Teacher Podcast #8 - Lawrenceburg Middle School Pilot Second Training

Jayme and I were caught off guard by our nerves for this second in person workshop day. I think the reality was that we were using technology we were super familiar with running ourselves to promote more transparency and we weren’t in control. Two type A’s like to be in control! It was so good though and I think our biggest takeaways from this day and this pilot are:

• We individualize so much for our students, why don’t we do the same for our teachers?

• Allow real vulnerable conversations and be open to suggestions for improvement

• When the teachers saw improvement in their main teaching role, they wanted it for their classrooms or personal life next.

Jayme had 65% of her staff participate and we were looking for their feedback. I noticed in these responses they are the ones I get from the Organize 356® community. Accomplishment is the number one response I get when I ask people “How does it feel to be organized?” And this group of teachers were no different. This was after only 6 months of use too!! We used the Mentimeter app so that they could submit their answers via their phones so they could be open and vulnerable. We asked “What have you noticed about using the index cards?” Here were a few of the responses: 

1. Get things out of my head

2. My ideas are organized

3. I remember things better

4. I can prioritize tasks

5. Less stress

6. Saves time

7. Visibly see what I wanted to do but haven't yet.

So the second question we asked them was if they were taking work home. I was shocked that more teachers didn’t say yes. I really thought that was going to be higher until Jayme explained her expectations. Jayme has communicated with her staff how to effectively use their time. Just because it’s called the Friday Workbox® AKA Teacher Workbox, you don’t have to do it on Fridays. She explained to them that she stays late on most Thursdays for games. Since the games don’t start until 6, she has 3 hours to process her workbox. This is helping them not bring work home. Here were the results to that second question.

1. No (9)

2. Yes (15)

3. Sometimes (9)

I was also curious to see how many teachers were using digital organization and to what extent. I was shocked that paper was the highest. I thought for sure because of all the buzz that it would be higher digital or hybrid, but nope. In the society of America, a capitalist country, we have our own rules within each organization, so there is not this one, main digital stream. This leads to paper!! And by the way, index cards are paper. I’ve been challenged on this. Think about it...would you rather have your teachers write something down quickly on an index card and continue instruction OR would you like them to pull out their phones? I would hope if you choose the latter there would be an expectation that it not be in the middle of instruction. But then two things happen, the teacher is trying to remember to put it in their phones later AND all the rabbit trails with all their shiny pathways distract the teachers and who knows how long that quick task of entering the idea or task will take! So what were the results of this question? …

1. All Paper (17)

2. All Digital (3)

3. Hybrid of both (13)

And lastly I was feeling like, what else do they want? I had taken the time to teach the system of the Teacher Friday Workbox®. I had spent time with the Special Education team, getting them set. It was no surprise with success in their teacher role, now they wanted it in their classrooms and at home. Each teacher was invited to planning day. They got to plan in their personal life. There is so much invisible work required from teachers and they were getting relief from all those responsibilities. And that is why Jayme and I wanted to do this. We want educators to be fulfilled in home and work life, we want teacher retention and this is one way to achieve that!

EPISODE RESOURCES:

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On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365­® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday.

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