What do I value as a Leader?

We were given some excellent stimulus material to aid us in thinking about what our values are as a leader. There are the usual ones that you would expect; integrity, flexibility and perseverance.  But as I listened to the stimulus material and digested it, it made me think about understanding as a key value for effective leaders.

In Linda Cliatt-Wayman's TED Talk on "How to fix a broken school?" she talks about understanding what is going on. Talking to students, talking to staff. It reminded me of the Japanese Business philosophy of Genchi Genbutsu. "Getcha boots on" and go and see what is happening. Dunn and Dunn (2016) have an excellent article about Genchi Genbutsu and summarise it as "Go see. Ask why. Show respect.”

An interview with Anneleise Hoogland (Hoogland, 2013) on gathering student voice emotes the same philosophy, "Getcha boots on" and listen to the students. What are they learning? What are they having difficulty with? What are their hopes and dreams?

I often get referred to as a "problem solver". I like to mull over a problem, listen to all different points of views and then come up with ideas to move forward. In that sense, I can relate to Linda Cliatt-Wayman's slogan of "so what, now what". Identify the problem and lets solve it together.

References:

Cliatt-Wayman, L. (2015). How to fix a broken school?. TED Talks. Retrieved 1 May 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe2nlti47kA

Dunn, E., & Dunn, E. (2016). The True Meaning of Genchi Genbutsu. rever. Retrieved 1 May 2018, from https://reverscore.com/rever-app-feed/2016/1/25/the-true-meaning-of-genchi-genbutsu

Hoogland, A. (2013). Looking for learning. ED Talks. Retrieved 1 May 2018, from http://edtalks.org/#/video/looking-learning

Revisiting Goleman's Six Leadership Styles

I am currently participating in the Australian Schools Leading Teachers Colloquium. It is a nine month online learning module which explores effective leadership. I was nominated by my school and awarded a scholarship to participate. This month we are revisiting the topic of Leadership and Authenticity and asking the question of "What are the typical characteristics of a good school leader"?

After reading through the discussion forum, it took me back to a time when I had to interview my school Principal and my immediate superior for an essay for my Masters of Education (Teacher Librarianship). The focus of the essay was working with School Leadership from the perspective of a Teacher Librarian. Since that essay, I have been practicing as a Teacher Librarian and I have also swung back the other way, taking on a role this year as STEAM Coordinator. Taking me back to where I started in education, working with Educational Technology.

Both of the leaders were "good school leaders" and displayed worthy values, but both worked in a different way to draw out the best from their teams.

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Looking at Goleman's Six Leadership Styles, I can see that I am probably close to a "coaching" leader at the moment when I have my Teacher Librarian hat on, but at times I put on the "visionary" hat when I am pushing the STEAM aspect of my role.

References:

Campbell, S. (2017). 7 Character Traits Exceptional Leaders Have in Common. Entrepreneur. Retrieved 30 April 2018, from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/302773

Goleman, D. (2017). Leadership That Gets Results (Harvard Business Review Classics). Harvard Business Press.

Patel, D. (2017). 11 Powerful Traits Of Successful Leaders. Forbes.com. Retrieved 30 April 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/deeppatel/2017/03/22/11-powerful-traits-of-successful-leaders/#32fc12a0469f

Gibbs Reflective Cycle

“Reflection is part of learning and thinking. We reflect in order to learn something, or we learn as a result of reflecting, and the term ‘reflective learning’ emphasises the intention to learn from current or prior experience” (Moon 2004).

In the classroom, we often do reflection exercises with students at the end of a project. But is our curriculum approach effective? Students need to feel intellectual reward from completing a reflective task, rather than a feeling that the task is an afterthought.

I came across this presentation about the Gibbs reflective cycle.

It looks like a teacher has created this for their class, as the end of the process asks them to reflect on a piece of work. The presentation is a short one but it scaffolds the students thinking towards welcoming reflection as a part of the learning process.

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How do you scaffold your reflective tasks in the classroom?

References
Moon, J. A. (2004). Reflection and employability (Vol. 4). York: LTSN Generic Centre.