Discussion.
Although I gained a lot of insight in terms of adult learning for the purpose of supporting teachers in project-based learning and displaying student work in order to increase the depth of learning, I am still left with more questions than answers. How can school leaders balance both giving what teachers want/need to better their practice and yet address bigger picture issues that we need to discuss as a school? How can we better use the concept of an authentic audience to push all students to learn deeply and thoughtfully? Why weren’t the specific curation instructions appreciated by the staff despite the fact that it seemed like it was what they wanted? In hindsight, my endless questions aside, I did learn a lot in terms of managing, structuring and implementing adult learning in a progressive school.
Going back to the previous point of how similar adult learning is to teaching our young students, one thing I learned as a school leader is similar to a teaching strategy in which teachers provide instruction time to start assignments in order to increase the likelihood of students completing the work. If school leaders want their staff to complete a task that supports student learning, leaders should provide team for teachers to start a particular action or discussion in order to increase the likelihood of it being completed. Especially if the school is implementing a curriculum as progressive and as collaborative as project-based learning, providing teachers with the time to either work individually or with each other would show the staff that their time and work is appreciated and valued. Dialogues that got started during meetings would continue, ideas that were born would marinate, transform and turn into a reality and relationships that sparked would continue to contribute to the collaborative environment that school leaders are trying to instill. Depending on the importance of the issue or topic, school leaders should strongly consider investing in all-staff meeting times to start discussing or doing work that is a priority in student achievement.
Additionally, whenever designing professional development for teachers, school leaders should always keep in mind non-classroom teachers and how the purpose of a PD connects with these staff members. When the school year started off, as the PD planning group, we received a lot of feedback from our Resource Specialist teachers commenting on how they felt the content of the PDs did not feel very meaningful to them. Keeping this in mind, whenever we had a PD I tried my best to remind non-classroom teachers what their role might be in this particular workshop. By making the purpose explicit, many faculty members, including classroom teachers, felt more connected to the meeting and found meaning in activities that they might not have seen otherwise. This also goes back to my realization on how this is very similar to teaching students -- when teachers make the purpose of the student’s work clear and meaningful, the students are more likely to be engaged and motivated. “Any homework is not better than no homework at all” and “make sure students understand the purpose” (Paulu, p. 9 & 10). This is very true for adults as well.
My biggest epiphany throughout the duration of this project was the idea that good curation takes a village. When observing other schools that were strong in displaying student work, it was evident through the comments of the teachers and students that curation was simply a part of their school culture - it showed in the school building what the school leader’s priorities were. Teachers understood the expectations when it came to curating student work and it came from their school leader. Students as well understood that at some point their work will be publicly displayed, which in turn affected the level of work they were producing. When talking informally with High Tech High Media Arts and High Tech High International students (both schools have been around for much longer than HTHNC and therefore have allowed for a culture of curation to strongly develop) it seems very apparent that having their work displayed either around their school or other public spaces is a norm. They were, in fact, rather surprised when I mention what my research is about and how I am trying to improve our campus. “I just assume it’s going to be displayed at some point,” one student from another HTH had said to me. I can confidently say that very few students at HTHNC would be able to say that at this point in our school’s life. And this type of mentality doesn’t just happen -- teachers and school leaders alike have cultivated this culture. I realized that as a school leader, you need to know what your priorities are and make that apparent to all of your colleagues. In turn, the teachers will make that priorities clear to the students. In the end, it will require the entire village to contribute to the school leader’s priority.
Despite my endless ponderings, I can look at our school walls and confidently say that we as a school are headed in the right direction. Regardless of whether it was the PDs that my colleagues and I designed for our staff or this research itself that helped us get to this point, we are seeing more student work up on the walls and we are hearing more and more teachers talk about curating and valuing the work that our students do.
Going back to the previous point of how similar adult learning is to teaching our young students, one thing I learned as a school leader is similar to a teaching strategy in which teachers provide instruction time to start assignments in order to increase the likelihood of students completing the work. If school leaders want their staff to complete a task that supports student learning, leaders should provide team for teachers to start a particular action or discussion in order to increase the likelihood of it being completed. Especially if the school is implementing a curriculum as progressive and as collaborative as project-based learning, providing teachers with the time to either work individually or with each other would show the staff that their time and work is appreciated and valued. Dialogues that got started during meetings would continue, ideas that were born would marinate, transform and turn into a reality and relationships that sparked would continue to contribute to the collaborative environment that school leaders are trying to instill. Depending on the importance of the issue or topic, school leaders should strongly consider investing in all-staff meeting times to start discussing or doing work that is a priority in student achievement.
Additionally, whenever designing professional development for teachers, school leaders should always keep in mind non-classroom teachers and how the purpose of a PD connects with these staff members. When the school year started off, as the PD planning group, we received a lot of feedback from our Resource Specialist teachers commenting on how they felt the content of the PDs did not feel very meaningful to them. Keeping this in mind, whenever we had a PD I tried my best to remind non-classroom teachers what their role might be in this particular workshop. By making the purpose explicit, many faculty members, including classroom teachers, felt more connected to the meeting and found meaning in activities that they might not have seen otherwise. This also goes back to my realization on how this is very similar to teaching students -- when teachers make the purpose of the student’s work clear and meaningful, the students are more likely to be engaged and motivated. “Any homework is not better than no homework at all” and “make sure students understand the purpose” (Paulu, p. 9 & 10). This is very true for adults as well.
My biggest epiphany throughout the duration of this project was the idea that good curation takes a village. When observing other schools that were strong in displaying student work, it was evident through the comments of the teachers and students that curation was simply a part of their school culture - it showed in the school building what the school leader’s priorities were. Teachers understood the expectations when it came to curating student work and it came from their school leader. Students as well understood that at some point their work will be publicly displayed, which in turn affected the level of work they were producing. When talking informally with High Tech High Media Arts and High Tech High International students (both schools have been around for much longer than HTHNC and therefore have allowed for a culture of curation to strongly develop) it seems very apparent that having their work displayed either around their school or other public spaces is a norm. They were, in fact, rather surprised when I mention what my research is about and how I am trying to improve our campus. “I just assume it’s going to be displayed at some point,” one student from another HTH had said to me. I can confidently say that very few students at HTHNC would be able to say that at this point in our school’s life. And this type of mentality doesn’t just happen -- teachers and school leaders alike have cultivated this culture. I realized that as a school leader, you need to know what your priorities are and make that apparent to all of your colleagues. In turn, the teachers will make that priorities clear to the students. In the end, it will require the entire village to contribute to the school leader’s priority.
Despite my endless ponderings, I can look at our school walls and confidently say that we as a school are headed in the right direction. Regardless of whether it was the PDs that my colleagues and I designed for our staff or this research itself that helped us get to this point, we are seeing more student work up on the walls and we are hearing more and more teachers talk about curating and valuing the work that our students do.