Oct 04

World Teachers’ Day 2012

We celebrate World Teachers’ Day on October 5, 2012. So who is the we? Simply put, the “we” is all of us who have been blessed with having a teacher in our lives or in our children’s lives who made a difference.

I’m pretty fortunate as Superintendent of Schools to be around many of those individuals on a daily basis. They treat you like you are their own. They believe in you even when nobody else does. They build you up not put you down. They care about what you do both inside and outside of school. You know that they will never give up on you! You know they care!

In years past, I’ve talked about teachers who’ve made a difference in my life. Today however, I want to talk about a teacher who impacted my daughter’s life. His name is Robert Grisonich and he was my daughter’s vice principal and coach in middle school. I’ve known Mr. G for many years and he is an education and coaching legend in southern Alberta. I have never heard a negative comment said about Mr. G. How could there be? He loves kids! He wants the best for his kids! He always does what’s right for his kids! Mr. G held his students to the highest standards but it was always with much support. He taught them how to be morally strong. He taught them to believe in themselves. He modeled strong ethics and good manners. He was tough and tender all at the same time.  I remember how special my daughter felt when Mr. G drove 2 hours to attend her high school graduation. It was just what Mr. G did! His influence will last forever and I’m sure that part of her decision to become a teacher was because of him.

I was fortunate to coach alongside Mr. G for a couple of years and I call him a friend. When World Teachers Day 2012 comes tomorrow, who will you think of? Who made a difference in your life or in the life of your child?  We have all benefited from great teachers and so “we” celebrate this day and give thanks for our world’s teachers!

 

 

 

Sep 30

From the Desk of the Superintendent- October 2012

The first month of the school year is always filled with great excitement and seems to fly by! Parents are busy renewing routines after the summer months and schools are a bedlam of activity- opening masses and celebrations, orientation days, new family blessings and barbecues.  It is certainly a highlight for me to get into the schools at this time and witness the enthusiasm of both staff and students.

This September has seen our Holy Spirit enrolment numbers grow slightly from last year and our projected budget. This is always great news and has allowed us to add a number of staffing positions throughout the division. Our preliminary enrolment is available in our September board meeting package. One of our strongest trends in enrolment is in our elementary schools. We continue to gain students in this area no doubt due to our provincially recognized early learning programs. Our survey results continue to communicate great satisfaction with the high quality of education offered in Holy Spirit Catholic Schools from students, parents and staff.  For a review of the September board meeting, check our our Board Meeting Briefs.

With the beautiful weather we are having, it is difficult to imagine we are entering October and beginning the second month of the school year. October will continue to be an action packed month for the division and individual schools.  On October 5th, I will be involved in my annual evaluation. There is no doubt that this can be a stressful time.  My areas of responsibility are outlined in Board Policy #9- Role of the Superintendent. During my evaluation, I present to the Board of Trustees and an outside facilitator evidence I believe demonstrates  that I have met the conditions of my role. Although stressful, (there is no job security for a superintendent), it is also most affirming and provides a tremendous opportunity for professional growth. The Board of Trustees is also held to that same level of scrutiny on a yearly basis. They too, will provide evidence to the outside facilitator on how effective their work has been based on Board Policy #2- Role of the Board. Even though it is a demanding process it speaks to the Board’s commitment to fulfilling the mission and vision of the division.

An initiative I will be undertaking this year is the establishment of a student advisory committee to the superintendent.  The first step of the process is currently underway and involves me informally meeting with Holy Spirit students from grades 9-12. These opening conversations are typically fairly light as my first intent is to build some rapport. I ask them questions like, “What do you like and dislike about school?, “How they like to learn?”, “Favorite subjects and why?” and finally, “What they think a student advisory committee should look like?” Even though I’ve only met with students from two schools, I’m already amazed at their insights and their willingness to be open and honest with me. My goal for this initiative is to allow students to have an improved voice. As adults, we often believe we know what is best for our children and in most cases we are probably right. But nobody, including us adults likes things done to us if they can be done with us. Students must be part of the transformative changes required in education and they can only be part of the process if we invite them to be involved. I’m looking forward to the next 4-6 weeks having these conversations with our students.

Teaching and learning has become extremely complex in the last number of years. Our desire for all students to be successful and our need to move away from the industrial model of education requires the highest quality of teaching. During the next three years, our division as decided through an intensive consultation process to focus on Learner Engagement. The research is quite clear that students more engaged in their studies, who see a connection to their own lives and are able to move from what to learn to how to learn experience greater success.  Increased learner engagement requires differentiated instruction, enhanced formative assessment, a focus on 21st century competencies and project based learning. These strategies are far different from the lecture only methods of yester years. That is why our PD day on October 9th and all other professional learning that teachers engage in on a yearly basis is so critical for our students.

October also brings the organizational meeting of the board. At this meeting, the board chair and vice chair are chosen and all committee representation is finalized. Due to our involvement this year with Team Lethbridge, the organizational and regular board meetings will be held on October 17th beginning at 7:00 PM at St. Basil Catholic Education Centre.

Finally, we celebrate Thanksgiving this coming weekend. As new “empty nesters”, it will be an exciting time at the Smeaton household with both our son and daughter coming home.  May your upcoming weekend be also spent with loved ones and may God continue to bless you and your family.

Sep 23

Why I do what I do!

This past week, I had the chance to re-listen to Simon Sinek’s presentation “How Great Leaders Inspire Action” on Ted.com. Often, you don’t hear the message the first time it is spoken. It may be that you were not ready to hear the message or simply did not appreciate the depth of the message. Regardless of the reason, Sinek’s words spoke to me this week. I keep going back to his statement, “People don’t buy what you do; people buy why you do it.” I believe that this is a statement to be reflected upon by all those in education and especially by educational leaders.

For too long, educators have talked more about what they do then anything else. We speak of all the different roles we perform in our classrooms, our schools and our systems. Granted, much of our talk is a defensive response to counteract the negative tones that surround education today. But the bottom line, is we talk mostly about what we do! We are so busy defending, that we’ve forgotten to clearly and passionately articulate why we entered the profession and do what we do!

So let me tell you why I do what I do! In a nutshell, I want to make a difference in a child’s life, no matter what! In 1985 as a beginning classroom teacher, it was the students in my classroom. Then, it was all the students in the school as a principal. As Superintendent of Schools, it is all of the students in our system. And finally, as a connected educator, it is students anywhere.  In preparing for my annual evaluation, I am gathering my evidence (actions) that I believe support my successes in the defined role of superintendent. Regardless of the evidence that I provide, if my “why”is not to make a difference in every child’s life in our division, then my “what” is irrelevant. My core values, my personal vision and my own integrity must never be compromised in my actions.

Over the past 27 years and especially the last 11 years in senior administration, I’ve objected to government decisions that have lacked common sense. I’ve battled with trustees who were not prepared to make tough decisions that put students first. I’ve struggled with administrators, teachers and other support who believed that schools were an employment agency instead of place for the education of children. I’ve had some issues with parents who have chosen to take no responsibility in the raising of their own children. The silver lining though, is that these conflicts are generally exceptions not rules and are confined to the minority not the majority.

However, each of these battles have left a scar and I’m certain that a few more scars will be in my future. You cannot be an effective educational leader without some level of discomfort. To be honest, it is always easier to stay silent or make decisions that do not cause waves. Standing up for what is right and what you believe in especially when it does not conform to the societal norm is never easy. And that is the reason our “why” is so important. People need to witness your integrity, your passion and your core values before they understand or commit to your decisions. “People don’t buy what you do; people buy why you do it.”

Most educators I suspect, have the same passion for making a difference in a child’s life as I do. But, if we continue to talk about “what” we do instead of “why” we do it, especially if the “what” is formed as a complaint and appears self-serving, our work will never be fully appreciated. More importantly, if our “why” is not fully understood, society will continue to challenge the important role of public education. Without public education being a priority, our society will continue to suffer! We hold children’s future in the palm of our hands! Remember, that is a great honor but an even greater responsibility. Make sure parents, colleagues, and the community know why you do what you do and then let your actions speak for themselves!

Sep 16

Being an instructional leader!

It is already September 15th and the question is, “Have you visited a classroom yet?”  Most school administrators will probably be able to answer that question in the affirmative. Within the first couple of weeks and generally throughout the year, principals and associates find themselves walking through and visiting many classrooms. However, if I rated this activity on the basis of improving teaching quality using a modified version of  Bloom’s Taxonomy, I’d probably rate it as lower level. Visitations or walkthroughs are  better than not being in classrooms at all, but not by much.

I fully understand why some administrators default to this type of “supervision” in the early part of the school year. The urgent seems to always usurp the important. But at some point and time, (the sooner the better) the important must replace the urgent. Being an instructional leader requires administrators to engage in a robust supervision model that provides effective feedback to teachers about their practice. Teaching and learning has become so complex that teachers require their administrators (and their colleagues) to assist them in developing their professional craft. Professional judgment must not only be informed but more importantly collective through ongoing feedback from administrators and other colleagues.

At the end of the summer I began reading Visible Learning for Teachers- Maximizing Impact on Learning by John Hattie. Early in the book he writes,

The most important conclusion that can be drawn from Figure 1.1 is that ‘everything works’; if the criterion of success is ‘enhancing achievement’, then 95 percent of all effect sizes in education are positive. When teachers claim that they are having a positive effect on achievement, or when it is claimed that a policy improves achievement, it is a trivial claim, because virtually everything works: the bar for deciding ‘what works’ in teaching and learning is often, inappropriately, set at zero.

With the bar set at zero, it is no wonder every teacher can claim that he or she is making a difference; no wonder we can find many answers as to how to enhance achievement; no wonder there is some evidence that every student improves, and no wonder there are no ‘below-average’ teachers. Setting the bar at zero means that we do not need any changes in our system! We need only more of what we already have- more money, more resources, more teachers per students, more… But this approach, I would suggest, is the wrong answer.

This quote was debated by our own Learning Leadership Team as well as to the administrators from Kainai Board of Education last week. In both instances, some rather insightful dialogue ensued. The discussion did not see Hattie’s comments as being the gospel truth but neither was it fully dismissed. My intent was to illustrate that instructional leadership requires an indepth and ongoing review of current teaching practice in all of our schools. And one of  the best ways to accomplish this is for administrators to commit to a supervision plan that provides support and guidance to the educators in their buildings.  

Supervision is not just being in a teacher’s classroom…visiting! Rather, the Alberta Teacher Growth, Supervision and Evaluation policy requires ongoing supervision of teachers by principals that focuses on:

  1. Providing support and guidance to teachers;
  2. Observing and receiving information from any source about the quality of teaching a teacher provides to students; and
  3. Identifying the behaviours or practices of a teacher that for any reason may require an evaluation.

Being an instructional leader takes the notion of providing support and guidance to teachers very seriously.  It is my belief that in order to be an effective instructional leader you must have the following qualities:

  • —Master teacher
  • —Know what excellence looks like
  • —Data knowledgeable
  • —Understand current research
  • Excellent communicator
  • Ability to provide meaningful objective data
  • —Focus on teaching practice and learning outcomes

Strong administrators excel at these qualities. But instructional leaders require that these qualities to be put into action. Good intention is just that and does nothing to improve the quality of instruction in our classrooms. Administrators must make the commitment to engage in high quality supervision to make the necessary difference in our schools.

So, as you begin this week, what are you going to do to be an instructional leader?

 

Sep 09

Getting out of our comfort zone

What do you do when you wake up really early (5:30 AM) on a Saturday morning? The answer of course, for connected educators is to engage in the Twitter chat #satchat. This week the discussion focused on 2012-13 professional development opportunities. Interestingly enough, being connected through Twitter, book studies as well as the “unconference” #edcamp themes were predominant in the discussion. However, an interesting comment from Tom Whitby (almost seemingly coming from left field) really caused me to reflect.

“Comfort zones are roadblocks to educational reform”

 Wow! What a powerful statement! How many of us are constantly seeking to find our comfort zone? We all want to find that right flow for our work and our life. And when we find it, we certainly don’t want to move out of it. And yet, based on the comment, it is a roadblock to where we need to go in education. I don’t believe we can take this statement only at face value without further critique. Comfort zones can be widely defined and some should always be a priority. For example, I’m an extremely routine orientated person. This is probably the reason why I don’t do well with long extended holidays. I work best when I’m able to have my early morning workout. For me, this routine provides great comfort and I believe the ability to do my best work. It would be my suggestion that we must all find that comfort zone that allows us to do our best work.

However, I believe what Tom was suggesting in his statement was more a matter of our work. In education, we can ill afford to be overly comfortable in our classrooms, schools and systems. Defaulting to comfortable to me is akin to defaulting to mediocre. A comment by Anthony Mohammed at a Solution Tree conference years ago continues to impact me. In general, he said that people would rather do the wrong thing competently than the right thing incompetently. In the educational world, wrong and right should be more clearly defined as a continuum from mediocre  or even good practices to excellent and outstanding practices.

Getting out of our own comfort zone means pushing the envelope, further enhancing our skills and evolving our practice. And believe me, it is uncomfortable! It is uncomfortable because we are far more competent in our current methods. Furthermore, we grown up in a system that has held on to the belief (for far too long) that teachers must know everything and cannot be seen as still learning real time, while in the classroom. And, as 20th century people, we still want to make it perfect before we ever deliver it to our students.

Some individuals can slip out of their own comfort zones and find their new normal with great ease. For others, the thought of moving beyond what they know and what they do is almost paralyzing. The fact though, is without some movement from our comfort zone, educational reform will not occur. Everybody in the educational system needs to begin (or continue) to get out of their comfort zone. This is certainly an attribute for effective leaders. As the lead learner of a very successful school division, I must be prepared to get out of my own comfort zone and lead and facilitate in ways that are new, innovative and creative.  This is something that I don’t relish but I know it has to be non-negotiable in my work.

During this school year, I would suggest that all those involved in the educational world look at ways to move themselves from their own comfort zone. To begin with, it doesn’t have to be a radical departure from your current practice but it does require a departure. Be fully aware that you will feel uneasy, but remember that learning, especially deep learning requires that uneasiness. We crawl, then walk and then run! Don’t expect to be running when you depart from your comfort zone. Expect to stumble and likely fall. But in the end, you will be better at your professional practice and students will benefit as educational reform takes hold.

Good luck getting out of your comfort zone!

 

 

Sep 02

From the Desk of the Superintendent- September 2012

The first day of school is September 4th however, the official start for all staff began last Wednesday with our division’s opening mass. It was a powerful celebration organized and hosted by FLVT staff. Bishop Henry was the main celebrant for the mass and provided a motivating, positive message. Board Chair, Sandra Dufresne opened with a message about the importance of parental involvement especially how it relates to our new AISI project on student engagement. My opening message to the staff can be viewed here. Finally, our celebration concluded with the presentation of the Board’s Share the Mission Award.  This year’s recipient was Mrs. Jill McNally, a teacher at St. Francis School who truly lives our vision; where students are cherished and achieve their potential. More information can be found in the media release available here.

The energy on that day was electric. The staff has come back well rested and rejuvenated and most of all full of hope. Hope is a characteristic that is always present in our Catholic schools. It is more than wishful thinking! It is the belief that our students, your children, have the ability with support, effort and a strong partnership between school and home to achieve their potential. This partnership between school and home is of critical importance to maintaining hope for all. I would encourage all parents to become engaged in their children’s education.

This year, I will be initiating a student advisory committee. Over the next two months I will be visiting schools and talking to students from grades 9-12 about the best structure to engage our students. I want our students to drive the development of this committee. Often, we forget about the voice of students when we search for ways to continually improve their educational experience. It is my hope that their involvement will allow us to make the best decisions available to support their learning needs.

The Board of Trustees will be looking at further engaging parents and the community at large. It is their desire to ensure stakeholder involvement as communicated in the Continuous Improvement Plan document.  Their priority of Generative Governance seeks collaboration and engagement with the community, positive culture and relationships throughout the division, transparency and communication. We will be piloting an online engagement tool which we believe will assist in achieving this priority.

I will continue to use my blog as a primary communication tool from the Office of the Superintendent. It is my intent to produce a weekly post that communicates information about the division as well as highlights current educational topics.  For those of you engaged in Twitter, please follow me @cdsmeaton.

As we begin this new school year, I would like to wish our students, parents and staff much hope. May God bless each of you with a year of great learning and positive relationships.    

 

 

Aug 30

Opening Message to Staff

Good morning and welcome back. It is good to be with you again and I hope that you experienced the same rest and relaxation that I had over the summer. I would really like to thank Bishop Henry & all of our clergy here today for celebrating with us. Your presence reminds us of the important partnership that exists between school and parish. I would also like to thank FLVT staff for their hospitality and organization of this opening celebration. You have welcomed us into your school home and we are ever grateful.

Today I would like to address two plans with you, the last year of our 3-Year faith plan and the beginning of our new AISI Three-Year plan. I want to begin with some quotes from our mission statement. “We are a Catholic Faith Community; an education rooted in the Good News of Jesus Christ; Our Catholic Faith is the foundation of all that we do.” And, our vision, “A Christ-centered learning community where students are cherished and achieve their potential.” Those words allow us to be unique, but it must be our actions that make us unique. Our actions should speak so loudly that others cannot hear what we are saying. As we enter into our final year of our three year faith plan, we need to ensure that our theme of “Feed my sheep” is evident in all of our actions to our staff, our students, our parents and the general community.

Just as the Lord is my shepherd, our shepherd, we must understand that his message to Peter of feed my sheep is about us being shepherds as well. And as shepherds we must feed the children who enter our buildings each and every day. We must remember that we teach these children with every act and gesture. We must teach them the love of learning, the beauty of life and the wonderment of faith. Our work should never allow any child to feel that they are without a shepherd in our schools. Feed our children!

We must feed each other. Over the last couple of days in our division, I’ve celebrated the news of upcoming births and the excitement of new marriages. But I’ve also mourned because of the news of critical illness and other family struggles. At times throughout the year we will feel euphoria on the mountain top and at other times we will be deep despair in the valleys. We must always be willing to reach out and lend a hand to one another. Feed each other!

And finally, we must feed ourselves for we cannot feed our children and each other without our own body, mind and spirit nourished. We must take time to pray. We must take time to play just like a child. We must rest and we must find activities and people who infuse energy into us. Feed ourselves! As we begin this last year of our faith plan remember that we are called to be shepherds and tasked with feeding His flock!  

We conclude one plan and begin another. Over the next three years we will focus on student engagement. This project is exciting because it scaffolds so well on our two previous cycles of 21st Century Learning and Assessment for Learning. I believe that with the consultation that occurred, it is also our most grassroots project ever. It is not my project or anybody else’s, it is our project. And, it allows each school and every individual staff member to have choice on how they are going to be creative and innovative to enhance student engagement.  

This summer I re-read both Daniel Pink’s Drive and Carol Dweck’s Mindset which were the basis of our literature and research review for this project. Reading “Drive”, reminded me of the importance of autonomy in all of our sites and each of our classrooms. For the adults, it is not blind autonomy but autonomy based on collective, informed professional judgment. For the students it is about having some choice in not necessarily what they learn but in how they can demonstrate that learning. Autonomy moves people from compliance to commitment. Autonomy also allows people the freedom to be creative and innovative which has a positive influence on student engagement.

Reading “Mindset”, provided me with a different personal insight. Many of you may not know that I’m not a strong reader and certainly not a gifted writer. Give me the opportunity to speak in front of a crowd and I’m ease but reading and writing are struggles. Reading Mindset reminded me of the importance of effort; of believing in struggle and knowing that with a growth mindset, much can be accomplished. Even though I read non-stop this summer both for work and pleasure I’m still not as fluent of a reader as I would like to be. And even though I wrote a blog every week last year, I’m still not as gifted as a writer as I would like to be but I’m better today than I was at this time last year. It is this message of effort that we need to share with our students. That talent is never enough and effort must always be present for optimal improvement to occur.

Our plan requires each of us to be learners. Allows each of us to look for ways to be more creative, to be more innovative. We have a blueprint, our blueprint that will assist us in moving forward in the next three years. I begin this year with much hope. I believe that beauty speaks in our division. The beauty of Christ’s love, the beauty of shared purpose, the beauty of “shepherdship” and finally the beauty of learning. May each of you experience the love of Christ and the support of one another as we journey throughout this year. Good learning, good luck and God Bless!

Aug 23

Time for Action

Last week, I participated in our annual summer conference in beautiful Waterton Parks National Park. This event brings together senior administrators from 10 school divisions in southern Alberta as well as representatives from Alberta Education, CASS, ASBOA, ASBA and ASCA. It signals the beginning of the school year for us and provides an excellent opportunity to engage in thoughtful dialogue about education. This year’s format of open spaces and theme of “Designing to Engage” really highlighted the learning garnered from focused conversations. Over the course of three days, I was involved in numerous discussions around transformation.  

I’ve written about transformation since I started blogging over a year ago. But, it was a sidebar conversation with a good friend and colleague from a neighbouring school division that prompted me to write this post. To paraphrase his comments, “Unless we begin to act now, we will continue having these same conversations for the next 10 years and nothing new will happen!” Change, evolution, and improvement are all words we use in the context of transformation and unfortunately they are not taken in as positive light as we would like. The bottom line however, is that no transformation will ever occur without ACTION! The saving grace is that most of our actions don’t have to be monumental in nature to be effective; they just have to occur.

As I prepare for my opening comments for our leaders on Tuesday and our entire staff on Wednesday, I want to ask what transformative actions we are going to engage in this year. Most school divisions have already made incremental changes in the last number of years but in general, educational change tends to lag because we try to hold on to the old while creating the new. It is difficult to innovate while walking in two worlds. This is well articulated in Clayton M. Christensen’s book, “Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns.” Part of the fear of letting go of the old is that it has generally served us well and in most cases has been effective. We are also suspect that the new “product” may likely be inferior at first. And finally, we are not sure if we or the general public are prepared to weather the implementation dip that is bound to occur. 

With that in mind, I believe we need to create the mindset of building the airplane while we are in flight as illustrated by this short video. We’ve typically followed the mantra of “Ready! Aim! Fire!” Our current system of educational change continues to operate under that system. While we may be very ready for educational “reform”, we are stuck in the aiming phase trying to ensure that we get it perfect before we fire. And why wouldn’t we follow that 20th century method…we’ve all grown up and become accustomed to it. It is safe, requires little to no vulnerability and provides a great excuse to not move forward. Have you ever heard your inner voice say, “I’m just not ready to share this. Its just not quite right!” We can longer continue to stall in the aiming phase. We must begin to implement Michael Fullan’s strategy of “Ready! Fire! Aim!”. The firing piece is akin to the action required to start or forward further our transformation. The aiming part allows us to start to refine our actions through research and review. From the point of view of the video, the “firing” gets us in the air while the “aiming” ensures we build the right plane.  

Building the plane while we are in the air requires us to be bold. We must be risk takers, willing to be creative and innovative. We must understand that failing will be a valuable part of the aiming process. We must be willing to look and listen, see and hear, watch and learn. Our bold actions will require well informed professional judgment and messy collaboration. It requires energy, enthusiasm and a passion for what could be not what is! It means that we must look inward and reflect on our current practices and our own attutudes with complete honesty. But most of all, boldness requires action! This year, begin building the airplane while you are in the air flying!

Aug 09

Olympic lessons for education

Great holiday timing and superb coverage by the Canadian media has allowed me to watch the Summer Olympics on an almost daily basis. Although I’m more familiar with some sports than others, I enjoy watching all of the different competitions. Much to the chagrin of my wife, I try and watch all of them simultaneously, as I flip back and forth from channel to channel. There’s something special about the Olympics, held every four years and attracting thousands of athletes and millions of fans from around the world.

As I’ve watched the Olympics, I have realized that they provide some excellent lessons for education. Here are a few that come to mind for me:

  1. Olympic Motto- “Citius, Altius, Fortius,” which is Latin for “Faster, Higher, Stronger” My first impression is that the motto is not “Fastest, Highest, Strongest! There is an element of improvement. There is no upper limit. In any event there is only one gold medal just like we only have one valedictorian, one leading man or lady and one soloist. But ultimately, the motto doesn’t refer to being the best, it refers to being your best.  With only one gold medal presented, it is impossible for everyone to be the best but everybody can be their best. In education, we’ve fallen into the trap of trying to be the best instead of doing our best. We typically reward our best students and minimize the improvements of all others. And we seldom acknowledge effort. We consistently hear about athletes who fail to make the finals yet have realized their personal best. That is something to celebrate in athletics and it needs to be celebrated in our educational systems.
  2. The journey is more important than the destination. There is no doubt that participating in the Olympics is very special. The lead up however, the four years of training prior to has to be of great importance. The “blood, sweat and tears” to get to that point again has to be recognized and celebrated. Quite honestly, without the journey, there would be no destination. From an educational standpoint, we must remind ourselves and our students that the learning, which is the journey is the most important. Moving from elementary to junior high and then high school are all destinations in schooling with the ultimate in K-12 being graduation. Yet, it is the journey of learning through those years that has to count! If we put all of our focus on the destination, on the final exam then what significance is our learning journey throughout school?
  3. Effort always counts! There are many gifted athletes who never achieve their greatness because of a lack of effort.  Talent will take you to a certain level but without grit, determination, dedication and honest effort it will never allow you to get to or remain at that next level. This point has been highlighted throughout the Olympics and well documented in programs like “The Difference Makers with Rick Hansen”. Furthermore, the work of Carol Dweck in her book Mindset, reminds us about the importance of teaching effort in schools.  So often our accountability systems and outside institutes measure only the end result without any mention of the work put forth by the indvidual student, school or system.  We need to celebrate and acknowledge the true efforts of our students, our staff, our parents and our systems.

The Olympics will finish on Sunday and it will be another four years before we witness this summer event again. Four years provides a great opportunity for athletes to prepare and schools and systems should do the same. During these next four years, let’s ensure that:

  • Personal bests are celebrated and improvements are acknowledged for all students.
  • The learning journey is highlighted and enjoyed by students.
  • Effort is encouraged and finally,
  • We are proud of our students…always!!!

 

Jul 21

Leadership Lessons

I began my leadership career as a brash and cocky 29 year old back in 1991. As a new vice principal in High Prairie, holding a  fresh graduate degree, I thought I knew it all. Fortunately, I had a wonderful principal and mentor who took the time to guide me through the beginning of my leadership journey. It has been 21 years since I’ve began in leadership and I have learned some valuable lessons along the way.

  1. Leadership is always about learning- Once I received my Master’s degree, I believed that all I had to do was the job. I was too busy being a “leader” that I forget to keep up with my reading and the latest research. It took me a long time to realize that learning must always be a priority for leaders. This is especially true in the education environment where we consistently promote the concept of lifelong learning. There is no excuse for a leader to not be in a learning mode, especially today with the multitude of avenues available through social media. Today, being connected is being a learner. A leader never reaches the pinnacle of knowledge and says, “I’ve got it- no more learning for me!”
  2. Relationships aren’t everything, authentic relationships are- Every great leader wants to be liked and respected by his or her staff. As Fullan suggests, you need to love your employees. But often, we forget that loving your employees or being relational means being authentic. Authenticity comes from saying what you mean, meaning what you say and finally doing it. It is about being trustworthy and transparent. Authentic relationships foster decisions to be bottom when possible and top down when necessary. It is both consultative and collaborative. However, an authentic relationship is a two-way street involving both parties. These relationships require hard work, are typically messy and often involve disagreement, discourse and debate.    
  3. Surround yourself with excellence- You’re in a leadership position because you have a skill set. But no matter your talent, you cannot have the skills for everything. Be honest with yourself and evaluate your strengths and weaknesses, then hire the best who can fill the gaps.  Excellence however, cannot be just talent driven. Excellence must include passion for the work and support of the mission. Leadership is far easier when you surround yourself with people committed to the organizational vision, willing to push your thinking and stretch your leadership. Make sure you not only hire the right people on your bus, but you put them in the right seats.    
  4. The need for patience- Leaders should be able to view their organization from the balcony and the dance floor, simultaneously. The ability to do that enables leaders to set direction and strategically prioritize. However, not everybody has the same vantage point and therefore it takes time and loads of patience to assist people to see what you see. It is important to realize that organizational time to make successful change can be quite different than your own time to implement. Change is difficult for everyone, whether it is done with or to people. Frustration will creep in pretty quickly if you don’t practice patience in leadership.  
  5. The delicate balance of pressure and support- Closely related to the need for patience, is finding the delicate balance between pressure and support. There was never a successful leader hired with the mandate to maintain the status quo. Organizations must continually evolve and improve. Too much pressure usually provides some quick gains but eventually alienates employees and causes significant morale issues. Insufficient pressure often causes complacency. This delicate balance is one of the leader’s greatest challenges and requires him/her to be very cognisant of the current culture of the organization. Leaders needs to know when to push and when to pull back and only when they have intimate knowledge of the organization’s “feel” can they make that decision correctly.

Any leader can attest that leadership cannot be clearly defined and concisely explained in a mere five points. Each of these points spawns further discussion on leadership and chapters of books could be devoted to them. Leadership is complicated. It is hard work! If it wasn’t difficult, everybody would be doing it…well!