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