Listen to the episode by clicking the link to your preferred podcast platform below:
In this episode, I’m inviting you to dream big to support student achievement, teacher retention and educator well-being. Teachers are overwhelmed, stressed, and exhausted. The educational system is not set up to support teachers’ mental and emotional wellness. Since we are focused on systems transformation, we’re thinking about the systems we can revise to stop putting the burden on individual educators to to self-care their way out of burnout.
Why focus on teacher schedules? From Hattie’s research, we know the thing that has the largest impact on student learning is collective teacher efficacy. How do teachers’ build efficacy? Professional learning. This includes opportunities to collaborate, learn from and with peers, and have enough time to thoughtfully and effectively plan instruction. In many schools, this is not possible during the school day, given the schools’ schedule. This excerpt from “Reimagining the School Day” highlights some interesting data. “Teachers in the United States reported spending 27 hours teaching out of 45 hours of work per week compared to teachers in Singapore, who teach for only 17 hours per week and teachers in Finland, who teach for a total of 21 hours per week. Schools in these countries prioritize time for planning and collaboration, recognizing that developing and executing lessons take time and preparation…In another analysis of more than 120 school districts, the most common length of time allotted for planning was 45 minutes per day,” (American Progress). Not much time at all, and certainly not for collaboration. What can we do? There are many innovative scheduling models out there. Check them out! Visit those schools or hop on a call with educators who teach in or lead those schools. Seeing what’s possible is a great start. You can find links to several examples at the end of my Make Time Quick Guide freebie. Here are some specific ideas to consider that can increase teacher planning time: Step 1: Early Dismissal/Late Start Half-Day PD days or early dismissal Thursdays are becoming more popular (e.g., MA) Step 2: Reallocate Tasks Hire community members to do recess, lunch duty, or other circular 6 tasks. Administrators, teach one class! Step 3: Intervention, Enrichment, or Club Time Blocks Staff an enrichment/intervention block with paraprofessionals/aides, social workers, media specialists, instructional coaches, or community partners. You can also use this time for clubs, projects intensives, internships, or community service. Example: Urban Academy’s Community Service Block on Wednesday afternoons
Step 4: Project-Based Intensives Example: Generation Schools’ secondary schedule gives teams 2 weeks of professional collaborative time staggered throughout the year when students are in intensives with the college and career intensives team.
Example: Urban Academy’s twice per year intensives.
Step 5: Leverage Existing PD Time for Collaboration & Peer Learning Peer Visitation Time Vertically Align Rubrics & “Norm” Expectations Invite Teachers to Share a Promising Practice as the Staff Meeting Final Tip Invite teachers, students, families, non-instructional staff to creatively brainstorm scheduling ideas. Give them the legal parameters, and let them dream. To help you implement one new PD structure within teachers’ schedules, I’m sharing my Peer Visitation Starter Kit with you for free. And, if you’re looking for more details on the ideas in this blog post, listen to episode 158 of the Time for Teachership podcast. If you’re unable to listen or you prefer to read the full episode, you can find the transcript here.
If you enjoyed this episode, check out my YouTube channel where you can learn about my student experience data strategy here:
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
For transcripts of episodes (and the option to search for terms in transcripts), click here!
Time for Teachership is now a proud member of the...AuthorLindsay Lyons (she/her) is an educational justice coach who works with teachers and school leaders to inspire educational innovation for racial and gender justice, design curricula grounded in student voice, and build capacity for shared leadership. Lindsay taught in NYC public schools, holds a PhD in Leadership and Change, and is the founder of the educational blog and podcast, Time for Teachership. Archives
January 2024
Categories |