Five Ways to Build Teacher Connections in Your School

A colleague recently shared this common experience from the beginning of her teaching career:

“When I first started teaching English at a public high school on the west side of Chicago, I had tons of resources at my disposal. There were the piles of grad school texts on my desk at home, the teaching portfolio I had diligently organized in advance of my interviews, and ideas from friends already teaching English. I was also clear on my job description - the curriculum I should pull from, what ELA standards applied to what quarter, and where to get a teacher’s edition of the textbook. I knew that lesson plans for the week ahead were due every Friday and would be reviewed by one of the assistant principals. And that the English department would be meeting every week on Thursdays during our common planning period.

“However, despite all of these teaching resources at my disposal, I felt very, very lonely on the job. At 24 years old, I could practically feel the naivety emanating from my first year teacher's skin; some days I felt more like a student than their teacher. As I watched more veteran teachers chat in the hallways or interact with students or head out of the parking lot five minutes after the dismissal bell, I decided that they all must be experts. They had an air of confidence about the work that I just didn’t feel in myself. But instead of walking up to any of them and asking to eat lunch together or talk about a challenging teaching scenario, I recoiled. For most of that first year I ate lunch at my desk, stayed in my room long after school ended and wallowed in figuring teaching life out alone. I couldn’t bring myself to spark the dialogue with the experts surrounding me, and they had no way to know that I needed them.”

Belonging is an innate human need. What this story and so many like it illustrate is that transitioning to any new job, especially one as demanding and consuming as teaching, can be made smoother by intentionally helping new teachers build connections. 

Below are five tips for school leaders that can help intentionally connect new teachers to others in the school community. Connection can be about work of course, but it doesn’t have to be. Creating space for all teachers to get to know someone beyond a hallway wave is a foundational step so that when a challenging situation arises, teachers are there to support one another. And, as the story above illustrates, it’s about building bridges so no one feels alone on their island.  

1. Create a lunch buddy schedule. This benefits new and old teachers alike by prompting them to step away from their desks. It’s simply an ask to eat in community once a week or once every other week on some sort of a rotating schedule. Authentic connection is often built at the table over food. Even if you only have 20 minutes to eat lunch like I did, it’s nice to pop into a lounge or classroom to talk to colleagues during quick breaks. 

2. Create a schedule for new teachers to observe strong teachers in the building. While this can require a bit of more logistical planning like sub coverage, it doesn’t have to be complex. Set up opportunities for teachers to see their peers in action and in doing so creating a common experience for them to discuss. Seeing a colleague using Total Physical Response techniques to engage a classroom of energetic teenagers immediately shifted my view of what to strive for as an educator and gave me immediate action steps to try in my own classroom. 

3. Build a quick check-in routine. The earlier we can celebrate teachers’ strengths and work to address challenges, the more comfortable we can all become with the idea of growth over time. We recommend school leaders do weekly or biweekly “pop ins” to all classrooms to see how things are going. The discussion afterwards can be brief and rooted in one or all of the following: 1. What were you trying to accomplish? 2. What went well? 3. What do you want to improve on? This practice gets teachers in the habit of self reflecting while also providing a place for their voices to be heard. 

4. Discuss working styles and communication preferences. Consider the team your new teacher will be working most closely with (co-teachers, mentors, department or grade level teams). Build in time to discuss working styles and communication preferences to improve communication and a sense of belonging, and to prepare folks to talk through conflicts when they arise. Be sure to provide a structure for the conversations including questions like: How do you prefer to communicate?  What motivates you as a teammate? What is your lesson planning style? When you feel stressed at work, what do you need most from those around you?

5. It’s never too late. If you’re a school leader reading this and wishing you had put something in place at the beginning of the school year to help build connections, it’s not too late! While the tips above may be different from how you’ve been operating, they can be implemented at any time. 

What’s most important is that we do not put the onus of “making connections” only on new teachers. They have more than enough on their plates to figure out. Creating space for one or two of the tips above can help ensure all teachers - including the brand new ones - feel part of the culture and ultimately invested in the school’s broader vision.

What are we doing with our "one wild and precious life?" - Restorative Practices Appreciation

On my walk today I was reminded of Mary Oliver’s quote, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” While chaos seems to press around us daily, particularly for those of us working in education, my hope is that we can all individually and collectively ground ourselves in this thought. How are we using our time to support, care for, and love other people? How are we opening our eyes to see needs in the world, listen to those who are closest to the problem, and look beyond our own self interest to seek collective solutions?

As our team has been supporting schools through the close of the ‘21-22 academic year and now as they open the 22-23 school year, the grief of the pandemic, as well as the Uvalde and Buffalo tragedies are often at the forefront of my mind.  Being an educator and person of faith at my core, I frequently wonder how we come back together after the collective griefs we have endured. I want to remain hopeful in our larger community to confront the challenges head on with a “strong back, soft front, and wild heart” as Brené Brown says. I want to believe in our ability to reflect and reimagine. Because in the face of any danger, we absolutely need each other. 

I found brief comfort in this Learning for Justice article that says, "We must balance these two needs right now—to reestablish the routines necessary for our mental health while maintaining the urgency to take collective action. We can’t take away the pain of this moment for the families in Uvalde or Buffalo, but we can steel ourselves to not despair." I’m striving to hold this as a guideline while in the trenches each week, collaborating with other amazing educators in support of young people.

We know that there is no one simple solution for us to heal from the ongoing difficulties that we confront. However, one set of practices that I’m grateful to lean into for our schools, workplaces, and communities is Restorative Practices. I’m encouraged by seeing leaders of all ages from across the world model a “strong back, soft front, and wild heart” through restorative practices. The vision this offers - of grace, love, and care for each other - is an aspiration we can all strive towards.

To Brené’s quote, if we only have one of those pieces - a strong back, a soft front, OR a wild heart - we won’t be able to engage in community with each other in a productive way. Without all three, we aren’t able to both build trusting relationships and confront conflicts that come up. It’s the power of the combination that helps us bring our authentic, vulnerable selves to create community together and to confront conflicts and challenges that inevitably arise both inside and outside of our schools and workplaces. As I think about schools in particular, regularly using Restorative Practices allows young people and educators to get in the habit of seeing each other eye to eye, to build trusting relationships, empathy, and understanding over time. Thus, when conflicts come up, students and educators are more comfortable having conversations with each other to confront what happened, how they are feeling, and how to chart a path forward together. 

When we do the hard work of valuing authentic relationships and supporting our students’ and co-workers’ well being - over judgment and discipline for their own sake, or over just moving on without talking about our individual and collective grief - we can truly set ourselves on a path of healing. This path can lead us to a place where what we build together can be infinitely stronger and better for us than what we’ve had. That’s the path I hope we can walk together, as we continue navigating the ongoing challenges we face and ultimately seek to support each other. What are we doing with our “one wild and precious life?”

In solidarity and partnership,

Katie

Retaining and Supporting Our Staff Through Thoughtful Hiring Practices

As we close out one school year and start preparing for the ‘22-23 school year, I want to offer a gigantic THANK YOU to all of the amazing educators and other critical folks who supported students and families during the 21-22 school year. What. A. Year. You navigated working through a global pandemic. You waded through the chaos of mask policies, book bans, speech restrictions, restrictions on culturally responsive pedagogy, and even socio emotional learning. You were forced to yet again contemplate the physical safety of yourself and your students after the tragedy in Uvalde. And all the while you worked to connect your students with needed mental services as they dealt with so many of the same issues. The weight of your work does not go unnoticed. I see you. I appreciate you. And I thank you.

Right now my team and I are supporting several schools as they close out hiring for the 22-23 school year, at a moment when many teachers feel more stressed and burnt out than ever before.  As a former teacher, I know a school that supports, values and listens to its people is of the utmost importance. There is so much power in a school where the staff is seen as necessary partners in the work. Hiring projects excite my team because we know that thoughtful, strategic hiring  can fuel a stronger school community. 

When the KJCG team enters into a partnership with a school around hiring, we truly see the work as a shared responsibility. Because the truth is that for such projects, the conversation is never JUST about hiring. Yes, we create sustainable recruitment and selection systems for the long term; we post open teaching positions on Indeed and Handshake; we reach out to university contacts; we connect with folks through NEMNET and other organizations seeking to diversify the teacher candidate pipeline. But in addition to this seemingly standard hiring work, we also encourage school leadership teams to consider how their hiring practices will continue to build support and  community for new staff once they’re hired. Our fundamental belief is that one cannot happen without the other. 

So where do we start? As a human centered organization, we start by encouraging school hiring teams (usually the administrators) to listen to their people. Just like we want classroom teachers to give up some control and invite in student voices, we want this same thing with adults. We want those at the “top” to cede some of their systemic control and understand that including other key voices will make their work better - and by better we mean that by getting more weigh in and involvement from the school community, hiring is more sustainable and aligned, and teams are ultimately more effective. We believe in gathering the voices of everyone involved in the daily work of schools to understand what’s going well, what’s NOT, and how to create solutions together.  In these instances where we’re working on a hiring strategy with a school partner, we’re really talking about the retention and support of their entire team. When creating recruiting strategies, crafting job descriptions, drafting interview processes, and writing interview questions, these rich conversations with our school partners help drive our work with hiring teams. 

 These last few years have brought a great deal of change to schools, to say the least. As organizations and teams chart the course ahead, it is more important than ever to be human-centered in pursuit of goals. We would love the opportunity to think with you about how your school’s current systems, practices, and procedures could be strengthened to inform the evolution of both your  work and workplace. Sign up for a free 30 minute “Connection with Katie” call and we can discuss your unique needs. 

Teacher Celebration Thread: From Abbott Elementary to Real Life Heroes

A few years have passed since I was a classroom teacher. But every time I drive past a school, I wonder about what’s happening inside and reflect fondly on the high points of my teaching career. I remember my favorite students- even though I know you’re not supposed to have favorites- and think for a moment about my fabulous former coworkers who continue to serve the community as teachers. When I meet a teacher, I have to consciously stop myself from blurting out immediately: “I MISS MY STUDENTS!” The word is like an immediate bond for me. Teachers.are.heroes. I can’t say it enough, and we can all do more to celebrate and honor them.

Given all of this, it’s probably not a surprise to know that I also love “Abbott Elementary” on ABC. Though it follows the mockumentary/ sitcom format (like “The Office” and “Parks and Rec”), Abbott Elementary is named after one of Quinta Brunson’s favorite teachers - Ms. Abbott. This show gives us a humorous but cringingly real peek inside what it can look like to support your students no matter what. It’s an understatement to say the past few years have been extremely challenging for educators, with the normal stressors that come with working towards their students’ academic success and well being, in addition to the ongoing challenges of navigating a pandemic for themselves and their students. 

“Abbott” has inspired in me a desire to lift up more educators more often. Because despite all of the school challenges we see in the headlines, let us not forget that MILLIONS of teachers, staff members, counselors, and school leaders- MILLIONS- continue to walk into their buildings every morning ready to support students and families in incredible ways. Every school that I drive- that we all drive by- each day MIGHT be full of challenges. But they are also full of learning and energy and joy and good as well. We love teachers, and we want to continue to celebrate the lasting impact they have on our children.

If you ask anyone to talk about an educator who had a positive impact on them, we ALL have those stories. I think back about my own incredible teachers who introduced me to writers that I still LOVE like Toni Morrison, Dante Aligheri, Lorraine Hansberry, Chinua Achebe, J.D. Salinger… the list goes on. Teachers pushed us to value and seek out other perspectives beyond our own. They taught us to think critically about our world, to acknowledge, ponder, and discuss difficult topics, and to imagine how we might contribute to making a positive impact in our society one day. I wouldn’t be where I am without the tireless work of my teachers and parents (who were also teachers). Teachers not only inspire students and push their thinking, but they also  remind students that it’s ok to make mistakes, and that even in the midst of extremely difficult times - our children matter. Teachers.are.heroes. 

Phew, taking a breath after driving down memory lane. In addition to my teachers and Ms. Abbott, here are a few highlights from amazing schools we’ve had the pleasure of working with over the past few months.  At Citizens of the World Charter School in Cincinnati, Ohio, Ms. Tania has received shoutouts from staff and parents for the joy she brings into the classroom and for her creative problem-solving to meet her students’ needs and to encourage their growth as young leaders! At Liberty STEAM Charter in Sumter, South Carolina, Ms. Calhoun brought STEAM to life for her students during Black History Month by spotlighting inventors. She put together an ice cream social to celebrate inventions like that of Augustus Jackson, also known as the “King of Ice Cream,” and Alfred L. Cralle, inventor of the ice cream scoop. Joy so often brings meaning to learning, and we are blessed to partner with educators weaving joy into student learning every day! 

Though Teacher Appreciation Week isn’t until May, what other champion teachers do you want to lift up right now? What other amazing things are you seeing in the classroom that we can shine joy upon? Let’s start a celebration thread!