Over the past 26 years as a teacher, I have received an untold number of hours of professional development.
A glacier of training.
An ice age of strategies, readings, worksheets, activities, and skills.
I’m sure that along the way, this professional development has impacted my pedagogy and practice, but it was rarely transformational.
I never left a professional development session thinking, “I am going to be a better teacher tomorrow because of the time I spent today.”
Except once.
A few years ago, a colleague and fellow teacher named Steve spent a full school day watching me teach.
That day was more transformational to my teaching than all the other professional development I have received combined.
Hundreds—maybe thousands—of hours of professional development did not add up to one day of assistance from Steve.
Why?
Steve was an excellent teacher who spent his days with students. He was doing the job, and he understood its challenges better than any administrator ever could.
And on that day, he observed me closely. Took notes. Analyzed my decision making. Dissected my practice.
He applied his expert lens to my practice and came away with valuable insights into my practice.
At the end of the day, Steve spent 20 minutes reviewing his assessment of my work. He told me things that I did well and suggested areas for improvement.
Both of these things things transformed me as a teacher forever.
Among the things Steve told me:
I give more positive feedback than any teacher he had ever seen, which I did not know. While I was already doing this well, the awareness that Steve provided allowed me to become more consistent, more targeted, and more strategic with my positive feedback.
Steve took something I already did well and elevated it to new heights.
Steve also noticed how my instruction tends to lean toward auditory learners.
I wasn’t surprised since I am also an auditory learner.
I remember almost everything I hear but almost nothing I see.
This is what made me the state’s collegiate debate champion two years in a row.
As a result, I was unconsciously favoring the type of learning that served me best. I wasn’t failing my less auditory students, but I wasn’t scaffolding their instruction to the degree they could learn best.
Steve offered me simple strategies that would allow visual learners, students who need more time to process before sharing, and students for whom English is not their first language to be better prepared for classroom discussions, partner sharing, and the like.
I still use these strategies today—I use them every day. Thanks to Steve’s observation, I’ve also researched additional strategies, and I am absolutely a better teacher today as a result.
A hell of a better teacher.
Those are just two of a dozen or more things Steve offered me that transformed my teaching for the better. Pile up 26 years of professional development, and none of it comes close to what Steve offered me that single day.
Sometimes, you need someone by your side—an expert—to observe you, guide you, and make you better.
This is why I’ve decided to launch Storytworthy’s first Mastermind. As we prepare to launch the new, expanded, and much-improved version of my Storyworthy for Business course, I began thinking:
This course is outstanding for people willing to learn independently — watch videos, experiment, practice, and improve at their own pace.
But what about those who want or need an expert—someone who does the job well and knows how to teach exceedingly well—to guide them along the way?
What about those storytellers and would-be storytellers who need a Steve?
That is why I am launching the first semester of the Storyworthy Mastermind — an opportunity for a dozen people to spend six months learning to tell stories alongside someone who does it well and knows how to teach it well — me.
By joining my Storyworthy Mastermind, you will receive more than 20 hours of group and individual instruction, weekly video and email updates and lessons, an invitation to a community of like-minded people to help you along the way, my brand-new Storyworthy for Business course (which will serve as our curriculum), and a one-year membership into Storyworthy’s VIP program, giving you access to every course I have and will produce.
If you’re looking for a more guided approach to learning to tell stories — complete with individualized instruction and constant feedback — this Mastermind may be for you.
Registration opens soon.
Click here to join the waiting list, be one of the first to learn about the Mastermind in detail, and have the opportunity to join.
