The constantly shifting education landscape caused by the pandemic has been disorienting. Yet, many educators rose to these newly presented challenges. The pandemic highlighted new needs of students, schools, and districts - and recast old needs in a new light (like the importance of creating engaging lessons). In this tumultuous landscape we highlight how some of our master teacher fellows rose to and above the challenges of the year. We highlight various opportunities our fellows had to lead in their local districts.
 
Our fellows are still in the midst of their leadership journey and we find ourselves wondering what transitioning out of pandemic operations will mean for leadership in schools and education in general. We are looking forward to hearing what you thought about the examples we shared and any questions you might have. In particular we are hoping to discuss:
 

• What are the best ways for fellows, schools, and districts to build on the lessons learned from the pandemic and new capacities of teachers?


• What new opportunities are there for teacher leadership as schools transition from pandemic teaching?


• What new needs do teachers and schools have? And, what does this mean for preparation and support?


• Based on your viewing of the video, what other connections are you making?

Our team would love to hear more about your work during COVID-19. 

I would love to learn about the impact of this work and what Fellows learned from their roles.

There is no doubt that the pandemic has opened new doors for many of our fellows.  Many of them found themselves as a resource to fellow teachers and administrators sharing their knowledge of instructional technology and ways to increase student to student interactions in remote learning. 

This is what we are finding too.

What a great project! During the pandemic, many teachers needed help with technology and the Noyce scholars were prepared to step into this leadership role.  Do you have plans to continue to follow the Noyce scholars to see if they take on additional leadership roles?

We are planning to do that and will continue to provide them with other leadership opportunities beyond the life of the grant. The fellows are members of our network and are offered opportunities to present at our conferences and provide professional development for K-12 teachers through RUSMP.

Hi Zenon! Your team really highlighted some of the features of the pandemic that were a catalyst for change. Like you, our team realized some features of virtual learning that we may continue going forward. For example, recording lessons and having teachers select a portion of a lesson for which they would like feedback supported teachers and coaches to trust the process more. Often, coaches come into a lesson and watch in real time. By recording sessions and having teachers select portions of the lesson to discuss, they have more control over their own learning, and that seems to be a real benefit. Wishing you and your project well!

 

Teaching and mentoring will never return to pre-pandemic times. We've learned so much about engaging and assessing students, and technology provides a good approach to use in face-to-face situations. During the year, we also peeked into video-taped lessons of Noyce teachers to provide feedback. We had flipped classrooms and graphing tools before COVID-19. Now we have so much more. You also mentioned the word "trust." There are so many layers to that word. Trust at all levels is needed for honest interactions between students, between teachers and students, between teachers, etc.

Anne, I agree!  Trust is paramount.  I would also add to your list above that trust needs to exist between administration and teachers.  This year has required ongoing flexibility and responsiveness on everyone's part.  Open communication has been essential to navigating the challenges that we've had to face along the way. I'm very fortunate to feel extremely supported and trusted by all stakeholders in my own district but, as a NOYCE fellow, I've also benefited from the support of the other fellows, my mentor, and my engagement in the coursework. 

Nice presentation! I especially like the idea of Tech Fridays as that has a casual feel to it and is inviting for those who may be hesitant to try new technologies. What has been the impact of your efforts in engaging teachers to use technology tools in your schools beyond Zoom? How have you encouraged the most reluctant teachers to try new techniques and/or technologies for teaching online? It certainly has been a challenge for us at the university level!

Ann, you are spot on. Colleagues, including those of us at the university, need to be able to depend on Fellows to support, encourage, and serve as cheer leaders. We believe in itty bitty steps rather than big jumps. Try out a feature of Zoom or any new technology, determine the effects, and then tackle another. Not only did they encourage our group, they encouraged us. It is a mutually beneficial relationship that we have in place. We certainly don't have all the answers.

This was an inspiring video--seeing teachers who not only managed to hold their ground but actually to grow in skill and leadership during the pandemic. It will be interesting to see if the new relationships of trust and mutual aid among the teachers who worked together persists as the children come back and perhaps the classroom doors shut-- or will the team spirit of rising to the occasion persist! Proud of the Noyce scholars!

NSF should be proud of all the Noyce Fellows who stepped up and assumed the challenge of leading during the pandemic. All project directors deserve kudos for inspiring their Fellows to soar.

Everything seems to take more time online. Even the mundane such as unmuting to speak and getting into breakout rooms take time. We must focus on the essence of each subject and let some of the other topics fall by the way side. Simplicity is the key. We've had to put a break to trying to "cover" everything and just focus on what is really important. This is an important lesson for post-pandemic times too. Kids and teachers need "think-sink time" and rushing never helps develop deep understanding.

 

I really like the idea of your participants choosing a problem of practice and gathering data about the implementation. How did you have them share their results and did you find that having them do the research gave them a different perspective?

Thanks for your question, Elizabeth.  In addition to presenting and getting feedback from each other, each fellow identified an audience within their own context to share their results with.  This decision was based on the nature of the problem they investigated and who they felt would benefit from hearing the results.  The research into their own practice provided fellows with a way to investigate student learning, student perspectives, student voice, and how instructional practice impacted these.   

Dear Zenon and team, thank you for a great presentation on transitions attached to the rapid "zoomification" of the teaching process and how leadership was forged in the process.  Are there ways that teachers observed or fostered collaborative processes by students as integral to the remote learning process?

Thank you for your question Eric!  Collaboration was big focus for our fellows this year, both student to student and teacher to student.  The fellows reported pushing themselves to find new ways to use their current technology to increase collaboration.  Several fellows went to the students to gather ideas through anonymous surveys, as well as information about what was working for students and what wasn't.  One fellow reported changing the location of the zoom camera in the classroom to the back of the room, which students indicated made the remote learners feel more engaged as they could see their classmates and not just the teacher.

Eric - Have you found ways in your work to increase collaboration with students?

It was interesting to hear the comment that some teachers feel coaches "were pushed on them." How much of these great forms of PD are mandatory for the teachers, or can they opt out? In our work in the out-of-school world we only work with educators wanting to sign up, but sometimes they're the ones who already do many of the practices we coach. Opening up to a coach and peers takes courage & motivation, so I don't think our model would work at all if it was mandatory for all educators.

Hi Sue, Thanks for your comment. Great thoughts. For context, in that instance you refer to I believe the offering was something teachers could not opt-out of that was a building-level or district-level support offering. And, it was that offering which motivated our Noyce fellows to meet a need.  We found the leadership exhibited by our Noyce fellows really encouraging as they were able to see the needs of their peers and respond to those needs in ways that were really valued by their peers. In some cases they responded with opt-in sessions, and in other cases they developed sessions that were tailored to the 'in the moment' needs and delivered to a smaller group of peers.

So many similarities in our offerings. I would love to hear more about using swivel and uploading the files or did you just use it in a live-streaming way. We, at the ACRES Project, have been playing around with the idea of using it, but have not yet. Would love to compare success stories.

Hi Perrin- We've been using Swivl for coaching for several years. Being able to have a device that pairs with a smart phone or tablet and then automatically uploads to the cloud has been wonderful. I love that it tracks the teacher, as well as can receive several channels of audio (small group as well as teacher). You can toggle those channels on and off in the playback. What's also great is that if you record video using another device (a zoom recording, eg) you can upload that the your Swivl account for collaborative debrief and commenting. Even before the pandemic our Warner Center coaches made great use of the Swivl for long-distance coaching. We would be happy to compare stories. Please reach out!