As Per Course,
(1.5)
Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmyZMtPVodo
"Simon Sinek"
Reflect,
Consider the following questions/ideas to guide your reflection: How does the video clip relate to the Ontario Leadership Framework, specifically Setting Directions and Building Relationships? What are the core leadership practices and characteristics Sinek identifies that promote relationships and safe, inclusive workspaces? How can the characteristics and practices Sinek describe lead to building staff efficacy? Are these core leadership practices consistent with promoting equity?
Post your responses in the discussion forum.
Reflection:
Simon Sinek takes the idea of a leader in his TED Talk Why Great Leaders Make You Feel Safe (2014) critically and depicts what an effective leader wielding the power of pathoscan achieve. His sentiment in regards to power and numbers, speaks especially to the criteria within Setting Directions of the Ontario Leadership Framework through the ideas of developing high expectations, as well as identifying shared and short-term goals. Furthermore it is important to note that through the criteria within Building Relationships of The Ontario Leadership Framework that Sinek’s core value of leader (trust and respect), is identified as the criteria, Building trusting relationships with and among staff, students and parents as well as through, Establishing productive working relationships with teacher federation representatives. Realistically, it is through trust that a leader can demonstrate their team’s needs are understood and respected. Through the respect to the generality that all team members are human and their needs sometimes need to take priority or may impact efficacy, the leader will need to be understanding and congenial. In doing this, the team understands that they are safe, and in feeling safe, feel like they can trust their leader. In trusting their leader, it is expected that efficacy will improve through the support system that is “the team”.
I would personally categorize these learning practices as equitable, Sinek describes an experience in which he believes embodies the core of his talk (2014), CEO of a company need to save the company through lay-offs but instead mandates unpaid vacation for “x” amount of time. Each employee must participate, but what ended up happening was not only was their seemingly less resistance to this approach, there was in fact an increased efficacy based on the inner-understandings of the employees. Where some could take more time and others couldn’t, there was an immense amount of cooperation involved to save the company by all employees through cooperating and sharing the amount of work based on what they could afford to sacrifice.
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(1.6)
"Effective Collaboration is a critical component leadership. Principals must demonstrate a willingness to explore critical, innovative leading-edge thinking and are instrumental in collaborating with others in championing risk-taking and innovation.
Read:
Principal as Co-Learner
Capacity Building Series: Collaborative Inquiry
Discussion:
Reflect on your own learning experiences in different settings and discuss what was successful/engaging and why. What were the leadership moves you observed that inspired collaboration and risk taking in learning? What moves were inhibitors of learning, risk taking, and collaboration? Post your thinking in the discussion.
Reflection:
"In the past I had watched the video, Ken Leithwood: Principal as Co-Learner and Enabler , (https://vimeo.com/88174131 ), this was an author mentioned in the Building Capacities journal. Keith Leithwood (2014) describes how Principals are not to necessarily be critical of their learners, but be an observer and a learner. Leithwood's idea of recognizing that they do not know what happens in every single classroom in regards to content, but is important as someone who can recruit other teachers and find examples that can be brought to a PLC where it is used to help build a model of what achievement will look like. The analogy of learning through inquiry as a leader is important because of the fact that each principal is coming from an area of their own background, for the principal to walk into a classroom and provide feedback or context to feedback is difficult if their understanding of the content hinders what the understanding of the teacher's in class effectiveness. As a community when one is discussing what they are learning with another, we are turning a wheel of advocacy for lifelong learning that promotes professionalism among school community staff, but an awe by onlookers into the school community.
After reading building capacties I wanted to inquire further on Fullan, and came across Michael Fullan: Leader as Learner
(https://vimeo.com/118495104), I found that Fullan (2015) echoes a lot of Leithwood's ideas where the leader as a learner is effective in organizing a staff/team that trying to achieve student achievement/success. Fullan offers insights into theoretical management practices and although it is helpful it is certainly presented more on the management side of the discussion with more of a focus on why it is effective rather than the "how" to make sure it is effective. In order for what Fullan says to work, there needs to be a pool of individuals who want/can move into the school community to participate in a way that allows for the production of this growth. Fullan's ideas take time for a Principal or leader to develop and foster, first within their school and then within their board.
After watching these videos and reading through the Building Capacities article, I reflect on my own experience in regards to what works well as a leader is an openness to share what is learned as an administrator, what challenges a school community is facing and a co-created vision.
As teacher, and leader I found that it was successful (on the part of leadership), when they were able to bring staff together in times of challenge (we had a very strong staff in the way of SEL) through professional development and school community functions. Stressful times of the year (reporting terms namely) were coupled with various dinners/banquets hosted by our school.
The leaders I am working with now, inhibit my willingness to learning more about administrative positions because of the way they seem to often have their hands tied (figuratively). It is great to hear about the struggles and areas that need attention, however I don't like feeling an immimnent sense of chicken little ("the sky is falling, the sky is falling"). It sometimes look like a figurehead position in the grand scheme of our school as far as school decision and vision go sometimes. Our principal is an excellent leader and co-learner with/of teachers, however the table is too crowded it seems sometimes."
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(1.7)
Explore the following Resources:
Exploring the Cognitive PLRs
Exploring the Social PLRs
Exporing the Psychological PLRs
Discussion:
Consider the three domains of Personal Resources. Reflect on each and connect with your understanding of the role of the Principal. Which domain and resources do feel are strengths? Which challenge you? Share your thoughts in your post. Throughout the course, reflect on opportunities to strengthen areas for growth and consider how your current strengths can help you as you reflect on the duties and responsibilities of the Principal.
Choose the one that challenges you the most.
Reflection:
"PLR's seems to be (to me) a summary of lived experiences in regards to be rational and relational. The social domain being a lage area of focus on leaders in team work and collaboration settings. This is probably the area I (in the past) would feel I excel in most, being able to drive conversation, input-likewise though, I do feel to an extent at times, other leaders emerge thereafter creating an opportunity to support. I have been willing to support, but more recently I often feel sometimes I'm less enthusastic about collaborations because I will give an idea, and although there is some area for improvement, no one wants to offer and alternative-basically pinning it on my particular cognitive resources to figure out what I need to change about my idea to get more support.
My cognitive resources I feel are not as "ready to go" or sharp as I would like them to be at times. I have a very cluttered situation and to be frank, if I have a certain period of time to solve a problem within, I can-and I can do it well-in reality though, I do it best with teammates who are willing to work together. As a principal a sense of foresight is important, reminders are necessary, doesn't matter how sharp you are-no one is perfect. I currently have been working on getting access to more of the fitness and gym facilities at our school that overrun and unscheduable. This is a drop compared to the bucket of problems pouring in from the more academic side of the program for us. He constantly makes a point of telling me these concerns are pending, but to continually check-in as reminder to inquire after "x" period of time, because the departments he needs to coordinate with in the more business side of the organization, may toss it to the side and expect it to be "forgotten". In the meantime though, I have had his approval in basically converting our agora/lobby into a make shift badminton court, area for physical activity during rain days, etc (PPL3O). A principal can certain have spatial awareness in regards to situations that require coordination and immediate alterations and/or situational awarness to the needs of teachers/students in general that may pose as a temporary solution.
My psychological resources were certainly at the peak of my career early on, until I met a "seasoned and respectable member of staff", who basically told me in a frank matter that all our students are second-rate learners and none can achieve perfection in the way that they should in order to justify marks like what the students expect to see. "giving them excellence with having yet achieved excellence is doing them a grand disservice". That was in my first year teaching with the BC curriculum long ago. Granted standarized testing is still a portion of assessment with the BC curriculum, but to undermine encouragement because of how it might reflect you (the teacher signing off the student's report), it put me in a place where I played it off, but this toxicity developed into the department more and more to a point where I actually stepped into a different subject area because of how pessimistic it became, every assessment was painful to mark, or lead teachers for a portion of that time didn't make it any better either. Getting back into my subject area I tried so hard to change it up, now being in a new environment trying to align our department, I'm able to remain optimistic but the amount of work fallen upon me required to keep that optimism is overwhelming, COVID added (I'm in China), my situation has been deterioritive to say the least. Hopes to getting back to onsite teaching (here in Guangzhou), will improve that a bit, added with my co-teacher arriving, alignment will be so much easier-I still remain optimistic where it counts. As a principal I think this has been a telling time of his faith in us to deliver quality lessons online, but a time in which one needs to be vigilent in how efforts to foster optimism become determintal as they add to an evergrowing and unending list of "things to do".
My areas to strengthen my shortcomings in PLR's will include school community functions and events, showing support, requesting support is a way where most/all teachers can certainly be expected to rally together. Our principal is trying to offer opportunities to students and teachers to highlight exceptional moments of learning in the classroom/school community, but instead of making it optional-its mandatory and very small tedious tasking that has befallen teachers. I felt, I did well to address the situation with my principal on behalf of concerned teachers, but certainly felt that in the eyes of my leader I lost a bit of that Psychological resource that he would commend me for in the past-in his eyes.
In regards to the three domains, Social, Psychological and Cognitive, I think that it is most important to recognize they usually include an element of understanding in regards to one's self in verious situations before being able to apply. Meaning there should be a depth developed in these areas through lived experiences. This is important because of the fact that in regards to a social domain, if you are a leader with no experience in coordinating a social outing or has limited experience with team work, how can one have resources to depend on in depth, likewise with exposure to challenge. What should be noted in regards to PLR's is that with so many lived experiences there is a portion of this idea in regards to professionalism and these resources that begs the question of 'a line'."
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Reflection:
Reflection:
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