Never Underestimate Your Teachers

I just listened to a fabulous episode of "Principally Speaking", a podcast that I often listen to which is geared toward budding administrators. In the episode, the host spoke with Robyn Jackson, a former teacher and principal that now spends her time writing books and creating quality PD for both teachers and administrators. She spent time talking about how to help new teachers. It really resonated with me because her main message was

Trust your teachers. Do not be prescriptive with them. Let them develop the style that is most meaningful for them.

I believe that this is so important and I really hope to be able to help my school with this next year.

One thing she said is that we are all motivated by purpose, belonging, autonomy, and mastery. When you are introducing a new initiative, make sure to keep all of these motivations in mind.

1. For someone primarily motivated by purpose, make sure that you have good reasons for why the initiative is what is best for teachers and students.

2. For someone primarily motivated by mastery, make sure to give them concrete steps for being successful with the new initiative.

3. For someone primarily motivated by belonging provide support structures and constant assurance that they are on the right track.

4. For someone primarily motivated by autonomy provide many options and avenues for implementing the new initiative.

Robyn also talked about ways that we can best support new teachers. They don't just need one mentor, having many helpful. You want to choose mentors that are not necessarily master teachers because master teachers have difficulty explaining why they do the things they do. It came too naturally to them.

One strategy that I really liked is to ask new teachers what it is they are struggling with. Then, walk with them through other classrooms and simply observe how other teachers handle the same issue. Show both good and bad examples. This will help the new teacher develop their own teaching style. Robyn said that this gave the new teachers confidence and helped them build trust in her.

If you want to listen yourself, the full podcast can be found here: http://principallyspeaking.libsyn.com/never-underestimate-your-teachers-with-robyn-jackson

Enjoy!