if needs or issues arise, you have a basis for approaching him or her.

28. Talk to “the Man”/ “Woman” (cont.) • Start a practice of regular brief check-ins. Ask questions to learn the principal’s interests. • Do a bit of research to learn more about the principal’s background. • Examine your own attitude toward authority, to reduce anxiety in approaching the principal. • If making a request, couch it in terms of the principal’s and the school’s best interests. • If an issue is sensitive, don’t put the principal on the defensive, or go negative. Identify shared common interests.

29. Look Inside the Black Box (Studying your students and their learning) How it helps: adds to your understanding of your students; enables differentiation; provides information that can be shared and analyzed with fellow teachers; gives you fresh perspectives; provides data to justify your teaching strategies.

30. Look Inside the Black Box (cont.) • Consider what kinds of information would help with your teaching. • Check out existing research on your question. • Plan a research strategy that is doable, and that will give you the sort of useful information that you need. • Document the evidence and observations you gather, and save evidence such as student papers. • Share results with other teachers. Do so in a way that elicits their ideas and sparks discussion.

31. Speak up How it helps: It enables you to get your needs met instead of just complaining; avoids having all decisions made by others; helps to make the school more of a professional community.

32. Speak up (cont.) • Evaluate the risk involved in speaking up. Often it’s lower than you think. • Be clear about what you are aiming to accomplish when you make a proposal or state an opinion. • Talk with the principal first so he or she isn’t taken by surprise. • Talk with other key teachers – to get their support or learn their concerns. • Decide the best strategy to achieve your aim. Will speaking out in a big meeting help, or is there a more effective venue? • If debate develops, stay focused on your goal. Don’t get drawn into unproductive arguments.

33. Speak up (cont.) • Carol Jago’s feature articles on teaching • Recent New York Times article – “Confessions of a Bad Teacher” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/opinion/sunday/confessions-of-a-bad-teacher.html?pagewanted=all

34. Comments on these strategies • You mentioned some issues earlier. With the four strategies in mind, how might you work on these issues? Write in the space below:

35. Listening to Your Stories

36. Follow Up • On the next screen are the four strategies we described. • If you’d like to follow up on one of these, write your name by one or more you’d like to continue to explore with other participants. We’ll get a listserv going for your group. • It will be up to you to keep the conversation going, but we can pitch in some ideas and resources.

37. Talk to the Man/ Woman Build Bridges Look Inside the Black Box Speak Up

38. Follow Up • Next November in Las Vegas, we’ll conduct a featured session at the NCTE National Convention, on • “Using Teacher Voice to Inform Public Policy.” • Sonia Nieto will be the main speaker, and there will be discussion tables so teachers can actively learn and share their efforts to be heard. • We hope to see you there!

39. Thank you for attending our session! Steve Zemelman Illinois Writing Project stv.zemelman@comcast.net Harry Ross National Louis University hross@nl.edu