Lead Like A Pirate Blog Hop Week Five - Transformation

Transform an event

On pg 57 Beth Houf describes how she and her leadership team transformed Parent Teacher Conferences at their school. Choose an event or practice at your school that you have transformed or that you would like to transform. Discuss how you went about it or how you will go about this transformation.

Our Senior Leadership Team has been talking about how we can transform the transition to school experience for our five year olds. It is forefront on our minds at the moment because we are so aware of the research carried out by Kathleen Liberty. We have become one of her 'second wave' of schools to adopt her research based calming and coping strategies.

We are aware that we need to do things differently for many of our school beginners, who do not seem ready for school. It is an issue that has been around for many years for some new students, but the numbers seem to have increased in recent years.

So how can we make this transition smoother? Perhaps we stop expecting the children to do the same thing at the same time. After roll and prayers, does everyone need to be in their phonics groups/maths groups/reading groups at the same time? Does everyone need to do their writing at the same time and in the same way? A few short days/weeks ago they were at kindy or pre school making choices and being creative. Surely we can make the transition more like what they have come from as they settle in? At least for a time?

 At the Catholic Principal's Conference this year, I was inspired by the presentation of a teacher from a Southland school about her Year 0 - 1 play based learning approach. I was heartened by the fact that she had data to support the fact that these children who still had small group teaching in all of the usual subjects, were as ready for year 2 as they would have been under a more traditional approach.

I have been doing some reading on the subject. Here is one article that supports play based learning.
It lines up really well with our school's ethos around project based learning. You could say it is the first step in project based learning for these little ones.

We want our New Entrants to be as excited about coming to school in week six as they were on day one. We want them to be inquisitive and creative.  I have more questions than answers at the moment, but I am working on it.  Ideas welcome...

Lead Like a Pirate Blog Hop Week Four - Ask and Analyse

One of the most important things that we should do as leaders is challenge the status quo. What questions do you use to do this when working with your teams?

We have some wonderful opportunities at our new school. We opened in February 2016 with the exciting and somewhat daunting task of bringing two very different schools together. We have been (and still are) working to create a new St Francis culture and ethos. We are also developing our St Francis way of delivering the curriculum in our fabulous new Innovative Learning spaces.

 One of the ways we as a Senior Leadership Team have facilitated this change, has been to provide regular release time to teams. This has meant that our teams have had the head space during the school day for half a day, two out of every three weeks, to have professional discussions. These discussions are around their practice in collaboration and their practice in problem based learning. We realised early on that this thinking and discussion time needed in part to be facilitated. This is because it was hard for our new team leaders to know what their team's next steps were. The team leaders were just as new to the collaboration and PBL concepts as their teams. They didn't know what they didn't know.

We have developed a system whereby the SLT facilitates discussion;  provides readings, asks questions, seeks clarity, gives feedback and celebrates work done or new thinking shared since the last release time. This usually takes up about 45 mins of the three hour release. The teams then go ahead and act on their new thinking or critique their systems to make improvements.

"Asking, Listening, analysing, reflecting, and learning are all essential to your role as a leader." #LeadLAP. (Pg 50)

We try to be very sensitive to the work that has already been done when we have our "collaboration meetings" and always stress the fact that we are all learning together and that when we ask questions we are not criticising but working together collaboratively to make our collaboration and PBL even better.

Lead Like A Pirate Blog Hop Week Three: Rapport

Earning Trust as a Leader
"As a leader, every action you take (or don't take), every interaction you have, every decision you make or leave unmade, every expression on your face, the tone in your voice, or the body language you convey - everything about you - either earns or erodes trust". #LEADLAP 

It is amazing how much impact the way that the members of the SLT team speak to people, has on the welfare of staff and ultimately on the school community.  I have been making a conscious effort since the beginning of term two last year to end conversations with staff in a positive light. I am also very aware of the need to greet parents everyday with a cheerful smile and a confident manner.  (This of course goes for children as well, but I think that teachers probably do that towards children more instinctively). Being friendly and positive inspires trust.

 I am not talking about the "difficult conversations" where cutting to the chase is necessary, but about the professional discussions we have with our staff around pedagogical shifts. I can still remember the sinking feeling that I had, the day that I realised that my passion alone was not enough to inspire people to change their practice. I realised that I had done some damage in the way that I implied that the efforts of the team I was working with (collaborative practice) were not good  enough. While I knew at the time that my "next steps" advice was falling like a lead balloon, it was too late at that time to redeem the situation.

 It didn't take much reflection to realise that I had failed in my half hearted attempt to congratulate them on what they had achieved so far in their efforts to get their heads around collaboration. Since that  day, the one when I knew that I had completely taken the wind out their sails, I have been much more focused on moving forwards with less speed and more encouragement. I make sure that I include something positive in every professional conversation. When working with my crew, I try to "make it a priority to build rapport and relationships". (pg 30 #LEADLAP). I try to listen and show that I value their input. " Pirate leaders embrace opportunities to hear multiple opportunities to hear multiple perspectives, and they value the contributions each person makes to the organisation - and they tell them so" (pg. 30)

In 'Leading in a Culture of Change" Michael Fullan in his study of District Two, one of his study districts in Ontario, shares his findings and describes the four conditions for developing trust and the positive outcomes of establishing a culture of trust.  (Fullan, 2003).

Fullan 2003

Lead Like a Pirate Blog Hop. Week 2: Immersion

In our SLT office, we talk about the need to prioritise what is important over what is not. I laughed out loud when I read the part in Immersion where Shelley, the Principal went out to buy coffee, during optimum literacy time in her school.  She did this in order to save other people the need to do so. That was exactly what two members of our SLT did recently. We went  to Pac n Save to buy spreads so that the classes didn't run out! (carb break in our play, eat, learn schedule). The irony of it, is that we felt that if we both went, it would be a good opportunity to talk. We felt that if we went ourselves, we would be taking the pressure off others. It has been a bit of a wakeup call for us, because we are now asking ourselves questions like; "Who else shall we get to do this?" about a lot of day to day things.
We know that we want to be immersed in classes, so that we can be focusing on the most important job of all, teaching and learning. It can be hard to find the time to do this, as we so easily get bogged down in the necessary running of the school, or being in a reactive role; on hand for teachers asking for support.

This term we have booked ourselves out for time in classes. We work around our teaching commitments (Maths, Te Reo, Socially Speaking) and just 'get in amongst it' at set times of the week.
The other thing we have introduced this term is placing more value on the need to protect some thinking and planning time together as the SLT.  We place high value on professional dialogue and planning for the best opportunities to be available at our school. Developing our emerging ethos is important work. We have blocked out time each week in order to do some of the big picture thinking.

As the SLT, we are very aware that something taking up an inordinate amount of time, is the management of one particular pupil. The LEAD acronym is a useful way to apply thinking to this issue.  We are constantly trying to Leverage Systems that will enable this student to succeed. We are constantly working on our relationships with this student in order to Elevate the impact of our efforts. We can often help him to be calm because he trusts us. Our next steps are to Activate the Team.  It takes a village to raise a child. We need to ensure that all of our staff have the skills and confidence to help this student to have better outcomes. We hope to be able to Delete the inordinate amount of time spent on managing this child's behaviour, by equipping him with the necessary skills to function effectively with his cohort. To be successful in this endeavour will afford us more time to spend on the important things like coaching and mentoring in classes.

Lead Like A Pirate Blog Hop. Week One: Passion

Much of Chapter One in Lead Like A Pirate by Shelley Burgess and Beth Houf (2017) resonates with me. I would like to think that my passion for children and my contribution towards providing the very best opportunities for the children in our school, shines through on a daily basis. (I hope it does!). Like Burgess and Houf,(#LeadLAP)I am passionate about collaboration. I believe that collaboration allows us the opportunity to be "stronger and better collectively than we are individually" (#LeadLAP pg 5). I have seen evidence of this in the three schools that I have worked in where collaboration has been implemented. I am convinced that teachers who collaborate; who plan together, work together with shared children in a shared space, are better together than they are as individual teachers in a single cell class. 

 Collaborative planning is distinctly different from distributed planning (You do maths and I'll do reading) and can have powerful benefits for the students. Two (or three or four... heads are better than one). One of the benefits of collaborative teaching that staff at our school have identified is proximity teaching, where teachers in the same space can see and hear the other teachers working with students. This is ongoing professional development on a daily basis for all concerned. Working closely with other adults also makes us challenge our own thinking and that of others. The children have indicated that they love the flexibility of collaboration; the ability to choose where they work and with whom they work. They also love the fact that they have input into their learning from more adults.

 One of the educationalists that I follow is George Couros author of The Innovator's Mindset. I also follow him on twitter, participated in his recent IMMOOC and I follow his weekly blog post. There is always something to reflect on or be challenged by. He also introduces me to the thinking of other respected educationalists. In a recent post of his, The Education Bat Signal, https://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/7550, he talks about the opportunities that now exist for teachers; " It would be crazy to not take advantage of learning from the wisdom and experience of others in the same profession."   As a leader in a school where collaboration is the new normal, I love the opportunity to be part of establishing this new culture where the child is at the centre in an even more authentic way than in the past.   

Collaborative Practice - An evolving process

When teachers from other schools (one or two principals included) and parents from my school ask me "what I really think" about collaboration, I have a range of responses flipping through my head as I realise that for many, we educators are still trying to get the 'why' across. My responses include such things as:

• Why would we be providing exactly the same service that we provided 30 years ago? Who does that? We would sack our doctor, lawyer, and even our electrician if they were. 
• I call to mind Ken Robinson's ageing but still very relevant video clip on changing educational paradigms, the essential message being that we no longer need to be producing 80% of our workforce for factory work and an education system built around industrialisation. Right down to production line desks and bells tolling the end of the shift. 
• I think about the wonderfully simple youtube clip about collaboration, Above and Beyond. Where the opportunity for thinking outside the box and working together is so artfully made clear.

• Having the modern learning environment does not equate to innovative learning practices - for that to happen a whole paradigm shift has to happen. Otherwise it is merely single cell thinking where old practices are being squashed into educational situations that they just don't fit into any more. 
• There are a few clues that old school thinking lingers even when it is not intentional. For example:  Too much furniture. How often do we have all of the children sitting at a desk these days?; ability grouping children, locking them into set groups akin to 'interchange' when flexible grouping based on next steps or shared experiences makes more sense. 
• Education delivery now is exciting and the possibilities of innovative practices can allow us to open our minds to promising new ideas. As Carol Dweck says "It's all in the mindset". (Dweck, C. S. (2012). Mindset: How you can fulfill your potential. Constable & Robinson Limited.)

Change is the opportunity to do something amazing ... #IMMOOC Week 1.

It has taken me a bit to get my head around - this IMMOOC set up by George Couros that enables amazing conversations around innovative education on a global scale. It is somewhat daunting and soo connected that I am a little overwhelmed. However after spending time lurking and enjoying the conversations I have decided that my entry level will be to catch up with the blogging, face book and twitter conversations. Through my reading on week one of the IMMOOC I have discovered the wonderful 'inoreader', an organisational tool that has the potential to change my life! My bookmarks folders need not be overloaded any longer!

In my school context, change is here and now and we have the opportunity to do something amazing. We are a new school as of February 2016. Our school has come out of the closure of two schools post Christchurch 2011 Earthquake. We have beautiful new innovative learning spaces and a school culture to build from scratch. We are very excited by the opportunity that change can bring us. The biggest challenge right now is leading change in a way that enables our school community to come along with us without feeling overwhelmed by the change. We want our children and teachers to feel more connected to their learning. We want our students to have a voice, be creative, be inquisitive, be collaborative and be critical thinkers while developing citizenship and good character. We know that the world that our students are engaging with now and even more so will be experiencing as they leave school, requires a very different approach to learning than the one that we have traditionally had. When we introduce 1:1 computers next year, we want to be sure that our students are ready to be innovative and creative with the technology in ways that they could not be without it. We are at the crossroads now where we can choose to take the opportunity to do something amazing.