This digest compiles key industry resources and insights shared in our April 2024 Membership newsletter. This month we covered practical advice and new ideas on the role of AI in learning, teacher shortages, and the impact of leadership on school culture.
Possip’s Manager of Knowledge and Content, Mandy Wallace, provides a compilation of what we’ve been thinking about this April.
We summarize each piece and suggest ways to leverage these ideas for better communication and engagement in your community.
Quick Links
- Generative AI for Educators built by AI experts at Google in collaboration with MIT RAISE
- ChatGPT
- The Culture Warrior by Joe Scarlett
- The pandemic has exacerbated a long-standing national shortage of teachers – Economic Policy Institute
- Clarifying Responsibilities with MOCHA – the Management Center
What We Are Thinking About
Regardless of where your school or district lies right now in terms of comfort, curiosity, or resistance to AI, make sure that you are educating yourself and your staff on tools available. One of the best ways to do this is to play!
Here are three low-stakes prompts that you can modify to fit your needs and, when you’re ready, share with your staff:
- Open ChatGPT (3.5 is free to the public. You can also use the LLM of your choice like monica.io, ChatGPT 4.0, Gemini, etc.)
- Copy and paste one of the options into the chat (modify as you need):
- “Assume you are a high school teacher and I am your principal. Help me create three easy ways to celebrate high school teachers for Teacher Appreciation Week.”
- “Given a budget of $ [insert a pretend budget], plan a three day road trip I can take after school is out. I like to eat [adventurous, gourmet, local dives] when I travel. I like to visit [museums, natural parks, sports venues]. I’ll start and end in [insert your location].”
- If your school invites students to use AI tools, try this: “I am copying one of my favorite end of school lessons. Please help me upgrade my lesson with ways students can explore AI tools.”
- Once the AI tool generates an answer, ask it to refine its answer however you choose.
- Note that AI generated text might contain biases or inaccuracies (and often does!) so think of it as a brain accelerator. Always check, correct, and customize the text generated before sharing with others.
Let us know what you come up with and if you could see yourself or your staff using what you generate! If you are interested in digging deeper, Google just released a Generative AI for Educators course for free.
What We Are Reading
The Culture Warrior by Joe Scarlett
At our team whiparound last week, our marketing director asked what self-help book has been inspiring and helpful. I’ll share some of the books in that list in another post. But it reminded me of a book I have been reading, The Culture Warrior by Joe Scarlett, Former CEO of Tractor Supply Company.
Joe Scarlett has been a mentor and leader for me over the years – since I was ED at Teach For America. As I’ve taken on bigger roles and work, his wisdom and guidance have helped motivate, mentor, and inspire me. Even last week, listening to him speak – and as I read his book – I got some new nuggets.
Many of the things he shares in the book help remind me that the work we’re doing at Possip is the right work – strengthening culture to strengthen schools and districts!
He talks about the power and importance of listening as leaders. In fact, he said the same words we often say—LEADERS LISTEN! He talks about the power of asking your people good questions, celebrating the positive, building trust and transparency, and communicating. I won’t spoil more here, but I wanted to share some of his wisdom.
It’s an easy read, and it reminds me of so many important steps to being a strong cultural leader.
As I write this, I’m realizing I like books about building strong organizational cultures. Some other strong culture books include Arnie Malham’s Worth Doing Wrong, Sherry Deutschmann’s Lunch with Lucy.
What books about building strong organizational cultures do you love?
– Shani Dowell, Possip CEO
What We Are Thinking About
Clarifying Responsibilities with MOCHA – the Management Center
At our latest webinar, panelist and school leader Jessica Talbot explained how her school plans yearlong recognition programs to celebrate students consistently throughout the year. She mentioned the MOCHA tool for defining roles for all the team members who contribute to this effort. I had to know more.
This article gives a thorough overview and practical examples of using the MOCHA framework for complex projects that need significant collaboration. It highlights the unseen efforts behind successful projects, promoting clear expectations and transparency.
Here’s a brief overview of each role’s defined parameters in MOCHA:
M = Manager or Mentor: responsible for overall success of project
O = Owner or Organizer: responsible for driving project forward to completion
C = Consultant: responsible for guidance, perspective, referrals, etc.
H = Helper(s): responsible for completing tasks within the project
A = Approver: responsible for final budget and/or plan approval
Think about exploring the MOCHA framework and using its suggested methods for your end-of-year activities and projects!
What We Are Reading / Thinking About
The pandemic has exacerbated a long-standing national shortage of teachers
This Economic Policy Institute report dives into the data of teachers leaving the classroom and the increasing rate of vacancies across the country. The two critical factors they cite for teacher departures include poor compensation and stress.
If you can’t change compensation levels right now, what can you do to address the stress teachers feel this time of year? Looking at our Possip data from access the nation over the past two years illuminates two key levers. Staff concerns about two things peak in the April-June timeframe: 1) student discipline/behavior and 2) critical feedback of administrators. We shared a version of this data in an event we held in December:
To address these concerns, we recommend five key strategies:
- Ask and Listen: There is tremendous value in asking for and listening to staff concerns, as well as offering an opportunity to provide anonymous feedback
- Enhance Peer Recognition Programs
- Address and Reduce Staff Workload
- Give Meaningful Feedback and Support
- Develop (or Strengthen) Your Internal Communication Plan
To learn more about our recommendations and tactics, read the event recap here or watch the full event recording through the Member Portal here.
