Building Capacity Through Leadership
Leadership - Summary
Effective leadership acknowledges the agency of all members of the learning community to take on formal and informal leadership roles to advance the school mission.
To create the culture and conditions necessary for all to take on leadership roles, leaders lead by establishing a shared purpose, encouraging shared responsibilities and building leadership capacity in the learning community.
Effective leaders:
Develop strong personal relationships.
Work collaboratively with others.
Value and operate with diversity.
Are open and share
Listen to understand
Praise more than criticize
Source: ibo.org | Career Management
The Future of Educational Leadership
An Insightful Booklist For PYP Leaders
Trust & Inspire
This wonderful keynote presentation by Stephen MR Covey focuses on what he believes is the leadership crisis today, where even though our world has changed drastically, our leadership style has not. Most organizations, teams, schools, and families today, he states still operate from a model of “command and control,” focusing on hierarchies and compliance from people. In his speech, he offers a simple yet bold solution: to shift from this “command and control” model to a leadership style of “trust and inspire.”
Stephen RH Covey's book: Trust & Inspire: How Truly Great Leaders Unleash Greatness in Others
PYP Coordinator 101
But walking in on the first day, planning and organizing for the year ahead can seem like an insurmountable mountain.
Here is a friendly and heartfelt look at how to survive the first month.
Aligning Values and Beliefs for Student Success
[Trevor Mackenzie]
Run Time: 57:12 - May, 2023
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This is episode one from Toddle's "School Leadership Project"
As leaders, we often feel tension around assessment. How do we balance meeting external metrics and requirements while staying aligned to our schools’ values and beliefs about how students learn best? In this podcast, Trevor Mackenzie shares stories and strategies for keeping students and learning at the center of our assessment practices. The podcast focuses on your role as a leader to model and cultivate a culture of assessment.
Flipped Learning Unlocked: Insights from the Pioneer
[Jonathan Bergmann]
Run Time: 51:47 - May, 2023
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This is episode two from Toddle's "School Leadership Project"
In this episode, you will hear from Jon Bergmann, one of the founding fathers of Flipped Learning, who shares his expertise and insights on the best practices for school leaders looking to implement flipped learning in their schools. Jon provides an overview of the origins of flipped learning, its benefits for teachers and students, and some of his new experiments in the classroom. His approach makes flipping the classroom feel intuitive and doable, with practical answers to questions around differentiation and accessing higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Jon’s inspiring conversation will leave you excited and eager to try the Flipped model.
What’s in Store:
Learn the origin of the flipped model of teaching and some big ‘ahas’ for making it work in schools
Get inspired to flip your faculty meetings with how-to’s and stories of other leaders’ success
Find out what you need to get the flip started in your school (hint: it’s not cameras and green screens)
Hear about Jon’s newest experiments with teaching and the “holy grail” for differentiation
Before, after, or during your listen, here are some questions to get you thinking:
What is worth doing in meetings with your team, and how might you make more time for it by flipping?
What does differentiation really look like in your school? Is it working?
How might you build the human capital in your school?
Exploring Limitless Growth: On Math, Mindset and Metacognition
[Jo Boaler]
Run Time: 52:32 - May, 2023
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This is episode two from Toddle's "School Leadership Project"
Listen to this incredible conversation about Jo Boaler's groundbreaking research on what truly makes a difference in math education. Learn about how we can all become leaders in transforming math classrooms into places where all students can thrive. Jo also gives you an exclusive sneak peek into the research she's conducting for her exciting new book.
Discover how to unleash the potential in every student, because math is for everyone.
What’s in Store:
The importance of struggle and vulnerability for growth. She grounds her thinking in the newest research in neuroplasticity and our
brains, which shows that all learners (and leaders) have limitless capacity!
How math is currently assessed and discuss some promising alternatives. Hint* collaboration plays a pivotal role. Dive into Jo's newest research on mental models, expertise, and the importance of metacognition.
Sustainable Leadership Criteria
Especially at the middle leader level, colleagues can work collaboratively to create success criteria that can positively impact student learning by developing knowledge, effectiveness, impact, and contributions toward professional culture. Developing criteria and reflection routines for leadership success that can be sustained over time, adapted, and used at your school will help measure leadership growth and its impact on student learning. This process allows the consideration of individual leadership, team, and overall school growth so that appropriate support can be offered where needed. It allows schools and leaders to know how they are doing and where they might need to make adjustments and/or decisions to continue on the same path.
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Spaces Leaders Need to Create
Theory of Thriving at Work
Observe Me - Teachers Observing Teachers
"A teacher who doesn’t collaborate works on an isolated island. When this lack of collaboration permeates an entire school, teachers more closely resemble independent contractors than colleagues." In this podcast, Rober Kaplinski advocates for teachers to observe colleagues by posting a sign to let people know they are welcome in their classroom. Here’s a template you can use and below is what it looks like.
For this to work there needs to be an element of trust and risk-taking preferably school-wide, but at minimum between two teachers. I would start small - with my grade-level colleagues. During a planning session, you could set out the protocols for observation and feedback. No time to observe, you say. With a grade-level colleague decide to plan and co-teach a lesson. Decide on who will teach what and come up with a few observation goals (look fors). Combine classes - teach and observe each other - reflect.
** If you've had your sign up but aren't getting the results you hoped for, then here's a blog post that should really help you.
Workshop Protocol to Solve Any Problem
Looking for a workshop/PD protocol that you can use for ALMOST ANYTHING involving getting a people in a room to define and solve challenges. Look no farther than Lightning Decision Jam: A Workshop to Solve Any Problem
This website blog provides step-by-step instructions on how to run a LDJ workshop (see video - right). There is even a video that explains the process. The LDJ workshop is perfect for learning coordinators, grade level/division leaders and administrators wishing to define and solve challenges.
Also, check out A. Juliani's video where he walks you through the steps of a "Lightning Decision Jam" which he believes is one of the fastest ways to take our problems and reframe them into "how might we..." statements and ultimately a plan that multiple stakeholders have developed together.
Giving Constructive Feedback
Source: TCEA
Feedback is essential for improvement, regardless of age, profession, or skill level. But many in leadership avoid giving constructive feedback or simply focus on the positive. Why is that?
Things to Discuss At Appraisal
Effective Teacher Professional Development
In 2017 the Learning Policy Institute put out a comprehensive report on Effective Teacher Professional Development, written by Linda Darling-Hammond, Maria E. Hyler, and Madelyn Gardner, with assistance from Danny Espinoza.
After reading the report it comes down to two things that hold back most professional learning experiences:
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Reason #1: A lot of professional learning is "sit and get".
The report is clear. This does not usually work, unless it is to kick off follow-up active PD sessions.
In the report they identify seven factors of effective PD. Five out of the first six are specifically about active and hands on learning.
Using the methodology detailed in Appendix A, we identify seven characteristics of effective PD. Specifically, we find that it:
1. Is content focused
2. Incorporates active learning utilizing adult learning theory (can't do this in sit and get)
3. Supports collaboration, typically in job-embedded contexts (can't do this in sit and get)
4. Uses models and modeling of effective practice (can't do this in sit and get)
5. Provides coaching and expert support (can't do this in sit and get)
6. Offers opportunities for feedback and reflection (can't do this in sit and get)
We see that each characteristic is slightly different, but almost all of them cannot be successful in a "sit and get" type of learning environment. This is why the most effective PD is often an "Earn to Learn" session where both the facilitator and the learner are working to create authentic meaning out of the experience.
Reason #2: A lot of professional learning is "one and done"
The seventh characteristic of effective PD is "sustained duration". This means it cannot be a single session on a single topic. When we do this there is no research to support it being effective in any way, and is often a waste of time.
If you are leading professional learning, try to filter the experiences and sessions between these two reasons and see how it stacks up.
If you have to do a sit and get session, follow it up with a hands on experience like a design sprint, rapid prototyping session, or empathy mapping experience.
Then follow up and continue the focus of your professional learning for a sustained duration to make it effective.
Source: Learning Policy Institute & A.J. Juliani Blog
Leading a 'Thinking School' Podcast
This Rethinking Education podcast is a fascinating conversation about why we need to rethink how we capture and evaluate and celebrate the achievements of young people; and how to transform a school by focusing on the professional learning and development of teachers. It would be inspiring to share this podcast with teachers/admin and discuss the implications for their school…and then create a road map on how to implement some of the ideas.
3 Ways Administrators Can Show They Care About Teachers as People
It’s easy for school leaders to get caught up in roles and responsibilities—but it’s important to remember that teachers are more than their job titles.
Articles: Educational Leadership
Click/Tap to ViewHow to Become a Better Listener, According to Science | Fast Company | June 5, 2022 | How well and frequently you listen to others is a better predictor of your leadership potential than your actual intelligence or personality.
Designing a Better Staff Meeting | Edutopia | Sept 29, 2021 | With the right planning, these meetings can maximize collaboration and even be uplifting and a little fun.
How To Lead With Empathy
Six ways to build a school culture that prioritizes understanding the experiences and perspectives of others.
Guide to Collaborative Leadership
What's the difference between heroes and leaders? In this insightful talk, Lorna Davis explains how our idolization of heroes is holding us back from solving big problems -- and shows why we need "radical interdependence" to make real change happen. Happy viewing.
Leadership Biases For Decisive Leadership
Learn about 12 cognitive biases to become a decisive leader. Humans like to twist the reality in a way that goes along with their own beliefs. Consequently, we often tend to speak with confidence about things we don’t fully understand. As much as we want to be right, rational and logical, we are constantly under the influence of cognitive biases.Almost everything in our lives is a bias. And it’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s important to be aware of these biases and try to mitigate them as much as possible to be in the known.
**You may also wish to explore: What is Bias
Things Students Want Educators to Know
What to Look for in Today's Classroom
Principled Negotiation: Getting to Yes
What Every Child Needs to Hear
PYP Approaches to Teaching Poster
