Trusting Relationships Needed First

Kaser and Halbert (2009) state "when adult relationships in schools are characterized by trust, the stories about change shift from indifference or negativity to possibility and hope." A trusting relationship is essential to making any change. This relationship seems easy for successful leaders to make and sustain, while other leaders have difficultly building trust, and then there are the leaders that build relationships and lose trust through lack of integrity. In Kaser and Halbert (2009), Solomon and Flores (2001) are quoted, " Trust is cultivated through speech, conversation, commitments, and action. Trust is never something 'already at hand, it is always a matter of human effort. It can and often must be conscientiously created, not simply taken for granted."(p.87). In my opinion, relationships need to be build prior to trust being given. Leaders need to get to know and show interest in their people personally, to have invested time and energy into finding out what they think, believe, what their interests are, and who their families are. Is this necessary for trust to develop? Are there other ways, that trust can be developed?

Intense Moral Purpose

To have an Intense Moral Purpose mindset, leaders must be passionately focused on the quality and equity of education. Leaders must be intensely committed to making a difference in the lives of young people. These leaders need to stay focused on creating success for these students whatever the odds are against them. I believe, in order to make a difference for these young people, leaders need to build emotional connections with students, especially the vulnerable ones. These students need to believe and feel that leaders care for their well-being, intellectually, emotionally and socially. Leaders, I admired were able to make connections with students and consequently make a difference for them. Does the emotional connection have to come first prior to students having high quality learning experiences?

Networked Leadership

Kaser and Halbert present the idea of networked leadership through the Network of Performance Based Schools. There are common characteristics of being part of a network including: team work, interdependence, inquiry, asssessment, public communication, depth of thinking, connecting ideas, metacognition and use of evidence. Is it possible to experience all of these characteristics? What kinds of barriers can prevent them? How can these barriers be overcome?

PQ : Using All Six Mindsets

While there are 6 distinct mindsets that characterise the way a successful, learning oriented leader operate, I am wondering how these leaders master all of them and put them all into practice. Other than have these mindsets, do these leaders also have other qualities that make them sucessful as well? If there are, what might they be?

PP : How Do You Help Educators Overcome Discomfort With The Use of The Inquiry Approach?

Earl and Timperley states that " Educators may not be experienced or comfortable with these inquiry process of questioning, reflecting, seeking alternatives and weighing consequences to promote the 'transparency' of what might remain unobservable facets of practice, making tacit knowledge visible and open to scruitiny'.

In an Asian setting, educators will experience discomfort adopting this approach as they find it uncomfortable to question many things. How then does a school leader help his/her teachers overcome this discomfort?

Moving From Sorting to Learning

In Kaser and Halbert's chapter on moving from sorting to learning they discuss the importance of providing student with appropriate context to their learning so that they can be more engaged. They discuss a shift in the teacher's pedagody to make this happen. In the research I have been conducting on parent involvment in schools, I see that it is not enough for teachers to make a shift in educational pedagogy. Parents and community members must also change their view about the purpose of education. Its sole purpose is no longer to move up the social scale. Society is still today in a sorting mindset. I wonder when we will witness a societal shift to truly understanding a knowledge base society? Can the shift only be representative at the school level?

How do leaders promote Powerful Learning?

PP

Linda Darling-Hammond in Leadership Mindsets (Kaser & Halbert) states, "Schools that redesign their work around student learning spend a great deal of time thinking through what they value, how they will know if they have achieved it and what they must do to create connected learning experiences that enable students to achieve their goals."

Do we see this in our schools?

What do leaders do if they do not see this?

Appreciative Inquiry Engagement

I had the benefit of being taken through an appreciative inquiry exercise through work. I liked the possibility thinking but found addressing existing problems left unresolved. This seemed to result in members of the team to lose confidence in the process and no longer support the focus of envisioning a new possibility. How could one avoid this pitfall?

Leaders in Education: Linda Darling Hammond

Linda Darling Hammond is a professor at Standford who has built a career on calling for social justice and equity of opportunity in American education. She is now an advisor to Barack Obama. She wrote a groundbreaking book, The Right to Learn, about a decade ago and her latest book is *The Flat World and Education . In this clip, she talks about how nations that perform well on PISA, an international test, have assessments that emphasize higher order thinking and inform teaching. Her talk signals a shift, in American education, from testing for accountability to assessment as part of the teaching process for developing 21st Century Skills. Notice that Darling-Hammond highlights some key differences between American systems and others, including ours - particularly the equity or inequity of school funding. This is important to consider when we read American authors and we need to decide whether their criticisms apply to teaching in Canada. However, Canada's high performance on international tests should not make us complacent: Darling-Hammond's work inspires us to ask whether our enviable education system is working as well as it could for impoverished and culturally marginalized students.

The Flat World and Education offers an eye-opening wake-up call concerning America's future and vividly illustrates what the United States needs to do to build a system of high-achieving and equitable schools that ensures every child the right to learn.

My Portfolio

FYI:
My portfolio is going to be set up like the PLO's with the observed behaviors (or my evidence) in a right column and the goal in the left column. I have changed the wording in some of the standards but most of the ideas still exist. I have also added two categories, Yamas and Niyamas and Servant Leadership. In terms of style, I am using paintings on overheads with the title in the background and then another 'layer' for the definition. All of the paintings nod to trees in some way.

PP - Parents Confidence

Kaser and Halbert quote that, "Parents want to have confidence in their school and in the system as a whole." This is an interesting comment because I believe that parents although they want to have confidence in the system, they need to recognize that they are a part of the educational system. They are essential to the effective inner workings. I do believe that parents often may not realize that they are essential simply because they may not feel welcome or as educated as they need to be, to be part of the system. It is our job as leaders to help integrate parents as an essential part of the education system.

PQ- Clear Direction and sustainability

Kaser and Halbert talk about it being a leader's responsibility to develop a clear direction for the school. Who comes up with the clear direction? Is it the principal? Is it the staff? Is it the students? Is it the community? Is the clear direction decided upon ever really clear even if all parties are involved? How can one ensure that a vision encompassing all parties really exists in a school? I believe that an answer to this is essential in developing trust in the school community. Sustainability is another issue that I am also struggling with. At my school last year I helped to implement 2 school initiatives including Parent Reading Power and being a part of the the Network of Performance Based Schools. Both of these initiative were heavily supported by the Administration. However, since I moved away, both of these initiatives have been abandoned. I am concerned that the progess the students and staff had made last year has been lost. What could have been done differently to ensure sustainability in these two initiatives?

Emotional Intelligence

Kaser and Halbert say, "School leaders who are passionate about learning and improvement know that the must build a strong team both within and outside the school. This requires high levels of trust and emotional intelligence." (p.41)

My question, or in the words of Harjot what 'pinched' me is regarding emotional intelligence. How can (if it can in fact be learned) a leader learn emotional intelligence? What would this look like? If it can be learned, then can it be taught? Furthermore, with all of the malleable and fluid definitions of emotional intelligence how would you define EI for your own purposes and understanding? If you do take EI as the ability to be 'level headed' in the face of an emotional situation, could one consider the fact that to be human is to emote? To what degree should a leader curb their emotions for the service of their team?

Lots of questions I realize, touch on all, none or some!
-Myla Marks

PPs and PQs: Please Join the Conversation

In lieu of a make-up class, I've invited the Leading for Change course in PG, who are also studying the Kaser and Halbert Leadership Mindsets book, to join April and Terry and I on this blog. To review and discuss the concepts from the book that we find most compelling, I'm asking you to spend time posting two kinds of posts, or responding to them. You may want to respond to a post that appeals to you and check back a few days later to see what additional comments have been added. The purpose of this exercise is to come to a better understanding of the text through dialogue. In order to support one another's learning, please remember to challenge (or question or probe) as well as support ideas!

PP - this kind of post is a "provocative point". Post a short quote from Kaser and Halbert that you think will stimulate thinking - it may be a statement that not everyone will agree with, or that is not likely to hold true in all situations. Add a question that you believe will provoke and focus discussion. Check back once in a while to moderate the discussion or to summarize what has been said in a comment of your own.

PQ - this kind of post is a "persistent question". Try to identify ideas or statements in the text that continue to bother or trouble you. It can be something that you don't understand or simply wonder about. You may post an idea that you agree with but wonder how it would look in practice or in your particular setting. Ask the group to share their thoughts with you. Check back once in a while to review comments and let people know if their responses have begun to provide answers for you.

I look forward to participating, too!

Leadership Lessons Where You Least Expect Them!

Because you didn't follow up on my leadership lessons from animals suggestion, I thought I would share one with you that was brought to my attention by master's students in Quesnel a few years ago. Dr. Seuss was a very wise man who tackled huge themes in an engaging way. Take a look at this old favourite, and see how it speaks to you as a leadership text! My purpose is to provide you with a bit of fun that you can justifiably label as "homework", but also to set the stage for finding leadership concepts everywhere.

The Inner Work of Leaders

I have been having students in the current "Leading for Change" course read the introduction and first chapter of a book by Barbara Mackoff and Gary Wenet, "The Inner Work of Leaders: Leadership as a Habit of Mind". This book is available to you through the UNBC library as an electronic resource - you can find it easily in the online catalogue and you just need your 14 digit library number and your 4 digit PIN to have access to it. I would like you to read the opening to this book to help you understand why I've asked you to look at your leadership in a personal way, through your Self-Portrait assignment. In your first posts, both of you have identified specific leadership lessons in personal experiences - this reflective process is the "inner work" that supports strong self-understanding that translates, in social situations, to more effective leadership. In comments to this post, I would like you to select quotes from this reading and connect them to your narratives and the "life lessons in leadership" that you've shared. I think it works well to use a comment as a paragraph - one main thought per comment! This reading will also take us nicely into the Leadership Mindsets book by Kaser and Halbert. The examples from the lives of leaders in the Mackoff and Wenet book are similar to those in "Mindsets". For me, the main lesson in both, as well as in Senge's books about the 5 disciplines of systems thinking and Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (also his principle-centred leadership, based on the 7 habits), is that, as leaders, we think in certain ways and develop the beliefs that are the foundation of our actions. This thought is expressed more strongly in a different way, in a concept that is central to the field of school improvement: We cannot have sustainable change in practice without a corresponding change in beliefs. We'll come back to that idea, I'm sure!

A Risk, A Life Change, A New Adventure....



This year, I had leadership lessons come into my life unknowingly. Now in reflection I am able to see how these lessons have impacted me and my views as a leader. In March 2010, I was faced with the reality that I might lose my job with the school district in Prince George as the threat of school closures fell on everyone. My husband and I decided to start looking for jobs out of the province of British Columbia in order to keep our options open. My husband came across a great opportunity in Grande Prairie, Alberta and so we were left with the decision to stay or move. This was a difficult decision for me as I would be giving up a full time continuing contract. Additionally, I would be moving away from my family, which I am so very close with. We decided to sell our house and move to Grande Prairie. The Leadership lesson I learned was in risk taking. I know that as a leader it is important to take risks in order to move forward, whether it may be as a staff or in your personal life. When the moving day came, we had many helpers which made the task of packing, loading and driving alot easier. This lesson shows that in most cases two heads are better than one. The final lesson of my new life and adventure was that of courage and acceptance. I needed to be courageous and know that my husband and I were making a decision that would impact our lives drastically but that it was a positive decision despite the worries that my arise. I needed to have acceptance of the the outcomes that arose as this was a choice we made. As a leader having the courage to do what is necessary and having acceptance in what comes makes an effective leader. I feel that I have grown since leaving Prince George and will continue to grow with further reflection.

Talk About Leadership...Beginning the Conversation

This blog will support a distance education credit course for two master's students. Others interested in the topics may join us from time to time. A basic blog is quick to set up; customized images, etc. take more time. This simple template will work for us. The birds in the background remind me of geese flying in formation, an image that has been called upon to help describe leadership principles, particularly shared leadership, because when the leaders tire they drop back and someone new move forward. Apparently, the flying is less difficult when you are not the first. Soon I will post more specific instructions for how to use this blog to support the course. In the meantime, April and Terry, you will need to set up a Google account to respond to my invitation. (Take care to write potential passwords down until you find one that works - if you set up an account but forget the password, there will be problems. I recommend using your first name only.) When you've joined the blog, you will be able to make posts yourself, to initiate topics for discussion. When you want to respond to topics initiated by someone else, you can do so by commenting on a post. You could start with this one. What are other animal images that help you to understand something about leadership?