Ongoing Conversations

Recently I retweeted a tweet by Jason Markey who said "A culture of ongoing professional conversations is so much more important than PD events.". I instantly retweeted it because I read it and it made sense to me. I know that almost always, instant feedback is one of the most powerful forms of feedback that you can receive and/or give. As teachers, instant feedback to our students is powerful; constant conversations with our peers is also just as powerful. With this said, I truly believe instant, ongoing conversations with the people we work with should be the norm. Professional conversations with people you can trust, all the while receiving a possible solution that you have not yet come to see yourself.  Nothing is more frustrating than working on the same problem over and over, and continuing to come up with similar problems.

      Recently I've been dealing with two major issues in my classroom that I've been trying to understand/solve in a way that would benefit my students, my staff and myself. I've internalized these problems and racked my own brain to work to solve them. As I worked on these issues internally, I wasn't making much progress. In a moment of desperation (which in fact, should instead be a daily moment of conversation), I reached out to a trusted coworker. After I convinced myself to listen instead of tell, Angie Lamb was able to guide me in a direction that made sense. She encouraged me to start over, wipe the slate clean with what I think the students know and instead reform the foundation for what I know they are not doing. Today was better, will tomorrow show more growth? 12 hours from now we will know!

    A second example of these constant conversations of growth was today during our weekly professional development that our district offers (which although isn't daily, it is most beneficial). I've been having a specific problem with a specific student in our classroom and what I've tried in my classroom has not been showing me any results. Again, I was trying things over and over, without perhaps thinking of it in a new perspective. Today I brought the problem forward in our professional development and as a team we were able to come up with a solution that not only makes sense to myself, but also makes sense to the team I work with and one we all felt good about. Will tomorrow show me the results we hope? 12 hours from now we will know! 

    What is a way many of us can do this, without perhaps needing to get a chance to talk with a coworker face to face?  Find something you believe in and grab on to them it in social media. Engulf yourself with professionals who believe in the same things you do. Twitter... Facebook... The blogger world. Looking at something from a different perspective is powerful

    What's worth remembering when you get done with this blog? - If you keep coming up with the same results, you're not finding the right solutions. If your solutions aren't on track - Ask yourself - Have you worked with your team yet to get their thoughts?