I truly believe this statement. As an instructional supervisor, how do I support and empower teachers to make the best instructional decisions for their students?
That is a question I continually ask myself and strive to accomplish.
I am currently reading my collegue Jay Billy's new book, Lead With Culture, and have been participating in a Voxer book study. The following excerpt from the book states exactly what I've been thinking:
"But is is our responsibility to make sure teachers and students feel empowered to go off script. We must also create an environment where the teachers think of themselves as learners and are not afraid to take chances and ask questions and push learning and teaching to the next level."
Through the reading of this book along with the discussions in the book study group, I have stopped to ask myself the following:
- What am I modeling to enourage and support learning and risk-taking?
- Am I sharing this with staff?
My answers to these questions may be the answer to my initial question posed above. I need to be the risk-taker my teachers see, modeling and sharing my successes and failures. I do take risks and work to share my learning with staff, but I need to be more intentional about it, becoming more vulnerable through the process.
So as I reflect on the past few months and my start of the 18-19 school year, I am pledging to be more transparent and intentional in sharing my learning and modeling risk-taking for staff. Through this, my goal is to further empower teachers to take chances, go off script, and do what they know is best for students.
