Lambert: Building Leadership Capacity in Schools

Lambert experiments with a new definition of leadership. “A Collective Learning Process” It is no longer limited to a few, but here leadership is a broader concept embedded in the whole school community. Here we are creating a synergy by “those who choose to lead.” The key to Lambert’s model is that leaders learn together. Dialogue is used to question perceptions, beliefs, truths, and assumptions to create a shared vision and understanding. This process involves:

1. Discovering what we think student should know and be able to do?
2. How well are students learning: created collaborative teams to investigate.
3. What are the problems and what do we need to work on?
4. Create action plan: strategies for implementation: I don’t believe that strategic plans move school forward like PLC does.

This leadership model has an Environment that is trusting, risk-taking, changing, learning collectively, has a shared purpose, and challenges perceptions. With this commitment school communities can continue to move forward whether a leader leaves and a new one arrives.

Capacity building is difficult in International School due to the 30% turnover of teachers every year. How do they create this? They need long term plans. Philosophies, missions and shared values help. Collaboration doesn't happen on its own. Need to be guided and skills must be learned.

Inquiry!!! not done!!!

The Collaborative Way: Bringing Down the Walls

We had a marathon meeting last evening that lasted for 2 hours and 26 minutes. I can't quite run a triathlon in that time but close.

This seemed to be a coming out of the chaos and creating more consensus meeting. I am not sure why it happened and can only think that it was either due to the fact that we just wanted to move on or that others felt validated and heard and were willing to move on. I can't really decided if it really matters whether I know the reason or not, or if I should just be glad that we are moving in a positive direction.

Guidelines for Action:

1. Know Thyself

2. Learn more-I embrace this one

3. Maintain Integrity

4. Persevere

5. Create a vision: A School Library that is best for the world will develop students who can learn, unlearn, and re-learn.

6. Think big, start small

7. Focus on something important, like Instructional Leadership.

8. Decide what you are not going to do. Like take 5 hours of someone's class because they are out. I am not a substitute.

9. Build networks

Carl Glickman tells a great story in the conclusion, learn it.

After reading Burdenuk's article called LEADERSHIP AND THE TEACHER LIBRARIAN, I want to throw a wrench into the whole process again. (see notes below) I feel we have time for more cognitive conflict, but I am not sure we have the energy. I have a feeling that we are barking up the wrong tree and what we should really be thinking about is decreasing teacher isolation rather than increasing student learning. Burdenuk states, that teacher isolation "may be the single most important factor preventing the integration of the school library into the curriculum of the school. Bringing down these walls may in the end create better student learning, morale and most important a culture of change.

So the big question is do I bring up this idea or go with the flow???

The Culture of Teaching: ISOLATION

Notes on LEADERSHIP AND THE TEACHER-LIBRARIAN by E. L. Burdenuk

I found this article fascinating and intriguing! I helped solidify many of my beliefs of the role of the TL.

This article talks about social architecture (in Canadian schools) being the idea of how teachers act within a school including, values and norms. Described as "the way we do things around here". This article investigates how this social architecture effects the job of the TL in schools. This is so interesting due to the fact that I do feel as if I am fighting a ghost. This is the TL of my childhood. SHE was always shushing and seemed matronly and a grumpy protecter of books. I always thought that these were criteria for being a TL. So much has changed and TL are now dynamic school leaders. I am not so sure this transition is clear to all and how do you create this NEW LOOK?

Lieberman and Miller found that the greatest irony of teaching was how isolated teachers are and how this results in the difficult process of sharing ideas and growing together professionally. Rozenholt regards isolation as the "greatest impediment to learning to teach and to improve skills" Break down the walls of isolation so teacher can receive feedback, and work collaboratively! Rid the school of teacher invisibility. This culture creates an environment that resists change and maybe the single most important factor preventing the integration and collaboration of TL in the classroom and the curriculum. Teachers are entrenched. PLC (Professional Learning Communities) breaks down walls and creates a commitment to student learning and school excellence. Though this article doesn't talk about PLC, I had to include it here. PLC may be what Canada needed as a reform instead of new missions, visions, goals, and objectives. PLC creates these under one important umbrella: STUDENT LEARNING. The author believes that change in schools can happen through collaboration for teachers and students. I never heard the word "consigliere" sounds very French and means an indirect leader or second change agent based on expertise (of curriculum, collaborative process)who interacts as a colleague with teachers and admin. Peter Block talks about empower ourselves, and I see this as a truism and a self fulfilling prophesy. This encourages thinking of the whole school at every level. These critical thinking skills are paramount to the TL. Teachers also need to learn to think, learning how to learn, learning to be creative, lifelong learning. "learning to learn, unlearn, and relearn" to create school leaders. The TL can use referent power (based on individual's personal characteristics and traits) and expert power (individual's possession of expertise, skill and knowledge) to influence others. I believe that I have referent power and as a result of my studies I am gaining expert power daily. TL don't need to be recognized as leaders but can have a powerful influence by demonstrating skills, encouraging collaboration, providing resources and from knowledge of the curriculum. Leadership is an inner quest: Know thyself and always Learn MORE!

Look For:

University of Texas study on change process and the TL

Implementing Change: A Cooperative Approach to Initiating, Implementing and Sustaining Library Resource Centre Programs: published by British Columbia Teacher-Librarian Association (Austrom, 1990)

THRIVING IN CHAOS by Tom Peters

Collaboration and Body Language

In Fullan's book LEADING IN A CULTURE OF CHANGE, there is this feeling of leaders as needing an elevated personality who have emotional intelligence, an intuitive nature, self-awareness, intrapersonal skills, and social awareness, plus more. This is a tall order and for someone who has done a great deal of self refection and growth.

Last night at our last skype tele-conference with my group 23 I was hoping we were out of the chaos and moving into a clear path. Both Melanie and Rachel had been in touch with me and they were quite exciting about the direction we were headed. Helen, the scientist, remained silent. As soon as I turned on my computer, I realize we were far from chaos. Helen had revised the whole powerpoint from a more scientific point of view. I could hear frustration, especially from Rachel who was happy with the previous new direction. She felt we were close to closure and wanted to go back! Melanie also was questioning our new direction. I was fascinated! Here was our resister. Not in the true sense of the word, but it was almost as if Helen thinks on another level. Not a higher or lower level, just a different level. I was interested in trying to understand and listen to the resister and use some of the skills in Fullans book. I tried to mediate a conversation forward. On skype teleconference you can not see each other. I found it very difficult to gather information about the group without seeing body language. Garmston talks about body language being 80% of what people say and words are only 20%. How can you really collaborate when we can't see this most important aspect of peoples communication. I went into a cognitive coaching mode and asked clarify questions of Helen to help me understand. As we moved s-l-o-w-l-y forward it seemed that slide by slide we were moving in a direction back to the old way that the three of us were happy with. We didn't get far and it is a grueling process of inquiry and advocacy, but I are seeing and understanding the resistor and realizing that consensus takes time and energy. The process here is really what is fascinating and the end result, the powerpoint is secondary. Of course we all know this but it is something to embrace.

Reflection

Reflection:

August 23, 2009

Just spent 2 hours and 13 minutes on a skype conference call with my team. It felt like a bit of a marathon that you are are glad is over but you feel great that you did it. Reflecting on the time spent, I tend to think that I talk to much and have an opinion on everything. We all seem able to agree to disagree and talk out the minor conflict to a place that feels right. We seem to have taken on our roles with Helen as our scripture, and Rachel as the listeners, and Melanie as the praiser for others but not herself. We seem to be learning about each others strengths and how to use them best. I would say that so far it has been a very satisfying experience. Today we actually seemed to be synthesizing information from our learning. Really creating new content from our own flow chart. It will be an interesting process to see where we move next. I was questioning our ending conversation but we were entering an unknown region on the edge of chaos but it is all about using our learning creatively. I do worry about to much text and feel that we need to add visual media. A picture is worth a 1000 words.

Notes on Reading 1-4

Reading 2: Streeton Primary School 2000 The 12 quality principles

#1 Clear Direction: Vison, mission, goals, plans, JIS has these (Covey) Climbing the right ladder.

#2 Plans take you in the right direction: not bending to authority: strategic plan is in place

#3 Quality is defined by the client. Parents and students: Quality education for our students!

#4 Continuous Improvement systems to improve quality

#5 Enthusiastic people are motivated and keep getting better.

#6 Life long learners. We are all learners together. PD is essential.

#7 People are the most valuable asset. Outcomes improve with collaboration. Teams.

#8 Effective Data is used to improve instruction and decisions.

#9 Data can have variability. We need not panic.

#10 Be aware of the community we live in and how we affect it. This is very important for overseas school. They have a need to embrace the local culture.

#11 Sustainability is determined by our ability to meet the needs of all stakeholders in the community.

#12 Leadership must be role models for these principles for it to reach full potential.

I especially like the examples given in this article.

Reading 3: Harvey 2001: Core Steps in Decision Making

Leaders taking care of PROBLEMS. Problem solving/decision making

1. Id problem
2. Develop possible solution
3. Choose a course of action

Problems not as bad but as opportunities/challenges for action and learning

Negative thinking shuts down the part of creative brain (what about lack of sleep?)

Trusting and supportive organization conducive to problem solving.

Team needs to know parameter, such as resource constraints, legal matters, These can be called “givens”.

People must be informed to create synergy. the problem (opportunity) must be understood by all.

4 categories of problems

1. short fall: don’t focus on symptom but on real problem
2. opportunity: due to change
3. improvement: proactive
4. new venture: start with clear compelling vision. clear goals. Makes you viable for the future.

Solution Criteria: what you want to the solution to look like. Evaluate and combine solutions. Criteria can be divided in to needs and wants (can have “nice too’s”) Generate as many solutions as possible. Be creative. Good solutions are often derived from combining parts of ideas. Clarify solution so it is understood by all. What are the consequences?

Solution Choice: Don’t vote. work for consensus: everyone agrees to support the solution whether they agree with it or not.

Deciding: may need to prioritize.

NO solution???? review solution and try to be creative. Don’t get caught in a dilemma: no solution. Make sure the solution is clear for the implementation team. Planning/doing/inspecting. Evaluation, revision, renewal...important for successful implementation.

Reading 4:Hough 1997 Collaborative decision making with teams

This topic is so relevant to my learning right now.

Interesting to read that if an organization is Bureaucratic or autocratic the teacher do exactly the same to the students in their class.

Committees do not provide the opportunity for a sense of team to develop.

Collaborative decision making involves sharing knowledge and empowerment beyond the principal. It involves stakeholders at all levels. Empowers them to make meaningful decisions.

teams forming, storming, norming, performing,

learning teams in this article are different than what I am thinking. These may only be formed for a particular task.

Roving leadership empowers another person, not the principal to lead a process or innovation.

Books and Course Outline Arrive!

August 19 my Fullan book finally arrived. August 20 my course outline and subject description arrived. I am now armed with the resources.

Reading 1:

Donham, J 2005 ENHANCING TEACHING AND LEARNING

Reflections: When I decided to become a TL I had this feeling that it would be okay if I was technologically challenged. I thought, I am old and I will just focus on the book and resource side of things. YEAH RIGHT... Last year I took ETL501 ? and went to a technology conference in Shanghai. It was a new vision for me to now become tech savvy and I jumped in. I even brought a new mac! I love it!

TL...Leads from the MIDDLE

The idea of making decisions with imperfect data is so true. Data is never perfect and another area that I would like to avoid like the plague. But...having a collection analysis available over the last 5 years has been invaluable to our library. It was used to help procure funds for updating the collection and a $300,000USD extra-ordinary budget was given for over a three year period. This year is the end of the money and we will need to go back to the admin and present statistics on how our collections have improved. The data is invaluable!

Attributes of TL:

Internal locus of control

proactive people look for change opportunities

persevere

passion-helps sustains ones energy as a leader.

Vision: sharedness, concreteness, clarity (Fullan) focus for developing goals and objectives

Opportunism: ready to seize opportunities as they arise.

Mission:

Resourcer for students, teachers, parents and admin.

collaborate

communicate: clear articulate

listen

negotiate

expertise: organize information sources, use information technology efficiently

establish process for continuous reflection and assessment.

opportunistic disposition allows the TL to watch for ways to integrate the standards in to the academic program.

Say-do ratio: This is one area that I have to make amends with Clarence for not doing his

animoto at the end of the year. Though I don’t want to take total blame I need to make amends.

Donham mentions that TL always have to be “sharpening the saw” (Covey). This is the process of life long learning and getting my masters has proven to me just how important this learning is.

Great reflection questions:

What will I do differently from what I did last year?

I will not just be there to help teachers, but will be looking for ways to integrate my standards into their units and look for ways to assess them.

What will I stop doing that I did last year?

I will not force myself to collaborate with grades EC, Kg, 1 and 2. I will focus on 3-5.

How and when will I know when I am making progress?

I feel like saying, “when I drop dead from exhaustion.” We continue to make progress. We went from a scheduled library to a mix schedule/flex. I am working closely with the tech coordinator. More than ever! We will be collaborating with grades 3-5 on an inquiry unit this year that is really guided by inquiry and UbD.

Another long ride home, No Flooding

No Flooding, but another long ride home

5:31pm and I am on my way home after helping a friend celebrate their birthday after school. It is a Friday, a big day in Indonesia, you go to mosque in the afternoon, all males at our school are allowed to leave work and go to mosque from 12-1pm. What a great mosque motivator. I would love to leave school every Friday for an hour of meditation! Traffic is notoriously bad on Friday and I never stay north and move south at this time, but here I am wondering just how long it will take to do my 20 minute trip home. I walked to the birthday meeting place because it is easier to walk from there than drive. As I walked I was thinking about my reading of moral purpose by Fullan. How could it be that leaders of countries can morally create a city like this? It just has to be a moral dilemma. Granted, I had to walk through what I call the circle of death, but why does such intersections even exist? The pollution is unbearable and you take your life in your hands when you try and cross the street with cars whizzing by and motorcycles swarming! It amazes me to think that they are building the biggest mall in Asia in Jakarta. This city is one huge mall and what is really needed is some green space to walk and play. But I don’t think that green space makes money.

I have now moved on city block in 9 minutes. There is no organized public transport in a city of 20 million people. A leadership that is focused on money is what seems to propel this mega Asian city. Moral purpose does not seem to enter the realm of government here.

The mosques are now singing evening call to pray, but half the population must be on the road. We are in front of a huge mega mall called Seibu on a road that should have 3 lanes but we are 4 lanes with motorcycles weaving in and out to get ahead to the light. Red and white banners still flutter in the breeze in celebration of Indonesian Independence Day last week. The sun is setting and the sky is gray. Jakarta in not a walking city, with poor lighting and holes in the sidewalks. I know I could walk home faster if it was at all pleasant and safe. How does a place like this get better with little moral purpose which is the one leadership component that is steeped in all the other components?

Arrived home 6:31pm exactly one hour drive.

Leadership Class: 2nd Team Meeting

Leadership Class: Second Team Meeting

You have always heard of those people who work together, but actually never meet. That is what I am doing right now in my masters class called Teacher Librarian as a Leader. I am working with 3 other students. One in Malaysia and two in Australia. After our 2nd meeting, I still know nothing about them but their names. It has been fun getting on a skype conference call with them and working out the logistic of this project. Right now it looks like we are meeting 2x a week, but I am sure that will change as we get closer to the due date. Our task: Imagine you are on a writing team to write for a professional journal. Our task is to promote your proposed article to a publishing team to obtain research and publishing funding. The presentation will take the form of an annotated PowerPoint presentation slide set with a maximum of 20 slides or a Blog. During our last meeting, I was pushing the idea of Professional Learning Communities and the role of the Teacher Librarian and feeling worried about being to controlling. But on reflection, I think the group was happy to move forward with the ideas I presented. It will be new learning for some and it will be great for me. All is well in Skypeville and collaboration...so far!

Teamwork and Collaboration: Lesson Number ONE

I had my first skype meeting with my group of four. I think we need a name. After looking at the 4 learning objectives, I said to myself that I definitely do NOT want to do the first one on Organizational Theory. Who would want to read and do a topic on THEORY, it all sounds so dull to me. That topic was an absolute no go for me.
When I connected with my three partners, Rachel, Melanie and Helen, the beginning of the power point was already done and the topic was Organizational Theory. What do you do but shake your head yes and agree to move forward. I know that I did the right thing to say yes, but it is difficult to think that now my learning is focused in a direction that I am not really interested in. I try and make these projects speak to what is relevant in my life and learning. This could be very true for students who work collaboratively and for business people. In a workshop that I went to recently on Professional Learning Communities, Richard Dufour said, "Collaboration by invitation won't work."
In the end, I feel absolutely fine to move in this direction. It is what being an adaptable learning is all about and I know that the move forward will take me in directions that I may have never move towards on my own.
Thanks Team! I'm off to do some reading on Organizational Theory!

In the Beginning: What do I know?

Leadership?
Do I really want to be a leader? I have certain qualities to be a leader, but I can't take the heat. I love being a leader from the side and there are some parts of leadership that I enjoy. I think my personality is not reflective enough and I love to just jump in to projects sometimes without knowing all the details and the big picture.
In Fullan book my favorite quote so far is, "The main mark of effective leaders is how many effective leaders they leave behind." It is empowering to guide others in learning skills to lead in some capacity of their life.
Leadership for Rhona Polonsky Pre-ETL504
What I know to be true about leaders I respect, is that they must be attentive listeners who are willing to create dialogue. They are better off if they have strong interpersonal skills. Schools seems to work better in a more distributed type of leadership and good leaders build the capacity for others to lead. Leaders need to be teachers and learners and help instill life long learners in their school for everyone. A school is a learning institution for all, even parents. Schools are about people and leader should enjoy people. I once had a principal who always said she hated, dogs and people! She was someone you knew not to talk to before she had her coffee! Vision is important but they also have to be prepared to get off track and experience being side tracked and be okay with unclear paths.
Leadership learning here I come...