What! Another day off...

Yesterday there were, perhaps, many an LGA parent mumbling expletives about the fact that there was no school. After a long holiday weekend, I appreciate bringing Raviv and Danya to their appointed places, relishing the fact that they are in good hands and we are all back to our routine. So why, then, was there another day off yesterday? It was probably the most important day off that students have taken in a long time. While they were enjoying another day of rest and relaxation, our faculty was deeply immersed in the work of creating a document for a "Vision of Good Teaching" at LGA. This isn't just a one-day, months-long, or even year-long project. This is a multifaceted, ongoing collaboration that is taking our school on a journey to even higher places. Our main question of focus has been, and remains, "How do we make schools a place for teacher learning?"

Yesterday, we focused on two additional questions with four ancillary objectives: "How do we observe to improve learning and teaching?" and "How can standards affect teacher performance?" In the above picture, you will see the four goals of the day. I want to focus a bit on the word niceness. We also used the word politeness a lot. Many elementary schools (and especially LGA) are places that are generally  pleasant, polite places to work. For the most part, faculty members treat each other with the utmost respect. When it comes to their work, they have interacted with each other in rather perfunctory ways - exchanging niceties, never observing each other's classrooms, and assuming that every lesson, from every teacher, every day, is adequate. 

These past three years, we at LGA have started to break down this rather blind vision, and have said our doors are open to learning for everyone in the building. But we haven't been doing this work alone. It is through our time spent with the Mandel Center at Brandeis University that we have really shaped this vision for good teaching. We owe a huge amount of gratitude to Mandel for politely pushing an agenda forward that is in groove with our's as a school. LGA does an excellent job of teaching our students. We must commit to doing the same thing with our teachers. It can't be a one-sided proposition. We are now focusing on the differences between "niceness," "judgement," and "inquiry." As a faculty, we are moving toward "inquiry." In small groups, we started by challenging ourselves to look at a text entitled "Developing Practitioners, Developing Practice." In this article, the authors talk about having "to un-learn the politeness norm that dominates most current teacher discourse." There is a lot to ponder when it comes to this point, largely because of what I mentioned in the previous paragraphs. By nature, we want to be collegial. It's the "nice thing to do." It's part of our school culture.

So how do we become a faculty that takes "inquiry"seriously? We are attempting to hone our skills by splitting into small groups who do "rounds" of observation of each other. We acknowledge that it will be a complicated scheduling task, but it will be worth it. Faculty is being split into groups of five, with a mix of general studies and Judaics teachers. 

Just as when doctors practice rounds, our teachers will explore deeply why certain teacher moves are used. There will be exacting protocols for discussion, and time set aside for teachers to inquire about the lesson that allows for risks to be taken. The teacher will have an opportunity to reflect on what he/she thought went well, and what didn't go as anticipated. It's this commitment to teacher learning that sets LGA apart. When we seek medical attention, we appreciate how doctors are consistently self-improving and staying on top of the latest findings even after years of practicing medicine. Shouldn't we hope for the same for our teachers?