Foundation Principalship

http://www.sunlive.co.nz/11125a1.page

I have just accepted the position of Principal for Golden Sands School, the new school being built in Papamoa East. It is going to be an exciting challenge. So far I have received a copy of the signed off plans(both building and grounds) and the logo. I am working my way through the plans of the site and the landscaping concepts. The plant pallette is all linked into the concept of "golden".

I have managed to negotiate the appointment of a DP and AP, both apparently able to start 30 weeks out - does that mean thirty weeks including or excluding holidays? The EBOT is deciding what needs to be publicised at this point.

So far the community have put together the vision and values. The logo which is a harakeke plant has 5 chunks out of one of the leaves - this represents the values. Thinking about chunks out is negative.... how can this be turned into the positive representation needed for values.... hmm some thinking to be done!

The Art of Facilitation - Day 3

The Day of Reckoning.... DiSC analysis!

The DiSC is a personality type analysis test.

D = dominance
i = influential
S = steady
C = conscientious

This is a useful tool to help..
- improve awareness and recognition of diversity
- enhance quality
- manage change
- coaching
- build productive teams
- develop effective leadership
- ease frustration and interpersonal conflict
- enhance communication
- resolve/manage conflict
- team development/ building

The two purposes that are most important for my current context are managing change and building and developing productive teams.

It is not only useful to analyse oneself but also the team members on staff. I think this allows us to examine potential conflict from someone elses perspectives. There is a really helpful page in the analysis book which I think I will use to identify the main categories that each staff member falls into. I think this will be helpful for considering different perspectives.

The Art of Facilitation - Day 2

Essential elements of highly effective professional learning.

What are they? Insert photo
What do you do in your classroom to improve student learning? How do you know?
What is the evidence? Where is the data to demonstrate improvement?

Teachers don't have time to work on things that are not proven/research based.

Thinking Activities to use in staff workshops
1st word, last word strategy ( a bit like reciprocal reading)


1. Read the material. Highlight 3-4 ideas, phrases, things to clarify
2. 1st person states a phrase or statement
3. 2nd, 3rd people clarifies, questions the statement made by the 1st person
4. The 4th person adds their statement, reflections etc, then synthesises the groups ideas.
5. Rotation begins again with 2nd person and follows the above.

This is a really useful way of quickly clarifying a group reading.

The Art of Facilitation - Day 1/2

Smart Conversations

In order to have "smart" conversations in professional contexts, we need to use the deliberate acts described in the stepping stones to skilful dialogue and discussion. For me this is helping me to identify the parts that make up the whole in order to improve the whole ie improve learning conversations.

Firstly, the language of intent is important:

Stating our goal, our purpose and the learning intention is crucial. It is important to label the initial intent of a conversation at the outset. For example, rather than being ambushed into a discussion when it is not convenient, the following conversation could take place..." This is an important conversation. Can we set aside half an hour this afternoon for this discussion?"

It is important to phrase conversations carefully and to avoid unplanned learning conversations during the day.

There are 4 listening set asides. These are things that divert our attention from listening effectively.

1. Autobiographical listening: "sharing our own war stories" (Me too)
2. Inquistive listening: noticing what not to pay attention to (Tell me what I want to know)
3. Solution listening: offering advice (I know!)
4. Judgmental listening: judging what is said instead of listening ot understand. (Here she goes again)

It is easy to fall into the trap of all the above listening (non-listening!). While it might be well intentioned ie building relationships, empathy, commonalities, it is not always helpful in achieving understanding.

The Art of Facilitation

The Art of Facilitation
Joan Dalton and David Anderson

Day 1

Team building and community development:

Why is it important to take time to build the team and sense of community?
§ Encourages a sharing of ideas
§ Allows ownership of direction
§ Everyone is on board
§ Positive working environment with everyone on task so that you can focus on the change process

How can this be done?
§ Welcome letter @ the door with instructions and expectations - can be used at each staff meeting, or in a classroom at the beginning of each day.
§ Time spent on protocols and trust building (Norms or a treaty)


Sharing deliberate acts of facilitation ie pointing out strategies eg starting with a story (concentration) random groupings, trust gaining activities, attention getting agreement, move then give instructions
§ Do I like it/love it/ can live with it?
§ Sense of appropriate humour

Treaty/Protocol/Norm development

Using the treaty/protocols developed is important. Carefully form the agreement and then let them work for you. When challenged to back to them. Unpack specific behaviours - what do they look like, sound like etc.

Respecting others on our staff in 2009
is…….
§
Is not……
§ (give/create really precise and specific behaviours)

Nothing's Impossible

A really interesting read about Dr Lorraine Monroe's journey as a leader. Her vision included:
Creating a school which was ...

1. a place where teaching and learning were honored and taken seriously
2. a place of order and predictability
3. a place where kids, especially boys, could learn that it was okay to be smart
4. a place where teachers would have a great deal of autonomy in choosing texts, materials and methodolgy (as long as it worked!)
   

Together they developed 12 non-negotiable rules to develop/ begin the culture of the school.

Points of interest for me..

• Success for students was planned for explicitly
• Students that weren't achieving were targeted by extra learning resources
• Expectations were high. Students were expected to succeed.
• Teachers had high expectations
• The school became like a second home to some students - they were believed in

On the pursuit of excellence...

"The loneliness of the leader lies in having to think and dream about work all day, every day, day after day, and then make what you dream palatable and workable by those who have not thought or dreamed as deeply or as far into the future as you have. Most important is that the leader continue not only to believe in the dream and the need to pursue it but also to do the hard brain work of never doubting its importance. Doubts will arise, because of setbacks and failures that inevitably occur, as well as the intrusive demands of life, time and people. But the leaders job is to master these doubts and press on."

Her notes on teacher performance

10% are stars

10% are shukers and jivers

The rest are well-meaning strugglers.

She would focus her observations and feedback on the 10% who were there to collect a paycheck first. If there was no improvement, competency procedures were put into place. When it was discovered that there were commonalities in skill deficit across the staff, staff learning sessions would be held to address the issues - sometimes run by the "stars"

Well-meaning strugglers can be helped. Putting time into them ensures quality learning for students.

I enjoyed Dr Munroes obvious passion for the job, but also her lack of tolerance for incompetent teachers. Our students' learning is too important.

An inspirational read... Dr Munroe achieved amazing things in the most challenging areas of Harlem.

The Fish Philosophy

While usually a sceptic of such "warm fuzzy" stuff, this book really made me think.

The underlying philosophy has 4 "practices".

To begin to change anything, we have to change the way we speak about it, the way we feel about it and definitely the way we act about it day in and day out.
The four simple but powerful practices that are the The FISH! Philosophy are:
Be There
Play
Make Their Day
Choose Your Attitude

While these sound like common sense approaches, for the next week I caught myself thinking"they need to read the FISH philosophy" or "they have read the FISH philosophy" every time I went into a shop or had a meeting with someone.

This got me thinking. How can I translate this into our school? How many times do we arrive at school dreading the difficult parent/child/teacher that have an issue that has to be dealt with? How much of an impact does this have on our environment, which in turn has an impact on our students and consequently their learning?

Can we use the FISH philosophy to achieve our two strategic (learning) goals:

1. to lift student achievement by improving teacher performance
2. designing the curriculum through the use of inquiry

If all teachers (actually all staff) use the FISH philosophy, would student attendance increase? Would student achievement increase because everyone is having fun, demonstrating a positive attitude, making them feel special and focussing on being "there" for them?

While I would expect we would all feel we do our best to do this already, we don't concentrate on it explicitly. Next task: Leadership team to read - discussion to follow. Could this/should this be a priority or am I getting sidetracked from our current vision?

More information can be found at the link below:

http://www.charthouse.com/content.aspx?nodeid=1066

The Goal

While not a typical choice for an educational leader, this was an interesting read. Based in the manufacturing industry, The Goal explores the relationship between leadership decision making and process theory. It is written in novel format so is quick and easy to read.

What did I take from it?

Any organisation is only as strong as its weakest link.

One must step back from within the environment to find the link(s) that are causing problems

Weak links may change at any given time.

What does this mean for education/schooling?

http://www.halliburtonassociates.com/documents/filelibrary/pdfs/TOC_in_EducationRationale.pdf
http://www.tocforeducation.com/index.html
http://www.tocforme.com/





Children's learning is our core business

I've joined the blogosphere!

I thought it would be interesting to blog my educational and leadership musings in the hope of getting some feedback on thoughts. Watch this space...