After years of researching it, thinking about it, and
debating the pros and cons in my mind, I finally purchased a Vitamix
blender. This blender is the Cadillac of
blenders and like a Cadillac it comes with a hefty price tag. After spending almost four hundred dollars
for this blender, I made my first smoothie and realized it was worth every
penny. I have a friend who also loves to
drink smoothies, so I told him about my Vitamix and how wonderful it is. When I told him he should get one, he didn’t
seem very interested. Soon after I made
my purchase, my friend came over my house and I offered to make him a smoothie. It was smoothie magic – in an instant he had
a delicious, perfectly smooth smoothie. About
a week later, I was at his house and I walked into his kitchen and on his
counter was a shiny new Vitamix blender.
Telling my friend he should get a Vitamix did not make him go out and
buy one. It wasn’t until he had the
evidence of what I had been telling him - a strawberry banana smoothie without
one hint of a strawberry seed - in front of his eyes that he made the decision
for himself to get one.
I couldn’t force my friend to buy a Vitamix, but I did influence
him. Last week, I participated in a
Twitter chat at #g2great, the topic of which was Influence in Education. Similar to many of the times I have
participated in a #g2great chat, I was still thinking about the thoughts and
ideas that were shared even after the chat was over. This chat left me thinking about how we, as
educators, can have an influence on teaching and learning. I have thought about how we can influence not
just the students we directly teach, but also how our influence can extend
beyond the four walls of our classrooms.
In my first few years of teaching, I wanted to implement writing
workshop so I asked my principal to purchase the Writing Units of Study by Lucy
Calkins. He agreed and I began
implementing the units in my first grade classroom. My daily writing time was transformed into a
writing workshop in which my students were writing daily and thinking of
themselves as authors. This was very different from the traditional writing
instruction that occurred at my school. I began talking with my first
grade colleagues about the writing workshop in my classroom. I also shared my students’ actual writing,
which had a powerful effect. The other
teachers became interested and wanted to make changes to their own writing
instruction. A year later, all
kindergarten through grade two teachers at my school were referring to the
Units of Study and teaching through a writing workshop model.
Through this experience, I learned about the power of
influence in spreading my beliefs about my teaching practice. I knew what I believed to be true about
effective writing instruction and I knew my students were benefiting. I felt so strongly about it, that I wanted to
share with other teachers so their students could benefit, too. Of course, forcing teachers to implement
writing workshop never would have worked.
I was able to influence them by talking about what I know to be true
about writing and by showing the evidence, students’ writing.
Influencing others is not always so simple as making someone
a perfect smoothie or sharing writing samples so I’ve been considering ways that educators can be influential. Through
thinking about influence and reflecting on the thoughts shared during the
#g2great chat, this is what I’ve come up with:
Be Knowledgeable
Read a lot. Whether it’s books, journals, blogs, or articles,
read to learn and understand what is effective practice and how student
learning and teaching can be shaped to promote independent, life-long
learners. Knowledge is power.
Be Articulate
This year, at the New England Reading Association
Conference, Katie Wood Ray sat on a panel of authors who were involved in
writing the book, The Teacher You Want to Be. The panel was asked how we should
best advocate for our instructional beliefs.
She suggested that educators be able to articulate the reasons and
purposes for doing what they do. Explaining
the why makes it easier for others to
understand our beliefs.
Be Connected
I have found social media to be one of the best ways to
extend my professional network beyond my own school and district. Educators on social media sites offer so much
useful insight into teaching and learning and information and ideas can be
spread widely and quickly. Recently, I
started a virtual book club to discuss the book, Who’s Doing the Work: How to Say Less So Readers Can Do More by Jan
Burkins and Kim Yaris. There are over
six hundred members to discuss the book and hopefully, influence each other
with insightful ideas as we reflect on what we've read. There is still time to join the book club before we start discussing the book, so if you'd like to take part join the Literacy Teacher Book Club Facebook group page.
Be Innovative
George Couros in The
Innovator’s Mindset: Empower Learning, Unleash Talent, and Lead a Culture of
Creativity states that teachers should always ask, “What is best for this learner?” in order to create better
learning opportunities for students. Teachers
can be innovative by thinking about how they can change or improve upon
learning in order to provide purposeful, relevant, and engaging opportunities
for students. We influence our students’
learning when we make changes to our practice with the needs of our individual students
in our minds.
Be Open-Minded
I watched the film Most
Likely to Succeed recently. The film
highlights High Tech High, which has a very non-traditional curriculum in which
students learn by doing and teachers facilitate learning that is personalized
for all students. I’m sure this approach to teaching and learning has its advantages and disadvantages,
but being open-minded about new ideas and principles that may be different from our own leads to new ways of
thinking that can potentially lead to positive change.
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| MRA Committee sign-ups |
Be Involved
Professional organizations help to connect educators and
seek to improve learning and teaching. I
am a member of the International Literacy Association (@ILAToday), as well as my state
reading council, the Massachusetts Reading Association (@mraread), and local reading
council, Southeast Regional Reading Council.
Through these associations I have had the opportunity to network with
other educators, participate in activities that improve my teaching, and share
my own knowledge and ideas as a conference presenter. Professional organizations, whether they are
related to literacy or have another educational focus, have an influence on
educational practices and our involvement helps to drive that influence.
What are your experiences with influence in education? How else can we be influential in our
attempts to share our beliefs and what we know to be effective practices for
teaching and learning?
