TeachFX spoke with Diane Willis, the principal of Carver Elementary. Diane spoke about teacher efficacy and instructional leadership. Here are the key takeaways from our fireside chat.

What does instructional leadership look like to you? 

• It’s about being there in the moment of need for your teachers and students. 

• Building trust requires presence, shared objectives, and going through the problems of practice together.

How do you build instructional leadership in others? 

• Teachers must have champions among their team and staff. 

• Latch on to what they already believe and connect that to what “we” believe as a collective staff.

• “It’s not just your why. It’s our why.”

Learning alongside teachers is powerful. Why? 

• That’s the only way I can share in their development. I can’t help others unless I know what’s going on for them. 

• It’s my job then to connect their learning to what makes a difference for students. Hattie’s research shows everything has an effect on student learning — some things more than others. Our shared goal is to figure out among all the things a teacher can do what will make the biggest difference for students. 

Why focus on student voice and equitable engagement? 

• Hattie says we have to make thinking visible. That means you have to ask students what they are thinking. 

• Seeing is believing. Once the thinking is visible through tools like TeachFX, the data makes teachers think, “I thought I was talking less, and it looks like I’m not.” 

• Something as simple as a teacher asking a student, “what makes you think that?” can do a lot to make thinking visible through more student voice.

• We need to give all students the opportunity to make their thinking visible.

The pandemic is causing major shifts -- how do you stay focused on teacher efficacy and equitable engagement? 

• Maintain the routines and expectations. 

• No opt out for students. We want to hear your voice. It doesn’t matter if your answer is right. We want to hear what you’re saying.

Whole group Q&A

How do you do PD in your school? 

• I believe PD is daily. If i’m in your classroom, that feedback is PD. I ask, “how’s it going based on your goals?”

• Self-directed and self-learning through TeachFX.

How do you support the social & emotional learning of teachers? 

• Staff SEL starts with students being ok. They feel better when the kids feel better! You want kids to be a part of the environment where they like school. That flows up to teacher well-being. 

How do you take a whole child approach to learning? 

• Educators have to meet student needs to feel valued in the school. Students have to know someone values what they think and have to say and that someone will be there to guide them. 

What is the role of TeachFX for instructional leaders?

• TeachFX saves you work down the road. It’s not one more thing. It’s the thing that helps me not over-do my instructional support. Teachers lead their own learning, and I can help them focus on the data that’s most important for their growth and student learning.

Want to learn more about TeachFX at your school? Let us know!