#EdLeadership: 3 “Bright Lines” That Help Support Co-teaching and Team Collaboration

The days of the silos in education are phasing out. Inclusivity and collaboration are in, and co-teaching is becoming more of a common feature in our 21st-century classrooms. So how can educational leaders encourage creativity and cooperation? — by making it easy for groups of teachers and teams to come together to plan, create and collaborate. And how can we mitigate the friction and build a culture of openness where everyone feels empowered, engaged and inspired? I think the answer is bright lines. 

Bright lines?-I know what you are thinking–What the heck is she talking about?  Well, most of us take for granted the white or yellow lines that are painted on our roads. However, years ago, when cars began to become popular vehicles, that innovation made a tremendous impact on road safety – And whether you drive in Omaha, Nebraska or Jakarta, Indonesia, it helps drivers to maintain lane discipline, and avoid oncoming traffic and other potential hazards. But those line markings or “bright lines” can only serve their purpose if they can easily be seen by all road users, in all conditions. Okay, so hold onto that concept while I digress a moment …..

I think we can all agree and appreciate that ideas become amplified when groups of self-motivated people with a collective vision join together and dig into challenges. But Simon Sinek really expresses the conundrum that we face in teams:

There’s a paradox with being a human being. At all times, at every moment on every day, we are both individuals and members of groups. We are both responsible for ourselves and own happiness and our own joy, but, at the same time, we are members of multiple groups at every moment. And this produces some complications, we have to make decisions. So do we put ourselves first or do we put the group first? And there’s a debate: some people say you have to take care of yourself before you can take care of the group; and some say, “No, no, no!”, you take care of the group and that’s what helps take care of you.  And the answer is YES–it’s not one of the other. The answer is both, simultaneously.

Simon Sinek, #followthereader with Jay Shetty

Can you relate to the tug and pull on our emotions when we are involved in teams? I totally do! I think-How do I do ME and yet help become a better WE?

Well, the more I consider it, the more I feel that “bright lines” can create the boundaries you just can’t cross in a team so that the “I” and “We” can co-exist in harmony. These are non-negotiables that your team articulates that put you on the road to success (pun intended).  And perhaps the best way is for teams to identify the “bright lines” around their purpose, roles and goals.

Bright Line #1: Common Purpose

How often do you jump in your car (or any form of transportation) and just start driving? I bet most of the time you have a reason why you got into your car and a have a destination in mind.

Hmmm….. But how in our “Teacher back to school” week, do we just “jump in” and start “driving”, without cultivating connection, intention, direction, with WHY we come together, to begin with. We start planning our Week 1 without really getting to know each other. Sure, some teams may be given some team norms or encouraged to make some common agreements, but then we either race through that stuff or get caught up with surface level chit chat (ie: Do you have children? Oh you have a dog? That’s nice, I like dogs!), without developing understanding and trust with each other. In my mind, that is HUGE and makes a really big impact on the effectiveness of the team. We take each other’s philosophy and passions for granted, failing to find our common ground and connect the dots between our personal values and guiding principles that impact our practice. I’m not suggesting that knowing the basic information isn’t important and necessary, but I think that’s more of a whole staff icebreaker rather than a goal of our first team meeting.

Last year we had discussed bringing our team together to co-construct a team mission statement, but because it hadn’t been encouraged in the beginning and we didn’t have a framework, it slipped way to the bottom of our team “to do list”.  However, when team members became really ill and had extended periods of absence, I could definitely feel the loss of that opportunity because it would have helped all team members to know what direction we should take, as well as helping the absent members transition back onto the team. I will definitely make it a point next year, and I think these questions can really help out sculpt our shared mission/team statement together.

Individuals reflect on these questions, write them down, then share them with the group:

Intention: What am I committed to? Why does that matter to me?

Direction:  What do I think is the best of the “best practice”? Why do I feel that way? What is the impact I hope to make?

Connection: What is something that is important for me to feel safe and valued? What is something that really hurts my feelings or annoys me? What is something that I want to improve upon that I’d like support and encouragement with?

I think the questions about intention and direction can guide the collective team statement, while the last “connection” questions help to organically shape common team agreements.

To create change that lasts, we need to know what we stand for. -Simon Sinek-

Translating those answers into creating a common purpose really draws those bright lines around your collaborative efforts while developing your “standard operating procedures” for the team. And those questions are just one way to approach developing your team’s identity and purpose. But having that in place, in my mind, is foundational. Teams can’t be successful without having high-quality professional conversations.

Bright Line #2: Roles- Driving In Your Own Lane

I’ve heard it said that when you’re driving in your own lane, there’s no traffic and no speed limit.  I’m sure from the previous conversations that the “lane” in which a team member is going to drive in is becoming more obvious, but these questions can further tease out our concerns and passions.

Individuals ask these questions:

1. What am I good at?
2. What do I love?
3. What does our group of learners need?
4. What does our school need?
5. How can I serve the needs of these learners?
6. Is there something that I can do to serve the needs of the larger community?

Under poor leaders we feel like we work for the company.  With good leaders we feel like we work for each other. -Simon Sinek-

Focusing in on ourselves and then widening the lens helps everyone in the group to appreciate what a team member finds joy and excitement for; also we can take notice of each other’s unique perspective and start to develop synergy around commonalities in areas in which we can intersect and elevate each other. It also is a moment in which we can be authentically vulnerable and a natural trust and closeness for one another can develop. Sharing begets caring.

A footnote here: If we really want to amplify the vulnerability then we can have team members express what they would like to work on and/or what they would like to improve upon. This opens a door to peer-coaching. But, in this instance, when we are trying to understand our roles on a team, it’s best to avoid personal/professional goal setting–that’s for another meeting time when we are not painting bright lines.

Bright Line #3: Goals- What’s The Destination?

Once you have “painted” the bright lights around passion and purpose, goals naturally develop. Now, as I see it, there are at least 2 layers to this–there are interpersonal goals with team members and then there are student learning expectations that come about as a result of our cumulative efforts. With regards to team goals, I feel that having a positive projection is critical, as well as developing optimism and motivation for team members. So questions that could support this might be…

What do I think is the “best case scenario” for our team and what am I willing to do and/or contribute to the team to make this a reality? What guideposts or milestones might I see that would indicate that we have arrived or achieved our goal? 

At our school, we often refer to our rubric/continuum for collaboration that could direct these conversations. Here is what it looks like:

But I really love this concept of a success spectrum from Faster than 20, and I would like to advocate for this applying this tool to our schools because I think it develops greater teacher agency. Also, because it is so broad, not only could be used for team collaboration goals but for student learning impact goals as well. Plus, teachers could use this template for their personal professional goals; so in my mind, this is a very versatile and handy dandy tool.

As for student learning outcome goals, so often we rely on standardized test scores or using our learning outcomes to define our destination. But this data, when you think about it, is really 1-Dimensional. It doesn’t really address the needs of the WHOLE child, and it doesn’t examine the powerful dynamics that happen in the learning community. Yes, it’s important to review data on math and literacy from the previous year, but I would caution that as being the only data explored. However, it is a place to start to look at the overall composition of the cohort and consider how you might elevate their progress in your own grade level.

That being said, what are the kiddos that might need additional support and whose responsibility is it to ensure they grow? (Admittedly, all of us, right?–but sometimes it’s nice to have “eyes assigned” to specific students if you have a lot of students with additional learning needs so no one falls through the cracks.) Also, bright lines need to be developed how the team is going to track their growth. What tools and methods are you going to use to examine progress?  If progress isn’t made, then what steps will members make to help those students? If progress IS made, then how are we going to celebrate it?

In summary, here are the questions that teams need to ask to define student outcome goals?

1. What do we know about this cohort?
2. Who might need more support?
3. What do we know about these students beyond the test scores?
4. What data are we going to use to track growth?
5. Who is going to be responsible for anecdotal evidence of growth?
6. How often are we going to evaluate the needs of students?
7. What might we do if growth is stagnating and who is responsible to assess this?
8. What other goals can we set for our students, outside of academic progress? For  PYP schools, I think our focus should be on ATLs and the  Learner Profile.

Personally, I think none of these questions should be skipped or overlooked, even if the answers seem obvious. The point of this is to make explicit the what, who, how and when of goals so that there is nothing implied and hidden on the team with clear and effective communication.

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Bringing together eclectic groups of educators and developing synergy between them is a real challenge. What we want to avoid is a team member suffering from feeling that their ideas are being marginalized or watered down,  feeling snubbed and personalizing the rejection, rather than understanding that it is the idea that is being challenged. This can lead to members experiencing loneliness and apathy, disengaging from collaboration rather than leaning into it. However, I think developing bright lines creates understanding and empathy for one another on a team which can circumvent some of these future personality issues and conflicts.

I know these ideas around bright lines are really a “first thinking” around how teams can reflect and reveal the perspectives, purpose, and passion of its members. The questions are meant to drill down and reflect on the needs of an individual and the needs of the group so that “I” and “we” can work harmoniously and simultaneously to meet the needs of the learners. What is important and vital is having structures that express the goals, roles, and responsibilities of each member so that respect and collaboration organically develop.  That is what effective leadership does on Day 1.

As I begin to think about the start of school, I look forward to deepening my understanding of how our team can connect and communicate more openly so that our team’s combined efforts can create amplified learning.