As I think about teacher morale and school climate as we head into the end of the year and testing for most schools I’m reminded of a small change that an Associate Principal made at our school last year. During pre-planning our Principal announced we would have a teacher tables in the lunchroom compliments of an idea that was conceived by our Associate Principal. Now mind you, this is a high school where teacher have not eaten in the cafeteria for years. The tables would be set to the side, but still among the student tables. In addition to announcing this new group of tables for teachers our principal also let us know that she thought it was a ridiculous idea and that none of us would use it.
So as the year started there were a few teacher that sat at the tables to enjoy lunch and casual conversation. As time went by more and more teachers started to eat lunch together at the tables. What I believe our associate principal saw that our principal may have missed was the need for our teachers to collaborate and form community. This was a simple change that created a sense of community and appreciation for the teacher- a special place designated for teachers to get together and talk. This was exactly what our school needed. We now had teachers talking and getting to know one another, but also sharing teaching practices or swapping ideas of how to deal with a challenging student. I’m inspired by the idea of my Associate Principal. How can we, as leaders, make small changes that have great impact?
I think this is a great idea. Like you, my school has never had a teacher table in the lunchroom because we have duty free lunch. However, we still end up eating together one of our classrooms. I can honestly say, we look forward to lunchtime because it is a time for us to share information and report on students. However, I don't know if this would work at my school because our lunch is super loud. How do you all deal with the noise level?
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