Timeout for Leadership-your one-minute leadership idea
Op-ed #24
Does everyone speak the same language?
Fact:
I doubt it. Educators have proven that they cannot adopt a common language across the entire field, let alone a school. (the same concept will apply for any organization)
I know that I am one of the few people that does not believe in the new era of teacher evaluations. I am convinced that the new system did very little for the improvement of instruction and has insignificantly impacted learning. * However, besides making a ton of money for a relatively few individuals and businesses, the system has attempted to build a common language within school districts.
Having a common language in a school is essential. Let’s begin by agreeing that a common language helps build a common understanding. It gives everyone a means of communicating and more importunity allows the entire team to know what they are talking about. I have been in schools where the entire supervisory team uses a different language. Two teachers in adjacent rooms may be doing the same things and yet they have no common vocabulary for what they are doing. There is no consistency whatsoever. We can take this a step further when we think about numerous schools across a district, all using a different common vocabulary. It becomes a disorganized mess.
A common work vocabulary also easily communicates expectations. With each person knowing this vocabulary it allows each person to understand what is expected of himself or herself and when it is tied into an effective evaluation system he or she knows if he or she is meeting the expectations of the principal and district. A common vocabulary simplifies evaluation.
Teaching this common vocabulary must be done in the onboarding process. Each new employee must quickly learn this vocabulary and each person must internalize it. A very difficult chore will be to teach this common vocabulary to the veterans on the staff. They will be required to unlearn perhaps a career’s worth of different nomenclature. Be patient with these folks. Don’t allow yourself to slip back into using the old terminology. Your team must speak one language.
I think the new evaluation systems that were recently put in place across the country has in part allowed this to happen. However, each of these systems brings their own vocabulary to the table. If a teacher changes districts, he or she will have to learn an entire new language. The strikes me as odd because at the end of the day, we are all talking about the same things. What a waste of time.
For example, we all understand the importance of opening a lesson. Some may call this the anticipatory set, the focus of the lesson, or the opening steps of a lesson. I had one creative teacher refer to this as the appetizer. It worked. Everyone in the class knew what she was talking about and within this class, they all talked the same lingo. Sadly, when these same students left this classroom, they were subjected to probably six different sets of instructional language. It is confusing for hem and confusing for the coaches and supervisors that are looking for good instruction.
(I remember learning the Madeline Hunter way decades ago. And I have learned and watched many new systems be implemented over the years. Aren’t we still doing the same things that Hunter professed years and years ago? We just keep changing the names.)
I will close with one last thought about consistency in language. And yes, I will go to my comfort zone, into the world of sports. When each professional football receiver runs a pass route it is numbered. It comes off of what each coach calls the route tree. A #8 route is a post route. On an #8 route, a receiver runs towards the goal post. An 8 route is an eight route no matter what team you may be on. Of course, each team may teach it a bit differently, but it is still called an 8 route, taken directly from the commonly accepted route tree.
In education, in each district and in each school, we need more instructional route trees. One of the first things a new principal must do when ascending to the principal’s job is to establish his or her own figurative route tree that everyone understands.
Culture, culture and culture. You have heard this here before. A common language in part of a healthy culture. It helps build an identity. It helps build a common bond among everyone in that school. Go out and build your instructional route trees. It will be worth it.
*I will share what I thinks works regarding teacher evaluation. Check out the writings and works of Kim Marshall. I think that he gets it.
