East Teachers are invited to Comment on teacherbasedteams.blogspot.com

In December, I shared this blog with my superintendent. I asked him for permission to share the blog with the teachers at East and link this work to my principal Twitter account @JulieWilloughb1. After his permission was received, I shared this blog with the teachers at East during the January staff meeting. Teachers were invited to comment on any blog that they see fit. The Teacher Based Team Blog has been an account of my point of view of our work in Teacher Based Teams. I realize that the principal will have a different perspective than the teachers in a building. East teachers are welcome to comment and correct any misconceptions that I may have to their work. As a principal, it is my job to support the work of Teacher Based Teams. It is called Teacher Based Teams however and not Principal Based Teams; and so, teachers’ point of view in this blog is not only welcome but wanted. 

Where Do Students Go When Teachers are in TBTs?

Before the year started, we decided that teachers would meet weekly on Tuesdays while students were in all school assemblies from 2:25-3:05 (the end of the school day).  With this decision came the question, how do we organize all school assemblies?

Preparing for all school assemblies is a mighty task. Some questions needed to be answered. Who will be responsible for the assemblies? How will the students sit in the assembly? Where will they put all of there stuff for dismissal? What will dismissal look like after the assembly?

In the last blog, I shared that the guidance counselor had agreed to do two assemblies a month, the music teacher another assembly a month, and the teachers the other assembly each month. Originally, the idea was that we would do things in the assembly to improve behavior and discipline. Our guidance counselor incorporates this in to her lessons, and we incorporate it into the other assemblies as well. We have had a lot of guest speakers come to assemblies including a town judge, a probation officer, a fireman, a museum guide, 4-H leader, and many others. The teacher led assembly has so far been a guest speaker every time. This allows the teachers the flexibility to continue on with their Teacher Based Team work rather than having to attend the assembly.

Getting 350 students in a gym all sitting on the floor can be quite a task. I drew out a map of where students should put their book bags and coats in the hallways before coming into the gym. The first day was a little hairy. We made adjustments to what made sense, and my original map went into the circular file.

Let’s skip ahead to dismissal. How can we make sure the four staff members we have can dismiss all of these students and be outside to cover bus duty and parent pick-up? Well, we recruited the after-school care program manager who happened to be in the gym waiting to set up her program. She agreed to help us dismiss children by groups using the microphone while the other teachers took their places at the bus lines, a parent pick-up point, and in the hallway. Here are some problems to avoid that we learned through trial and error. Make sure the other teachers are where they need to be before students are dismissed, and make sure that the hallway monitor is in a central location, so all boys and girls understand they are to walk in the hallways. It turns out we needed to recruit the school nurse to step out in the hallway and help with monitoring students walking in the hallway on their way out of the building. Oh, and did I mention review with boys and girls that they need to walk in the hallways.

Now, let’s rewind to the actual assemblies. The behavior of the students in the weekly all school assemblies were exceptional at the beginning of the school year. Students were commenting on how much they were looking forward to what the next assembly might be. We enjoyed the honeymoon period (while it lasted). As time went on, some students began to test boundaries. We decided to have a pullout room for students who were showing us they could not participate well in the assemblies. These students were to write apology letters while they were out of the assembly. As time progressed, it was apparent that this was not enough of a deterrent for a portion of our boys and girls.

The teachers operating the assemblies came to me with some great ideas they had to help our boys and girls along. So, I shared with the boys and girls that if they need to be pulled out of the assembly they would be seeing me the next morning, and they would be receiving a consequence. We reviewed the form that would be used and explained that the more times a boy or girl is pulled out of the assembly the greater the consequence would be. Of course, we shared that there would be rewards for classes that did a good job in the assemblies. Happy to report, the guidance counselor said that everything was “100% better.”

As a principal, I knew that I needed to support the teachers who are helping with the assemblies. Without their work, Teacher Based Teams would not be happening on a weekly basis. We may need to adjust our work again; and so, it’s important to keep the lines of communication open.

The guidance counselor and the music teacher do a great job helping me with flexibility. When we had a guest speaker call out sick, the guidance counselor had a back up assembly ready to go. Another great reason to say thank you ask much as possible.

The general lesson with weekly all school assemblies is to think ahead as much as you can. Have a system of consequences and rewards ready to go from the start. Finally, understand that you will need to learn from your mistakes and make adjustments as necessary.

In the next blog, I will share how intervention was organized in each grade level. 

Making Teacher Based Teams a Regular Part of the School Week

At the end of the first year, the East team decided that we needed a more consistent and longer period of time for teachers to meet in Teacher Based Teams. We also needed a regular daily time to provide intervention for our students. We made a list of other things that we wanted to include when we worked on scheduling. Then we met and made a prioritized list of what was most important to us.  Having an hour a week for Teacher Based Teams and having a daily time for intervention were among our top priorities.

I asked any teacher who wanted to have a voice in scheduling for the next year to show up to our scheduling meetings. There was a crowd. We were not able to make some solid decisions until the summer, because we were still waiting for Ohio Achievement Assessment results. We also needed to identify students who would be in Title 1 and another special reading program we run before we were able to make class lists and create the schedule.

I had thought the group of teachers willing to work on the schedule during the summer would be much less, but it really wasn’t. The teachers worked for hours to create a schedule that included the priorities of teacher based teams and intervention. The decision was that we would have our Teacher Based Teams on Tuesdays at 2:30 every week. Students would be in an all school assembly at that time until dismissal. Teacher Based Teams would run until 3:25, which is the end of the contract day.

I had to talk to the guidance counselor, the music teacher, the speech pathologist, and the librarian to get them to agree to man the all school assemblies every week. The sell to the guidance counselor was that she could do two all school assemblies every month to deal with topics that were of concern including bullying. In return, she would have to visit classrooms less often to do guidance lessons and could focus more on individual and group counseling sessions with the students. It was really a win/win situation for everyone. Originally, the teachers agreed to do the other two assemblies each month by creating a video for the students or with guest speakers. I next went to the music teacher to let her in on our plan to have her help monitor the assemblies. She said that she would like to be more involved in creating assemblies and leading them. She took on one assembly a month, leaving the teachers the responsibility of just one assembly a month. The speech pathologist and librarian would help monitor the all school assemblies. All of these teachers would also be in charge of dismissal for the whole student body, because teachers would still be in meetings at that time.

On the non-TBT days, the teachers decided to have intervention period for boys and girls.  Common formative assessment results would be reviewed at Teacher Based Teams, and intervention groupings would be created from those results. We weren’t exactly sure in the summer how intervention period would roll out, but we decided that we would figure that out in Teacher Based Teams at the beginning of the year.

The collaborative efforts of the teachers during the process of creating a schedule to make intervention and Teacher Based Teams happen were amazing. Teachers focused on the priorities that the group agreed upon and made things happen by thinking creatively. In the next blog, I will share how the year got started and how teachers decided to organize intervention time.

Dufour TBT Trainings

To find Teacher Based Team trainings from the Dufours check out this website:

http://www.solution-tree.com/

I highly recommend their work in moving schools forward with Teacher Based Teams.

The Dufour Training and How It Helped Us

The Dufour Training

At the end of our first year in Teacher Based Teams, a group of teachers attended the training Professional Learning Communities at Work: Bringing the Big Ideas to Life from Dr. Rick Dufour and Becky Dufour. This training moved us forward with what TBTs could be and what they could do for our students.  If you are interested in learning more from the Dufours’ thoughts on Professional Learning Communities, check out this website: http://www.allthingsplc.info/

Our New Direction

The teachers that attended this conference agreed to share what they learned with the staff and within their Teacher Based Teams. Last year our TBTs worked collaboratively to review data of the students as a group. As a result of our training, this year our goal is to look at the individual student’s work through common formative assessments and change instruction and intervention based on those results. Then, we will come back to see what’s working best and make adjustments for our boys and girls as necessary.  

Team Norms

During our first year, teachers established team norms. This came up again at the Dufour training. The training helped us remember the importance of being accountable to each other, to remain positive with each other, and to remember that all team members are valuable and should be heard.

During the training, the Dufours suggested teachers call those to task who choose not to adhere to the norms.  There were several suggestions offered to help teachers with this work. Our team did not reach a conclusion about what teachers could do to help other teachers in this situation. Most teachers felt uncomfortable telling another teacher that he/she needed to follow the norms when he/she wasn’t. The lean was that the principal would step in and assist if this should become an issue.  

Why Common Assessments

The Dufour training focused on the importance of common assessments. When teachers create common assessments, they are creating an agreed upon rubric to judge student work. What is proficient now becomes the same across the grade level. It creates a common language for us to discuss student progress and teacher instruction.

Moving Forward

Teachers worked together before the school year started to establish SMART goals, set team norms, and establish a schedule for common assessments and data review for intervention groupings. At the end of the first year, the East team decided that we needed a more consistent and longer period of time for teachers to meet in Teacher Based Teams. We also needed a regular daily time to provide intervention for our students based off the analysis of the TBT day. In the next blog, I will share what our solution was to make TBTs and intervention a regular part of our school week.

End of the First Year in Teacher Based Teams

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During the last three months of the first year, teachers worked on a variety of activities during Teacher Based Teams. A big chunk of time in March and April was spent preparing for Ohio Achievement Assessments. Teachers came together to discuss what had been done in previous years for test preparations and what should be done for this year. Activities were created both as a team and as individuals. Other work completed during TBT times including creating and assigning work for common assessments.  

Towards the end of the year, TBTs began to discuss what they would like to do for the next school year. One of the very last activities was taking the Ohio TBT 5-Step Implementation Rubric.  This information gave the team clear direction on where we were in the TBT process and where we needed to go.

Our Building Leadership Team shared with the District Leadership Team what our successes and struggles were for the first year of TBTs.

Here were our strengths:

•having our staff trained in the TBT process

•creating 3 TBTs in our building

•establishing a TBT meeting schedule

• having each TBT create norms and a SMART goal to guide their work this year

•Developing a TBT Meeting Notes Template so TBTs could have a record of their meeting and assign tasks to be completed before the next meeting

•Giving everyone access to the TBT notes via a folder on first class as a communication tool so everyone knows on what work each TBT is focusing

Here were our struggles:

•scheduling issues (TBT meetings need to be longer in duration and had less often and during a time that doesn’t interfere with instruction)

•having a common time for intervention/extension built in the schedule so that teachers can act on the data they analyze in their TBT more effectively

At the beginning of May, a group of teachers attended the training Professional Learning Communities at Work: Bringing the Big Ideas to Life from Dr. Rick Dufour and Becky Dufour. This training moved us forward with what TBTs could be and what they could do for our students. 

In the next blog, I will share the big take-aways from that training and how it began to shape the future of our TBTS.

In an upcoming blog, I will also share how our teachers worked together to problem solve to make our first year struggles change into solutions for the next year.

Starting TBT Meetings

Last year our students combined classes at the end of the day, so teachers could meet in Teacher Based Teams. One week it was the fourth grade’s turn to have TBTs, and the next, it was the third grade’s turn. One hour every other week really is not enough for an effective TBT. The teachers began to meet on the opposite week in the morning for 30 minutes.

This process put our students through a change as well. It took some time before students got where they needed to go in an efficient manner. There were a few behavioral issues that tied this principal down to her office.

Teachers were, however, moving in the right direction. TBTs established norms and set goals early in the process. Our third grade chose to meet as a whole group, because they all teach reading and math. Smaller groups around five are recommended for a TBT, but the third grade teachers had around ten. I had reservations about this, but a few of the third grade teachers assured me that the bigger group would be fine. They were right on the money, because this group has a dynamic way of communication beyond what I believe most groups have. Our fourth grade chose to meet in a reading group and a separate math group, because these teachers teach separate subjects.

When starting TBTs, I would highly recommend that your teachers take notes and keep it in a file where everyone can have access. It is good for beginning teams to have an idea what other teams are doing. Shared notes can help a principal understand what is going on, because it is often hard to attend all meetings. It has also helped me look back and see the growth of the TBTs since we first began.

In the first two months of our TBT meetings, teachers decided what data to review and created calendars for data testing and team review.  Teachers began looking at data together, and some adjustments were made to help students achieve. For example, one TBT decided to start a reading incentive for students to read more at home.

At this point, no intervention time was scheduled for the school. The third grade teachers worked with their partner teacher to develop intervention that worked around their schedule. For the fourth graders, this requires a great deal of adjustment because teachers specialize in teaching specific subjects. As a result, some TBTs decided they would do the necessary intervention within their own classroom.

As a principal, my plan at this point was to be flexible and give the teachers the professional trust they deserved to do what made sense to their situation. Teachers were doing a great job utilizing the initial training they had at the beginning of the school year.

In the next blog, I will wrap up the first year with Teacher Based Teams.