Scott has posted a comment on feedback and raises the issue that surfaces in much of our work; the need for trust. If I had the power to change one mental model held by many people it just might be the one around trust. In a PLC where work is driven by a shared vision I don’t believe that people need to earn trust, I believe that it should be given and if behavior over time is inconsistent with that vision than one earns mistrust. As Scott suggests, we are not at that place in our PLC formation throughout the school system where trust is given. I believe that it is in specific contexts like interactions between teachers and our math coaches and in the work we are beginning with systems thinking tools, but not system wide.
The big thing is that I believe peer feedback requires a level of trust that I am not sure we have in all of our buildings or in any of our buildings for that matter. In a conversation regarding trust I had on Monday with a room full of presidents, I brought up that there are two major components that I felt were in schools and groups. One is comfort and one is trust. These are two very different things. I feel very comfortable in my school to share my views, my thoughts, and jokes. But do we all trust each other to give genuine honest feedback to grow as teachers. I am not sure all of our schools are there.
If teachers have a comfort level with feedback from administrators the question is how do we create this same comfort for peer-to-peer feedback? If as I suggest and Scott supports that it is working with feedback from colleagues in math, we might learn what lead to his feeling comfortable with and having trust in the teacher providing the feedback. What did the system intentionally do that produced this result? What did the teacher providing the feedback do over time to gain trust and create a comfortable context to observe and share? How does an individual teacher become more aware of the assumptions that they have about trust and feedback to crack the door open to receiving it from a colleague? What makes it easier to receive feedback and even wanting more from an administrator?
Any follow-up to these would be appreciated.
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The best way to build trust is to show things work. Personally, it doesn't matter to me from whom I receive feedback as long as it results in measurable progress in my students.
The challenge for Classroom 10 feedback providers will be how can they can prove to teachers that this feedback will result in measurable student improvement. If it cannot, the it should not be shared.
As teachers have success from these best practices, then trust will flourish.
Jonathan
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