Huntsville City’s Chaffee Elementary School principal Brad Scott and his colleague Nanette Respess, Chaffee’s Instructional Partner, attended the recent two-day retreat for members of the Instructional Partners Network North. Here’s their personal and personable report, in two voices!
Nanette Respess: Four years ago, I found myself driving with my principal to Children’s Harbor and being unsure what I had signed on to do as an instructional partner, having just been pulled from a classroom I loved.
Fortunately, as much as I love teaching, I also love working with teachers, and instructional partnerships marry the two. At that first retreat, I was immediately drawn into a powerful professional learning experience supported by the A+ Best Practices Center staff and based on the work Jim Knight writes about in Unmistakable Impact (2011). Little did I know the adventure with an amazing instructional partnership was just beginning.
Driving to the IPN North retreat this fall was like coming home. Seeing familiar faces from Cohort 2, 3 and 4 and the new cohort is always encouraging. The people in the room ‘get’ what we are doing every day in our partnership work.
The setting at Children’s Harbor is great. The rustic building overlooking a lake, with guest cabins and porch rockers, invites all principals and IPs to rest from the labors of instruction and have their minds fed by the A+ Best Practices Center’s experts and our colleagues from other schools.
This fall, the professional learning began with the seven principles of partnership. The learning was familiar but also felt new as some principles became more vivid and clear thanks to the perspective gained by my four years of experience in the role.
The day’s powerful conversations occurred during table groups and were filled with questions asked of seasoned IP/principal partners and talk about the impact of principles as they were applied in real school situations.
The pacing of our PD sessions always enables us to talk about our work, what is effective, how to encourage teachers to change instruction to yield student growth, and how strong IP/principal partnerships enable teachers to do the things necessary to achieve that growth. The structured dialogue always draws out the experiences of participants and provides opportunities to those who are new to ask for ideas and problem-solving strategies.
Our “down time” is also valuable. The walks to meals, breaks and evening free time offer more opportunity to engage with one another, visit with old friends and make new friends. The most enjoyable time is spent rocking on the porches, telling school stories which bring laughter and “that makes me think of when…” which leads to more laughter and the gathering of more ideas.
Having time with your principal or instructional partner to think, envision, reflect and collaborate in a relaxed setting that is phone-free, computer-free, and demand-free is rare and it’s time that bears fruit. When the mind is clear, the work at school becomes fresh and new.
Brad Scott: As I think back on this journey, which began four years ago at my first instructional partnership retreat in Children’s Harbor, I recall my excitement and enthusiasm.
First, the former reading coach position could now expand its effort across the various content areas. This was crucial for our school because our teachers were craving and requesting support in areas other than reading, and we believed that this opportunity would take our school to a higher level both professionally and academically.
Second, we believed that with this increased freedom to support classroom teachers, the instructional partner would possess the potential to be accepted on a more intimate level of cooperation and collaboration than a perceived expert in a particular content area. I am proud to report that not only were our hopes for the IP met, but they were surpassed exponentially!
I distinctly remember returning from that first year’s retreat and attempting to explain exactly what the Instructional Partnership Network was to others, including teachers. People would ask, “…so, what is it?” Well, I had to explain that it wasn’t really an “it.” The Instructional Partnership was difficult to put into words, and it continues to be something that is not easily defined for many because it doesn’t have a beginning or an end, and you can’t isolate it.
However, it is safe to say that the Instructional Partnership is an on-going approach to professional collaboration, a productive way to build relationships among educators who share similar opportunities and challenges, and a process that emphasizes student learning by using structured interaction and dialogue to implement the best instructional practices in classrooms.
When reflecting back on the various IP retreats, there are several positives that have accelerated our progress and growth:
(1) The “car-time” there and back with your school partner (administrator & instructional partner) has always been invaluable as it forces us to dialogue informally about the current status of the school culture, student learning, and professional development.
(2) The research-based activities and resources stimulate thinking during the retreat, and they can usually be “turned-around” to the school staff at each school.
(3) One of the most powerful things that we have learned at the various retreats has been that as educators, by and large, any activity or lesson that we do with students possesses the potential for student growth. However, our priority must remain on designing activities/lessons that use the best instructional practices in order to maximize the student learning.
(4) One of my favorite parts of the retreats has been the informal time with other schools and school districts across Alabama. It has been helpful to hear that others are working through similar issues, situations, and successes, and together we have produced plans that we may not have formulated in isolation.
The partnership concept is always refreshed through the IP Retreats. Reconnecting with other principals and IPs is a highlight but the professional learning that challenges and pushes us to keep moving forward is vital to our work at school.
This past retreat moved us another step forward as we reconsidered the seven principles of partnership with Jackie and Cathy. Magan always provides snacks and drinks just when you need them and, together, the ABPC three always make everyone welcome in the best of ways.
Honestly, when you realize you are going to be out of the building for two days, you dread it in some ways, because something typically happens while you’re away.
But when the learning begins, your mind engages and your school labors fade into the background. The much needed “shot in the arm” of professional reflection becomes life-saving to the partners who are always in the midst of the intense work required for student growth and change.
We are grateful for the time away, for the learning that always takes place, and we return to school refreshed and ready to engage with the vitally important: teachers using best practice, culture changing, and students growing.
Brad Scott was an elementary classroom teacher for eight years before taking up the principal’s role in 2004. He earned his BS in Elementary Education from Auburn in 1996 and his Ed.D. in Educational Administration from the University of Alabama in 2015.
Nanette Repress is also an Auburn graduate and holds her Masters in Elementary Curriculum from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. She has taught (3rd and 5th grade) and coached in the Huntsville City Schools for nearly 25 years.
