Teamwork is the real catalyst for change

While on vacation between teaching assignments, I ate lunch one day with my husband Ted at Panda Express. In my fortune cookie was the following message (seen in the picture at the top of this post): “Your positivity will become a catalyst for change.”

I got to experience this at my first teaching assignment this summer: two week-long “train the trainer” sessions in partnership with the Oregon Department of Education Pupil Transportation unit. I was the adult education specialist and gave five presentations on brain-based learning, planning lessons, presenting with confidence, dealing with “difficult” people, and giving and receiving feedback. I watched and gave feedback on participants’ solo and paired presentations. I led three lunchtime activities as well. It is a lot for a week! This is the third summer I’ve done it, and it’s truly the best teaching assignment I’ve ever had.

I try to bring positivity to what must be hard work for the participants, all bus drivers who want to become trainers. I enjoy observing them as they dive into the activities I facilitate. I enjoy their hard work, both solo and together, as they learn something new. I enjoy watching the participants’ presentations, which show so much growth across the three days they happen. I enjoy meeting individually with each driver to discuss their presentation and our feedback on their work. I hope my feedback helps with their growth as they learn to become a trainer. Most of all, I enjoy talking and laughing together throughout the week, and it’s bittersweet when we say goodbye at the end of the week, not unlike summer camp. Much of that comes from the teamwork that I see and am a part of.

The bus drivers who attend each week are one example of teamwork. They come from all over the state but usually bond quickly at their tables and as a group. They are always supportive during each other’s presentations and in the feedback they give. They are always eager to pitch in; they participate eagerly in their colleagues’ presentation and help each other tear down afterwards if needed. They help me out as well. An old knee injury of mine flared up during the second week, and I spent most of the remainder of the time in a chair. Every single driver regularly asked how I was, looked after me, and offered to help. Their teamwork ensured that the week ended successfully for everyone.    

The ODE staff also exemplifies teamwork. They do the heavy lifting to plan and facilitate the two sessions, but they make sure to include me. We meet in the spring to discuss plans for the summer sessions and then afterwards to debrief. During each session, we discuss the participants and the flow of the week and make any needed adjustments. We eat lunch together (offsite one day) and talk and laugh. Even though I am not an ODE employee, I feel very much part of the team. Brock, Cory, Lesley, Craig, Shonna, Yareli, and Rachel always greet me with a smile, ask me what I need, check in with me regularly, and bid me farewell with a sincere “Until next year!” I always miss them and always look forward to “next year.”

I wish I could say the same for my regular work during the school year, which is teaching students about writing at three community colleges in Oregon. Teaching at several institutions means less available time at any one particular school. As many contingent faculty can attest, there’s often just enough time to arrive, teach, maybe check one’s mailbox and swallow a quick meal, before heading off to the next class or the next campus. This doesn’t leave much time for conferring with colleagues or even processing that last email about an important policy change. It definitely doesn’t leave time or room for much “positivity” or “becoming a catalyst for change” beyond one’s own classes. I wish I could say that any of the schools I teach at has been particularly helpful or mindful of the importance of helping contingent faculty feel part of the team. Some have been better than others, with some individual effort.

My general experience has been that new contingent faculty are given some sort of onboarding experience, which may be in-person or online. Some department chairs meet with the new faculty, even assigning them a mentor; more should do this. Some even invite the new faculty to department meetings and include them in department-wide email lists. But even these small actions aren’t quite enough to help a new faculty person, or even a seasoned one like me, feel like we are part of “the team.” I have usually had new policies or practices communicated to me, but I have seldom to never had any say in creating them. Most meetings are usually focused on the full-time faculty and their activities and service. There seems to be little room—or interest—in inviting contingent faculty to become part of “the team.” So even though I teach at three different schools, I do not really feel like I am part of “the team” at any of them.

Earlier this spring, I wrote an article for the newsletter of a professional organization I belong to. The subject was how full-time faculty could do better by their contingent colleagues. Among other suggestions, I said, “Invite us to the table. If you know someone has a specialty, or skill or professional interest, ask them to join a workgroup or committee or to be included in the email chain or group chat.  Ask us what we think about ___ (teaching idea, policy, event) or about something from our perspective. And if a part-time colleague approaches you, listen.” It just seems to me that a little teamwork could go a long way toward cultivating positivity that could catalyze some needed—and welcome—change.