The Master Teacher Blog

A growing number of schools are investing in instructional coaches to help teachers to reflect on their practices, broaden their teaching strategies, and build their skillset. On its face, this seems like a great new resource for teachers and a wise investment for schools and school districts. However, instructional coaching is not always welcomed and valued.

Many veteran educators have not experienced a coach since they were a student teacher, and that experience may not have been positive. Consequently, they are now resistant to the idea of being coached. Some teachers are reluctant to engage with an instructional coach because they fear that having a coach may suggest that their skills and practices are not adequate or viewed positively. Still others resist coaching because they are not convinced that a coach will offer significant benefit in exchange for the investment of time and effort.

Yet, most top-performing CEOs and other executives have coaches to help them maintain and improve their performance. Top athletes are constantly coached to help them perform at their very best and remain at elite levels. World-famous visual and performing artists have coaches to help them refine their techniques and hone their skills. The list could go on, but the point is that receiving coaching does not mean that there is a skill deficit or performance problem. Rather, it reflects a commitment to constantly improve and perform at our best and, when done well, instructional coaching offers among the most powerful impact on student learning of all school-based professional development initiatives.

Instructional coaches are not necessarily smarter, better skilled, or more experienced that those they coach. Rather, they serve as reflectors, collaborators, resource providers, and explorers to help us do our very best work on behalf of our students and their learning. They may share observations, ask questions, explore options, and otherwise help us to reflect on and improve our practice.

The challenge we face when being coached is how to get the most from the experience. Coaching takes time, requires investment of effort, and may occasionally challenge us to take risks. We want to be certain that our investment pays off. Here are seven experience-proven insights we can tap to make the best of the coaching we receive.

First, we need to commit to active listening. The first step toward a successful coaching experience is being open to listen and consider what we hear. We may have years of experience under our belt and enjoyed significant success, but becoming even better starts with a willingness to hear and consider ideas and suggestions that do not originate with us.

Second, we must “put our ego in our pocket.” If it has been a while since we have engaged with a coach, it can be a challenge to accept someone else’s ideas and perspectives. We can feel the urge to resist or argue when our coach notices something or somewhere we might improve. We need to be humble enough to accept that there may be areas in which we can and need to improve and that sometimes others are in a good position to notice and suggest opportunities.

Third, we need to avoid making excuses. When we are nervous, defensive, or feeling less than successful, it can be tempting to look for ways to justify our behavior rather than accepting that something did not work or admit that we may not have given our best effort. We need to keep our focus on progress and what can help us to move forward rather than become distracted with deflections and justifications.

Fourth, we can adopt a growth mindset. Just because we have not tried something in the past, or have tried and not been successful, does not mean that we cannot develop a skill or learn a new technique. We may need a better strategy, renewed effort, or access to some additional tools or resources, but we have accomplished difficult things in the past and there is no reason to be less than confident in success if we give our best.

Fifth, we need to ask questions. We may hear something from our coach that seems unclear or confusing. We may not fully understand how to implement what they suggest. Our relationship and the results we and our coach seek to achieve will require clarity and full understanding. Asking for clarification, examples, and models can improve our ability to implement and succeed with new behaviors.

Sixth, we must commit to implementing the results of coaching. Coaching naturally involves conversations, but it truly matters when what we hear and agree to is translated into action. It is not enough to see how a change might be beneficial. We need to put our new learning and emerging insights into practice.

Seventh, we need to remember that our coach wants us to be our best. We may sometimes disagree with what our coach suggests, or we may have what we think is a better idea. But this is not a contest or a circumstance in which we need to win an argument. While we may occasionally choose not to implement a suggestion, we need to remember that our coach is our advocate. They want us to do our best. When we do, they win, too.

Engaging with an instructional coach may be challenging at first, especially if we have little recent experience being coached. However, with patience, commitment, flexibility, courage, and some humor, being coached can be a rich and rewarding experience.

When school begins in the fall, we are likely to have on our team, in our grade level, or within our department one or more colleagues who are new to teaching. They will likely come with many hopes, dreams, ideas, and assumptions about teaching. Some of what they bring will serve them well and, in fact, they will certainly bring perspectives that can be useful to our practice.

However, new-to-teaching colleagues typically do not know what they do not know. Sometime in the early weeks or over the course of the year, one or more of these colleagues will almost certainly seek our advice to help them survive and succeed in their new profession. When this happens, there is much we might share based on our teaching experience and what we have learned as a result. Here are six insights to consider and build upon.

Remember that your success will be determined by what students learn, not necessarily by what and how you teach. The best prepared lesson is of little value it if does not result in the engagement of students. Having students sit quietly and listen has a limited life span. Think about what students will be doing and how each activity will add to their learning, and plan to enlist their energy, interest, and voice.

Use the design of learning experiences to minimize classroom management challenges. Classroom management challenges grow with disengagement and boredom. When students are engaged, they are less likely to behave in ways that require intervention or active management. When planning lessons, start with what you know about your students and what is likely to capture and hold their attention and build their learning. These insights can guide the way new content is presented, suggest how best to reinforce key information and skills, and build on past learning.

Be agile and ready to adjust. Plans will not go as envisioned, students will not always behave as predicted, and interruptions and distractions will happen. Your success and the success of your students will be determined more by how you respond to disruptions to your plans than by the quality of those plans. Stay loose, remain aware, and be ready to shift.

Enlist and empower your students as a team. Identifying a common enemy and shared goals invites students to commit and support each other. The enemy may be ignorance, absence of focus, lack of confidence and courage, or something else. Goals may range from building learning skills and becoming independent learners to excelling beyond expectations and growing more than students in other classes. Working together to become more than what others assume can be a powerful motivator.

Be the example you want students to follow. We want students to have respect, show enthusiasm, be caring, exhibit courage, demonstrate a strong work ethic, and engage in other prosocial behaviors. However, it is an unfortunate reality that too many students have few or no models in their lives from which to learn these important characteristics. In some cases, we may need to teach students what these behaviors are. However, our exhibiting these behaviors everyday will likely have the greatest influence on whether our students adopt, internalize, and consistently engage in them.

Help students to see your vision for what they can become. Your belief in their potential and confidence that they will succeed matters, as they do not always have the experience and maturity to see it on their own. Your inspiration, commitment, and confidence in them can lead students to perform at higher levels. It may take a while to see progress, so don’t give up.

Sharing these insights and others about teaching and learning can offer timely guidance and reassurance to our new colleagues. They can also be good reminders for us as we approach another year and plan for success with our students.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is predicted to replace a significant number of jobs throughout the economy. However, while teachers may find that AI provides efficiency, real-time information, rich content resources, and other supports, there are crucial aspects of the teaching role that teachers alone can offer.

Teachers provide a learner-centric value that AI cannot replicate. Teachers play roles beyond just the transfer of knowledge and development of skills. AI can teach and share knowledge, sure, but it lacks the key elements of human modeling, nurturing, and connecting that are essential components of a comprehensive learning process.  

In fact, experts predict that teachers are among the least vulnerable professions to replacement in an era of AI. However, the aspects of teaching that make the role less threatened are not content knowledge, instructional techniques, and other technical aspects of teaching. Instead, what makes teachers difficult to replace are the intangibles of modeling, inspiring, improvising, adapting, caring, and connecting in the learning process and relationships with students.

Teachers play at least five key roles in the learning process and context that present a challenge for AI to replicate or replace:

• Teachers nurture values, ethics, and social norms. Teachers communicate to students what is important, appropriate, and expected in thousands of ways. They transmit social norms through formal and informal interactions. Teachers utilize explicit instruction and provide modeling and corrective feedback to help students understand and internalize important values and practice ethical conduct.
• Teachers build communities of respect, belonging, and connectedness. Much important learning occurs within a social context. Teachers are uniquely positioned to build social communities, foster a sense of connectedness, and nurture in students a sense of belonging. Such experiences are nearly impossible to replicate in a technology context.
• Teachers manage emotional, social, and behavioral elements of learning. Teachers constantly respond to student moods, concerns, and psychological needs and routinely anticipate and respond to student behaviors. Nonverbal cues such as facial expressions, eye contact, physical positioning, and posture can have powerful but highly nuanced impacts on behavior and learning.
• Teachers motivate and inspire. Teachers understand that the process of motivating others requires more than a set of tricks and techniques. The relationships teachers develop with students permit them to do more than share possibilities, make predictions, and deliver inspirational messages. Motivating and inspiring require an understanding of who students are and what is important to them. Motivation and inspiration involve sharing passions, tapping emotions, and revealing possibilities that are meaningful and connect with students’ values and interests at a time that yields maximum impact.
• Teachers integrate the social context of learning. They bring cultural insights and awareness to educational experiences, and their understanding of culture provides an important context for learning, adds meaning to content, and connects students to their cultural identity.

Artificial intelligence can offer much to assist teaching and learning processes. However, it does not have the capacity to replace the most essential contributions we make in our work with students. We need to own and leverage our special role, with the assistance of AI, to offer the very best learning experiences for our students.  

This is not the typical season when many or most of us set aside time to watch the classic movie, It’s a Wonderful Life. Yet, its message is important for our reflection as the school year approaches its end. George Bailey, the film’s protagonist, spent his life in Bedford Falls running a small family bank and serving his community. Sadly, he failed to see the important difference he was making in the lives of those around him. Then, though, he was visited by an aspiring angel who helped him to see how the small, everyday things he did changed lives, created opportunities, and opened doors for those he touched.

People on whom others looked down benefited from George’s confidence, compassion, and encouragement. People with dreams were able to pursue them with the support George provided. The lives of the people of Bedford Falls were improved because of George’s everyday actions. Fortunately, the community was able to tell George this and show their appreciation at the conclusion of the movie. Still, the difference he made was profound and lasting—regardless of whether he was aware of it.

It is not a stretch to make comparisons between George Bailey and the work educators do with children and young people every day. It is true that much of the impact we have will not be visible to us. In some cases, the difference we make in the lives of our students may not even show up for years. In fact, the difference will not always even be obvious to the students whose lives we change. Regardless, it is important for us to pause and reflect on the profound and lasting impact we have.

Consider:

• When we plant a seed of possibility with a student and lift their dreams and aspirations, we may be putting them on a path to a life and achievements beyond what they could have imagined otherwise.
• When we take the time to help a student build a key skill with which they have struggled, we may be giving them a tool that will become a lever for their future success.
• When we notice a budding talent and encourage an emerging passion, we may be paving the way for a future artist, entrepreneur, social or public service worker, community leader, or diplomat.
• When we nurture an insatiable curiosity, we might be opening the door to a future inventor, researcher, scientist, or designer.
• When we take time to listen and understand, we may be preventing someone from harming themselves and instilling hope that carries them through a tough time.
• When we commit to teach, rather than default to punish, when students behave inappropriately, we might be building skills that may prevent a future tragedy or make a neighborhood or community better.
• When we choose to believe in the inherent goodness and potential of our students, we make it possible for them to believe in themselves and to persist and overcome what life places before them.

The fact is that we do George Bailey things every day that make a difference to those around us. We may not immediately see the difference. We may never even hear about many of the positive impacts we have had on the lives of our students. However, these facts in no way diminish the importance or lessen the value of the important work we do.

Teachers, 

During this nationally celebrated week of teacher appreciation, we at The Master Teacher wanted to extend a heartfelt thank-you to each and every single one of you who holds such an integral place in our society. In such a challenging profession, and in such challenging times, your continued efforts are not going unnoticed. Examination will reveal that whenever our country has faced a huge task, America has turned to the schools and all the people who work in them to get the job done. 

In the last 120 years, we have had three different eras that required the country to change drastically. Schools, and the entire school team, performed magnificently in each of these eras to keep this country a world leader. Indeed, in the past 120 years, one decade after another, the entire school team served with distinction. We need to be proud of the role teachers and staff are still playing. Remembering success in the face of past challenges can serve all of us well today and tomorrow. 

First was the manual labor era. In the 1800s, it took 95% of our population to feed the nation. Planting, tending, and harvesting crops were regarded as more important than schooling; as a result, a minority of children were educated. School schedules revolved around the labor needs of the family farmer. Additionally, it was assumed that anyone could teach. 

Later, requirements to teach were enacted. To teach professionally, a person had to have attended school for one or two grades beyond the grade they taught. Still, manual laborers made up the bulk of workers in both rural and urban environments. The workday was 12 hours… and the work week six to seven days. Less than 5% of our population entered college. Thus, the standards and requirements in schools were not very high. “Come when you can” was more of the rule for student attendance than “come every day.” 

Then came the industrial era, and everything changed. It brought a migration from the farm to the city with a need for a large workforce that could read and write as well as operate industrial machinery. As the complex needs of producing, operating, and maintaining equipment increased, so, too, did the need to have a workforce that could read and write in addition to building, running, and maintaining industrial equipment. 

In response, the call to meet the needs of our country changed, and our schools were counted on to meet this need. We realized that to support a mass-production economy, we had to have a mass-consumption society. To get more kids in the classroom and have them be successful in the workforce, we implemented a system of mass education that included students from every background and social status. Our country prospered and thrived as a result. 

Then came World War II. The government promised all GIs a free high-school or college education when the war was over. To facilitate their success, funding was provided to support education opportunities for them at unprecedented levels. 

By the 1950s, over 50% of all eligible young people were in high school. We increased teacher certification requirements again; our teachers had to have more skills to teach their students with a wide variety and level of abilities. Both worker and management needs in business and industry as well as demands for professional skills increased—and college enrollment rose to 10% of the population. 

The industrial era also brought social and labor unrest, rebellions, and demands from minorities for more rights in the 1960s. Again, the country turned to our schools to integrate, include more students, teach our minority students, and educate children with different physical and mental needs... And our schools responded. By the late 1970s, over 90% of all our children eligible to be in school were in our classrooms. Teachers took a more respected place in society. Employment as a teacher without a degree was not allowed. Requirements for continuous teacher certification included additional college study and certification periodically. Master’s degrees became common, and even more advanced degrees were not rare. 

Then, the 1980s introduced the high-tech era. The computer brought the need for even greater skills and more sophistication in the workplace. Accelerating the trend of the industrial era, fewer people were needed to produce greater quantities of work. In fact, fewer people were needed to get more work done a whole lot faster and much more accurately. Again, our country turned to our schools to prepare students for a new kind of work and job. And again, as they have through history, educators did the job. 

We have now moved to a skill-based society that values a high degree of technical knowledge. Most jobs are no longer in the manufacturing sector of the economy. Education now faces the challenge of meeting the needs of this latest era. 

The wide range of comprehensive services schools provide to students, parents, and society now exceeds those of almost any public institution—and more seems to be expected of schools as the days pass. 

Leading up to, during, and after the COVID-19 crisis, schools continue serving students in unbelievable ways. In addition to providing an educational foundation, schools bus children to campus and take them home every day. Schools feed students both breakfast and lunch on campus and even bring meals to their homes. Schools provide healthcare and counseling services, and attention is given to the social and extracurricular needs of students. Schools compensate for the mental and physical strengths, challenges, and needs of students. Schools implement services and support programs for students with special needs. Schools have had to teach students at home and at school. During the pandemic, many teachers taught their students online and then had to turn around and teach their own children at home. School has looked a little different ever since, and you are still here. 

These realities should make every teacher proud. Teaching can be a thankless job, and it can seem daunting and fraught as we face an uncertain future. Teachers have done the exceptional during one of the most difficult times of our history—and will continue to do so as history continues to be written. 

To you all we say thank you, thank you, thank you. Teachers have done more good for more people more consistently and more effectively than we would have thought possible just a few years ago. The tradition of superior performance continues in our schools. Bless all of you. Just take a moment to take pride and joy in what you have achieved. You are all wonderful. You are vital. You are appreciated. 

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week, and thank you. 

The end of a school year is a good time to pause, reflect, and glean important learning from the past year’s experiences with students, instructional strategies, curricular challenges, and other aspects of our practice while they’re still fresh in our memories. Now is the best time to capture what we have experienced and turn that into learning.  

We might think that having the experience is enough to build our learning. However, learning is not the result of experience. After all, experiences can be repeated endlessly and with little gain. Learning, on the other hand, results from reflection. Here are seven questions to stimulate reflection and transform your experience into learning. 

How did your most challenging student(s) frustrate you this year? What lesson(s) can you learn that will prevent reoccurrence of the experience next year? There is a philosophical view that in life, we will continually experience frustrations or failure until we learn a lesson that shifts our thinking and behavior, and once the shift is made, we are no longer challenged by the situation. If you discern the lesson your students’ behavior can teach you and identify ways to implement potential solutions, your frustration will likely diminish. 

What student(s) surprised you, and how did that experience change your expectations? What we expect is often what we choose to see. However, occasionally something happens that challenges what we expect and changes what we experience. Over the course of the year, it is likely that at least one student’s insight, behavior, or observation challenged what you expected. What can that experience suggest about adjustments to what you expect?  

What learning activity or activities did not go well? What was the cause? Might your approach be recast, redesigned, or recontextualized to have it connect with students the next time? In most cases, something might be salvaged, adjusted, or otherwise repurposed to provide value. Even if you conclude that the activity should not receive more attention or be repeated, you have learned something to avoid in the future. 

What curriculum content did not connect with students? Curricular items present a different challenge than a strategy or activity that did not work. We can abandon a strategy, but curricular content is part of what we promise to students and for which we are accountable. It may be time to find new examples, concrete applications, or other ways to help students see the value and purpose of the content for next year. Of course, consulting colleagues who may teach the same curriculum or similar content can help to generate ideas and options to consider. 

What advice did you receive from a colleague that you need to accept and act on? How will it change your approach or practice? Over the course of the year, you probably received much advice, some of which may have held little value for your work. Other insights and suggestions, though, may be worth keeping and even improving upon for future use. Making a note of what you want to recall and how you might apply it can preserve it for use during the next school year.  

What did you discover about yourself this year that is worthy of note and implies an adjustment in how you view yourself? The challenges, surprises, successes, and even setbacks contain important lessons about our own selves. Take a few minutes to reflect on the high points, low points, triumphs, and missteps you experienced. What can you learn and apply to your planning for next year?  

How did you typically spend your time each weekly cycle throughout the year? Did your use of time reflect your priorities and provide enough balance to be productive without being exhausted? Where do you need to decrease your time investment to create opportunities and energy for other endeavors? Do you need to find more and better times to disconnect, clear your mind, and refresh your soul? Where will you start? 

The end of the year can be an incredibly busy time, but failing to pause, reflect, and learn is a mistake. Some of your most important learning can happen now. 

The end of another year is only a few weeks away. Until then, we may have complete and detailed plans for all that we want to accomplish. Yet, much of what will actually happen in the coming days will compete with and even disrupt what we have imagined. We will also feel the added pressure and stress to finish instruction, wrap up learning, and finalize other tasks and projects. Ultimately, the time we have left will likely not be enough to do all that we would like.  

The challenge we face is to successfully wrap up the year without feeling as though we are losing control or becoming overwhelmed with frustration and stress. As we anticipate the coming days and weeks, here are six proven strategies to make our work more manageable and our experience more enjoyable. They can help us to find success without losing our sanity. As we think about these strategies, we might consider the safety instructions we receive when beginning a flight: we must put on our own oxygen mask before we can help others to do the same. In this metaphor, the “flight” is, of course, a symbol of our approach to the finish line. 

Set boundaries and create space. Despite the inevitable stress and competing expectations, finding time to do things we enjoy, making memories with family and friends, exercising, and just relaxing are important to being our best selves. If we are stressed and exhausted, we will not do our best work.  

Support and rely on colleagues. Trying to manage and complete everything that must be done by ourselves can be overwhelming. Collaborating on projects, sharing resources, and stepping up to help each other can make a huge difference. Beyond sharing the load, feeling support, and sharing ideas, working with others can lower our stress and increase our sense of connectedness. 

Focus on what really matters. We need to be realistic. The amount of time available is limited, while the number of potential tasks and activities lists are likely to be long. We might consider what we can let go of or postpone. Not every meeting must be held, not every deadline must be firm, and not every expectation must be met.  

Look for small wins. It might be tempting to focus on what might go wrong. We can balance this pressure by focusing on small wins to keep us positive and optimistic. We might reach out to a student with whom we have found it difficult to connect, or we may help a struggling student across the finish line. We might complete a project or perfect a skill with which we have wrestled for some time. The key is to recognize that despite what may feel like chaos, we are still making a difference.  

Be flexible and adapt. We know that not everything will go as planned. There will be surprises and disruptions, and communication will not always be timely and complete. Expecting perfection only adds to our stress. Choosing to “go with the flow,” stay loose, and expect the unexpected can reduce our frustration and help us to maintain our balance as we approach the end.  

Reflect, celebrate, and be present. We, our colleagues, and our students have come a long way. We have faced a myriad of challenges and experienced many accomplishments, and we have all learned and matured. Hopefully, we have also collaborated and grown as we engaged with our colleagues. Now is the time to reflect on what has happened and celebrate what has been accomplished. We also need to allow ourselves to be fully present, appreciate the moment, and experience the sense of completion that the end of the year offers. 

This is a special time of the year. There is much to celebrate, but we can become caught up in the tasks, projects, and challenges that distract us from the big picture and undermine our appreciation of what has been accomplished. Taking time for ourselves, setting reasonable expectations, remaining flexible, supporting each other, and celebrating all that has been achieved can help us to end the year with pride, joy, and satisfaction. 

Every year presents its own unique challenges and surprises. The next several months of this one will likely not be exceptions to that fact. The fall elections mean that we can expect to hear an abundance of questions and commentary about political issues. In our classrooms, students may raise issues and seek responses. We may be challenged to help students make sense of what they see and hear. There may be times when we cannot avoid discussing what is happening in the world around us. 

We might take the position that political issues do not have a place in school and the classroom. However, refusing to allow consideration of political issues risks not preparing students for life. Our democracy depends on a citizenry that is engaged and can make informed judgements. Some argue that the absence of civic understanding and engagement has led us to where we find ourselves today.  

Fortunately, there are steps we can take and strategies we can employ to help our students—and us—deal with these difficult and often controversial issues. Our advantages can be found in preparation, practice, and positioning before statements are made, questions are asked, or accusations are leveled. The good news is that these same actions can reinforce our efforts with classroom management and maintaining a positive classroom climate in general. Of course, we need to seek and follow any guidance provided by our campus and district leadership and calibrate our approach considering the age and maturity of our students.  

Preparing students BEFORE political issues surface: 

1. Set ground rules for dialogue and debate. Practice with students the processes of engaging in dialogue and participating in productive debate using relevant topics that are not deeply contested or highly political.  

2. Insist on and help students to practice active, respectful, and effective listening. Reinforce the importance of seeking first to understand, then to be understood. Of course, we too need to model readiness to listen, remaining open-minded and responding thoughtfully.  

3. Support students to engage in respectful disagreement while resisting vilification. Just because some people might disagree with us does not mean they are evil. Disagreement in the context of dialogue can even lead to learning.  

4. Teach students the difference between fact and opinion. Emotions can cloud judgment and lead students to make and repeat claims that have no basis in fact. Lessons on fact versus opinion can then lead to lessons about credibility, as the next point will explain. 

5. Design activities to help students recognize credible and reliable information sources. Teach students to analyze information, uncover assumptions, check sources, and look for objective confirmation. Explore with students the importance of facts and evidence over proclamations and accusations.  

Considerations for us WHEN political issues surface: 

1. Adopt a stance of curiosity and inquiry, when appropriate. We might ask, “What leads you to think that?” or “If you had to prove your case in court, what evidence would you present?” Seek evidence and information over assumption and opinion. (If the statement or question appears to solely be intended to shock, provoke, or draw us in, we might invite the student to discuss the topic with us later and sidestep a public confrontation.)  

2. Explore the values that underly the statement or question. Depending on the issue, we might explore the implications of universal values such as honesty, fairness, responsibility, respect for the rights and dignity of all, and equal treatment and opportunity. 

3. If it seems appropriate in the situation and we choose to share our opinion, we can draw on the values that apply to explain our thinking and perspective. In some circumstances, failing to share at least some of our viewpoint can leave students unsure of what we value and wondering about our commitment. The key is to ground what we say in shared values such as honesty, fairness, compassion, responsibility, and justice.  

4. Remember that the audience is not just the students in your class. Emotionally charged topics will be discussed beyond our classroom walls. Students’ friends and family members, as well as our colleagues and administrators, will almost assuredly learn of the discussion. We need to be thoughtful, measured, and intentional in how we handle volatile topics.  

Final thoughts: What message do we send if our students do not have access to our critical thinking, careful analysis, and considered perspective? Will they conclude that we don’t care? Will they assume that what they have heard from others must be correct? Are we being honest with our students if we claim neutrality on important, difficult, and complex issues? Obviously, choosing not to comment, take a position, or respond is a response. 

Staff lounges often have a reputation as being places of toxic negativity. Too often, they are perceived as places filled with constant complaints, unending negativity, and pervasive cynicism. In fact, new teachers are frequently advised to avoid the staff lounge as much as they can.  

Yet, staff lounges often play important roles in the life of a school. They may be where copy machines are located, paper cutters and punches and other equipment are available, and other frequently used materials are stored. Lounges often house staff mailboxes. They also may be the place where staff are expected to have lunch. Consequently, they cannot always be avoided. 

Fortunately, staff lounges do not have to be negative, energy-sapping places. Of course, we cannot mandate positivity, nor should every conversation be upbeat and optimistic. That is not real life. Still, there are steps we can take to make the teachers’ lounge a place to relax, reflect, converse, and collaborate. We can make them cheerful, attractive, warm, and welcoming spaces. Of course, what we can do depends on the availability of resources; what is realistic for one campus or district may not be feasible for another. Consider these six steps as places to start your thinking: 

• Design the space as a connection, collaboration, information, and inspiration center. We might designate a wall or bulletin board to post tech tips of the week, education-related cartoons and jokes, staff shoutouts and upcoming birthdays, inspiring or humorous quotes, thank-you notes and news articles, and even idea and strategy postings. Space might be designated to highlight accomplishments of present and former students and updates on staff members. Of course, inspiring artwork can add to the vibe.  
• Create a comfortable and inviting space. If funds and resources are available, stock the space with flexible furniture. Small tables of varying sizes can encourage collaboration. High-top tables can add variety. Soft seating can facilitate conversations. Small cubicles can offer privacy and space to think. The image of a coffee shop can help to stimulate imagination. Staff who desire to do so could donate furniture and items of good quality to this cause. 
• Add stress-reducing surroundings. Live plants that are easy to maintain can bring nature inside and add color and beauty. Also, consider installing a live fish tank if it can be maintained. Fish tanks are often placed in physicians’ offices and other high-stress places as they have been shown to be especially effective in calming emotions and reducing stress.  
• Craft a comfortable context. Where possible, shift lighting from overhead florescent lights to lamps, indirect lighting, and other more inviting sources of illumination. Add a new coat of paint that reflects the desired environment; a blend of calming and energizing colors can help, depending on the amount and configuration of the space. Creating a wall mural can add interest and variety. This could also be a worthwhile project for art students, which would add to the sense of community and culture as well. 
• Schedule regular social events. Consider themed days and weeks, holiday celebrations, and birthdays for potluck breakfasts and lunches. Morning pastries or healthy snacks and end-of-day “grab-and-go” beverages can build feelings of connectedness, belonging, caring, and appreciation. However, these gatherings need to be regular and frequent to have an impact. Weekly activities are optimal, but monthly events can still make a difference.  
• Commit to an environment of care, encouragement, and support. Encourage actions that are constructive and collaborative. The shared development and posting of norms can help to communicate expectations and guide behavior. Here are some norms to consider:  

1. If I see a problem, I will take responsibility to seek a solution. 

2. If I have a complaint, I will share it with someone who can do something.  

3. If someone is struggling, I will be ready to listen.  

4. If someone needs help, I will pitch in.  

5. If I need help, I will ask for assistance. 

Staff lounges do not have to be places to avoid. In fact, they can become the heart of the school. They can be a place we go for support, encouragement, celebration, and rest. However, creating and maintaining the environment we seek requires clarity, commitment, and cooperation. Totally doable!