These are the sort of questions that have guided Linda Lambert throughout her career in education, and they're the sort of questions she asks other educators to ponder as well. She instructed her workshop participants at the ASCD 2002 Teaching and Learning Conference to think about the last time they were in a really good classroom and describe the scene. What “really good stuff” was going on in there?
“Students were active participants in the classroom,” answered one educator. “The teacher used questions to dig into student thinking—and then used the students' responses to go even deeper,” observed another. “Curiosity was valued,” added another.
Now, Lambert continued, “Think about the last faculty meeting you attended. Could you say the same thing?”
Attending to Adult Learners
It's not surprising, Lambert noted, when the answer to her last question was “no.” Although many educators now know what kinds of learning experiences students need to be academically successful, these same educators fail to realize that they and their colleagues must also have opportunities to be active participants in learning, to ask questions and dig deeper, and to be curious.
“For years we have realized that we were responsible for students' learning,” said Lambert. “About 25 years ago, we became aware that we're supposed to attend to our own learning, but we still have not yet lifted up our eyes and looked around the table and said, ‘I'm responsible for Renee's learning—and she's responsible for mine.’”
When teachers accept this responsibility to their colleagues, they enter into what Lambert calls a relationship of “professional reciprocity.” Such relationships, she stated, help build a community of learners among educators, and in sharing “what they know about good learning,” these teachers assume the job of instructional leaders. What's more, to teach is to refine. According to Lambert, teachers find that when they share their work with their colleagues, they discover that it makes them “a better learner and leader and a better teacher in the process.”
Authority and Accountability
Encouraging teachers to embrace their instructional leadership roles is supported by another trend Lambert has observed through her work helping administrators and schools in their reform efforts: more schools and districts are emphasizing lateral as well as vertical accountability.
Lateral accountability requires teachers to participate in an action research process that asks them to look at student data in a given area, examine students' work, arrive at conclusions about what types of instruction or curriculum will help boost student achievement, and propose next steps. As part of this process, teachers report their findings both laterally and vertically to colleagues, administrators, and district personnel. “There is mutual feedback between the two systems,” Lambert explained. This feedback ensures that the school's goals are in alignment with the district vision.
Solving Problems Together
Emphasizing lateral accountability gives teachers the authority to make important decisions about curriculum and instruction, she said. It also requires that they stop blaming outside factors for poor, or even average, student performance. As a result, teachers and administrators working at schools that emphasize lateral accountability demonstrate a willingness to problem-solve and take risks as they strive to achieve a shared vision for student learning.
The culture of such a school is reflected in the discourse, Lambert stated. She recalled that when she was a novice principal, teachers would seek her permission to try a certain approach or use a particular resource. “If I said ‘yes,’ I would feel so magnanimous,” Lambert admitted. She later realized that “yes” was the wrong answer, just as saying “no” would have been. “The reason: I was reinforcing the permission giving and withholding norm, rather than trying to shift into problem solving.” Lambert said that instead she should have asked teachers to tell her what they were planning, what the approach would look like, or how the resource would be used, and ask them to describe what outcomes they expected.
The positive effects of using problem-solving dialogue can be readily seen in the classroom. As adults in the school become skillful at listening respectfully and asking probing questions of each other, they also become more comfortable working in the same way with students. And that, Lambert asserted, is precisely what leads to the kind of learning that takes place in that “really good” classroom her workshop participants described.
Benchmarks in the Development of Teacher Leadership
- Teachers initiate new actions by suggesting other ways to accomplish tasks and goals.
- Teachers solve problems instead of asking permission and blaming.
- Teachers volunteer to take responsibility for an issue or task.
- Teachers invite other teachers to work with them, share materials, and visit classrooms.
- Teachers listen to each other, particularly to new members of the staff.
- Teachers admit to mistakes, acknowledge unsolved instructional issues, and ask for assistance from colleagues.
- Teachers use different language when talking about children, language that suggests that all children can learn and that it's just a matter of figuring out how best to teach each individual child.
- Teachers become more skillful in conversations, facilitation, asking inquiry questions, and teaching.
Source: Lambert, L. (2002, October). Figure 4.2 Building leadership capacity through commitment: A few benchmarks and strategies [Handout]. From the workshop “Developing Teachers and Instructional Leaders,” ASCD 2002 Teaching and Learning Conference, New Orleans, LA. Adapted with permission.
|