Transcript

Welcome to BLaST the Airwaves with BLaST Intermediate Unit 17. Here at BLaST Intermediate Unit 17, we strive to transform lives and communities through educational services. On this podcast, we will provide you with educational solutions for all, no matter the learning environment. So teachers, administrators, caregivers, what are you waiting for?

What would happen if we started questioning, what if? What if we had a positive perspective on education? What if we flip the switch on education? What if we were the solution?

Hello listeners. We are excited to BLaST the Airwaves with you today and provide educational solutions for all. My name is Rebecca Gibboney and I am the Curriculum and Online Learning Specialist here at BLaST Intermediate Unit 17. I am thrilled to welcome you to episode 14 of BLaST the Airwaves. Today, during this episode, we will continue to uncover the secrets of what it takes to build your teacher credibility. Trust and competence. How do we now build trust in the world we are living in? How can we show our competence when, maybe, just maybe, we feel like a first-year teacher all over again? You are not alone. These are questions that we all wonder. So, why not jump right in and start blasting the airwaves?

“I can’t stand the politics at work. I feel sabotaged by my peers. It seems like everyone is out for himself, herself, and will do anything to get ahead.” (Covey, 2006, p. 4)

“I feel like my contributions at work are hardly ever recognized or valued.” (Covey, 2006, p. 4)

“I have to walk on eggshells at work. If I say what I really think, I’ll get fired…or at least made irrelevant.” (Covey, 2006, p. 4)

“My boss micromanages me and everyone else at work. He treats us all like we can’t be trusted.” (Covey, 2006, p. 4)

Sound familiar?

I truly hope that these situations are not what you experience daily in the workplace, but I also am not naive. I know that these circumstances exist. These examples that Stephen Covey define in his book, The Speed of Trust, as circumstances where there is a lack of trust. Where we feel helpless and mentally exhausted, undervalued. What do we do? What can we do?

We can do something.

Trust = confidence; distrust = suspicion.

I find this statement bold and interesting. I never looked at distrust as suspicion, but boy how about it? When we do not trust someone or something, we are overly suspicious. Either paranoid we are doing something wrong or overanxious that something will go wrong. Whereas, when I feel trust, I feel competent. I feel confident.

Stephen Covey outlines trust mainly in the workplace. However, when we start to really think about it I wonder how much trust someone can have, someone can give, when they have trust at the foundational level. Yes, this is a podcast for educators and students in a classroom. However, if you are an administrator, a teacher leader, think, think deeply about the trust you give and the trust you have.

Hard truth and this is just from my experiences, you cannot expect trust from your colleagues or your staff if you do not model the trust first. A system must be built on trust first and you are the driver of that trust. It starts with you.

But, let’s take these scenarios and flip them back into the classroom. How many times do we hear sometimes that a student’s voice is not valued? Maybe a teacher micromanages his or her classroom in fear of losing control? What about a classroom where students are afraid to ask questions or respond to a question as a result or in a fear of failure?

Trust, folks. The underlying cause is lack of trust. And, like I said before, and, well, so did Stephen Covey, we can do something about it.

Trust is one of the core components of building teacher credibility. Remember, how well do students feel like they can learn from you? It also helps with building positive student-teacher relationships.

Friends, “teacher credibility is always at play” (Fisher, Frey, & Hattie, 2016, p. 10).

According to Fisher, Frey, and Hattie, these are some steps you can take to build that trust, even in the distance learning environment:

First, if you make a promise, keep it. If you can’t keep it, your students deserve to know why. If you promise one more activity before break, just do one more activity, not five more activities.

Be truthful. Speak the truth to your students about their performance, about everything.. They can handle it.

Think about how you speak to your students. While yes, it is important to be truthful. It is even more important to balance your praise. It is not always the hot sauce–the negative or the wrong; but, sprinkle on some sugar. I got the sugar and hot sauce analogy from the former, University of Connecticut Men’s Basketball coach, Kevin Ollie. Ever since I attended a coaching clinic with him, it has stuck. Not only do I give my basketball players sugar and hot sauce, but I translated it to the classroom with my students. Of course, in education, there are plenty of examples of this: a star and a wish is another one.

And, if you do catch yourself spreading too much hot sauce, or always pointing out the negative or the wrong, catch yourself. Step back and re-evaluate. Your students can sense those vibes. Remember, it’s the vibes you give that form those relationships and ultimately impacts your credibility.

It is these recommendations that you can continue to build trust, no matter the learning environment.

Yet, in order to maintain trust, I (include Hattie, Fisher, and Frey) also find that competency–no, not necessarily how well you know the content; but also, how well you perform as expected and appropriately–that’s another key element to building that credibility.

If you do not know an answer, tell students you will work to find the answer. Show up on time to an online learning session. Greet your students virtually. Grade being fair and valid. Do not write the same comment ‘good work’ or ‘I see your point’ or ‘interesting’, and then continue to give each student the same score. A 10 for student A who wrote ten sentences, a 10 for student B who wrote 5 sentences; but, the students won’t notice, will they?

I’ll let you in on a little secret. Students talk, and from my experience, they notice. They want to be heard. They want to be valued. They want their work to amount to something meaningful. So, take the time.

I know that it can be challenging. I have caught myself falling behind already, even in working with adults, in commenting on posts. I have found myself repeating generic responses. It happens. It will take time. It will take us being intentional and setting aside time. But, it will be worth it.

Competency in relation to trust is one thing, but then, yes, there is competency in relation to teaching. You guessed it. I wasn’t going to let you off the hook that easy. Students want to know what you expect from them and what you know. They expect a certain level of expertise. They expect that your delivery is coherent, well-paced, and organized. They do; but, keep in mind, this does not mean you have every single answer, like I mentioned earlier. You still have your phone a friend, if you needed. Be truthful with them.

Since we’re speaking about truth–it sort of seems like a theme for this episode–be true to yourself. How many of you listening feel like a first-year teacher again? It’s okay to admit it. I know I definitely feel like I am back to the drawing board.

So, let’s take this back to the intro. Let’s take this back to my go-to question this year…’what if’. Because as I see it, you can look at this year as an opportunity or you can let this year pass you right by.

Fisher, Frey and Hattie say it perfectly “the task is the same.” Let me say that again for you educator friends. Teaching is the task. Teaching is the same. “But, how you view it. Your view can influence your efforts, the stress you experience, and the satisfaction you receive.” Your view, your perspective.

Why are over complicating things? We, as in me too! I seem to always overcomplicate things, but I’m working on it! For example, when our district first went 1:1, I literally downloaded every single app under the sun because it looked fun. And, we all know, there are tons of apps/websites/resources out there. And can you guess what happened to all of those apps/webistes/resources that I downloaded? I’m sure you guessed it. I never used them. Well, maybe one or two here and there, but they mainly sucked up all my storage. Instead, I had maybe one or two or three go-to resources. That was it. And, I survived.

I was guilty of letting the tool choose the task, not the task choose the tool, as I am sure there are a few of you listening who are guilty of this, too. But, folks, face it. We will not know every single app, every single resource, every single website out there. Stop driving yourself crazy. It’s okay to have one, two, maybe four in your toolbox and we will get to this idea in the future. It’s okay! You do not need a different tool for every single task.

While I was overloading apps a few years ago, my biggest a-ha moment I had in teaching happened in my first year teaching. Actually, it is ironic because this lesson also translates to my life and it was brought to my attention, not by an administrator, not by a colleague, but rather my students.

I always felt like my classroom had to be jammed packed, or should I say my lessons, also my classroom too, because I had a lot of things on my walls. I had to pack my lessons with new strategies, new routines, new seating charts, etc. Everything new, every week. I had to change things up, keep things fresh. Aka, this is also how I lived my life…always something new, keeping myself busy. It wasn’t until I read my feedback from my students (remember, checking my credibility) where I realized my students did not want change, they wanted consistency. They wanted predictability. And these were high school students. They looked forward to routine. They expected something constant, not something new. Change in certain places is okay and sometimes they wanted change to spice it up, but not every single day, every single week. Fisher, Frey and Hattie mimic these exact same comments from my students in their suggestions in the Distance Learning Playbook, because this consistency and predictability not only helps educators show competence but it also allows students the chance to believe in themselves and prove their own competency to you, the educator, and themselves.

I’ve never ever thought of it like that before, but hearing that from my students and, maybe for you, hearing that from the experts Fisher, Frey and Hattie, maybe it is like a weight lifted off your shoulders. It was for me.

In the world, we are living in right now less is more. We do not hear that often in education, so let me say it again. Less is more.

Keep things simple. Build trust. Remember, the task has not changed. Keep in mind, you are the influencer. You are the influencer of your own thoughts, your stress levels, your own experience.

So, take a deep breath, reset yourself and remember, less is more. We’re going through some pretty huge changes right now. Focus on the small changes. After all, sometimes the smallest changes, make the biggest impact.

We would like to thank you for blasting the airwaves with us today. If you like the show, please subscribe or leave a review. If you want to know more, check out www.iu17.org for further resources and show notes. As always, we want to thank you for what you do every single day. Remember, keep shining. We’ll be back next episode to provide you another educational solution for all, as we continue to transform lives and communities through educational services.

Additional/Suggested resources mentioned in the episode:

The Distance Learning Playbook by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and John Hattie

The Speed of Trust by Stephen Covey

BLaST Intermediate Unit 17 – www.iu17.org 

Professional Learning Opportunities at BLaST IU 17 – https://www.iu17.org/professional-learning/ 

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