S3.E9: Teacher Talk- Creating the unlikely coalitions for change

This week on That's SO EDVOLUTIONARY, we are joined by District Curriculum and Instruction specialist, Christina Jones who reached out to us a couple weeks ago to have a conversation about how we can work together to benefit kids. 

I gotta be honest.  When Annie and I first received the email we thought... oh gosh.  Someone from CENTRAL OFFICE.   Which... to be very explicit and honest often means in our minds: that person is disconnected from what is actually happening in schools, wants to make top-down decisions rather than act in partnership,  and won't say anything honest on mic because they need to be the face of the district. 

As usual, we were proven wrong.  And our conversation with Christina was fabulous, she is fabulous, and we can't wait to figure out more ways to work collaboratively with her.  And I think that is a really important lesson we got out of this episode.  Although our system is structured hierarchically, and there is often a lack of trust (and therefore lack of coalition) between the layers, there IS in fact an antidote that can get these various silos of people who all truly care about the success of kids working together toward a common goal.  

You'll have to listen to the episode to hear our conclusions.  

Thanks again, Christina!