The reason why I was able to lead the series of professional development is not only because I raised my hand to do so, but it is the shared leadership that was exercised by the leadership at HTHM, which made it possible for me to step up and lead. If I had not been given a space or opportunity to raise my hand, I would have not been able to exercise my leadership. It is not just my "will," but the condition that made it possible. Shared leadership is best functioned when leaders share leadership and members of the organization own that leadership by responding. Then leaders respond to that leadership by giving enough support so that they succeed in their act of leadership. This two-way responsiveness is what makes organizations move forward.
"I feel like I opened Pandora's box." This is how I felt after the second session of professional development. So that is what I said to teachers in the beginning of the third session. Do we close the box, pretending that we have never opened the box? Or only seeing the glows and let grows sealed in the box?
A topic on excellence is about imagining and re-imagining excellence (vision), celebrating what is already working well (glows), identifying areas of growth (grows), coming up with safe-to-fail experiments (action), and continuing this cycle over and over.
Marriott (2001) states that positive student outcomes are founded on "visions of excellence" and that it must be "continually adapted to respond to a changing cast of stakeholders and an evolving social-political context. Institutionalizing a vision of excellence is, by necessity and definition, an ongoing, collaborative activity involving teachers, students, parents, and staff" (P. 75). A culture of excellence is developed through the process of collaborative, continuous improvement. When an organization does not close Pandora's box, but chooses to "see, engage, act," it transforms the organization into a liberatory and resilient system (National Equity Project, 2019).
A topic on excellence is also a topic for my capstone project that I have been closely working with my 10th grade teachers and students. As I was preparing for the workshops, I realized that it made total sense that I landed on this topic. How so? It was the team culture and team ethic that led me to this topic. They are very different in many aspects, but collaborate so well with each other. It is because they are two people who care about excellence. They expect students to care about the quality of work and give enough support so they can succeed. Their shared vision of excellence and a constant yarn for improvement is what brings them unity.
They are not afraid to identify grows. That is why they are quick to move forward: quick to identify grows and quick to make actions...We, as the 10th grade team, came up with three grows and three ideas. One of the grows we identified was "visibility of group work." For this particular grow, we decided to do a "Mid-project Check-in" the following week, where students would individually assess themselves and share their glows and grows to their team members. Then, as a team, they would identify their team purpose, outcome, glows, growths, and actions. Excellent team is quick to make actions for improvement and collectively act towards it.
What makes them different from other teams? I wondered.
I mentioned already that it is their ethic and culture of excellence, and their fearlessness and willingness to go beyond−to make improvement. But there is one more essence. That is the design and nature of the project.
It is the design and nature of the project that requires them to communicate frequently and collaborate closely. They construct and deliver their class that contributes to the success of the final product, which is a production of student-led play, and they are well aware that the work cannot be done alone. Humanities needs Theater; Theater needs Humanities.
In "The Art of Coaching Teams," Aguilar (2016) defines team as a "unit of people who convene to work together interdependently for a shared, meaningful purpose" (P. 2). She further explains the three dimensions of a great team as below (P. 2−3):
Product: Something of quality gets done that is valuable, useful, and appreciated.
Process: The group's collaboration skills increase as a result of working together.
Learning: The team experience is a learning experience that increases the skills and knowledge of individual team members.
From this experience and analysis, I have come to think about the following two things. First, designs and nature of projects direct and almost determine how teams of teachers work together. Therefore, when it is time to design projects, the level and the balance of interdependentness of teachers or interdisciplinaryness of subjects should be taken into consideration. Second, coaching teams of teachers is the key to the success of school. As for project based schools like High Tech High, if every team is being coached according to the four design principles, how stronger each team can be.
As mentioned earlier, this issue is often discussed from the standpoint of freedom of thoughts. As it should absolutely be discussed from that standpoint, perhaps, it is also time to see and discuss it as a DEI issue. Name that requiring students and teachers to sing regardless of their belief or/and ethnic background is a violation of cultural responsiveness.
Cultural responsiveness must be more prioritized in schools...Both the U.S. Constitution (the First amendment) and the Constitution of Japan (Article 19 and 21) protect the freedom of speech and thoughts, however, schools have the responsibility of being culturally sensitive and protect each student, family, and community from any form of disrespect, discrimination, and oppression.
Second, school leaders should create a space for teachers and students to generate their critical thinking and be engaged in a dialogue around this issue. School leaders should invite teachers as well as students to talk about this topic and to share with them if they have any questions or concerns, and be willing to think creatively what to do together. "Without dialogue there is no communication, and without communication there can be no education" (Freire, P. 93, 2013).