As per course,
The Covid-19 Pandemic has highlighted the need to pay attention to and foster mental health and well-being in schools both with staff and students and the widening gap in achievement, engagement, and well-being for underserved populations. Leading schools during this time required many Principals and Vice Principals, as well as staff, to draw on the skills referenced in the Personal Resources section of the OLF. As we return to school, and the pandemic continues, personal resources and emotional intelligence, or courage, as described by Dr. Susan David, will be critical to maintaining positive, responsive, and resilient schools and classrooms.
View: Dr. Susan David's Ted Talk, "The gift and power of Emotional Courage"
TED. (2018, February 20). The gift and power of emotional courage | Susan David [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDQ1Mi5I4rg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDQ1Mi5I4rg
Read: Ideas into Action Bulletin 8 Exploring the “Psychological” Personal Leadership Resources
The Ontario Ministry of Education (2015). Exploring the “Psychological” Personal Leadership Resources. Ideas Into Action for School and System Leaders, Winter 2015/16(8). https://doi.org/1920-5651
Review: Personal Resources outlined in the OLF.
Ontario Ministry of Education (2007). Leadership Framework. http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/policyfunding/leadership/framework.html
Review: Personal Leadership Resources supporting documents
The Institute for Education Leadership (n.d.). Personal Leadership Resources. Retrieved January 15, 2023, from https://www.education-leadership-ontario.ca/en/resources/personal-leadership-resources
Reflect on the personal resources and emotional courage you have seen in leaders and/or yourself. How might emotional courage and attention to personal resources inform school leadership going forward, particularly with respect to mental health and well-being and fostering the best conditions for learning for all students? Be sure to consider both power and privilege in your response, specifically the ability to utilize emotional courage in certain contexts. Please post your reflection in the Discussion Box.
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As per discussion,
After reading through Personal Leadership Resources as introduced by the Ontario Ministry of Education, the idea of PLR's comes as something many people learn long ago and access continually throughout their lives but do not actively access them as such consciously. PLR's seems to be a collective of lived experiences that are transformed into a regard in which a leader can measure rational and relational responses in most given situations.
The social domain being a large 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 enthusiastic 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. I think something I want to begin doing in professional discussions is, when I notice the conversation frizzles out is to engage on a more personal note with regards to the topic and teaching/learning. An example of this might look like (as a lead teacher preparing and meeting with English teachers before final exams), when the conversation about what some potential changes or challenges with the draft of the exam are. In the conversation, the teacher may be less interested in hearing about my perspective, and just taking notes, rather than giving input to extend the conversation. When this happens I think I may try extending through a question of personal experience, and try to foster through that, trying to also segue into an opportunity to critically self-reflect with regards to one's privilege. The idea of being able to access professional learning through social resources is something that a leader can do a little more easily than another colleague, as a leader we have the opportunity to make a point of reaching out to various staff members and networking or developing an opportuntiy for further collaboration. It is important to acknowledge that we are leaders and teachers get burntout. No one wants to admit that the professional field of education is hard, sometimes agrivating, but people need to understand that collaboration and "help" are how one moves past it. In most cases it is important and expected to ask if someone can help you with a task.
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, I'd imagine 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 is currently overrun and unscheduable. This is a drop compared to the bucket of problems pouring in from the more academic side of the program for our OSSD program. My principal 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/PPL4O). A principal can certainly 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. Emotionally I was very disappointed by the situation, and my current principal, being someone who I knew as a teacher, (who I respect and greatly support) is trying really hard to build a positive atmosphere in our school and office. COVID has made this near impossible, but it didn't help with the new building we are teaching in and the mountainous number of concerns and questions that are continually raised. I know my principal looks to me to keep things upbeat and positive, but this year has been the hardest by far, and I needed to explain that to him.
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 manner 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 future 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". This semester one of the biggest challenges has been realigning the ENG4U course with a more culturally respoonsive and yet-relevant delivery. My principal understands that it is certainly the more difficult course in our schedule because our students are most second language learners, but still begs the question of why it is so difficult. I needed to make it clear that it is a course that we as teachers are very committed to our students in, but with the way COVID had impacted this semester's cohort and our school calendar-it has been near beyond our control as teachers of this course. I'm not willing to ever admit defeat but with the questions and concerns over the delivery of the course pouring in because of a dissatisfaction with grade averages, I expressed my anxiety with my Principal, he appreciated my concern but hopes that we can ensure that students are flagged as at-risk much earlier when they are not reaching their goals. When we talk about goals, we are talking about 80+ usually. As an English teacher, I don't think its as easy as "everytime they waver" we move them in the right direction uniformly. I mean we have progress reports, parent-teacher meetings, and being completely available well outside of office hours. I will find a fix though, and along with the other teacher of this course we are working on developing further moderation practices to ensure we have kept things as air-tight as possible.
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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