The Best Way To Motivate Teachers…

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Have You Ever Wondered What the Best Way to Motivate Teachers Is?

As an Implementation Specialist…

I sat in, developed, and led numerous professional development sessions with staff members who seem disengaged, uninterested, or even appreciated the extra time to grade their papers and create their grocery lists.

No, not every session has participants who act this way, but reality is, it happens. Every time I prepare a new session, I do my best to anticipate who may walk in the door, and how best to engage them in the content.

Last Thursday, I think I found an answer.

Doughnuts and Discussions

It all started a month ago. I mentioned to my principal that I had come across several resources that I thought our teachers would like and that would support student achievement. However, I didn’t think it was valuable to continue sending out links with no explanations.

I threw out the idea of providing optional professional development. Yes, you read that right…optional professional development. Outside of contract time, with no credit, pay, or requirements.

The two of us decided it was worth a shot. After playing around with catchy words that didn’t sound too unwelcoming, I landed on ‘Doughnuts and Discussions’. Prior to putting in a lot of time planning something that wasn’t desired, I put together a Google Form to share the idea and get some insight from the staff. Below are the results I received:

Screen Shot 2016-03-23 at 6.37.02 PMI also received requests for:

  • the direction of the District and Special Education
  • creating a Book Club
  • finding a way to issue credit

Not too bad right? Especially for a staff that consists of 22 general education teachers. While the level of interest from the survey looked promising, true commitment would be discovered in our first session.

Thursday, March 10…the True Test

I didn’t want to pressure anyone into coming to our first official ‘Doughnuts and Discussions’, so I only sent two Outlook reminders in the 3 weeks leading up to the event.

It was 7:55 am, the smell of the doughnuts was taking over the entrance of the building and 2 people had joined me in the lab …a first grade teacher and the principal. I started to worry. Yet, by 8:04, 10 educators were smiling and excited to participate…the first ‘Doughnuts and Discussions’ was a success, well, at least in terms of attendance!

What Was the Secret?

Some might say the doughnuts were what brought the participants in before contract time. However, I have seen other boxes of doughnuts in the staff lounge that go untouched. I truly believe the power in ‘Doughnuts and Discussions’ is that teachers had a voice. They determined the day, time, and content, though I only gave them options outside of contract time and topics that linked to student achievement. No surprises there!

Take Aways

Session one consisted of an overview and experience of NearPod; a free platform that allows power points to be turned into interactive lessons with real-time data and sharing of work samples via any device. Within the NearPod session participants explored Prodigy Game; a free Common Core Aligned math game for grades 1-8 that tracks student progress and is accessible via app. Additionally, participants explored Achieve the Achieve the Core’s Coherence Map in order to trace standards across grade levels and build understanding of concepts that link together. The AchieveAchieve’s Coherence Map also allows educators to pull example tasks that are aligned to specific standards. Finally, participants spent time exploring lessons and sample mini assessments from Achieve the Core (select classroom resources) as we discussed that we shouldn’t all be spending our time searching for resources that are already created, valid, and align to the standards when they already exist. Teachers took away:

  • new resources to utilize in their classrooms (several which did the next day)
  • an understanding of how these resources would directly impact student achievement
  • the belief that reliable resources are out there…and they can be found for free
  • agreat sugar buzz from the glazed donuts, they were amped to start their day

Click here for Session 1’s Presentation (you won’t get to see the interactive aspects of Nearpod with this, however you can see and explore the content).

Next Steps…

Currently, ‘Doughnuts and Discussions’ #2 is being planned. I can assure you that teachers will be exposed to new teaching strategies, tools that align to their interest inventory, and will directly impact student achievement, in a time, day and location of their choosing.

Stay Tuned for A Recap of Session 2!

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