bradshreffTomorrow on VoicEd Radio, I will be hosting a panel discussion on administrator balance with special guests Derek Rhodenizer, Brent Coley, and Mary Vetter.
This came about because a couple months ago, Mary came to me and asked “How do I make sure I’m not hurting or upsetting teachers, but also give them the necessary feedback on their practice?” As an Assistant Principal at our school, I felt initially that her question was more-or-less rhetorical, and I didn’t really reply, but she pushed on, asking for real answers.
I had a couple suggestions, first and foremost saying that if the goal of building morale was so that they will take feedback, it will be ineffective. “If you really want to find answers,” I eventually said as our conversation continued, “then we can do that. Let’s reach out to some administrators outside our district and see what they think.”
So, I sent out a message to some of my favorite administrators, both of which have actually been on my podcast before, and also to Stephen at VoicEd and we setup this panel show.
In further talks, Mary is interested in looking at how you can bring about change in a school. She finds that teachers are often resistant to change, and that is something she would like to work on. I agree with her completely. Much of my work has become focused on how to make resistant teachers willing to change, making small changes that are palatable. What if we are going about it all wrong though? What if we looked into how we make teachers accepting of change?
The panel will run from 8 to 9 pm on VoicEd Radio (which you can find at https://voiced.ca) on Tuesday, November 28th. We will be looking for answers to the following questions:
- How do you build morale in the teachers who report to you?
- How do you create feedback that doesn’t compromise that morale?
- How can/do you instill organization trust in your teachers?
- Is there something we as administrators can do to make teachers more accepting of change?
I am really looking forward to this discussion with some powerful educators, and I hope you will all join us!