Friday Focus - 5/18/12

Thank you for your hard work yesterday on the common core math standards.  You all never cease to amaze me with your dedication to learning.  At the end of the day one of the comments I heard is how important it will be for our teams to work together; both in grade levels and across grade levels as we learn and implement the new math curriculum.  This is so true and so necessary to ensure that we are providing all of our students with the same curriculum and that we are working together as a team to learn together as we implement something new.  This does not mean that you all have to teach with the exact same teaching styles, just that we are focused together as a team on what we expect students to learn, how will we respond if they don't learn it and what will we do when they do learn it.

I recently read a blog post by someone I follow on twitter that speaks to this topic more than I could right now (I think reading the math practices/progressions fried my brain!).  As we work together in teams, it is important that we build our professional working relationships and not take things personally.  The original blog where this is taken from can be found here: Life of an Educator by Justin Tarte

Relationships...

A team with strong relationships among its members, will be a team that has the ability and power to overcome even the most difficult obstacles. Though there may be differences between our professional beliefs and our personal, it has become increasingly difficult to completely separate the two. Additionally, I see the importance of constantly evaluating the effectiveness of our teams. A team that is not achieving what it was established to achieve, must be changed, modified, or completely dissolved. We are all busy, so let's make the best use of everyone's time.

Mindsets that help teams:

- Teams are personal, but there are no hard feelings or grudges after a disagreement
- The proper personnel are involved, and the necessary resources and time are provided
- The focus remains on the big picture and the team does not waste time on the smaller issues
- The team comes with an agenda and is prepared to discuss controversial topics
- Decisions are made based on the best people and the majority
- Great teams are always open and willing to try new ideas for the sake of improving
Mindsets that hurt teams:

- Every discussion or disagreement is taken personally
- Something cannot be improved or changed due to limited personnel / resources / time...etc
- Remaining focused on smaller less important issues that don't affect the big picture
- Spending too much time on a topic that the team is obviously not ready or prepared to discuss
- Making decisions based upon the exceptions or the minority
- Not being transparent and open to other ways of doing things

Teams with strong relationships will be able to overcome any disabling mindsets that would negatively affect the forward moving progress of the team. When teams are built upon trust, open collaboration, and a shared common focus, teams are better able to address the organization's needs. Focus on establishing strong relationships with your team members and members of your organization, and you will be well on your way to achieving strong results among your teams...