Engagement by Design: Creating Learning Environments Where Students Thrive

[00:01] SPEAKER_01:

Welcome to Principal Center Radio, bringing you the best in professional practice.

[00:06] Announcer:

Here's your host, Director of the Principal Center and Champion of High Performance Instructional Leadership, Justin Bader. Welcome everyone to Principal Center Radio.

[00:15] SPEAKER_02:

I am your host, Justin Bader, and my guest today is Lisa Landy. Lisa is Executive Director of the Teacher Voice and Aspirations International Center.

[00:24] Announcer:

And now our feature presentation.

[00:27] SPEAKER_02:

Welcome, Lisa, to Principal Center Radio.

[00:29] SPEAKER_00:

Thanks for having me. I'm really excited for the conversation today.

[00:31] SPEAKER_02:

Well, thanks, Lisa. Tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do at the Teacher Voice and Aspirations International Center and how you got into this work.

[00:41] SPEAKER_00:

You bet. Well, first and foremost, I am and always will be a teacher at heart. I'm incredibly passionate about doing my part to continually improve the learning experience for students and teachers, and my beliefs and actions are continually guided by the voices of my former students that filled my classroom when I was a teacher, and also all of the amazing colleagues and teachers that I've had the opportunity to work with around the globe. Michael Fullan is continually challenging me to be able to clearly articulate what my professional moral imperative is. And right now I think I've settled on my moral imperative is that I want every classroom to be one that I would want my own three children to learn in. And I'm continually putting through my thinking that lens.

[01:28]

It's always interesting to think about how to sum up your life's work in just a few sentences. And so I recently asked my kids what they think I do for work, and my 10-year-old daughter had, I think, a pretty good answer. She said, I think you go to work every day trying to make sure that every kid and every teacher gets to have a voice about their experience in school. And I think that's pretty spot on.

[01:48] SPEAKER_02:

Well, let's get into the central rationale there. What is the argument as you see it for emphasizing teacher voice? And what is teacher voice? Or maybe we felt like we're central to the leadership of a school as a teacher, as a member of the teaching staff. But what does teacher voice mean to you? And what are some of the best practices around making that a reality that you emphasize?

[02:21] SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so we describe teacher voice as teachers having frequent opportunities to share their voice, be heard, and then be respected enough to be responsible for the actions that follow. And I think maybe that last part is... the new twist or what we're really trying to push for within our work. I think we do a pretty good job at this point of surveying teachers, providing suggestion boxes, having meetings to gather input on a slip out the door on their way out, these types of strategies and things, which I'm certainly not opposed to.

[02:53]

I think they're all great ways to gather feedback and perspectives from teacher voice. However, what we're really after is that we then do something with that, that they're heard, and then it leads to opportunities to be responsible within our profession to take action upon those beliefs and what the voices are telling us. I think it's kind of impossible to talk about the work of teacher voice that has sprung up without talking for just a brief minute about student voice because that's really where the body of this work is rooted in.

[03:24] SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, so I spoke previously with Russ Qualia, who is, as of course you know, the founder of the Qualia Institute on Student Aspirations, and talked extensively in our interview on Principal Center Radio about student voice. And you're saying the teacher voice work grew out of the work with students?

[03:40] SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I'm incredibly privileged to be a part of the Qualia School Voice family because I think they're now talking in terms of school voice because we're really looking at the voices of all the parties within that system, students, teachers, principals, and parents, and the community. Dr. Russ Qualia has been researching and working in this area for over 30 years, and he works with an amazing team at the Qualia Institute for Student Aspirations and They're continually advocating for schools to embrace and really act upon what they call conditions that foster student voice and student aspirations. And they define aspirations as the ability to dream and set goals for the future while being inspired in the present to reach those dreams. I think they've had a profound impact on the field of education in this area. And I would really highly recommend checking out their recent book.

[04:29]

It's just recently hit a bestseller list. It's called Student Voice, the Instrument of Change, and it was authored by Dr. Russ Qualia and Dr. Michael Corso. I've got it on my desk right now. It's a pretty good one.

[04:40]

I'm certainly biased, but it's a current fave of mine. But yes, it's impossible to talk about the teacher voice work without taking a little bit of a bird walk into the student voice work because that's really the foundation. And it's important to know that this work has first been built on the voices of students. But one of the lessons that they've learned over the years of their work in the area of student voice is that teachers can't be expected to create the conditions necessary for students to achieve their aspirations if they themselves are not on a similar journey. So just like we want to support students in reaching their aspirations, we must also in systems create the conditions in schools that will really foster teacher voice and ultimately help teachers to reach their aspirations as well. And we don't believe that embracing teacher voice is yet a natural way of being in majority of our school systems.

[05:28]

We've got a ways to go for teachers to become really skilled at exercising their voices and organizations also must be ready to foster and embrace these voices so that we can all meet our fullest potential within schools.

[05:41] SPEAKER_02:

It seems like that's a little bit of a secondary goal in a lot of schools or even really in conflict with maybe established district aspirations. And it might feel to district and school leaders like we hire people, we employ teachers in order to achieve the aspirations of the school or the aspirations of the district or the aspirations of the public for the school. So take us into the value of respecting teachers' individual aspirations as well.

[06:10] SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I think that's really good. Yeah, this would be a completely flipped way of looking at that rather than first looking at how does the community see the success. This would certainly be starting with individual students and are we helping them to achieve their aspirations and then now taking that up to teachers and saying are we helping them to really be fulfilled within their profession and to feel like they have collective ownership and responsibility for the school that they are a part of. And what does that look like then into practice, giving teachers opportunities to really engage in that? So, for example, we want all teachers to have safe opportunities to exercise their voice on a very regular basis through voicing their opinions, but more importantly, by developing and leading strategic improvement efforts related to those ideas. So I think a common misconception when you hear the term teacher voice is, oh, that just means teachers talking all the time and hearing their opinions.

[07:05]

And It's so much more than that. It actually reminds me of that Elvis song, a little less conversation, a little more action.

[07:14]

Certainly, I value dialogue and discourse incredibly, and we need to have those conversations, but if they don't lead to action, I think we end up having a lot of frustrated parties. What are the opportunities to then take the conversation that we have and turn that into action?

[07:29] SPEAKER_02:

Without that, it seems like it's almost patronizing to say, well, I value your opinion and I really want to hear what you have to say, but then I'm just going to go and do what I was going to do anyway, you know, as the principal.

[07:38] SPEAKER_00:

Right. In fact, I think that's more frustrating to teachers than not being asked in the first place.

[07:43] SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely. Yeah. And that was something we talked about in a previous episode of Principal Center Radio with Richard Bruford talking specifically about the issue of consultation. And when we say, well, I consulted you and people say, no, you didn't consult me. And people say, you know, we say, yes, yes, I did. I asked for your opinion and we got this input from you.

[08:00]

But people really want clarity around the whole process. You know, what's you know, what kind of stakeholder am I in this decision? Are you really hearing what I have to say or is that just kind of a formality? And, you know, is the action that follows kind of authentic to the expectations that have been set about that type of input that I have in this situation?

[08:19] SPEAKER_00:

Right, right. So the way that Dr. Qualia's work works. approaches fostering student voice is a framework that has three guiding principles, self-worth, engagement, and purpose. And we're taking the exact same concepts and now looking at what does that mean through the lens of teachers. So like you're saying, what do we do to foster self-worth within teachers?

[08:42]

How do they know that their voice and their opinions, their contributions actually matter? We want teachers to feel accepted for who they are within a safe environment where varying ideas are respected. I think that's another potential misconception is that teacher voice doesn't mean everybody always agrees or that teachers are always going to get what they want. But do we create a culture and environment where they know that their varying ideas are respected? Do they have colleagues that they trust and people who are heroes to them that they can continually learn from, people that they can be mentored by and feel a sense of accomplishment for their efforts within the school? And within engagement, we talk a lot about student engagement, but I'm really interested – this is one of the areas of the work I'm most interested in continuing to explore – is teacher engagement.

[09:28]

How engaged are teachers in their own learning? How engaged are teachers within the classroom? I heard a really vulnerable teacher the other day say something that I just so respected. He said he had been teaching a lesson the week before and that he realized that he was bored. during the lesson. His big aha was, if I'm bored in this lesson, then my students must be as well.

[09:50]

And he was really kind of questioning his own engagement within his pedagogy in the classroom and saying, what do I need to do to make myself more engaged, both as an instructor and as a learner within my school? So teachers must be meaningfully engaged at all levels within a school environment from their classroom to the school and then into the community. And we have to give them opportunities to take responsibility for their beliefs and their opinions and then matching that again with action. And do they have then purpose within what they're doing? Can they accept responsibility for these actions and have confidence to take action knowing that what they're doing will benefit those beyond themselves, benefit the entire school community?

[10:30] SPEAKER_02:

Let's say we've made that case that teacher voice matters. What are some actions that administrators can take to start that process of really respecting teacher voice and allowing that to, you know, creating the conditions that allow teacher voice to turn into action? Where do we start as school leaders?

[10:50] SPEAKER_00:

Sure. Well, one of the interesting things that has come out of the data, and I would mention that we have two partners in this work. I'm going to back that up and say we have three founding partners. Obviously, the Quality Institute for Student Aspirations is a key partner within the Teacher Voice work. We've also partnered with Corwin Press and with Southern New Hampshire University. And within this work, we began with publishing a report, a teacher voice report that's based on five years' worth of data, and it's downloadable for free at tvaic.org.

[11:25]

And teachers are telling us some pretty interesting things within that data report, and it's off of what teachers are telling us that we're beginning to develop recommended actions or things to try within a school. One really... startling and concerning statistic to me is that only 59% of teachers report that they are confident voicing their honest opinions and concerns. And only 68% say they're comfortable asking questions in staff meetings.

[11:50]

So if I'm back as a school leader in a school, I'm going to really sit down and think about that. So what do I need to do in staff meetings to create an environment where my staff feels more comfortable asking questions and voicing their honest opinions and concerns? And I think the way that's approached is going to be different depending on the culture and dynamic of every school. One of the things that we're suggesting is if that's not happening in a large group environment, maybe start breaking things down into meeting and talking with smaller groups of teachers where that trust can be built and potentially getting a more honest. more honest round of feedback from those that are making up our systems. And there's a number of statistics in there that are also really concerning about celebrating accomplishments and teachers are telling us that they don't feel like they're meaningfully celebrated.

[12:38]

We have high percentages of teachers that are telling us they've never been individually recognized for something within their school. So I think we have room to make some growth within how teachers feel like they're being appreciated or their voice is being heard by recognizing things that are happening. So for example, maybe once a month, recognize an innovative idea or celebrate a previous suggestion that a teacher brought up that turned into some kind of meaningful action. These things can be done quickly and easily. Or if you're really looking to ramp up your celebration efforts, maybe organize a recognition event and invite community members and local media. to come and be a part of those events.

[13:17]

We hear a lot of teachers say that they feel like it's mostly negative things about school and about the teaching force that are represented in the media. So as leaders, do we have opportunities to invite media in when it's positive things that are happening? And that takes intentional effort, but I think that the public and the media are ready to hear some of those success stories and really be able to focus on some bright spots and then build from those things.

[13:41] SPEAKER_02:

celebration really is something that, uh, that seems fuzzy to us as, as administrators, it seems like one of those kind of optional or soft things that maybe we do at the end of the year, or maybe we do when there's a special occasion, but, uh, to, to hear that statistic. And one thing I appreciate from, from your work and Dr. Qualia's work is, um, You know, the the inclusion of some some really shocking statistics on what students and on what teachers experience in terms of their their voice and their their aspirations, you know, to hear that teachers often go. you know, years or even careers without really being recognized for what they're doing or even being noticed, uh, you know, except perhaps when things go wrong. If I think back to one of my lowest points as a classroom teacher, I mean, obviously every, every new teacher struggles and I certainly struggled as a new teacher, but one of the scariest and lowest points for me was when I noticed that, uh, you know, I could kind of, kind of just be left alone and no one would really notice what I was doing in, you know, in my actual classroom and I could do things beyond the classroom, uh,

[14:44]

serve on committees and so forth. But just to be noticed, I think, is so powerful. Even if it's within the expectations, even if I'm just doing my job, I want people to know what that looks like and what I'm doing. And I think For so many teachers, that opportunity is not there.

[15:03] SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah, I couldn't agree more. Those actual stats, it's 59% that report that their school celebrates the accomplishment of staff, and 56% say they are never recognized when they try their best in school.

[15:18]

Wow. I am hard-pressed to say I would ever meet an administrator who is going for those types of stats. I think administrators deeply want to value and celebrate their staff. So it's not, I think, for lack of will. I think it's just not yet part of our regular practice. Like you said, I completely agree.

[15:36]

It's something that's done maybe once a year or at the end of the year to celebrate things, but is this something that we could make part of our regular practice to really help teachers feel like their voices are valued? I did also want to add that there are some really great bright spots within the teacher voice report data. One stat that just I'm so thrilled about is that 99% of teachers report that they think learning can be fun and that they enjoy learning new things. And I think sometimes we hear about, well, teachers just want to be left alone in their classrooms and to do what they've always done. And I don't think that's true. I actually think that vast majority of the teaching force enjoys learning new things.

[16:14]

They want to be engaged in professional growth opportunities. Now, unfortunately, that's paired with a stat that says 54% of teachers believe that they have opportunities and access to engage in meaningful professional development within their districts. So they think learning is fun. They enjoy learning new things. They want to grow professionally professionally. But there's a bit of a mismatch, it appears, to the things that we're sometimes offering with that desire to learn and grow in their profession.

[16:41]

But yeah, it's a really rich data set that I would encourage anyone to check out. And that's what's really driving the development of this work, is looking at what are teachers telling us? What are bright spots that we can build on? What are points of concern that we need to do focus groups and learn more about? And then how do we collectively, with the voices of teachers, create and share strategies for improvement? It's in press right now.

[17:05]

It'll be out in just a couple of weeks, a teacher voice workbook that Dr. Qualia and myself have co-authored. And it's chocked full of examples and activities for how we can really take a look at putting these concepts into practice? And I love that you're always asking those questions within your radio interviews, not just talking about theory, but what does this really look like into practice?

[17:29] SPEAKER_02:

You said this is a workbook?

[17:30] SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, we started with a workbook, and then we're working on a larger book right now. As I mentioned previously, Dr. Qualia and Dr. Corso have already authored Student Voice, the Instrument of Change, and Dr. Qualia and myself are now working on Teacher Voice, the Conductor of Change. And then your audience may also be interested to know that Dr. Qualley is working on a principal voice book as well.

[17:56]

So this has really grown from, as I said, the roots being in student voice to now kind of a school voice body of work. What does this really mean to embrace the concept of voice at all levels? How does that impact administrators, teachers, parents, and of course, always coming back to the students?

[18:14] SPEAKER_02:

So Lisa, where do you see this going? And what are your hopes for the future as you lead this work on teacher voice and aspirations?

[18:20] SPEAKER_00:

Our hope is that one day the voices of everyone in the educational community will really be heard, learned from, and then acted upon. And we really believe that now is the time to amplify teacher voice as a highly valuable resource in school change efforts. We hear teachers talk a lot about things that are being done to them rather than with them. And we definitely...

[18:42]

I think this cannot be an us-them type of an endeavor. This is going to take all of us working together, particularly administrators and teachers, in partnership with one another. And we think that really putting teacher voice as part of the ethos in schools, the way we do business, is way overdue. And it's a real privilege to be engaged in this body of work.

[19:02] SPEAKER_02:

Well, Lisa, thanks again. It has been such a pleasure to speak with you today on Principal Center Radio. If people want to find out more about your work at the Teacher Voice and Aspirations International Center, we'll link that up on our website. But if you could just tell people where they can find you online.

[19:15] SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. Check us out at TVAIC.org. I know that's exactly what we needed in education was one more acronym, but it stands for the Teacher Voice and Aspirations International Center. You can get the teacher report that was referenced earlier in our talk downloadable for free there, as well as other resources, the types of professional development that we have available. And then you can also connect with us on Twitter at TVoicematters.

[19:43] SPEAKER_01:

Thanks again, Lisa. Have a great day.

[19:45] SPEAKER_00:

All right. Thanks. You as well.

[19:47] SPEAKER_01:

And now, Justin Bader on high-performance instructional leadership.

[19:51] SPEAKER_02:

So high-performance instructional leaders, what did you take away from my conversation with Lisa? I was really struck in our conversation by how at the Qualia Institute for student aspirations and for teacher voice and aspirations, they're working in the opposite direction toward the same goal that we're working towards. toward in the High Performance Instructional Leadership Network, where we're taking our definition of instructional leadership and broadening it from something that is kind of the domain of administrators and including teachers, not just as input providers, but as instructional leaders. And we're viewing the work of leadership, the work of administrators in particular, as building capacity for instructional leadership among staff, among teachers, and increasingly among students. I think this is kind of new territory for us as a profession to look at students as key players in instructional leadership, that it's not just something that we do as the adults, but that students are involved in in terms of understanding standards and making decisions.

[20:54]

One thing that we're emphasizing in the coming year in the High Performance Instructional Leadership Network is goal setting and looking toward those standards that we're called to achieve. And not just treating that as an adult responsibility to make the plan and a student responsibility to kind of follow through with effort, but to see that as a collective responsibility that we can best tackle together. Another piece of that is decision-making. And if you've been following my work lately at the Principal Center, you know I believe that instructional leadership has a great deal to do with information. And the better decisional information available to us, the more we can guide our school in in the right direction and help everyone achieve those goals. So I think the more we're on the same page as a staff and the more students are involved in instructional leadership, which the Qualia folks refer to as voice and aspirations, I think we're all talking about the same thing here.

[21:48]

And that is achieving the work, doing the work that we've set out to do together and getting on the same page about that. And I think that is incredibly powerful. So I want to thank you for joining me again for another episode of Principal Center Radio. I'm Justin Bader, and if you're interested in the High Performance Instructional Leadership Network, you can find more about that at principalcenter.com slash leadership.

[22:11] Announcer:

Thanks for listening to Principal Center Radio. For more great episodes, subscribe on our website at principalcenter.com slash radio.