How schools can work with and for teachers to optimize environments for teaching and learning. PPT from 1-hour session at the 2010 National Association of Independent Schools Annual Conference titled "The Intentional Teacher: Better Teaching Through School-Teacher Dialogue." Supplementary resources include the book THE INTENTIONAL TEACHER: FORGING A GREAT CAREER IN THE INDEPENDENT SCHOOL CLASSROOM by Peter Gow (Avocus, 2009)

1. The Intentional
Teacher
BetterTeachingThrough School-Teacher Dialogue
Peter Gow * NAIS 2010

2. WHY?
• Your faculty is your most important resource
• Every teacher deserves to be given the chance to be
the best s/he can be
• Every school should strive to be the best possible
environment for teachers’ success and growth
• Effective teaching and satisfied teachers combine as
your #1 marketing force (plus, it’s like, y’know, good
for kids…)
• The best teachers want to be involved
NAIS 2010Intentional Teacher/P. Gow

3. TALK IS A GOOD IDEA
• Good relationships thrive on dialogue
• Being a (Professional) Learning Community or just a
damn good place for kids to learn and adults to grow
requires lots of talk
• Schools need to be places where teachers know
how to converse about teaching and learning—
especially as we strive toward “21st-century” goals
• Schools must be places where leaders and teachers
communicate clearly and honestly across boundaries
of experience, culture, and expectation
NAIS 2010Intentional Teacher/P. Gow

4. RECRUITING & HIRING
• Be clear about what you want and about who
succeeds at your school: build a Recruiting Case
• Create materials that provide a thorough and
accurate picture of what it means to be a teacher at
your school—“informed consent”
• Give candidates the chance to put their best foot
forward (and a chance to look around on their own)
• Candidates should meet supervisors, colleagues,
students
NAIS 2010Intentional Teacher/P. Gow

5. INDUCTION & ORIENTATION
• Differentiate orientation and mentoring based on a
careful assessment of new teacher strengths and
needs
• “New” means “new to your school”—don’t assume
too much about experienced hands
• School culture should be a focus of orientation
• Build a “Culture of Mentoring”—invest and engage
all faculty and administrators in supporting new
teachers
NAIS 2010Intentional Teacher/P. Gow

6. CLARIFY SCHOOL
STANDARDS
• What does it mean to “do well” in your school?
• What does it mean to “be good” in your school?
• What do students expect in the way of feedback and
guidance?
• What are the behavioral norms in your classrooms
and around the school?
• What rules absolutely, positively matter?
• What are the expectations for professional behavior?
NAIS 2010Intentional Teacher/P. Gow

7. THE SUPPORTIVE
CLASSROOM
• Give your new teachers feedback on their work from
Day One: lesson plans, curriculum, assessment
strategies, management
• (Feedback is not evaluation)
• Create support networks for new teachers
• Build new teacher cohorts into mutual support groups
• (And the Supportive Dorm, Advisor Group, Team,
Club; make sure teachers know whence cometh their
help)
• Mantra: You’re never alone here!
NAIS 2010Intentional Teacher/P. Gow

8. WHO’s IN CHARGE HERE?
• Clarify roles, hierarchies, chains of command
• It’s all very well to be a flat organization, but
newcomers may have a hard time seeing the critical
features in a two-dimensional world
• Make time for new teachers to meet with
supervisors, to ask questions, to seek feedback on
non-teaching aspects of their jobs
• (And build into the culture the idea of doing this
throughout a career)
NAIS 2010Intentional Teacher/P. Gow

9. MIND THE GAPS
• Think about what you would want your faculty to
know and understand collectively
• Think “deep background” and daily practice (child
development and rubric design)
• Then build professional development programs to
deliver this knowledge and skill base to teachers
throughout their careers
• Take an institutional approach to strategic change;
bring everyone along as if the school depended on it
NAIS 2010Intentional Teacher/P. Gow

10. HEAR THE PEOPLE
• Make it possible for good ideas to percolate
upwards; reward innovation and positive
participation in whatever ways you can (yes, that
includes …)
• Make sure that benefit programs are responsive to
the people you have, by ages and stages
• Sometimes it’s just February, but sometimes it’s real:
don’t pretend that grumpiness will go away of its
own accord—address issues as they arise
NAIS 2010Intentional Teacher/P. Gow

11. LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
• Ask and involve
• Don’t make assumptions about what people don’t
want
• Transparency in the development and execution of
strategic directions is a good thing; allow window
shopping and invite people into the store
• Don’t stop talking to senior people; don’t rely on
second-hand assessments of their interests, behavior,
and efficacy
• (The same goes for more junior people)
• (Make sure you have a plan for who does the talking)
NAIS 2010Intentional Teacher/P. Gow

12. EVALUATE FOR GROWTH
• Professional evaluation should be a dialogue
▫ About goals—individual and institutional
▫ About observed behavior and practice
▫ About expectations
▫ About long-term plans and growth
• Evaluation—that is, the dialogue about professional
effectiveness and goals—should never end (even if
your system goes a bit easier on the senior folk)
• Build in goal-setting and growth planning
NAIS 2010Intentional Teacher/P. Gow

13. PEOPLE ARE REAL
• And so are the personal issues they face
▫ Professional highs and lows
▫ Personal challenges
 Relationships
 Aging parents
 Children
 Crises of siblings and close friends
 Health
• Invite people to talk—be proactive, open, supportive
• Anticipate needs related to life challenges; consider
EAPS and ways to ease access to leaves, sabbaticals
NAIS 2010Intentional Teacher/P. Gow

14. Movement is healthy
• Don’t be afraid to talk with teachers about moving on
▫ When their efficacy is dwindling and you have already
addressed this directly
▫ When their happiness is in question and they need
encouragement to consider change
▫ When they have outgrown your school and the
opportunities it offers
• Address these issues before they reach a critical point
• Celebrate good change—happy folks headed to bigger
or better things reflect well on your school
NAIS 2010Intentional Teacher/P. Gow

15. Resources
NAIS 2010Intentional Teacher/P. Gow
Peter Gow, The Intentional Teacher: Forging A Great
Career In the Independent School Classroom (Avocus
Publishing, 2009)
A Teacher’s Guide to Life and Work (from Beaver
Country Day School). Link at http://www.bcdschool.
org/podium/default.aspx?t=111614
Susan Rosenholtz, Teachers’ Workplace: The Social
Organization of Schools (Teachers College Press,
1991)
James Tracy, ed. A Guidebook to the NAIS Principles
of Good Practice (NAIS, 2007)
Shameless plug!!
Gow, Admirable Faculties: Recruiting, Hiring, Training,
and Retaining the Best Independent School Teacher
(NAIS, 2005)