Multi-Tasking = Side Bars

What is multi-tasking, anyway? For me, it's when I'm trying to do multiple things at the same time. For example, I'll set the scene as a Saturday afternoon at home: Do some laundry. Take an inventory of the groceries. Do we have enough milk to get us through the weekend? Check my email. Answer the phone. Oh - my BFF just texted, so I better text her back to "one up" her humorous comment. Change the laundry. Go back to my email. Get distracted by getting caught up on Twitter. Door bell rings. Go back to laundry. By this time, the clothes in the dryer are cold and wrinkled, so I need to run it again to get the wrinkles out. Need to get started on writing a teacher's evaluation report...oh, but I see I have 3 unread messages in my inbox, so I better check my email again. Oh, geez, I need to change the sheets on the guest bed because my in-laws are coming later this afternoon. Need to make out my grocery list. Gotta remember to include a gallon of milk on that list. Etc....You've been there. You've done that. We all have! And, notice that I didn't even include the other two main characters in this particular scene, my husband and daughter! They always add some extra excitement to my ability to multi-task! :-)

So....now let's change the scene to a school setting, one where we collectively believe in the PLC philosophy. As we continue to strive to get better at our implementation of this important work, I reflect on the PLC conference with the DuFours. A number of us representing our school district, and specifically the middle school, attended together. Amazing!!! As we "processed" our learning together, we celebrated what we're already doing that makes a difference. We also identified an "opportunity for growth" - the COMMITMENT to guiding norms that we collaboratively developed. The questions that come to my mind here are, "What has worked with our norms? What has NOT worked with our norms? What are our next steps?"

Hmmmm.....I'm chuckling right now as I think of us as adult learners. We can actually apply our 3 guiding questions that guide our PLC work to OUR experience! Question #1: What do we want our students to know? Translate this to, What do we expect from one another as individuals in our PLCs so that we are implementing them with fidelity? Question #2: How do we know they know it? Translate this to, How will we know how we're doing? Question #3: What will we do if they do / do not know it or already know it? Translate to, Now what are we going to do about it? If these questions are important enough for our students, then shouldn't we use them on ourselves?

Multi-tasking in a PLC meeting...can you really do this WELL? I'm thinking of a few times when I've attended some PLC meetings this past year, and some were "multi-tasking" while others were 100% actively engaged in the PLC conversations and tasks at hand. There was definitely a remarkable difference of engagement! If we're truly a PLC, where each and every member is of equal importance, aren't we settling for less than quality work when we allow each other to multi-task? Don't get me wrong; I get the fact that with our fast-paced world in education, coupled with technology allowing efficient communication, this lends us to "need" our computers and/or phones at all times. But what message are we giving to those people right there in front of us? It may not be our intent, but we're giving the message of, "Well, I'm here because I've committed to being here with you, but I really need to check my email, update my professional learning network, text my friend, etc...you fill in the blank.

The more I reflect on the DuFours and other presenters at the PLC conference when they spoke on the topic of guiding norms, the more I'm convinced that "No Multi-Tasking" needs to be one of them. Here's the bottom line: If you are multi-tasking, you are unable to give 100% to one particular task. That's completely okay if you are, at that moment, responsible for a number of tasks where none are more of a priority than the others. Go back to my first scene at home on a Saturday afternoon. Sure, I can multi-task at that time because everything I'm doing is of equal importance at that particular time. Change scenes back to the PLC meeting, and my priority at that moment is to my PLC. I cannot possibly give them 100% if I'm trying to do something else at the same time. I'm not only hurting my PLC members because I am unable to give 100% of myself as a contributor, but I'm also hurting myself because I'm not able to give 100% of myself as a learner. Ohhhhhhh, then, I'm unable to give 100% to my students because I've slacked in my PLC. I haven't risen to my potential as a learner; therefore, my behaviors will impact the learning in my classroom. (Not acceptable!)

As 21st Century Learners, we have embraced the responsibility of using technology as a tool for learning. With that, we also hold one another accountable to not use it just for the sake of using it. For example, if technology is a tool that empowers you to create learning activities for students at higher levels of Blooms, go for it! But if you are just transferring one low-level Blooms activity to another low-level Blooms activity that now includes technology, what is the purpose? How are you moving learning forward?

So that begs the question, how do you use technology as a learning tool in PLC work? If you are projecting your laptop so that all PLC members can view results from your common assessment, woo hoo! If, you're each on your laptop with your email and twitter open, I need help understanding how this is a tool for your learning in your PLC. Frankly, I'm just not seeing it. Unless, of course, there's a purpose that will impact your PLC work. Maybe you're waiting to hear from someone on an idea or an answer to a question posed by your PLC that pertains to your PLC tasks.

Last summer, at our district administration retreat, we developed what we call "Our Commitments," and we have them posted in our meeting area at the district office. One of our commitments that we made to each other speaks to multi-tasking. We call it "side bars." If you're whispering to the person next to you while someone else has the floor, if you're reading your email, if you're taking a phone call, etc., then you are having a side bar. It's pretty amazing when I think about the craziness of our work days and how we all leave our respective buildings to come together at the district office for meetings, and we walk the walk. The only time we pull out our phones or open our computers is during a break. And it works! And wow, are we productive!

I'm hearing DuFours' voices in my head: "Tight and loose. Tight and loose. Tight and loose." It rings in my head like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz clicking her heels and saying, "There's no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no place like home." As we kick off our 10-11 school year, I vow to be proactive and facilitate some discussion around guiding norms. In conversations with some teachers at the PLC conference, we agreed that it's a good idea to have some building-wide "tight" norms, and then allow each content-area PLC to add some norms of their own that meet their particular needs, aka the "loose" part. I propose to my staff....no, this will be an expectation....a "tight" expectation.....that we all commit to having no side bars when meeting with our PLC. We owe this to each other as professionals, as teacher leaders, as adult learners, and as servants to student learning.

I challenge you - each of you - to reflect on your own behaviors when meeting with colleagues. Are you distracted? Or, are you 100% engaged? What would your colleagues say about your engagement level?