Category: teacher value

Linda Markley

Bias for Action

calling to make a difference, Can do's, Essential questions, i am enough, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, teacher behavior, teacher evaluation, teacher support, teacher value, teachers as role models, Wholehearted teaching

Teacher evaluations – hot and controversial topic, right?

As much as we would like to think that teachers are “lying around the pool and eating bon-bons” during their summer “off”, that is not true at all!

It is a story made up by non-teachers who are not happy (or even jealous!) that teachers are not in their classrooms during the summer like they have to be in their office or on the job during summer months.

Well, I am here to tell you that most teachers I know (and there have been literally thousands of them over my long career!) are attending PD workshops, learning and growing their craft.

Or they are writing curriculum and creating “new and improved” initiatives to implement as mandated by the district or state.

Even if teachers were lounging by the pool and consuming French chocolates, their minds are still wandering and reflecting on events from the past school year and how they are going to try to finally get that dopamine hit and validating feedback of “innovating” or “outstanding” or “exceed expectations” or whatever the highest level is called on the rubric.

So, as I was lounging by the pool with my oh-là-là luscious chocolate companions (lol!), I struck up a conversation with my husband on the topic.

My mental musing about employee evaluations and how differently employees are evaluated in the business world as opposed to teachers in an educational system led to an interesting conversation and new perspective.

For teachers nowadays, of course we all know about Marzano and Danielson and terms like domain, rubrics, reliability, strategies, reflection, collaboration, professionalism, etc.

In the business world, they use terms like performance, review, conduct, leadership, achievement, communication, etc.

My husband brought up a term that his company (based in Germany) used: 

Bias for Action

I had no idea what he meant by that, and so I asked. (more…)

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Linda Markley

Permission Slips

Introspection, Learning Lessons, Maslow before Blooms, overwhelmed, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Strategies, teacher behavior, teacher burnout, teacher choices, teacher mental health, teacher self-care, teacher struggles, teacher support, teacher value, teacher vulnerability, teacher well-being, Wholehearted teaching

Do you remember when there were permission slips in school?

A permission slip is a document used by schools, clubs, or organizations to obtain formal, legal consent from a parent or guardian for a minor to participate in specific activities,

In my book, Learning Lessons, I talk about using permission slips in our daily lives in a less formal or legal way to give consent to ourselves whether or not to participate in certain activities.

I even have a “form” to fill out that looks like the picture above.

And there is more explanation in Chapter 14 of my book, pp. 115-124 on how to use these to give ourselves permission to do or not do something.

Very simple, yet powerful.

First, they raise awareness.

Secondly, they prompt action to make a choice.

And finally, they have an emotional charge behind them.

The word “permission” is related to the word “permit” which is from the Latin permittere “let pass, let go, let loose; give up, hand over; let, allow, grant, permit” 

These are all great words to describe the goal of a personal permission slip, but I want to look at the word as a compound word PER + MISSION.

When we make decisions to take action or not to take action and decide which actions to take to move forward, it helps if we ask the bigger question:

Does this action align with my values, goals and how I want to show up in the world?

Is it PER my MISSION in life?

Everything is just about choices and how we align each choice with our bigger mission in life and who we want to be and how we want to show up for ourselves and for others.

So, what permission slip(s) do you need to write yourself for today?

Teachers: What are you going to write on your SUMMER permission slips?

Then, what will you write on your SCHOOL YEAR permission slips?

Are they the same or different? (more…)

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Linda Markley

Champions

calling to make a difference, Passion, professional development, Purpose, Spirit of teaching, Teacher Appreciation, teacher hero, teacher mental health, teacher self-care, teacher struggles, teacher support, teacher value, teacher well-being, teachers as role models, Wholehearted teaching

It is that designated time of year again when we are to celebrate teachers with “Teacher Appreciation Week”.

So, I thought I would remind everyone what exactly a teacher is and why they deserve to be celebrated.

When we think of the word “champion”, we usually think of it in terms of athletes and sporting events (which, by the way, too many children idolize and want to be winning athletes who become famous and make ridiculous amounts of money! That’s another topic for another day for sure!)

When I think of champions, I am reminded of teachers and the powerful Ted Talk that Rita Pierson gave entitled “Every Child Needs a Champion”.

You can watch it here.  

Teachers ARE champions and should be celebrated and appreciated and compensated as such!

As a noun, the word “champion” is from Latin campus meaning field (of combat), which came to mean someone who is a “combatant in a field”.

As a verb, champion means “to fight for, defend, protect, maintain or support by contest or challenge”.

Many teachers feel like the classroom is a “field of combat” anymore because of all the accusations, allegations, instigations that are happening to them via parents, students and even admin and colleagues sometimes.

Teaching is hard…no doubt about it!

But I would like to share a different perspective that might inspire and give hope to teachers (and no, it is not toxic positivity, so don’t even go there!)

I thought of how a field is also where we can wander, explore and even grow food or flowers for sustenance or enjoyment.

What kind of field of “dreams” are we creating everyday in the classroom?

(more…)

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Linda Markley

Relationships

calling to make a difference, communication, creating community, making connections, Maslow before Blooms, Purpose, Resources, Strategies, teacher behavior, teacher choices, teacher hero, teacher mental health, teacher resources, teacher support, teacher value, teachers as role models, Wholehearted teaching

I was recently watching some episodes of the 2006-2011 TV series Friday Night Lights.

If you are not familiar with it, you can check out more about it here.

The main characters are Eric, a high school football coach, and his wife, Tammy who is a high school guidance counselor.

There are, of course, many themes that play throughout the show related to football, high school, education and life in general.

The thing I love the most is the theme of relationships and how building relationships and nurturing them is a key element to success both in and out of school.

Both Eric and Tammy understand that making connections and investing in the relationships with students are the most essential ingredients to creating a positive and thriving school environment and culture.

It is not about test scores, blue ribbons, trophies on the shelf or rankings on a list.

It is about being role models, showing up for kids, believing in them and walking beside them as they make their way on the path of life.

This is what we do as educators every single day in the classroom.

And with every single teacher I have ever spoken to, the greatest reward and the fondest memories and what keeps them going as an educator come from the relationships they have created and nurtured with their students.

It is understandably tough to reach out, be vulnerable and make connections with students.

It is sometimes a painful, energy and time sucking process, but the payoff is priceless, timeless and energizing.

What are some things we can do to create a classroom culture of 

nurturing relationships with our students and also, among our students?

(more…)

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Linda Markley

Place Value

calling to make a difference, Spirit of teaching, Teacher Appreciation, teacher support, teacher value

Teacher Appreciation Week was just celebrated last week.

What did you do for a teacher to show them how much you appreciate and value what they do?

What value do you place on education and the educators that do so much to make a difference in the life of a child, and therefore, this world in which we all live?

To explore this very critical topic a little, I want to play around a little with these two words:  PLACE and VALUE.

In Math, place value refers to the value of a digit based on its position in a number.

For example, in the number 463,  the digit 4 has a place value of 400 because it is in the hundreds place. The digit 3 has a place value of 3 because it is in the ones column.

Sometime I think about place value in terms of how we rate, rank and value teachers in the education profession.

I could change the syntax of the words and ask “what VALUE do we PLACE” on teachers?

This totally changes the meaning, doesn’t it?

When we place a value on a teacher based on their student test scores, it seems like we are just ranking them and putting them in a place among other numbers and digits.

So, a teacher whose student test scores are ranked 26th out of 30 schools in the district will not have much value placed on what they have done and on who they are as a teacher.

There are so many mitigating circumstances and uncontrollable variables that can affect those scores, and therefore, that ranking. 

Zero is the absence of value, and is just a placeholder. 

YET, it can seem to add great value to a number.

For example, 5…50…500…and so on.

Which has more value?

It seems to me that the more zeros, the more value???

Wait, what???

That’s not how math works!

The more zeros a student has, the more value?

Hmmmmm, I say, scratching my head!

What do I mean by all this? (more…)

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