Find Your Tribe

We come together in Professional Learning Communities, Data Teams and PLN's to plan and prepare for instruction. We do this both face-to-face and in an online setting. Encouraging and supporting educators in a collaborative process along with ongoing applicable professional development has been essential to our field. These components make us better.

Innovators are an essential. Researchers in the field of education have shaped the way in which we teach and learn and how we drive instruction. It is the work of John Hattie and his research on Effect Size along with the beliefs of Malcolm Gladwell in his work with the Tipping Point coupled with the studies of Growth Mindset by Carol Dweck, that provide educators with an unlimited supply of knowledge, best practice and insight into how to best deliver education.

With that, we also know that teaching and learning does not happen in a vacuum. There are no isolated moments. Reaching each individual learner can not be done within a silo. To be effective and to make academic progress, we must be able and willing to come together in the spirit of the tribe.

As you forge ahead through these months of teaching and learning, keep the following in mind:

• Tribes are there to support the work that you do and the work you need to do. 
• Tribes model that asking for help does not indicate a weakness, rather your desire to develop an undiscovered strength.
• Tribes drive collaboration. And, it is intended to keep you and those you work with moving towards both individual and collective success. 
• Tribes cultivate innovators. You are an innovator because you strive to refine your craft. You chose to be the best.
• Tribes keep you accountable. Be both the teacher and the student. 
• To lead we have to learn. Tribes foster both.

Find your tribe and work toward the goals in which you have established. Know that it is a journey, as the research says, and it will take time. Remember your purpose. Stay true to what's best for students, for teachers and for the learning process. We are better together.