Challenge Reflection:
Initial Thoughts
As a principal, you may have experienced similar grade level team concerns, or maybe, you’ve been an administrator or teacher where it seems all teachers have these beliefs about their students. Reflect on the questions below and make a few notes about your thoughts. Write your initial thoughts on the notetaking page.
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FIRST
First, think about a grade level team meeting where teachers were certain that some or most of their students could not make growth toward grade level expectations for reasons outside of the teachers' control. Think about what was said in those conversations. Consider whether the teachers agreed with one another and the tone of their conversations.
Were all team members engaged in the conversation?
Did they agree with one another? How do you know?
Write a brief description of what the teachers said and the emotion you observed during their conversations related to how they felt about their ability to increase, or even maintain, the number of students who were performing on grade level.
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THEN
Next, consider a time you worked with a team that was successful in increasing the number of students who demonstrated growth. Think about the conversations of those team members. Consider whether teachers agreed with one another and how any differing opinions were resolved. Describe some of the planning conversations that occurred when that team met.
How did the team interact with one another?
Did they agree with one another? How do you know?
What was the tone of those conversations?
Now, write down some of the feelings expressed by team members about their ability to be successful and what you observed that you think supported this team's success.
Now that you have begun to think about teacher perspectives, we will begin defining Collective Efficacy and explain why it is important to these teacher conversations.