Best Practice?

I don’t usually write a lot about my work, but today I must.

Best practice. What does that mean anyway? And when someone asks you if what you’ve done or what you are doing is best practice, what are they really saying? Are there unspoken implications behind that question? Or has curiosity simply taken over?

We use this term a lot in the education world. We are always working toward and sharing best practices. We go to professional development sessions about them and we analyze and share them with our colleagues in professional learning team meetings. It’s kind of what we do. Best practice.

The problem lies when there are different philosophies about what is best. Who gets to decide on best vs. all the rest? What if you really believe you are doing what is best, but the climate is changing or trending in a direction you cannot support? Best practice is also one of those terms that starts to lose all meaning after you say it so many times for so many years. A quick online search will produce many answers, but I think this one from TechTarget.com is fairly sound:

“A best practice is a technique or methodology that, through experience and research, has proven to reliably lead to a desired result. A commitment to using the best practices in any field is a commitment to using all the knowledge and technology at one's disposal to ensure success. The term is used frequently in the fields of health care, government administration, the education system, project management, hardware and software product development, and elsewhere.”

So if I’m using best practice at my job as a high school English teacher, I am committed to using all of my resources to ensure student success. Well, then we must define success and how it is measured. The idea that success is measured by one answer, one score, one performance, one assessment is antiquated. Really, success is layered and individual. It is also dependent on the situation. Are we talking about success in my class? On an assignment? As a whole person?

I like to think we are working with the whole student and not just the piece that pertains to our subject area. Instead of teaching Language Arts, I am raising Language Arts learners. So is my end goal that every student get one hundred percent of my work correct? Not necessarily. The goal should be to teach skills – language arts skills like comprehending what we are reading, writing with supportive evidence, thinking critically about a source. I believe in giving students second, third, fourth chances when they are learning. Who among us has learned everything and done everything perfectly the first time? Would I expect a student do to that? No. If I did, I wouldn’t be teaching them one of the most important lessons – to reflect and change and grow when it is necessary.

I have crafted an entire course on this idea in the past seven and half years. In the beginning it was difficult. I struggled to figure out what I believed was best for students. Through collaboration and practice, I got better. I figured out my teaching philosophy. When I did, I was confident – a completely different teacher. And even though the way I ran my class was controversial and not accepted by all of my colleagues, I stood by it and the way I was trying to teach kids the value of knowledge over points. Years later, not only is it accepted, it seems to be the way to making sure all students achieve at my school. I believed my class was one small step toward a new style of assessment, that it was respected and that my superiors were supportive. I still believe that.

But recently I was asked a question that really bothered me. A series of events led one of my superiors to ask me through an email if I thought I was using best practice in a situation she knew almost nothing about.

The answer inside my head:

“Of course! You have no idea what is really going on in this situation. What about my history and reputation make you think that I would do anything but strive for best practice in regard to my students and their learning? How insulting can you be about all I’ve worked for during my time here?! How many teachers in this building give students a complete list of learning targets at the beginning of every unit - learning targets that are printed on EVERY single class activity or assessment to which they are linked? Do all of your teachers use backward planning so they know how every skill and lesson will be assessed before they teach it? Does every single person on our faculty try to find a way to make every day, every lesson relevant by consistently bringing in contemporary connections? Do all of your teachers allow for and require students to revise and relearn instead of moving on to the next skill no matter what? And for this particular unit you are asking about: Do all of your teachers have an average of 98% of all research papers turned in over the last five years? I do.”

My actual answer was not forceful or rude. It was not arrogant. It did not poke the bear. This question was in an email, so I replied by thanking her for the “feedback.” I know most of my colleagues strive for best practice every day. I would never say I have all the answers or that I am the best teacher. We all have our days of greatness and days that humble us. There is a great amount of reflection as well as pride in our work so we are flexible. When reflection reveals a weakness, we change to make it better. We are proud enough that we want to do it right, flexible enough to change when it is required. It’s when an outside force makes me feel like my options are to change to a philosophy or best practice I don’t believe in, or be left standing alone that I am uncomfortable.

Lately I’ve been sad to see this school year end, but I feel that sadness lifting. That seems like a positive thing, losing sadness, but when I realize that I’m happy for the year to end, I’m sad about the reasons I’m happy to go. That sends my mind reeling about how much we all define ourselves by professional successes and failures, and how many times I’ve recently said I’m looking for balance in my life. The subject of balance sounds like a completely different post. The short version? I need it. We all do. There are 32 weekdays before finals. I guess I have that long to figure it out.