Teacher Shortage Coming!

If you aren't on social media, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Reddit, then the best analogy I can provide you is your head is in the sand.

Across the entire United States, thousands of teachers are going to social media everyday and posting about unsafe working conditions, overwhelming stress and pressure, daily arguments and fights with parents, and worse -- Unaware and Disconnected School Leaders.

I understand how you feel. I am a former Principal and Superintendent. What more can you do?

Want to look like a genius? Want to get your teachers to love you, the students to love you, the parents to love you?

Then you need to pay close attention to what I'm about to tell you.

The problem isn't you. I know, that's the good news. Then what is the bad news?

Unfortunately, all of the decisions you have made since March 2020 have not helped the situation. Trust me, I know how you feel. It's not that the decisions were wrong.

Herein lies the biggest dilemma and problem school leaders face. This isn't a matter of right or wrong. Every decision you have made has been with hours and hours of scrutiny and planning. You are doing the best you can. And from the district plans I reviewed, and I read over 100 school district plans -- I am deeply impressed with the aggregate intellectual power we have running our schools.

But the issue is that you are disconnected from your staff. Decisions don't make connections.

Teachers don't need good decisions right now -- they need help. They need self-care. They need coaching. I'm not talking about Professional Development Workshops, I'm talking about real coaching, one on one, small group, ongoing, professional, tactical, skills based coaching.

I hear your next question, I know, I am a former Principal and Superintendent. "Ok, so where can I find this coaching?" I know you are asking that because every Principal and Superintendent cares about their teachers.

You aren't in this for the money and glory!

You can smile and laugh at that.

Here's the big picture problem. It doesn't exist.

At a time when teachers are drowning, asking for help, searching for answers to problems no one could have anticipated or predicted, there is no where for the teacher to turn to. And that is why if school leaders don't do something before the end of the year, then by June, America will have the biggest exodus of teachers in the history of our country.

That's right. Millions of teachers are going to walk.

Do the math. How many teachers are eligible to retire in your school and district? They have zero incentive to come back. How many novice teachers (without tenure) do you have? They have zero incentive to begin a career if this is how bad it looks now. And how many veteran teachers are seeking other employment opportunities? That's why I'm on every social media site, reading comments and talking with teachers nationwide.

It's a big wave of exodus coming. But we can stop the wave, if we act now.

That is why I am hurrying to finish my book, The Teacher's Playbook. It will be the single most important Teacher training book ever written. It is the most comprehensive guide to teaching. This isn't Madeline Hunter. This isn't a rubric like Danielson or Marzano.

This is an actual guide to help teachers and school leaders improve teacher quality, while also addressing the social and emotional needs of teachers. It's a comprehensive mindset of a teacher.

Let me outline the book, and you will begin to understand how this is radically different from anything you ever experienced as a teacher, and anything you can find out there in the professional development space.

The book has five chapters. Each chapter serves as a guide for the teacher and the administrator for professional practice. Chapter One discusses the "Practice of Teaching", that's right, teaching is a practice, like medicine or law. Teachers then need to be as highly trained and effective as doctors and lawyers. It's a brand new approach to teacher training and development.

Chapter Two outlines how repetition improves teaching practice. Teachers need to repeat best practices, over and over again, until it becomes second nature.

Chapter Three describes how feedback can be one of the most useful tools in the teacher's arsenal. This chapter helps administrators provide good, timely and quality feedback that actually helps teachers improve daily and weekly at their practice. Remember, the teacher sees the students daily, you do not. They need to improve their practice. Your role is to help them improve.

Chapter Four is the biggest curveball ever included in a teacher development book, it's called "The Variables".

Come again?

If you aren't a football fan, then let me fully explain this analogy. Whether you like him or hate him, Tom Brady is one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play in the NFL. Why is he so good? The reason is simple, he fully understands what the quarterback's role is, he fully comprehends the game of football, and he can adapt to any situation.

Every single teacher in your school needs to be like Tom Brady. Each of them is a quarterback in the classroom. The chapter on variables throws curveballs at teachers. Teachers gain knowledge, understanding and experience by handling those curveballs. A funny thing happens, every single one of your teachers gain valuable experience, without having to "wait" for real-life to catch up.

What do I mean by that?

Everyone would agree that a teacher with 10 years experience knows more than a teacher with three years experience. Why do we all agree on that? Because a 10-year veteran has seen more, experienced more, they know most of the variables of teaching, and therefore when a curveball is thrown their way--they are prepared to handle it.

What if you could inject a 10-year veteran's experiences into a Novice Teacher's brain? What if you could put 20 years of experience into every teachers head in less than 24 months?

I know.

I'm talking about quantum leap learning.

Chapter Four accelerates every single teacher's learning curve into the stratosphere.

How do I know this works? Because I used this coaching and training strategy in my school for the last decade.

This method of training and development is based entirely on experiential learning. And we all know that kids respond really well to experiential learning, but so do teachers.

The best real life example I can provide is explaining when I hired novice, brand new teachers they were automatically enrolled in a 2-year Teacher Training Program. At the end of the two full years of training and development, they had the knowledge and understanding of a teacher with 4 or 5 years experience.

Any teacher that worked in my school, under my coaching for 4-5 years was more effective than most teachers in any other school district. That is also why if teachers left my school after 4-5 years, they were hired immediately by the district of their choice.

Principals would call me and thank me and ask, "What do you guys do over there? This Teacher can handle anything."

This brings us to Chapter Five, which candidly discusses confidence in teaching practice.

What I'm reading in thousands of posts daily from teachers across social media is a "cry for help."

Teachers feel like they are drowning, that they can't handle all the tasks.

The situation is so bad, that one teacher commented back to another teacher who suggested they try my 100% free Teacher-Self Care program with this response:

Because the last thing a teacher ever needs is another "thing to try, do, fill out". We need work taken off our hands, not put into it. No program, self help book, website or motivational lecture is going to keep me from DYING OF COVID. Do you understand that?

This teacher has lost their way. This teacher has lost confidence in themselves, the system and their school leaders. This teacher is ready to walk.

Most of your teachers feel this way. How do I know? Because they felt this way before the Pandemic School year. I have heard this comment from teachers for the last 10 years. Except I only heard it from teachers who didn't finish my training and development program.

I never heard any teacher ever complain about workload after my program. Why is that?

Because the workload isn't the problem. Do teachers have a lot to do? Yes. But so do Principals and Superintendents. It's not like teachers are doing "more" than anyone else in the school system. But they feel that way.

The only way to help them overcome this stress, this anxiety is to train and develop their skills to a higher level. Teach them how to teach in ways they may never need, so that when they teach the class they have assigned, it seems "easy."

Any teacher who thinks teaching is overwhelming is an un-trained and under-developed teacher.

Teaching is hard, but not impossible. Teaching is hard, but not complicated.

Chapter Five gives the teacher and coach the ability to reflect on the learning lessons from the previous four chapters and build confidence in themselves. Chapter five builds a belief system inside the teacher's mind that they can handle any situation.

But the book isn't published yet.

I know.

So what can you do now?

First thing, get every teacher and administrator signed up for the 100% Free Leaf Academy Self-Care Center. Included in the program is a weekly schedule template, a self-care packet, a worksheet on emotional sustainability as well as access to guided self-care videos. (I am requesting comments and feedback on these - I can produce more of them or change the purpose of them based on feedback)

I could have charged money for the Self-Care Program. But I didn't get into education for the money. Being helpful to others is just part of the handshake agreement I have with teachers.

I know that hundreds of thousands of teachers will join the program, find it useful and hopefully alleviate some level of stress in their life. I spoke to a veteran teacher the other day, she has close to 20 years experience. (She teaches remotely now). She described her daily schedule, she wakes up around 6 am to get her day started, she has a routine and schedule for her two kids and makes sure they are on track. She then gets coffee and prepares herself mentally to start her teaching day. She ends her school day around 3:00 pm, and then goes into "mom" mode with her kids after school activities. They return at around 6:00 pm for dinner, which she prepared (not sure when?) and sends them off to do homework. She then begins to review her student's work and the lesson plan for the next day. She then makes the kids lunch for the next day, spends about an hour with each kid individually, and then goes back to grading tests, student work, and more planning for the unit she is covering. She told me she usually gets to bed around midnight on good days.

She has known me for 20 years. She was one of the first teachers I ever coached. She didn't need a nudge to join the Self-Care Program. She simply said, "thank you. you don't need to explain it. I am pretty sure you have an outline and an introduction video that goes with it."

And she was right. I think learning only happens when you provide everything a student needs. And teachers are my students.

If you are a Principal or Superintendent and want to learn more about Teacher Coaching and Development, contact me directly.