Earlier this week I wrote about a guidance seminar I ran with my students. The connections formed between courses and careers that day certainly made an impact on students, but that wasn’t the only successful connection that took place.
While Courses to Careers was a guidance seminar, it was truly a school wide undertaking. The original idea was conceived by a counselor, business teacher and Spanish teacher. Administrators and department chairs prepped for the event at the Instructional Leadership Team meetings. Students in a Media Communication & Production class created promotional materials to display. Senior students spent their lunch period encouraging underclassmen to attend. Teachers from every department were available the day of the seminar to meet with students following the presentation.
While this event could have stayed isolated under the umbrella of the guidance department, it branched out and engaged the entire building. Would the event have been successful if it had just been contained to one department? The last guidance only event attracted an average of 10 students per period. The cross curricular Courses to Careers drew 50-60+ per period. Was the material that much more interesting this time around?
You never know the impact you could have on a student because of the impact you had on a colleague.
Success came from working together. Some people view synergy as an outplayed word, but it is the most accurate description of what happened. An idea was generated, supported by others, promoted by someone else and enacted with the help of all. I felt empowered by the support of my colleagues, my colleagues got excited about promoting connections to the real world, and students became engage after seeing their teachers work together.
In the past, these multi period seminars have left me drained but this time around I was energized. I felt energized because I wasn’t doing it alone and I knew I was supported. The support is something every teacher should feel. When we are isolated it is easy to become critical, conceded, to complain gossip or stop caring. When we collaborate we are at our best.
What can you do to support a colleague next week? It can something as simple as saying hello in the morning or asking them about something exciting going on in their classroom. If you have more time, sit in on another teacher’s lesson. Why should administrators be the only ones doing observations? I think there is a lot we can learn from observing each other and a lot we can give back in terms of encouragement to the teachers we observe.
I challenge you to form connections outside of your classroom, grade level and department. You never know the impact you could have on a student because of the impact you had on a colleague.
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