The Power of a Team
"I’m my best self when everyone around me is their best self. I like inspiring others and helping to bring out their strengths."
- Ashley Shaw, 2nd Grade Teacher and Grade Level Chair
At Springfield Prep, one aspect of our vision for equity is that all students are getting great instruction every day. We know teachers will bring different experience levels and strengths to their work and so we leverage the power of teams to achieve this. Our team leaders play a critical role when it comes to ensuring great ideas are shared and implemented and that teachers and staff feel a sense of belonging with their closest colleagues.
In this post, we’ll interview Ashley Shaw, a founding teacher at Springfield Prep and our 2nd Grade Grade Level Chair. We’ll learn about Ashley’s development as a leader and how she sees her role as a driver of equity for kids. We’ll also learn what she does to make sure her team time is an uplifting source of connection - every Friday, when her Grade Team meets, you can hear the laughter from down the hall!
Socially Distant Second Grade Team Meeting.
In your own words, how would you describe your role as a Grade Level Chair?
Two words-- meaningful and fun. Meaningful because my work contributes to the school and fun because whatever I’m doing, I’m going to make sure I enjoy what I’m doing.
What’s difficult about it?
The challenges can be processing the information, then figuring out what information to prioritize, conveying the information to my team clearly, and then making sure my team understands. Communicating clearly is so important to the collaborative work we do!
And what keeps you raising your hand to do it again?
I’m my best self when everyone around me is their best self. I like inspiring others and helping to bring out their strengths.
How have you grown as a leader in the past three school years (three of the hardest years for educators all over!)?
It has to start personally, I’ve really honed in on who I want to be and who I don’t want to be, I’ve been able to identify my strengths and weaknesses. I’ve become more confident, bolder, and braver in my leadership. One thing I’ve learned to do is remove my personal feelings and think about the big picture for the organization and then share the big-picture perspective with my team so they understand where a decision is coming from. I learned a lot from Jess (Yiannos, Principal) about how and when to have conversations to change the direction of my team. She pushed me to think about the impact of certain things that I might not have seen or might not have been invested in at the time and how to talk about it. When we talk about difficult conversations, I laugh, because those conversations that you think are so difficult don’t have to be if you approach them the right way and understand the “why”. That’s a big thing that I’ve learned.
How do you see our team structures supporting equity for our students?
Shared responsibility! In order for us to meet the kids where they are and give them what they need, it cannot fall on one person-- when we’re communicating the same thing and all contributing, as you go through the day and you go through the school, everyone is on the same page, all the kids are getting what they need.
How would you describe Springfield Prep’s approach to collaborative planning on your grade level?
Collaborative planning is extremely helpful. It helps teachers grow as educators because we all have a responsibility to our team to create great lesson plans for our teammates to teach. And it takes the heavy lifting off of you because you don’t have to be superman/woman and do everything. Then, it really benefits the students because you have to be in constant communication with your team, and talking about lessons really benefits the students. Every person is responsible for their own ownership area, but you use your team to collaborate. I’m responsible for writing, but I make sure to get ideas from my team, so everybody is heard, and then everyone can be invested in what we’re teaching that day.
How does collaborative planning support teachers’ sustainability?
When you can centralize your focus to just a few things, it makes everything more manageable. I trust my team, I’m not stressing about planning math, I trust that Lissa (Erazo) is going to make sure our math lessons are strong and the materials are ready to go. I can enjoy my life outside of work because I have other teachers who are doing their part.
This work is difficult and teachers can feel pretty spent at the end of the week-- what do you do to inject your Friday team meetings with joy and fun?
We always start out with some kind of activity or question that gets our minds relaxed. For example, the other day, I made them take sticky notes and go around and find 3 facts from each other that we didn’t know already and we learned some interesting things. We typically start our Fridays with some kind of corny question to keep things fun. In terms of keeping the team motivated, there are two things I constantly remind my team of. One is that Rome was not built in a day-- we are not magicians or miracle workers! That helps keep the pressure off when we’re getting overwhelmed. I also preach to the team that when we get bogged down in not understanding why something happened, we need to get focused on what we need to do and let the results speak for themselves. It can be crazy if we try to understand all of the whys of every single thing.
Ashley Shaw is a founding member of the Springfield Prep Team. She started as an Associate Teacher, taught Kindergarten for three years, and has been a Grade Level Chair and 2nd Grade Teacher for the past three. Outside of school, she is a Pastor at New Hope Pentecostal Church. Her adventurous spirit has her on the go, traveling the world and the country.
