Investing in Conversations

Each month, Fierce contributes to the  Learning Forward blog hosted by Education Week. Director of Fierce in the Schools, Janet Irving, wrote our newest piece which was  published today, and we wanted to share a portion of the blog with you.

Conversations are the life blood of a school. An integral part of the educator’s job is communicating with students, parents, and other staff. These conversations range from team curriculum meetings, coaching conversations with staff and students, and, of course, some confrontation conversations.

Parents, students, and community members all have an expectation that administrators and teachers know how to have these conversations well. Why do we make this assumption? Because intuitively we understand how important effective conversations are to the success of a school.

The problem is that many education institutions don’t dedicate time or resources to the development of staff in the area of communication. Schools have limited time and funds, and other professional development priorities often take precedence.

To read Janet’s full blog post on Education Week click here.

To read all of Learning Forward’s blog posts, go to http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning_forwards_pd_watch/