As of writing this post, it has been 328 days since COVID began to transform the way schools function. For those of us in leadership roles, a critical question this time has been what does it look like to support teachers?
First and foremost, the mental health and wellbeing of our teachers must be prioritized. Organizations like The Greater Good Science Center out of University of California Berkeley and ASCD have sent out resources with articles to address this. We know that while remaining physically distant for safety purposes is necessary, we must prioritize connectedness through community. Providing moments of joy in Zoom meetings for sharing endearing moments with students and for sharing personal celebrations is a sacred ritual that must be maintained since many of these conversations used to happen in the staff lounge or during hallway conversations. Successful learning moments in the classroom (whether in person or remotely) must continue to be shared to bolster pride in our commitment to our community of learners. Similarly, instructional leaders must continue to provide support related to teaching and learning but must also acknowledge that professional learning, while still important, may not feel like the top priority to those who feel they are in a survival mode.
As the Math Coordinator and Specialist for my school, I created a weekly PDF which I sent out to staff each Friday morning for perusal at the teacher's convenience over the weekend. Through the Weekly Math Update, I have offered a consistent place for weekly professional development that can be used as a "take some" or "take all" model based on the needs of the teacher. This weekly PDF contains a "Best Practices" quote for a bite-sized reminder of what we value as good teaching. The "Article of the Week" allows for a more in-depth look into an area of instructional practice through a hyperlinked podcast, blog post, video clip, or article. In the "Check This Out" section, there is a math-related resource with specific images, tools, and/or tasks for use with students, while the "Integrate Tech" section provides a suggestion for leveraging the capabilities of our students' 1:1 iPads as a way to make student thinking visible, to allow for increased mathematical discourse, and to amplify student voices in and outside of the classroom context. Finally, the "Tweet of the Week" section is an opportunity to highlight some of the exciting math moments that have happened recently in our school.
The goal is for the common theme of the Weekly Math Update to reflect a recent conversation had with a teacher(s) that may be worth sharing more broadly or to reflect a need in the school community as it relates to teaching and learning math. There is always a link included to the "archives" of past weeks resources as well so teachers can go back at their leisure to dig in more deeply, particularly if there were times when other areas of life took precedence over looking at the math PD resources that were emailed that week. In reality, I know every teacher does not open this email every week. But it is my hope that those who do get varying levels of professional growth, affirmation, and encouragement from the resources therein.
So as I say in the Weekly Math Update, "take a moment, and take a look" at some of the Weekly Math Update slides. If you have feedback on how to make this more useful to teachers, I would love to hear it! If you are an instructional leader, how have you adapted to support your staff with professional development and instructional resources during this time? Let's broaden our community of learners to support each other as we continue to navigate this transformational time in education.
