Getting Teachers On Board
Changes in Education
Education is constantly changing. Educators are continuously learning more and new information which changes the way they are teaching. If you walked through an elementary school 30 years ago you would most likely see behavior clip charts in every classroom, very little use of technology, and students sitting at desks. Now you will most likely see no public behavior management system, 1:1 devices for students, and students sitting around the room using flexible seating. The expectations and curricula have also changed throughout the years. With so much change, teachers can become bogged down with the ever-changing systems and become uninterested in learning new information. It is important for school leaders to keep their faculty and staff engaged in learning new strategies to benefit their students. Let's discuss a few of the ways leaders can promote ongoing learning and a willingness to try new things with their faculty and staff.
Encouraging Change
"In the ever-evolving landscape of education, the role of school leaders has become increasingly crucial in shaping the quality and effectiveness of learning environments" (Buffone, 2021 as cited by Andrin et al., 2023). Leaders have a huge responsibility to lead their faculty and staff towards changes which benefit all students. In a recent research study, researchers researched what leaders in education can do to promote and cultivate a culture of leadership. This promotion and cultivation of leadership within faculty and staff leads to the willingness to try new ideas. Through their research, Andrin et al. (2023) found that, "the prevalence of transformational leadership underscores the transformative impact of leaders who inspire shared visions, foster innovation, and cultivate positive school cultures" (p. 2). This conclusion is helpful for me as I work together with a leadership team to encourage and promote the use of a new teaching platform.
Promoting New Strategies
I had the privilege of collaborating with other school leaders to create a plan to roll out to teachers within our school that encourages them to try a new teaching platform called The Modern Classroom Project. The leadership team has been brainstorming ways to promote teacher engagement with this new teaching platform. This platform allows teachers to prerecord lessons that are then pushed out to students. This gives students the ability to move through the lessons at their own pace. Not only is this beneficial for students, but this teaching platform is helpful for school leaders too. School leaders can watch teacher videos to monitor classroom instruction. According to Jones and Kennedy (2022), "one of the more critical roles of the school principal is to ensure that effective instruction occurs in classrooms" (p. 115). Additionally, these instructional videos are great to refer to and watch with the teacher when having post-observation conferences. These post-observation conferences are, "an important time for the school leader to provide constructive feedback" (Jones and Kennedy, 2022, p. 118).
Why It Matters
I aspire to be a leader in technology innovation within education. I am working towards this in many ways, but one of them is through the leadership opportunity concerning Modern Classroom Project at our school. One of the standards based on the CoSN Framework for Essential Technology Leadership Skills states leaders should, "actively participate with members of the organization's leadership team to create a vision for how technology will support the district’s strategic and operational goals". I am accomplishing this goal through the collaborative leadership planning team. Together, we create a plan for teachers to use Modern Classroom Project, which is a technology-driven instructional teaching platform. This supports our district's strategic and operational goals by encouraging our teachers to engage in the best practices with emerging technologies and innovations.
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