the part of the constellation that is collegial

A constellation: cultures of thinking, active mindset, pleasure and play, a collegial culture for teachers--



There’s a lot to do. Where is a good place to begin?


Let’s begin with ourselves. Roland S. Barth provides an analogy: If an airplane’s going down, parents need to get the oxygen masks on themselves first so that they will be able to get the oxygen masks on their children. It’s kind of like this.

Basically, we need to take care of ourselves so that we have enough energy and perspective to accomplish the major work of setting up climates for learning that are conducive to depth and breadth (breath!) of thought. We need energy. We need energy, more than ever because the demands of the job have gotten so intense--and conflicting. We need energy because of our new role is as pioneers, helping our students navigate and find success in a new age of learning.

The first step has to do with development of collegiality. In Improving Relationships Within the Schoolhouse,” Barth wrote, “The nature of relationships among the adults within a school has a greater influence on the character and quality of that school and on student accomplishment than anything else.” We have the “…capacity to either enrich or diminish one another’s lives…” He talks about how we raise ourselves up to higher levels of sharing, moving from “parallel play,” and “adversarial relationships,” to “congenial relationships,” and ultimately “collegial relationships.” In “Learning by Heart,” Barth declares that “Schools exist to promote learning in all their inhabitants.” He, too, rejects the “Transmission of Knowledge Model” (which succeeds in “training youngsters to submit to adult authority and to substitute adult problems, objective, tasks and ideas for their own, and which don’t emphasize the skills that learners need in the 21st century).” (Barth, ____)

“Business leaders tell us that the skills and abilities their employees will need in the twenty-first century include the following: teamwork, problem solving, interpersonal skills, oral communication, listening, personal development, creative thinking, leadership, goal setting, writing, organizational effectiveness, computation, and reading. Every one of these skills, of course, requires continual lifelong learning…Those who thrive in the years ahead…will be those who have during the school experience, become active, voracious, independent lifelong learners…”

His main point: in order to bring this out in children, we need to be doing it with ourselves. We need to be the Head Learners in the school; we need to be constantly modeling learning, promoting that our students, too, are constantly modeling learning. Only it’s not modeling, it’s the real thing. We have to form a community of reflective learners, mindfully learning and thinking about thinking, playfully and experimentally thinking together, supporting innovation, then reflecting and analyzing and gathering data and promoting this way of being in our students. “If they see adult models who are done, baked, cooked, finished as learners, they too want to be done, baked, cooked, finished as learners—‘I’m outta here!’” What if students see a completely different picture, opf active, engaged, innovative teachers?

How do we become Head Learners? We “create cultures of collegiality.”

From Barth’s article:
“Famous baseball manager Casey Stengel once muttered, ‘Getting good players is easy. Getting ‘em to play toether is the hard part.’ Schools are fully of good players. Collegiality about getting them to play together…” When I visit a school and look for evidence of collegiality among teachers and administrators—signs that educators are ‘playing together’—the indicators I seek are: educators talking with one another about practice, educators sharing their craft knowledge, educators observing one another while they are engaged in practice, and educators rooting for one another’s success.”

At Emerson School, we’ve come a long way in development of collegiality through something completely informal and easy. A group of about 15 of us started what we call “Fireside Chats.” We meet together for dinner at someone’s house (usually a potluck—typically everyone brings an ingredient we put in a huge salad), then after dinner we discuss articles or chapters from books on education. (READINGS FOR FIRST YEAR LISTED AT END) It sounds so simple; you’d wonder if it could have any impact on school collegiality. It does. It generates connections, and those connections reach out into the broader learning atmosphere. The power of Fireside Chats comes from a couple of things: anyone can submit articles for the group to read, on any topic of choice. Anything goes, everyone has input. We’re “becoming reflective practitioners” by taking time to talk about what we’re doing, what we’re struggling with, what we care about, and what we’re learning. We reflect together.

Meetings get started with a question that broadly relates to the reading, inviting personal reflection on an open-ended and nonthreatening topic. (“Tell when you are experiencing pleasure during your school days. Give the setting, and what the subject might be. Say how the kids are acting, what you're doing, what makes for the pleasure in the atmosphere.” “Think back to your childhood and find yourself happily immersed in play. What were you doing?”) After talking about the opener, people discuss anything about the articles that comes to mind. Leadership shifts and flows; there’s a good deal of earnest questioning and a healthy amount of laughter.

We started with Fireside last October, have now had about five of these meetings (once every month or two). We’ve seen growth of trust, increased professional and personal support of each other in school, interest in and connection to our various projects, and an increase in group membership. Anyone can join. People do join, when they see it’s a positive thing. Some people just request the articles but don’t come the to meetings. That’s fine; the reading gives us common reference points. The articles do tend to come up in “regular” staff meetings, often taking those meetings in a new direction.

We have a diverse group of educators, including specialists, administrators, teachers of all age-level kids. Fireside Chats are unanimously considered uplifting; they’ve helped us gain confidence and a feeling of collegial support. We’re continuing our meetings this year, and a regional Fireside (not associated with a particular school) will be starting as well. An interesting part of the Fireside initiative: you don’t need permission or administrative sanction to start this up—just do it. People are allowed to get together; why not use get-togethers for upbeat and earnest professionalism? With any luck and open-mindedness, your administration might just join in. No matter what, you’ve got each other.




Fireside Chats, readings from 06/07

(as you can see, not a formal bibliography):

Chapter Two from the Self-esteem Teacher by Brooks

Webs of Skill: “How Students Learn” by Fischer and Rose (Educational Leadership)

“Listen to the Natives” by Prensky (Educational Leadership)

“Researchers Urge Broad View on How to Build Character” by Manzo (Education Week)

“Basic Skills Revisited” by Rothstein (Point of View, Harvard Education Letter)

“Exercise Improves Learning and Memory” (Howard Hughes Medical Institute)

“The Paradigm Trap” by Spady (Education Week)

“Adopt and Adapt” by Prensky (Edutopia)

“What Does It Mean to Educate the Whole Child” by Noddings (Educational Leadership)

“Changing the Homework Default” by Kohn (Independent School Magazine)

“Backtalk/On Being Disrespected” by Prensky (ASCD)

The Common Application (for college)

“The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds” by Ginsberg (American Academy of Pediatrics)

Chapters 1 and 2 from The Courage to Teach by Palmer

“Starting School Reform from the Inside”, an interview with Roland S. Barth (Wire Side Chats, Education World)

“How Not to Talk to Your Kids” by Bronson (New York Magazine)

“Students’ View of Intelligence Can Help Grades” by Trudeau (NPR)

“See It to Believe It” by Helgoe (Insight Magazine)

“Principles of Best Practice” by

“Special Topic: The Case For and Against Homework” by Marzano and Pickering (Educational Leadership)

“The Caring Classroom’s Creative Edge” by Lewis and others (Educational Leadership)

“Smart and Good” by Davidson and Lickona (Independent School Magazine)

“The Emerging Online Life of the Digital Native” by Prensky

Chapters 1-3 of Learning By Heart by Barth

“Improving Relationships Within the Schoolhouse” by Barth (ASCD)