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.

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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 Leaders: Excellence Must Be Internalized

Monthly Theme: Excellence

Week 2

This week I was to view how I can facilitate a culture of excellence in my workplace, look at our current organization values, describe what excellence looks like and how to further a commitment to excellence.

“…leaders display a passion for the possibilities of a better, brighter, more productive future….passion and dissatisfaction drive a leader to excel.” (Intentional Leader, p.41)

I must admit, the term excellence sometimes is used so easily in the world of education. I have read countless visions and missions all with the word “excellence” embedded in them. I also have wondered what truly excellence means in each of their contexts. Do the schools or school divisions have great stories to tell of the ways that excellence in learning has occurred around them? For me, it’s a drive to always want to make learning and leading better, more effective and more….(yes, I’m going to say it)….excellent. Take, for example the Disney story where animators on the first ever animated plus real-time video movie, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, were reviewing a particular scene that wasn’t quite right. In the scene the character bumps his head on a lamp which then swings but originally no shadows were displayed. Most audience members would have not caught on to the missing shadows, yet animators were relentless in spending many hours to fix the error. The nickname for excellence in Disney animation became “Bump the Lamp”. (To the see the actual scene, click HERE.)

We can use the phrase, “Bump the Lamp”, to remind ourselves to aim for excellence. Most people won’t notice the excellent part of what we do, but certainly some will and those people will share their experiences to others.

Some examples of “Lamp Bumpers” in PSD:

• The teacher who writes notes in students’ journals or blogs.
• The administrators who find time in the school timetable for teachers to meet in order to plan more effective learning opportunities or PD for teachers.
• The sharing of a good learning experience with a large audience (tweeting about a school event, blogging about daily learning, sharing a story in the school newsletter, inviting divisional employees to school activities).
• The administrator who believes in arranging the learning environment in a new way with no grade levels for all students to benefit.
• The teachers that engage students digitally and model ethical online practices.
• The facilitators who not only offer professional learning opportunities but also teachable moments during their sessions.

Our organization values are:

• Collaboration and engagement with students, parents and our communities. Our successes are not possible without these contributions.
• Trust and mutual respect among all of our education stakeholders.
• Inclusion and diversity within our schools.
• Citizenship and recognize our central role in guiding students to understand their responsibilities and their place in the world.
• Leadership in all places – everyone in our Division has the potential to be a leader.
• Excellence, innovation and risk-taking.

As one can see above, PSD incorporates “excellence” as one of our values. I believe that we need to share more “excellence” stories so that we can see the experiences and influence this has within our organization. I am thankful to have a Communications Director who is now starting to share these stories on our division website.

What does excellence look like in my role? I hope that my ability to ensure that teachers and administrators questions and support opportunities are allowing their staff and students to move forward in their learning environments. I also hope that my own PD, committee work and networking is allowing further connection to the latest research and resources for PSD staff to tap into.

Excellence is not achieved overnight, it is a journey and it takes time to deeply internalize it. Take time to view this video on Everyday Leadership.

Drew Dudley will be a keynote speaker at the upcoming ATLE (Alberta Technology Leaders in Education) Convergence Conference in Edmonton.

I leave you with this….what does excellence look like in your role? In your organization? What are some ways you can encourage your team to further its commitment to excellence?

 

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?

 

So u Wanna Coach Teachers?

photo © 2008 jill, jellidonut… whatever | more info (via: Wylio)
For the past many months I have been devouring various articles, blogs, books, speaking with learning coaches and attending a number of workshops dealing with instructional coaching. Alberta Education in its Exploring school-based learning coaches document (2010, November), illustrates the roles, responsibilities of both coaches and administrators as well as an implementation guide and a sample ‘day in the life’ of an instructional coach. Another pertinent document is the Alberta learning coach role description (2010, December). The ATA also released a Discussion paper on learning coaches (2011, March). So, it’s definitely on the minds of Alberta educational institutions. But, let’s break it down for a moment. What are some things we should think about before entering into an instructional coaching career?

Here are some basic tips from my experiences so far:

• Understand how adults learn – Adults learn best when they understand why something is important to learn, do and/or understand. They also like a variety of learning opportunities that are positive and encouraging.
• Be organized – Use low to high tech tools to keep your information, research, notes and ideas all organized and readily available.
• Ask questions – Asking effective and great questions are important when speaking with colleagues. There are several resources listed below that assist coaches in asking the ‘right’ questions.
• Attend PD – You need to continue your professional development so that you can pass on the ‘gems’ too!
• Build in reflection time – Time for your own reflection as well as collegial reflection is important. Some coaches use a journal, others blog, whatever works for you to be able to see the growth in this process.
• Administrator support is key – Being enthusiastic and motivated is great, but having the complete support of the administrative team at the school is key to having the rest of the teachers also buy into this way of working and learning.
• Identify clear roles and responsibilities – What is it really that you do? Try to set up a one-page summary outlining your roles and responsibilities. It’s a good way to promote what you are doing to administrators and teachers and it’s also a good way to target your own P.D. experiences.
• Build relationships – This is number one in my thoughts. Building trust and understanding in this collegial learning relationship is pertinent to furthering the impact on students in that particular class.

After discussions with colleagues and continued reading and reflecting…..I think I like the idea of calling an instructional coach a “Lead Learner”. In my many sports-filled years I have had the opportunity to work with and for many coaches. I see coaches in a different light; shining brightly on the area of being ‘the expert’ more so than being a colleague who is at a level learning platform. So, for me, the “Lead Learner” title resonates more for me.

Check out further resources:

CoachGinsburg on twitter

Cognitive Coaching with John Clarke

Evocative Coaching – Transforming Schools One Conversation at a Time

Instructional Coaching – A Partnership Approach to Improving Instruction

JimKnight on twitter

Joellen Killion with Learning Forward

Power of Teaching – The Science of the Art: Behavioral Pathways to Excellence in Teaching

Radical Learners blog

The Big Four ning

Unmistakable Impact – A Partnership Approach for Dramatically Improving Instruction

 

How to Guide Professional Learning

I am always ready to receive, search or obtain professional learning materials/resources. One such resource that I have been receiving for almost a decade now has been the ASCD Educational Leadership publication. Originally only found through print via mail; over the past many years, ASCD has complimented the publication with online features for members. The articles presented are always engaging and easily discussed with teacher colleagues. Today, I find myself reading an ASCD SmartBrief email (must be an ASCD member) and at the very bottom of the scrolled page I see:

 

“Continue your professional development with the Educational Leadership study guide
Did you know that each issue of Educational Leadership is complemented by a free study guide? Delve into and discuss topics from this month’s issue on what students need to learn — from addressing common core standards to how to best teach reading — with the March study guide. Access the guide.”

What? I can have MORE of ASCD? I can GUIDE the conversations more effectively? WOW, what else can I say? I know that the EL Study Guide has been around for many years because I just checked the archives!

 

This gets me excited about using the EL Study Guide in:

1)     Continuing the discussion of a particular article with a PLC group.

2)     Sharing an article with administrators and creating a discussion question where they can either share their thoughts in a F2F environment or even an online forum.

3)     Inviting students and parents to share their thoughts on a specific topic published in EL with directed questions.

4)     Engaging subject-specific teachers in workshops to think deeper about an article.

 

What am I doing with this newfound professional learning? I will be taking time to either leaf through my EL print copies or online versions to see where I can further my understanding and direction on articles that I have ‘favorited’ over the past year (or more).

 

What are you doing in using the ASCD articles and/or the EL Study Guide? I would enjoy hearing from you about your experiences.

 

 

WCEAC – October 2010

I have been lucky to attend the Western Canadian Educational Administrator’s Conference for a decade now. Each Fall, when the conference is held in Edmonton, hundreds of administrators, teachers, senior executives, politicians and facilitators have a chance to mingle, network, share and have the opportunity to meet together for a few days.

This year, I counted approximately 30 people from Parkland School Division attending! I imagined them all sharing their thoughts and comments on their workshops in a common area so I sent out a GoogleDocs page for people to input information.

What worked: some did view the document and were impressed of the information that was put into the document, and some added to the document.

What didn’t work: not knowing ahead of time who was all coming to conference, I couldn’t send out a welcome to the GDocs page that they could use if they brought their laptops or smartphones.

What I would like to do at future conferences: find out who from PSD is attending and propose a sharing of notes. It’s always great to view and read someone else’s thoughts during/after a session.

Overall, the sessions at WCEAC were varied, the food was good, the vendors were polite, however, I may suggest:

• To  set up a criteria for presenters for the type of presentations we would like. I, myself, understand that when a presenter has authored a book, they want to get the word out, however do not continue to refer to it during the session several times. Maybe ADD this book to the session (I’ll pay for it through the registration process?) and I can take away more information rather than the publicity.

• As well, let’s have the handouts and powerpoints for the sessions already online so I can click on them to either: follow along, refer to, ask questions, write down some reflections, etc.

Overall, I valued the time spent with colleagues, mentors and new friends.