The Power of Professional Conversation

In my last blog I wrote about the struggle I had experienced with one of my classes at the start of the year. I outlined how the class addressed the issues and settled on 5 class values. This exercise got me thinking about values in general and, more specifically my values. What do I value in my classroom? What do I value every day? What do I value in life? What had been a seemingly small hiccup in a lesson plan turned into a personal contemplation about the dramatic changes to my attitude towards education and teaching over the past two years.

A couple of years ago I was assigned a mentor. At the time it did not impress me. I thought I wasn’t being considered professional or that the school was keeping an eye on me. Why were they watching me? Were others being watched ….mentored?        

Thankfully my mentor was someone with whom I had worked closely and someone I respected. We started meeting once a week and, surprisingly, it wasn’t that bad. The meetings were really informal. We discussed my wellbeing and how I was travelling in general. These discussions branched into how my classes were travelling and where I was with them and eventually developed into discussion specifically to my subject area, the delivery of the curriculum and learning strategies used in my classes. I would never have believed that I would have gained so much from a meeting.

Now, we all know schools have meetings. Sometimes it seems like there are meetings for the sake of meetings! A buzzword that I had been hearing a lot of lately was ‘professional conversation’ but I wasn’t to be fooled. I knew that this was just a new name for a meeting. However, my mentor had mentioned this word in our discussions and even referred to our meetings as professional conversations. How did I get in this position? I was now having ‘professional converstions’!  

I could go into a lot more details about our meetings/professional discussions and the outcomes of them, but in short, they have changed my mindset about what I do, how I do it and most importantly, why I do it. Although initially I had resisted the idea of having a mentor, over time not only did I reap the benefits of my professional conversations with my mentor, I actually looked forward to them. So how did my mentor achieve this amazing transformation? By making the time to talk and listen to me. To share, discuss, debate and engage in my teaching and learning. Through these simple acts, I grew as a person and a teacher. My mentor and I have gone on to develop a supportive and encouraging working relationship. A relationship that has encouraged me to take my teaching practice to another level. One that has given me the confidence to challenge myself and the desire to continually strive to improve. And, in particular, a relationship that I would like to see fostered in other professionals within and outside my workplace.

At some stages in life we all find ourselves in a rut. In life and at work. We form habits, we take the easy road, the comfortable path, the line of least resistance. Doing what needs to be done without taking the time to think about ‘why’ we are doing what we are doing. For a long time I was just like that. I was one of those people. Someone who was just doing a job. Sure I was doing some good things but I had settled on that. I was doing it that way all the time. I wasn’t challenging myself to do it better.

However, with the encouragement of my mentor and my active engagement in professional conversations I now take every opportunity to reflect and review my teaching practice. I have the courage to challenge myself daily and, rather than being a chore, it is exciting and invigorating. My kids come into a classroom where the teacher is energised and that is contagious.

As teachers, we work in an environment where we are surrounded by a valuable and free resource – our peers.  Other people like us that day in day out share similar experiences to us. But, how often do we make the time to talk and share with them? To listen and learn from them? To lend an ear, support and encourage them? To collaborate or prop them up when they need someone? To challenge them? Creating an environment where teachers feel supported to take risks and try new things is a gift that will be passed on to the children in the classrooms. In the words of Grace Hopper, ‘ The most dangerous phrase in language is We’ve always done it this way’.

So what do I value? I think I’ve already answered that. But, I ask you, ‘What do you value?’  Take the time to think about it – I’m here if you’d like to have a professional conversation.