{"id":4607,"date":"2019-08-08T16:27:07","date_gmt":"2019-08-08T16:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.voxer.com\/blog\/?p=4607"},"modified":"2019-08-08T16:27:07","modified_gmt":"2019-08-08T16:27:07","slug":"how-modern-school-leadership-use-voxer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.voxer.com\/blog\/how-modern-school-leadership-use-voxer\/","title":{"rendered":"How Modern School Leaders Use Voxer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest Contributor: Daniel Bauer, founder of Better Leaders Better Schools<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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Voxer is a foundational tool for modern school leadership. Unlike many other apps available today, Voxer harnesses the power of voice<\/a>. This is crucial since humans are natural story-tellers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hand me a piece of paper and I might skim it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Present to me via a slide deck and I probably will fall asleep.<\/span><\/p>\n

But tell me a story \u2026 and I lean in.<\/span><\/p>\n

Communication is enhanced with our voice. As a former school principal, I used Voxer in a number of ways. Now as a leadership coach and the <\/span>host of the most downloaded podcast for educational leaders<\/span><\/a>, Voxer is a go-to app in my toolbelt.<\/span><\/p>\n

In-School Leadership<\/h2>\n

The best way to use Voxer as a school leader is to provide feedback to your teachers. Educators want to know that they are providing quality instruction. They care about making progress and want to know that you, the building leader, can see that progress.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dan Pink would agree. In his book <\/span>Drive<\/span><\/i><\/a>, Pink asserts that mastery motivates. Humans want to get better and better on work that matters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The normal observation and feedback cycle looks like this: An admin schedules a walkthrough observation. She takes some notes for 5-15 minutes and runs to the next class. If her system is tight, she emails her feedback or leaves a handwritten note for the teacher as she leaves the classroom. This is not the norm.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of the time school leaders are bombarded with all sorts of requests for their time and attention. As a result, feedback is sent at the end of the day, maybe even after students and teachers have left the building.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If the observation happened in the morning, the teacher has been wondering about her performance the whole day. She has started telling herself a story about what the administrator thought about her instruction. This creates distance between the teacher and school leader. It erodes trust.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So how do we close the gap?<\/span><\/p>\n

Use Voxer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a principal, I always took 30 – 60 seconds after leaving the classroom to send a teacher a voice memo about the observation. There were two main advantages to doing this. First, sending a voice memo via Voxer is easy and fast. More importantly, <\/span>I could communicate exactly how I felt about the observation<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The written word leaves a lot to the imagination. Often that is a good thing (e.g. reading fiction), but that is a barrier to communication in the context of feedback. Voxer eliminates this challenge. Admin can communicate emotion using their voice: excitement, gratitude, wonder.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In my voice memo I would share at least three ideas:<\/span><\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Gratitude for allowing me to observe<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Point out (with enthusiasm) what I appreciated or admired about the lesson<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. End with a reflective question and <\/span>an invitation<\/span><\/i> to debrief<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    That last point is important. By ending with a reflective question and an invitation to debrief, 9-out-of-10 times, teachers would come find me to discuss the lesson. This dramatically increased the number of professional conversations happening around teaching and learning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Everyone wins.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Before using Voxer teachers rarely would find me to debrief after an informal observation. After Voxer, debrief conversations skyrocketed.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Here is exactly how to send a voice memo providing feedback:<\/span><\/p>\n