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Kathie Connaughton is an ELD teacher and ELD Department Chair at Rowland High School.
The work with the Ball Foundation has made quite an impression on me. I think that the change process that Ball is facilitating in the district is going in deep and changing things in a way that is going to stay with the district for a long time. I know it’s changed my life in that it has brought me into a different kind of thinking.
Let me give you an example. At one of the Chicago meetings, one of my most powerful moments of learning was when Stephanie Pace Marshall said, “You need to take a look at the understory.” The understory is the truth behind something. It’s the flushing out of assumptions and really taking a look at what are you dealing with here.
Stephanie had all of us at this meeting (which included people from two other school districts) make a huge mind map. She said to us, “I want you to put down all of the things that you think the district deals with that are important.” Everything that we put on this map were things that we recognized as problems, like no parent involvement, subgroups of students, just about every aspect that you could think of in an organizational structure. Then Stephanie said, “Well, what’s the understory to all of these things?” And there was this huge leap of understanding that came from making us look at the organizational structure and our practices in a different way than we ever had before.
For example, we have a huge subgroup of students here at Rowland High School that is made up of Hispanic students, English-language learners, and Special Ed students. Many times teachers will say, “Hispanic students don’t do very well because their parents don’t care. They never come to conference meetings, or if they do, it’s very sparingly.” Well, what’s the understory behind that? What are the real reasons they don’t come? Or why does it appear that parents don’t see education as a focal point? The truth of the matter is they do think education is important, but there are different reasons why they won’t come. Sometimes it’s because they’re embarrassed because they themselves don’t have a good education. They feel that if they go to a meeting, they may not understand what’s going on because of the language difference. Even though we have translators, the parents don’t understand the process or the words being used. So that can keep them away. Sometimes, if they come from a rural area in another country, they may not see education as a priority. Just coming over here to this country is a big first step for them. They might have what would seem to us a very menial kind of job here, but for them it’s a big deal because they’re putting bread on the table. It’s survival. It’s like one leg up for them and they’re satisfied. Many of these families will not change until the next generation. It’s not that these kids aren’t smart or that their parents aren’t smart or don’t care. It’s just that they come from a different environment and culture that speak toward a different kind of achievement for their children.
Going back to the meeting—after we made the mind map, we discussed some of the things on it, including the commonalities that existed between the three districts that were participating in the meeting. The upshot of that discussion was that even though we all came from different parts of the country, the very same problems surfaced in all the districts. That was a big eye opener to us. It made us realize how large of a problem and how human of a problem some of those things were. Many of us tend to think of ourselves in such a provincial way. We’re in our little boxes and we only think of things in one way. What this discussion did was open our scope of thinking and make us realize that these larger problems exist beyond our own demographic.
I have felt privileged to be a part of this process, and to be able to share my thinking, my talents, and my expertise. For me, this work with Ball has been tremendous because of the respect that is given, and I’m not saying that just for myself. I think that other people feel that way, too. Even the teachers in the networks make comments like, “You know, I’m not worried because I’m being asked what I think, and I’m dialoguing my ideas, my biases, and my concerns with other people.” It’s a new era of understanding that emerges when you respect people in the system. They then come forth with their best, and the system works better and is more coherent. It energizes the organization to have the kind of respect that says, “I value your work. I value your opinion.” We then move forward together.
Word cloud created at wordle.net.
Sue Cook is an English and history teacher at Alvarado Intermediate School.
This is hard because I have more than one story. I’ve enjoyed the whole picture because I’ve been involved since the beginning. So, my story is more all-encompassing that shows the process we’ve gone through to get to where we are now, and how the Ball Foundation has directed our thinking somewhat, but ultimately has made us do the thinking. It’s been quite a learning experience in that respect. I’ve learned a lot, and I’ve grown a lot. The Ball Foundation has given me opportunities that I might not otherwise have had. On a personal note, I have gained some really, really good friends through this experience that I may not have had the opportunity to meet. Some of the best friends I have right now in my life are part of this group, so that makes it very meaningful to me. On a professional note, the experience has been invaluable, and I almost wish I had had this when I was younger.
I have also taken to heart the leaderful behavior that Ball has instilled in us. I feel more empowered and have a different level of confidence in myself both as a leader and a teacher in my classroom, in the school, and in the district.
CHICAGO
The first trip to Chicago was very intense. It was all about being patient and learning to go with the flow of process. I kept thinking, “What are we doing?” I was used to the classroom where I have a lesson and I need to do this and this in order to go from point A to points B and C in order to end up at point D. So in Chicago, I was wondering, “Where are the points?” There was no definite structure, which taught me to be a little bit more patient and go with the flow. But by the second Chicago trip, I knew darn well what we were doing.
I was intrigued and excited to see where all this was going. I knew we would come up with an idea that would encompass the entire district and that would evolve as we went along. I got hooked in by that, and thought of the process as a kind of think-tank. That’s what intrigued me. We were going to actually delve into new ways of educating our diverse group of students across the entire district. We were going to do research on what we already had here and make it better. We weren’t going to do anything new because nobody has time for that, but we were going to take what we were doing and make better teachers. I thought this was a really good way to develop great teachers for our district who are forward thinkers. Not ones who are just “okay” in the classroom, but ones who look at the whole picture of what we’re doing for the entire child. When we were in these think-tank sessions, we were totally thinking outside the box, and we weren’t looking at this group of EL kids, or this group of junior high kids or this group of AP students who are seniors in high school. We were looking at the whole district and doing new research. Not book research, but a different kind of research that was more real to me.
At the first Chicago trip, there was no “You’re a teacher, you’re a principal, you’re a district administrator, you work for the Ball Foundation.” We were all in an equal plane on a first name basis. I think we got a little bit more done because everybody heard everybody else’s viewpoint, and we got to see a different side of things. I think that was really good for everyone. Occasionally, someone would stop and say, “You guys are in the classroom. How does this play out in a classroom as opposed to the district?” As an 8th grade teacher, I’m caught in the middle. My students are caught in the middle and so is the school. We’re kind of a renegade group because we teach junior high, and we’re rarely thought of when a decision is made at the district level. So, seeing that we were all in this together and that a 12-year old hormonal student is just as important as that five-year old in Kindergarten intrigued me and kept me going.
WORLD CAFES WITH STUDENTS AND STAFF:
I’ve incorporated some of the things that we’ve learned from the Ball Foundation—like the World Cafe—into my classroom and with the school staff.
Doing the World Cafe with a bunch of eighth graders is mind boggling. It’s kind of a free for all, and you have to set down rules because you can’t just say, “Move to a group without anybody who has been in your group before.” So, I had to adjust it a little bit. But I thought that it was a good way to get the kids up and moving and talking to each other.
The first time I did it was right after we came back from summer vacation. I wanted the students to write about what they did on their vacation, so I had three groups, each with a different question: “What did you do with your family?”, “What did you learn in the summer?”, and I can’t remember the third one. Anyway, I split the class in half and had them rotate through the three questions, writing answers in circle maps. Then, after we were done with the chaos, I had them go back to their seats and make their own tree map of some of the things they did during the summer. Finally, they wrote the standard, “What I did during my summer vacation,” but they had their three paragraph topics. Usually they say, “I can’t remember what I did,” or “What I did wasn’t any fun.” But after they did the World Café and talked to their friends, they could remember, “Oh yeah. I did this and this. I went to the beach.” They fed off each other which gave them more things to write about.
We also did the World Cafe with the school staff. Last year we were having issues with discipline, but nobody liked the school’s discipline plan. Everybody was complaining about it. So, as a team leader, I suggested to the principal and vice principal that we use the World Cafe process to discuss the discipline issues with the staff. The three team leaders came up with the topics for the circles. The principal and vice principal were involved, but they were not running the meeting. They could give their input, but they were just the same as everybody else. For most of the teachers, it was their first time doing a World Cafe. Everybody felt like they had their say. There wasn’t anybody who was left out or said, “So and so always dominates the conversation.” After, we created a discipline committee made up of about ten teachers, administrators, guidance assistants and counselors who made up a new discipline plan that everybody could live with.
It was a great experience as professionals. Everybody walked away saying, “I feel better about the issue now because I had a chance to say what I wanted to say.”
NETWORK DAYS:
I’ve noticed that people are changing as a result of the work with Ball. Some people are still negative – you’re always going to have those – but there are a lot more people who are positive about the work and are willing to step out of their comfort zone. They’re not being naysayers, and are more interested in what we can learn as professionals to help our students. Our school has the most people involved in the networks. There are 15 of us teachers out of 40. So, it’s making an impression. I think that’s to be commended because we’re a high performing school. We can sit back on our laurels and say, “You know what, we’re doing what we need to do,” but that is not what’s happening. People at my school asked me about the Network Days because they know I’ve been involved. They want to know what’s going to happen at them, so I tell them, “I don’t know. But jump onboard because there are lots of different ways this network thing can work – and we’ll make it work. What have you got to lose?”
So, on one of the Network Days during an Open Space exercise, our school met together. I had the idea to form a “Teachers as Leaders” network group. My colleagues said to me, “You’re already a leader. What are you talking about?” I said, “No, no, no. I’m not talking about that. I’m wondering how can we as teachers be leaders in our district? You have to start from the ground up because we are the ones in the trenches.” We came up with a whole plan for doing our own voluntary staff development. We thought we’d go back to our school and say, “I want to learn about this. Who wants to learn with me?” Then we could make our own networks and take responsibility for our own learning. Of course, this will all be voluntary, but we thought that with fifteen of us willing to do this, we can make it work.
The schools are having to take care of their own staff development now because the district is dropping the instructional support services. So somebody has to know what to do. Somebody has to step out on that limb. We have 200 people who are attending these Network Days who are willing and able and have the tools to help the other 700 do it as well – that, to me, has been one of the most powerful outcomes of all this work. If you have 200 teachers who are willing to say, “We want to learn about this,” and then go to whomever and say, “What can we do because we want to learn about this? Where can we get some resources? We just need to know who to talk to.” Then that person can answer, “Maybe you can start by looking at some educational books or maybe you should try this in your classroom or you can have this time to go visit other people.” Teachers are taking ownership of their own professional learning instead of somebody saying, “You must do this.” That would transform the teaching profession because it makes us responsible for our own learning. It makes us step out of our classrooms. Teachers helping teachers. What a thought. That’s what doctors and lawyers do. Anybody in a profession – this is what they do. They go and figure it out, and then they spread the word.
I call the work with Ball my “think tank.” I come home exhausted, but “thinking” exhausted, not “physically” exhausted. But I think it’s been great. People who have not experienced this are missing out, especially the young teachers because it will transform their lives. It’s not really cutting edge, but it’s a new way of thinking. I think that because we are all teachers, we’ve been in school our whole life and we think that there is a certain way to do school. But we need to get out of the classroom. I’m an out-of-the-box thinker – so I’m out there.
Word cloud created at wordle.net.
Martha Dickey is a fifth grade writing teacher at Hollingworth Elementary School.
I’ve been leading trainings for our writing program, and the Ball work syncs with what I’ve been doing as far as sharing ideas, not being leader-centered, and trying to collaboratively solve problems. Before I became a teacher, I worked for the Saturn car company where they do extensive training of the employees. They taught us that in a group, 70% of the people have the power to influence the other 30%. And I think that’s how the collaboration process that Ball has been doing with us works. It’s the 70% who are collaborating that convince the other 30% that this is a good thing, everything will work out. It’s like on the playground: A student who goes up to a child and says, “Stop being a bully” is more effective than a teacher coming out and saying, “Stop being a bully.”
I also see a parallel between this collaboration work with Ball and the turmoil that we happen to be in right now financially. We have to get creative, and we’ve got to stop looking for one person with answers – be it a president or a principal. We’ve really got to come together somehow. The world cafés we’ve done have been structured, but in a very inviting and casual way. We’ve been able to share ideas and get a glimpse of what collaboration can do. But it’s intimidating, too, because it’s making us realize that we’ve all got to step up a little bit more and be willing to give even though teaching already takes so much of us.
I think the biggest thing that I took from the Immersion Day was the opportunity to speak with principals and people from other schools. It’s kind of like you don’t know how somebody else mows their lawn until you spend time in their backyard. By talking with educators in other schools, you learned more about their successes and concerns. Despite the community or location of the school, we all have areas to improve upon.
The Immersion Day also allowed us to get to know teachers at other schools so we’re not as hesitant to approach them. Our eyes were opened to the fact that we are all a resource for each other. We just need to tap into that resource and take responsibility to actually do that. There have been many exchanges of phone numbers and e-mails, and whether or not people have followed through, I can’t tell you – but at least that door has been opened.
I think a big common question is, “Why do we keep doing this?” My response to that is, “I don’t think that’s something we can answer now.” It’s like when you go fishing and maybe you’ll catch a catfish and maybe you won’t, but it’s more about taking the time to explore a little bit and see what you find. Not everybody is comfortable with this process, but it’s what we need now because we have to be creative problem solvers. To fish you have to be patient, but this is a long process – and that’s where we’re losing a lot of our fishermen. They don’t want to wait it out. We’ve got to navigate through all the problems, and at the same time, feel good about our teaching. The bait, of course, also makes a difference. And our bait is keeping a strong focus on what is going to be best for our students. My hope is at the end we’ve found something that works and is tangible and substantial.
Word cloud created at wordle.net.
Lydia Dzama is a third grade teacher at La Seda Elementary School.
When I received the invitation from the Ball Partnership to participate in a conversation about literacy, I wasn’t quite sure what it was about. I was somewhat confused because I wasn’t sure what my role was. I’ve had a lot of training with second language learners, and I’m considered an expert and lead teacher in the district on working with second language learners – and now here was a discussion on literacy.
So I went to Rincon Intermediate with no idea what to expect. For me, the experience of coming in and sitting down, the way they had set up the room with these tables, the expectation that everybody will have a voice, everyone will be speaking – it was completely different. I was very much used to sitting and being talked to, never having an opportunity to express my opinion.
As I was sitting there, I was looking around and wondering, “I don’t know most of the people in here. Is this an elementary school function?” I’m seeing office managers, PTA people, junior high teachers, high school teachers. Again, I’m very curious about what’s going on here because this is not the way we do things in the district. We’re normally very separated – “My compartment, your compartment, let’s not mix.” This was unique.
So, sitting at a table, I had the opportunity to have a long conversation with secondary teachers, and hear them express their frustrations about students. Mind you, I’m not saying they were negative – it wasn’t “the teachers before didn’t do their jobs.” These teachers just felt like, “We’re trying so hard to help these students and we don’t feel we have the strategies in place.”
So in the conversation, I told them about my GLAD training. GLAD is Guided Language Acquisition Design. It’s a program that is specially designed to help second language learners acquire vocabulary, while at the same time learning their academic content in a way that is fun and easy for them to remember – poems, chants, songs, pictures. It’s a lot of work, but it’s a lot of fun. The secondary teachers were saying, “How come we can’t have that?” And I told them that I thought the person who had trained me in GLAD also trained high school teachers.
Then the secondary teachers shared a program at Giano Intermediate where second language learners get pulled out and really focused on in order to help them. I was thinking, “That’s also a really nice thing that you’re doing that I wasn’t aware of.”
So during this articulation that was happening between me as an elementary teacher and them as secondary teachers made me realize that we have the same problems, same concerns, and same passion about our students. It wasn’t negative. We all wanted to know, “What else can I do?” I love being in a group that is proactive and not negative – where we’re putting our heads together to share ideas and strategies and there’s more openness. There was bonding going on. People were saying, “You can come visit or e-mail me or just call if you want more information.” This kind of meeting was something that had never happened in this district on such a huge scale.
I walked away from the meeting still not sure exactly what was going to happen, wondering if this was going to continue. You know how some things develop, and then they’re dropped. At least I came away with an appreciation for conversation with others, and the realization that we’re so separated in this district. But we did continue the conversations. And now it is such a natural thing to be mixed up. You’ve got your high school teacher, your office manager, and there is no awkwardness. Everybody is confident that what they have to say is important, that it’s valued, and that everybody is listening to what we have to say. The biggest outcome of all this work is the collaboration.
With the restructuring that the district is doing, we’re going to have a loss of resources and we’ve got to be willing to share our expertise. And that’s what I’m seeing – this building from within the ranks of teachers. The principals aren’t saying this is what you’re going to do. It’s now coming from the teachers when we see a problem. “How can we solve the problem?” We’re going to help each other out – and that’s what I mean by collaboration. I don’t think this happened prior to the Ball Partnership because we had never taken the time to sit and talk.
I like that Ball was very clear about letting us know what they were about and what they were trying to do. They weren’t going to give us money. It wasn’t like, “Here’s your money. Go ahead.” They really wanted us to figure it out for ourselves. And that’s what this has all been about. It’s not about a school site or the elementary division; it’s about the whole district. It’s about all the students. It’s also about the teachers and the support and strategies that we need, and the opportunity to have our voices heard. Starting from that first meeting – that to me had the most impact.
I have a lot of confidence that we can withstand this restructuring trajectory. I would like to think that every school site will tap into their teacher experts. There is now this sense of respect of each other as colleagues, along with the respect to listen to each other. What Ball has done has really taken people from behind closed doors. That closed-door classroom that is across the nation could become a more open door, more transparent; to then start having those conversations about our changing belief system, and turning it all around to truly believe that all children can succeed.
Word cloud created at wordle.net.
Astrid Gallon-Gonzales was Teacher in Charge at Giano Intermediate School; she is currently Learning Director at La Seda Elementary School.
At a recent Network Day we participated in a strategy called “Save the Last Word for Me,” in which we had to reflect on and talk about a piece that we all read. Shortly after the Network Day, I modified the strategy and used it with my students with the Diary of Anne Frank.
First, I used the fishbowl activity to model the strategy for the students. Then, I put them in groups of three or four. I asked them to write down quotes from the book and come up with their own ideas about the quotes. They had to apply what they had learned previously about drawing inferences and finding the main idea of the text. This teaching strategy created the opportunity for students to generate higher levels of thinking because they had to use critical thinking skills to express their thoughts about their reading.
It was an interesting experience for my students because they are usually quick to speak, but they often do not listen well to each other. It made them a little nervous at first because they had to listen to what the other person said, and then they got feedback about what they said. They also couldn’t interrupt each other. It was surprising to them that their classmates actually heard what they said. For them, that was an “aha.” They said, “Mrs. Gonzalez, they heard what I said. They actually understood what I said.” This encouraged them to talk more and expand their thoughts.
My students responded very well to the activity. It was an intellectual interaction that they hadn’t experienced in this way before. The strategy liberated them to express themselves and to think at a higher level. The whole experience was very profound. They’ve asked me to do the activity again, so we’re in the process of doing it one more time.
Word cloud created at wordle.net.
