Intentional Leader: The Joy of Giving Back

Monthly Theme: Legacy

Week 2

When I think of building a legacy, in the professional sense, I see our school division successfully able to build one via our Learning Coaches program.

Our Learning Coaches are now in their second year of implementation at all of our school sites. Their role is to facilitate job-embedded and ongoing professional development for teachers. They help identify, model and share promising practices related to inclusive education. (For further information, see Alberta Education’s Exploring Learning Coaches in Alberta 2010 publication.)

We also have specific expectations set up which include our five commitment statements, goals, daily work, results, interactions, engagement, reporting and evidence of success as seen below.

 

PSD’s COMMITMENT TO INCLUSION

Move from …

• The idea of fixing students to the idea of improving environments
• Dependence on staff (teachers and EAs) to focus on independence
• Special Education to ALL students being special
• A deficit model of thinking to a strength based model of thinking
• Having high expectations for some to having high expectations for ALL

Each of these ideas are located along a continuum.  Historically, in education, we have been more on the left  side of the continuum and over the last decade we have been moving towards the right side of the continuum.  These statements are an explicit declaration to our commitment to inclusion.

GOALS

In relevant and meaningful ways all students will learn, contribute and be active members of their learning community in the most inclusive and enabling environment. The ultimate focus is student learning.

DAILY WORK (of the coach)

With both individual teachers and/or groups of teachers the coach can:

• Support collaborative work at the school – solution focused – are growth agents
• Model lessons
• Observe students and provide feedback (identifying instructional needs)
• Facilitate lesson study or other professional learning structures
• Promote reflection
• Support joint problem-resolving efforts
• Assist in planning – curriculum,  environment, supports (technology, human, and other)
• Team teach
• Participate as a member of the school-based success team
• Facilitate data conversations to improve instruction (common assessments, PATs, DIPs, etc.)
• Supply resources with follow-up reflection (relevant, meaningful, research-based and “learning appropriate” information and resources )
• Promotes continuous learning experiences (asks questions, researches possibilities, seeks a variety of options)

 

RESULTS (benchmarks)

• Number of teachers engaging with the coach and the frequency of contact
• Types of supports that are accessed

INTERACTIONS BETWEEN COACH AND PRINCIPAL

• Coaches and Principals should meet a minimum of once a month
• Consideration should be given to additional meetings at start up, reporting times and year end
• Discussion is focused on the following:
• types of supports provided
• trends and themes the coach is observing
• number of contacts with teachers
• supports that the coach needs (PD, helping the coach reflect on their role, troubleshooting, etc.)

**Individual teacher performance is not a topic of conversation

ENGAGEMENT

• All teachers will work with the coach; how they work with the coach is flexible.
• Individual conversations
• In PLCs or grade level meetings
• In classroom or outside of classroom

REPORTING

• A minimum of two times per year the coach reports to staff general data about numbers of teachers they worked with, trends and themes, types of supports provided and additional supports that could be provided.­

EVIDENCE OF SUCCESS

Intentionally, coaches and Principals gather ‘good news’ stories and new learnings (testimonials from teachers) to be shared regularly with staff – What is Coaching doing for the staff and students?

As well, our Learning Coaches and Administrators read through an amazing article written and shared to us by Joellen Killion entitled, Are You Coaching Heavy or Light?, at the beginning of this school year. This article really dug into the ‘meat’ of what we would like to see our Learning Coaches working on with staff.

My role is working with the Learning Coaches to support their work at their school sites, to offer professional learning opportunities during our monthly meetings and to engage in thoughtful dialogue with them as they continue their work with staff. So far, this year has been incredible to watch these Learning Coaches truly work with staff to build their capacity, to network with each other (some Learning Coaches have different skill sets than others) and to share this learning on our PSD70 Learning Coach Blog.

This program, I believe is leaving a lasting impact and I hope this will continue despite the Alberta governments’ financial squeeze on educational resources.

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Fragile – Handle With Care

Today started my participation in a Book Study and I wanted to share some pertinent pieces to the first quarter of the book, How to be a Para Pro. This book provides some basic information about autism and on the students with ASD that we work with daily in our school division. Although the book title signifies that it was designed for Educational Assistants, I believe that any person working with students with ASD would benefit from a read.

The preface of this book is centered with the important notion of RESPECT – a respect for a student’s unique perspective, their unique learning style and their unique needs. It also presents an amazing label that hit me squarely between the eyes (read carefully and see what you think).

Even though there are many things about me that are unique, in the ways that really matter I am just like other children. I learn best from people I trust, and I learn to trust when I sense that people like me. Please try to see the world through my eyes, for I can’t see it through yours. And please know that even though it may not seem so, I really am trying to adapt to a world that my neurological challenges prevent me from understanding without your help. If you keep these things clearly in mind, you will less apt to label me a behavior problem, and more likely to teach me the things I need to know so that I can function with greater understanding and competence in a world that is often inhospitable to my needs.

I have an important role to support teachers, program facilitators and administrators in facilitating rather than impeding a student with ASD’s learning. As most of the time I work indirectly for the student, it is key that these personnel learn and share the student’s needs clearly so that I can offer targeted support. The above quote reminds me of The Doctors TV episode last Fall where Carly a young lady diagnosed with severe autism, shares her story. If you have a few minutes, it is well worth the time to watch the video.

The first chapter of this book focuses on “Getting to Know Your Student – The Autism Spectrum Disorders Continuum”. Overall, understanding that Autism exists on a continuum and ASD’s are neurological not psychological or environmental.

The second chapter focuses on, “Atypicalities in Social Understanding and Expression”.  ASD students will always have a problem in social behavior, they are bidirectional (deficits and/or excesses) which affect the students understanding of a social situation and sometimes leads to inappropriate social expression (not rudeness!)

The third chapter, “Impairments in Communication and Language”,  which reminds us that communication always develops before language, comprehension precedes meaningful expression and ALL behavior communicates. It also shares an important point that we must not assume communicative competence and mistake problems in communication for problems in behavior.

Finally, the fourth chapter, “Restricted Repertoire of Interests and Activities; Problems with Imagination” brings forth the thoughts that students with ASD showcase a very narrow range of interests that they do not choose themselves but it is part of their disorder. As well, free play should not be considered yet carefully planned and monitored.

Overall, my discussions with the Book Study members were fruitful. I came away with a need to share my thoughts before they left me. I also wanted myself to remember to…

HONOR THE CHILD.

Hence, I go back up to the top of this blog and once again re-read the Fragile – Handle With Care quote.

PS. Further info on Carly

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Intentional Leader: The Fruit of Focus

Monthly Theme: Focus

Week 4

Trusting in our abilities to meet the challenges placed before us can be difficult without focus, determination and a great support system. In this week’s Intentional Leader on page 63, the introductory story shares how American Olympian Jesse Owens focused on his Olympic events instead of the controversial Aryan supremacy indoctrination that was occurring in Europe in 1936.

Although my challenges may not be so politically fused or so open to a global audience, it’s very important for me to use the tools and resources before me to stay organized, planned and in contact with colleagues.

Some of my FOCUS tools:

• Online calendar – accessible by any device (computer to smartphone)
• Email(s) – viewing emails from all accounts through one access point allows me to scan, share, respond quickly. I like to view them early in the morning and then as needed throughout the day.
• Task manager – there are times when I use this but I think I should try to use it more often instead of writing on a sticky note.
• Evernote – love this online and App! I continue to find uses for gathering data in many forms (audio, text, photo).
• Twitter – my PLN (professional learning network) never fails me when I ask a question, share a thought or learning something new.
• SETT and Levels of Support – talking about students, their environment, tasks in learning and finally the tools and levels of support they need to be successful. This tool helps me focus our discussions and our response for resources.

What are your FOCUS tools and/or resources? Have they changed over the last number of years?

 

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Intentional Leader: Study the Landscape

Monthly Theme: Focus

Week 1

Big picture goals and targets are important in anyone’s professional life. As I have spoken in previous Intentional Leader blog posts regarding my goals, I won’t refer to them once again, however, I came across this video below that REALLY got me thinking about other people’s perceptions regarding FOCUS.

Well, what do you think? Reform discussions, reflections and movements in education are not new. Although this video is filled with some incorrect anecdotes, it still does offer an opportunity for us to question our present educational systems.

 

Intentional Leader: Excellence is Doing Small Things in a Big Way

Monthly Theme: Excellence
Week 4

This week I was to focus on how I can model excellence by putting my signature on the work that I do through the small things I do.

Action Quotes | Forward this Picture

I really appreciate Booker T. Washington’s quote made over 160 years ago. This reminds me personally of my parents who model excellence in their daily life. My father, a business owner and German immigrant, showed me that customer service and a flair for building strong relationships was key to his success (he’s semi-retired now). His fervor for making people feel at ease and including them in conversations helped his business excel. (For those of you from Southern Alberta you may have heard of it as Otto’s Spudnut and Ice Cream Shop.) As for my mother, her French Canadian agricultural background and career as a Teacher, allowed her to travel the world and challenge its occupants from time to time with my brother and I tagging along. My mother also became my dad’s business partner so they certainly showed how two people can work and live together harmoniously. My parents continue to have high expectations of us and now their grandkids. Their continued support is important in an age where 24/7 anytime, anywhere access and can be fleeting of support.

This quote also reminded me of a tweet from @shareski sharing a video about “The biological advantage of being awestruck” and then it hit me that there was a book I had wanted to read and not yet done so….The Book of Awesome. This book by Neil Pasricha is on my “read this” list and after reading through my Week Four work, thought I’d better get to it. So, at this moment, I have put both The Book of Awesome and The Book of Even More Awesome on hold at my local library. I’ve even started to follow Neil @1000awesome on Twitter and look forward to reading more of his blog where he initially started his 1000 Awesome Things as a small reminder of the free little joys that make life sweet.

So, I now thought (without reading the book of Awesome) why not think of little ways to put a personal excellence signature on the work that I do? What would it look like? Here are some ideas:
• Share tidbits of information via the weekly employee Online newsletter
• Send out specific emails filled with resources, PD opportunities for administrators, specific groups of teachers
• Tweet and retweet out #psd70 happenings
• Encourage and sign up PSD stakeholders to share their learning on the 184 Blogs project

My focus now is how to change the ordinary things I do into things that I do better or more memorable than ever before. No small feat/task but one I know that I can really on my Learning Services Team, network, PLN, family and friends to support me in.

 

Intentional Leader: Excellence Comes by Exceeding Expectations

Monthly Theme: Excellence

Week 3

This week I was to consider ways that I can set the tone of exceeding expectations and how other organizations have impressed me.

This week reminds me of a phenomenal TED Talk by Tali Sharot where she shares her research suggesting that our brains are wired to look on the bright side.

For me, in the work that I do, I make every attempt to link the PSD vision and initiatives. I take a lot of time to plan workshops, sessions, webinars and working meetings. I recognize that effective planning and up-to-date research and resources allow our staff to move forward in the learning environment. It’s also a great time to build on existing relationships and develop new ones.

I know from experience that people or organizations that have exceeded my expectations in a product or service have impressed me with their:

Promptness, effectiveness, knowledge and passion

I think it is important that I continually share what services, professional learning opportunities and support that I can provide our administrators and teachers. I cannot assume that they already know what I can do to assist them in their work with students. I need to think of ways to exceed their expectations.

 

 

Image: FlickrCC

 

Intentional Leader: Excellence Demands Superior Quality

Monthly Theme: Excellence

Week 1

No one person nor organization wants to think of themselves as “average” but if we look at history (whether it’s in politics, sports, business, education, etc.) there a few who reach “exceptional” status. What does this mean for the rest of us? Excellence. Yes, excellence fills the gap between average and exceptional. It’s where one exceeds the expectations and consistently works to obtain, share or create superior quality work. How can I deliver a “WOW” experience for administrators and teachers? What do I need to do so this is a daily occurrence?

Paying attention to details

Our Learning Services team is known for superior PD (Professional Development), individual school support, teacher and PLC (Professional Learning Community) support, sharing of effective resources, networking with outside agencies and organizations, reminding ourselves of the district vision and overall for our kindness and compassion.

It’s not easy working on Excellence; it takes intentionality, commitment, strategy and work to achieve it.  Taking time to write down current strategies and summarizing the type of effort that has been put into them allows one to realize if the work is excellent or not. Setting goals, looking at feedback, hosting surveys, asking opinions can all lead to work becoming more focused. I continually look at my work and review how effective my PD and support that I am offering in the school division (as well as at conferences, etc.) I also look at how I am promoting the work that I do – is it clear? Do people know how I can assist them? Am I reaching the right audience? Investing the time to review but also refresh or renew my professional learning is an important step for me to align the divisional work to my professional growth. This year, my PGP (Professional Growth Plan) goals are:

1. To prepare, engage and inspire PSD staff in effectively utilizing inclusive technologies in the learning environment.
2. To increase student achievement in Literacy and Numeracy through teacher development.

I have many actions and strategies that involve PD, facilitating professional learning, reading, sharing, networking, reviewing what other provincial school divisions are using effectively, following Twitter chats like #edtech, #edchat, #litchat, #mathchat, engaging ‘experts’ in the field and attending conferences. How can I ensure that I make these interactions a ‘WOW’ experience? Maybe I should have a sign on my bathroom mirror saying “how am I going to make this a ‘WOW’ day?” to get my mind set in the right direction….hmmm, something to ponder.

Images: Aristotle, Wooden, Lombardi

 

Intentional Leader: Coming Together

Monthly Theme: Relationships

Week 4

It is the end of October and throughout Canada, schools will be starting their Remembrance Day and/or Veteran’s Week preparations. This time of year, teachers and students are remembering the courage, sacrifice, leadership and relationships that have been affected by war and peace in the World. I am reminded that our military ‘demonstrates a certain reality of interdependence of leadership and relationships’ (p.31, Intentional Leader).  Each leader within the military has a specific duty and the more influential that leader is, the more he/she relies on the relationships within their team to maximize their work. The best leaders are the ones work side by side with their colleagues and success is gained through the support and skill of all of the team members. For this week, I was to review individual ambitions versus team agenda, valuing of ideas, and relationship investment.

I am fortunate that I have a team of people within my department to rely on, yet I also have other colleagues in other departments and school sites that I am also able to connect/share/query ideas. As I think about my main Learning Services Team, we all have our individual ambitions and personal growth plans yet we are focused on supporting our district vision and its initiatives. This allows our team to move our projects forward in an effective manner. In the past, when I think about someone who failed to sacrifice a personal agenda for the good of a team that I was part of, it was:

-          Frustrating

-          The project took longer

-          Communication between members broke down

-          Outside sources were unable to trust the group

-          Main goal(s) were not reviewed on a regular basis (more transparency).

It wasn’t until a new leader came aboard and a review of work in progress was articulated that the group members were able to re-adjust for the good of the team.

Valuing others ideas comes with strongly built relationships.

-          I can remember that my first mentor-Principal sat me down and said that I would make a good Masters of Education candidate. The way he pulled out my interests, my present work, etc. made me really think about a professional direction that I had not thought of beforehand. (I did pursue my M.Ed. in Educational Leadership – I have fond memories of our cohort and the extreme learning that took place!)

-          During a SLItech (Supporting Leaders in Integrating Technology) PD session, team members indicated that they were wanting a change in the way the PD was being laid out for them. As leader of this project, I asked for feedback and then adjusted the work accordingly. This resulted in a more effective learning opportunity for the team.

-          At present, my current team members have specific duties and responsibilities in supporting the work in PSD. Although each member has a specific focus, they definitely overlap and result in many internal collaborative opportunities.

-          Our Learning Services Team develops through offering PD, sharing PD opportunities, engaging in PD, sitting on various committees and working /learning collaboratively.

Investing time in others doesn’t take much effort. Performing a small act of kindness for a colleague, family member or friend is as easy as:

-          Buying a cup of coffee/tea/hot chocolate

-          Baking a loaf

-          Making muffins (I know, my first three examples involve food….for the majority this is a good thing!)

-          Brushing off snow on a car parked all day

-          Writing a thank you note or email

-          Sharing your small heater for a cold office

-          Saying that you appreciate them

Investing in people and contributing with small acts of service strengthens the team and allows you to get to know individuals in a more personal manner. A more synergistic team will result of these actions.

After viewing the video above, can you think of how you can perform a small act of kindness?

 

Intentional Leader: Team Unity – We Before Me

Monthly Theme: RELATIONSHIPS

Week 3

This week, I had the opportunity to look into my working relationships, team dynamics, team contribution and to take action on a challenging experience.

In thinking about team unity, I am reminded that I have a choice to commit and contribute to PSD’s Vision of creating a place where exploration, creativity and imagination make learning exciting and where all learners aspire to reach their dreams. I appreciate that I have an opportunity to work with various departments, administrators, teachers, organizations and community members to accomplish PSD’s vision. I can make a difference MYSELF, but certainly when I move from ME to WE, the making a difference piece is further empowered by multiple contributions. These multiple contributions can also be difficult. Everyone brings different experiences and perceptions to the group. At times, some group members do not share their thoughts or work in silos; not seeing the BIGGER picture or conversation. If it affects the work that I am doing I find that a one on one conversation with that particular person to connect the pieces in my mind and clarification from their end, usually suffices in moving forward. I recognize that individuals are at different points in their journey in fulfilling the greater vision and I also realize that time and understanding are key. Trying to separate data from emotion when people are passionate about their work, can be tricky when a pathway or journey is not clear.

Last year I was able to participate in two important professional learning programs which gave me clarity to maneuver that tricky pathway/journey – Cognitive Coaching and Fierce Conversations. Cognitive Coaching is a model for deeper conversations and thinking about planning, reflecting or problem solving. Fierce Conversations deals with leaders that have conversations that interrogate reality, provoke learning, tackle tough challenges and enrich relationships through four different conversational models for teams, coaching, delegation and confrontation. Each of these programs proposes understanding; meaning, taking time to understand a situation before sharing an opinion (if any). They promote seeking out resolution, communicating clearly, willing to ask for help and looking at the BIGGER picture (or VISION).

As I write this, WEDAY Alberta is streaming live on my computer screen. I see that this organizations theme of “We Inspire the Change” fits perfectly with my week long look into my working relationships. As part of an educational organization, I ask myself and the people I work with, “How can we inspire change in our organization?” and “How can we commit to our PSD Vision?” What evidence should we gather to know that we are on the right direction to fulfilling this vision? These are all questions circulating in my mind as I watch the morning portion of the live #weday webcast.

I also add in a few inspiration quotes heard during the #weday live webcast:

We are not asked to do great things. We’re asked to do all things with greater care. ~ Martin Sheen, actor

Overall, daily actions in collaborating with others are not easy, but it is so worth it when you see the results!

 

“Hanging Out” for P.D.

Professional development is an extremely important piece of a teacher’s growth throughout their career. It’s where teachers become the students, they become collaborators, they become engaged in the initiatives and resources that surround the 21st century learning environment. Nowadays, teachers are able to access P.D. in a variety of formats – from face to face to virtual via synchronous and asynchronous means. While the opportunities for professional learning are abundant, it is important that teachers take time to plan out their annual professional growth plan carefully so that they are not overwhelmed. In past posts I have extolled the virtues of online PD (Webinars, March 2011) and (Ultimate Video Resources for your Classroom, June 2010). Yet, with our school division working towards a Google Apps for Education environment, I haven’t really shared some PD ideas regarding Google until now.

With one of our schools piloting Chromebooks in a 1:1 environment at two different grade levels, I had the opportunity and time this morning to check out Richland’s School District’s work on this very same topic. I did watch the archived version, however, had I been aware of it’s meeting time I could have joined the live Google Hangout session! This topic and the idea of having a Google Hangout PD session thrilled me. What a great way to have a number of teachers sharing while not necessarily being in the same locale! Although this particular PD session is almost an hour long it is worthwhile if you are going down the Google Apps road.

Besides the demographic information, this group shared the following resources:

• Google +  - (If you are new to Google+, check out WikiHow’s 8 Steps.)
• PowToon – an animated presentation tool.
• Socrative - online student response system.
• WeVideo – collaborative online video editing suite that uses GDrive and is also a Chrome extension.
• Research sidebar in GDocs - find information and add content directly into your Google Document.
• Google Docs chart from spreadsheet – basic tutorial, use charts in GDocs
• Quizlet - study cards. It is also found inside the Edmodo environment. Using Quizlet in GApps for Edu.
• Type-Fu - great typing tutor Chrome extension for those students who still need to work on speed and accuracy.
• Multiple Choice Scoring
• Diigo - social bookmarking, highlighter, online sticky notes, research tool. This is a chrome extension.