A Year End Process for Staff Synthesis of Learning
Even if we have ongoing qualitative evidence of success we could be examining, it can often be hard to organize, captured across a variety of formats, and not systematically embedded in our data reflection and analysis practices. Silos can hold genius we’re missing. We also may still emphasize only the qualitative “successes” instead of also including the “lessons learned” as wins in and of themselves.
“Winning” in the Broadest Sense: Lessons for Leaders
An asset-based orientation - focusing on successes - fuels the team’s momentum and mindset rather than depleting it. To be clear, we are not trying to gaslight you into a toxically positive view of celebrating wins in schools. Seeing weaknesses in implementation and impact creates urgency for change, and seeing success creates the belief that we can. Educators need both.
What Do “Small Wins” Have To Do With Leading For Deeper Learning?
Experiencing, reflecting on, and sharing small wins in meaningful work can change your day (and your life!). The meaningful element of the work is key here. Many educators (and students!) believe pursuing Deeper Learning outcomes for students is more meaningful than working toward traditional achievement measures alone. As the Deeper Learning (n.d.) team defines:
Deeper Learning describes the higher-order thinking skills, learning dispositions, and collaboration skills needed for students to succeed in twenty-first century work and civic life. Deeper Learning competencies promote the ability to transfer learning and apply learning to new and complex situations in an ever-changing global environment. (para 2)
While meaningful, many of the Deeper Learning outcomes lack the concrete, well-defined metrics that help teams clearly see the goals they’re pursuing. Rather, Deeper Learning outcomes are a bold vision for what’s possible in education. Leaders are instrumental in cultivating a shared team vision for deeper learning across a school or system – and doing so is a significant, ongoing process. However, education leaders are tasked with profoundly intense operational demands that do not let them focus solely on instructional leadership (Darling-Hammond et al., 2007). This means leadership expectations can feel infinite, so having clarity on what is most important for your team to realize a bold instructional vision is essential (as you’re responding in the moment to the clogged drain, late bus, or lack of subs). Ok, so you’re bought in, you’re committed, now what?