Speaker: James Schwarz
Describe one of your peak moments during the Michigan Teacher Retention Design Challenge. Why does it stand out?
James Schwarz: I think one of the peak moments of the two days that we've had together that have been extremely valuable were in honing down to the specific uh tangible action items that we can move forward with uh in taking back to our districts and making come alive. Uh The rich collaboration that had occurred through the process, I think was very valuable um and will assist us as we roll out back in the district.
Describe your team's solution idea to the teacher retention challenge in your school or district. What does success look like?
James Schwarz: So our design challenge really focused around um again, a very doable action item in the in the district that is a need to uh satisfy or work to satisfy the topic of, of teacher retention. And that is around the notion of equipping teachers with classroom management skills or, or a toolbox of greater skills so that they feel more comfortable in handling situations in their classroom, both from a preventative nature and as a response nature. Um and equipping teachers through trainings through book studies uh and subsequent discussions um that will lead them to feeling more equipped and thus more comfortable in the classroom and this hopefully less likely to leave the profession. So uh I think that it's, we've created some very tangible steps, very doable steps for us to do in the district that we think will, we'll have an impact on that objective.
If you were going to recommend the Michigan Teacher Retention Design Challenge workshop, what would you say to encourage others to attend?
James Schwarz: As far as a recommendation for this type of design thinking exercise in workshops such as this, I would highly recommend that there be a participation. It's a, it's a uh it's a great way to begin with a large complex problem um and creating very small chunk doable action items to begin to resolve the problem. And it's uh it's an exercise that is steeped in collaboration. Um And it's a great think tank exercise, but uh as opposed to being just theoretical, uh it takes you through the route of getting to specific action steps that are, are, are very uh very doable to take back to the district and continue the work.
