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Changing the Culture

Culture eats strategy for breakfast.

Peter Drucker

The most difficult thing to do in a school or school district is to change its culture. This enormous task brings to mind that famous question, “How do you eat an elephant?” The answer, of course, “One bite at a time.”

Changing a school or district’s culture works the same way, except that while taking one bite at a time, you must be the positive face of change at every step, modeling exactly what is expected of other educators. When I realized that my previous school district needed to change its approach to professional development, the task seemed virtually impossible to tackle. And the road was anything but smooth. When I presented my vision for personalized, relevant, and connected professional development, I received some strange (and a few angry) looks in return. Later, as we worked to implement PD content at staff meetings and create additional staff learning opportunities, I tried some things that tanked—and got a few more angry looks. But I had two things going for me: the support of my school superintendent and a monthly staff meeting with each school in the district. I knew I had to make the most of that monthly opportunity to engage our educators on a deeper level.

Bite by Bite

The good news about those monthly meetings? I got to share a consistent message with the staff members at all five of our district’s school campuses. The bad news? I was sharing new ideas with staff members and challenging the status quo at all five of our district’s school campuses. At first, some people were not sure what to think about my ideas for revamping PD. Sometimes my presentations fell flat. Sometimes I would ask a question and get blank stares and dead silence in return. But I kept at it.

In addition to the monthly staff meetings, which all staff members were required to attend, I started offering voluntary training sessions. On some occasions, only one person showed up. Sometimes as many as fifteen teachers attended, all eager to learn something new that would help them in their classrooms. At every meeting, I tried different strategies—some I had learned from other educators, some I simply made up—to generate stimulating conversations. (My best ideas usually came during the car ride home after particularly disappointing meetings.)

And after more than a year of hard work and dedication, things began to change. Teachers began to see that the activities might be worthwhile and that the crazy ideas just might work. They began to understand that changing how we were doing things might ultimately lead to better outcomes for students. The process of creating a culture of intentional, ongoing learning was long and included many stops and starts, but in time, those teachers and I experienced genuine professional growth.

Below are a few of the ideas I employed to add a layer of professional development to a traditional staff meeting:

Host a Problem-Solving Summit

Ask staff members to brainstorm a list of problems. Choose one or two problems that affect the majority of people in the room (or school), and collaborate on possible solutions; for example, in one school, the teachers and administrators agreed that the daily class schedule was not working. During the monthly staff meeting, we reevaluated and redesigned the school schedule. We discussed what worked and didn’t work. Teachers made suggestions. I listened and took notes. We ultimately devised a new schedule to better serve the teachers’ and students’ needs. After running on the new schedule for several weeks, I asked for feedback. In the end, our discussion at a staff meeting led to an improved schedule, all because we used the time to fix something that wasn’t working.

Host an Appy Hour

If you don’t already, try moving your staff meeting to your media center. Have the media specialist select a few new apps or websites and line up teachers or even students to present each one during a staff meeting. When we tried this, the session was amazing. We limited each presenter to two minutes and then set up each one at a different station, allowing staff members to choose the apps they wanted to explore. Teachers moved excitedly from station to station, learning how to use the different tools in their classrooms. Pair your Appy Hour with three or four actual appetizers, and you’ll have the winning mix for a can’t-miss meeting!

Talk It Out

Teachers love to talk, especially about their passions. Why not take advantage of that passion during your next staff meeting? Set up chairs in a circle to foster discussion. (You can further encourage people to open up by having everyone do a quick share right at the opening of the meeting. Talking early tends to make people more active in the conversation throughout the meeting.) Let teachers discuss a topic like behavior management or homework. What works and doesn’t work? What mistakes have led to breakthroughs in the classroom? Let teachers reflect and share resources and strategies. Allow for small-group sharing and then bring everyone back to the whole group at the end of the meeting to wrap up.

Model a Lesson

How many colleagues have you watched teach a lesson in the past year? If you’re like most teachers, you simply do not have time to visit other classrooms. School leaders get to visit classrooms and see the amazing work teachers and students are doing every day, but other teachers are the ones who would benefit most from seeing their peers in action. Staff meetings can be the perfect time for peer-to-peer training—without taking up any additional time. Teachers can present a lesson to give others an idea of a method or activity that worked well in the classroom. School leaders can show they still understand what is happening in the classroom by presenting a lesson of their own. Those in the audience can do the activities and share as if they were the students, which offers tremendous insight into what students experience during a lesson.

Use Centers

Centers are a popular instructional device in the primary grades but also work well with adults during professional learning opportunities; for example, set up four centers featuring different topics and activities. Using a staff meeting this way is smart because it allows participants to stand up and move around after a long day. It also offers the freedom to direct their own learning. It is important, however, to allow for a few minutes of sharing at the end of the meeting. One way to ensure staff members visit each station is to issue them blank index cards. Have them write their name on their card and then get it stamped at each location. Then the cards with all four stamps can be placed in a box, and one card can be drawn for a modest door prize.

Throw a Picnic

Take your staff meeting outside and enjoy some fresh air at the same time by having a picnic. Ask your educators to come equipped with a blanket and one instructional strategy, resource, or idea to share with the group. Teachers can travel from blanket to blanket learning from their colleagues. If the weather doesn’t cooperate, the cafeteria or gymnasium will work too. For the first twenty minutes, half of the participants walk around while the other half shares. At the twenty-minute mark, switch it up. Be sure to authenticate your picnic with actual picnic goodies to create a fun experience for the entire staff.

Dot It!

Devote a staff meeting to some professional introspection by providing your teachers a safe place to reflect on how they do their jobs. When everyone is gathered, give each teacher several dot stickers in different colors and a piece of chart paper listing various teaching practices. Assign each color a different frequency such as always, frequently, seldom, and never. Then start asking the questions and have the teachers rate themselves on their chart paper. You can ask teachers how often they use technology in the classroom, how often they use student discussion in the classroom, and how often they use questioning in the classroom. The goal is to generate discussion among the teachers as they reflect on ways to improve.

Tip Jars

Have you ever seen a trendy cafe encourage tipping by creating a debate using dueling tip jars? Steal this idea! At your next staff meeting, place two jars on a table, each labeled with a relevant workshop topic. Give each teacher a marble and let them vote on what topic they want you to present. People tend to be more willing to learn when the topic is chosen by the collective group. If the topics “win” the same number of marbles split almost down the middle, take time to learn about both topics during the meeting. I tried this at a time when my district was rolling out Google Apps for Education (now G Suite). Those of you in school districts that also went through this change know there is a huge amount of information to absorb. During one staff meeting, the jars featured labels that said “Google Drive” and “Gmail.”

Most schools and districts already have staff meetings scheduled for each month. Use the monthly meeting or take a portion of it to focus on some sort of relevant professional development. This is an excellent way to promote ongoing learning, have some fun, and provide meaningful, relevant content for staff members!

Summary

Reflection Questions