Trust is the Most Powerful Tool

I have started 2016 by dedicating some regular to professional reading. If you saw the books in my office, all on teaching, classrooms, students, mindset, etc., and knew how few I got to read cover to cover, you might think I were nuts to ever purchase another book again. Each purchase was made with a thought, goal, or hope in mind, and it's time to achieve these.  So each "lunch time" I get at school (which really, for me, is covering the media center) I read my education book. Currently I am tackling "The Innovator's Mindset" by George Couros.

I am engrossed in this and look forward to my 30 minutes of reading each day. I am a slower reader than most when it comes to technical or educational reading (something I want to learn or retain), I recognize this about myself, and I know I should highlight or take notes of the key ideas I want to remember. I think I would be accurate in saying that the color of the pages in my book are pretty much highlighter yellow. There are so many ideas and thoughts and quotes I want to keep in the forefront of my mind.

I just finished (twice mind you) the chapter on relationships and trust. Now whether it was the frame of mind I was in, the weather, just coming back from Christmas break, I have no idea, but those pages are burned into my memory. Having trust in any working relationship is vital to the success of the business/job/project/classroom. From the classroom teacher perspective, I have to create an environment where students feel trusted. It's OK to make mistakes, if you forgot to do your homework, if you failed a test, all of these scenarios have (and will again) happened in my classes. If there is a feeling a trust, my students know they just need to come and talk to me and we'll work together to find the next step and keep moving in a positive direction.

OK, I understand that and work on that with every new class. But that is only half of my day. The other half I'm working with teachers helping them to integrate technology into their classroom. I'm not only introducing them to new technologies and helping them learn to use it in the classroom, but I also need to build trust with them to try these new ideas, that might be completely out of their comfort zone, and know that if it doesn't work out as planned, THAT'S OK! This cannot be done in a building staff meeting.

For one, we're talking PreK-12th grade. The needs, wants and abilities are so completely scattered, I don't think I could even accurately chart it. And I am primarily located in one building. There are many staff members from the other building I only see at workshop in August. So how am I going to do this with only half of the school day? How can I build a one-on-one relationship that is essential to me to be able to help with tech? This has been a struggle for me three years running.

There were a couple of quotes in particular that hit me. The first was:

"As leaders in education, our job is not to control those whom we serve but to unleash their talent"

Don't I need to know their talent first in order to help unleash it? Then a few pages later I read:

"But to move people from their point A to their point B, I believe it is necessary, as Gawande mentions, to create regular opportunities for human interaction that help build relationships and spur innovation."

Create regular opportunities, huh? That's my next goal, create these opportunities, during the school day, not on their own time (possibly mine) because that's how important this is.