How is "Establishing a Culture of Learning" like a refrigerator? 

During Minnetonka Public Schools’ New Teacher Orientation, I asked teachers to compare this Charlotte Danielson concept to an appliance. The one that stayed with me was an analogy of buying a refrigerator. The teachers explained that taking the time to set up expectations at the beginning of the year was like investing in a top-of-the-line refrigerator. It’s expensive. And worth it. Everything has a place and gets the treatment it needs to stay fresh. It doesn’t take long, in a bad refrigerator, for things to start to stink and pretty soon you’re spending time with the repairman. In the end, it’s more expensive and is wasteful.

As teachers, we know the importance of setting up expectations for our kids on that first day of class. Equally important is taking the time to set up expectations for adult behavior when working in teams or committees. It can be tempting to simply adopt norms from previous years or committees. The danger is that there isn’t any ownership.

Learning Forward, the National Staff Development Council, suggests two means of creating norms (Richardson, 1999). The first is documenting current practices. Of course this suggests that the current practices are working! The second method is for each member to submit ideal behaviors for the group. While it is tempting to list behaviors that disrupt meetings, it is far better to identify behaviors to embrace than to identify behaviors to avoid.

Setting the norms is the easy part. Enforcing them is the challenge. Kathryn Blumsack, an educational consultant from Maryland who specializes in team development, said, “If you don’t call attention to the fact that a norm has been violated, in effect you’re creating a second set of norms. For example, a common norm is expecting everyone to be on time. If you don’t point out when someone violates that norm, then, in effect, you’re saying that it’s really not important to be on time.” Finding a way to do this in light, humorous ways is far preferable than shaming. You’ll need a norm around this as well.

Invest in the top-of-the-line refrigerator. Establish the culture for learning in your teams.

Richardson, Joan. Norms put the ‘Golden Rule’ into practice. Tools for Schools, August/September 1999.