#StayinTeaching

On the last day of the school year, I played catch with a 4^th-grader while I waited for her teacher to give each child a hug as they left for the summer. After all the buses had been called and there were no more children left to hug, the teacher and I sat down for a chat.
 
“How long have you been teaching?” I asked.
 
“Thirty years,” Sandra responded.
 
“Wow! Good for you!” I said. “Will you be back next year?”
 
“You bet!” she replied. “I like a challenge! And I like English language learners.”
 
Later in the conversation, I uncovered some additional reasons for this teacher’s longevity and positive attitude: Her school leaders really made a difference.
 
“I would say (here) that administrators are 100% supportive. They’re not always breathing down your neck. They treat you as a professional. It’s been a really great year for me.” Sandra added that “they’re not nit-picky, and they’re not micromanagers here, which is very nice…So it’s been a very happy year. I’ve been happy every single day when I’ve walked in here. I’ve wanted to come to class.”
 
That seemed especially impressive to me, given the worldwide challenges of the 2021-22 school year.
 
When the conversation turned to test scores, Sandra said, “Here they don’t make a big deal about them.”  She referenced knowing teachers (at other schools) who have been “called in and chewed out and cried and everything” because of test scores. “Here,” Sandra said, “they don’t rub your face in it. Which is wonderful, you know!”
 
Sandra is not a lackadaisical teacher; she talked with me about the routines and structures she had in place and about the learning that went on in her classroom. She was giving it her all and happy about it. Her supportive principal made a big difference.
 
“She just lets us be a human. She’s so nice! She’s just nice all the time!” “She’s a mom. I’m a mom. My daughter graduated this year, and she’s like, ‘Well, go!’” She contrasted that with her experience at another school, where she said even a personal-day absence had to be approved, and if she needed to leave 15 minutes early, she had to take a full day off.
 
These stark contrasts over the course of a long career made Sandra appreciative of the leadership at her current school. “I love my job,” she said. “I am so happy to be here.”
 
The points Sandra made during our conversation aligned with the report I’d heard recently on a podcast.*  In episode 190 of “Cult of Pedagogy,” Jennifer Gonzalez summarizes responses she received from over 200 teachers who are staying in the profession when others leave. Gonzalez lists the following leadership moves that make the biggest difference:

1) Appreciation, listening, and emotional support. Sandra felt this from her administrator. She said, “She just lets us be a human.” 

2) Flexibility with policies and curriculum. Sandra explained, “They're not micromanagers here.”

3) Prioritizing physical and mental health. For the teachers Gonzalez heard from, response to the pandemic came up a lot. Surprisingly, that wasn’t the case in my conversation with Sandra, but it was clear she felt cared for.

4) Lightening the Load. Sandra said, “they’re not nit-picky here.” School leadership let teachers make decisions about how to spend their energy.

5) Trusting teachers. Sandra said, “They treat you as a professional.”

As an instructional coach, I hope you’re in a position to offer this kind of support to teachers, to influence administrators to do the same, and to be a buffer when they don’t.

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I’m excited to share that my book, Differentiated Mentoring and Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner is available for preorder here!  The book is my gift to coaches. I’ve put all my best thinking into it, and I can’t wait for you to read it!

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This week, you might want to take a look at:

*What principals do differently at schools where teachers stay:

https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/teachers-leaving/

Building relationships for compassionate coaching:

https://learningforward.org/2022/05/06/coaching-with-compassion-starts-with-relationships/

4 practices for making observations more empowering for teachers:

https://www.edutopia.org/article/4-strategies-reframing-observations

Authentic ways to support striving readers: 

https://choiceliteracy.com/article/what-my-sons-reading-difficulties-taught-me-about-teaching-struggling-readers/

 

5 mistakes new teachers make:

https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/the-mistakes-i-made-as-a-new-teacher/

That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!

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