Tag Archives: teacher leadership

ETL504 Assignment 2 Part B

Posted on by
Reply

Part B – Reflection

Before beginning ETL504, my thoughts about educational leadership were limited. My view of leadership as a top-down, formal and hierarchical structure dictated by the organisational chart of the school was, I have come to see, overly simplistic. This is evidenced in Assignment 1 wherein I was just beginning to see the importance of less authoritarian leadership styles, and formed an appreciation for changing staff engagement in different leadership groups. I wrote about teacher librarians supporting teachers through collaboration, which itself represented a change in thinking. Not so much that I did not appreciate the need for collaboration previously, but that this constituted a form of leadership.

I was always aware that some teachers had the capacity to be more enlightening and guiding than others. The difference between the “experienced teachers” and the “dinosaurs” was quite obvious, but I had not attempted to describe or name the phenomena. One way in which my thinking has changed is by developing an ability to articulate thoughts on leadership. This has led me to develop the idea that if one learns to name and describe a phenomena in language, one develops a more detailed schema that then supports other thinking. The importance of nominalisation and articulation through language is well documented in the field of psychology, it turns out, and is a concept I would like to read more about.

Through this subject I have learned the importance of creating staff engagement in order for change management processes to be successful (Pennington, n.d.). Staff need not only to be enthused about the change, but also be involved in professional development around the implications, opportunities and considerations involved in change. In her 15th March post (Styles, 2021, March 15), Yvette discussed her experience with creating flexible and collaborative spaces. The result was less successful than it might be due to a number of factors, such as autocratic leadership style and lack. A mix of transformational and instructional leadership was needed. The transformational leader could engage all staff in the process, developing a shared vision and encouraging engagement. An instructional leader could facilitate staff learning around pedagogical changes made possible in the new environment. Targeting identified teacher leaders first could ensure their skills and influence are fully mobilised.

Throughout the subjects I have undertaken so far, advocacy has been an important concept, but I had not considered how other stakeholders might be mobilised in support of this goal. In my post “Leadership and Advocacy” (Hahn, 2021, May 5), I discussed a moment of discovery from module 6. I have decided that I need to focus more on activating the advocacy of others in support of the library program, as described by Kachel et al (2012) and to do that, I need to help them develop the language to recognise and articulate the ways in which the library program can support and add value to what they are already doing.

Digital technologies has been a focus area recently. I wrote about plans for development in my discussion posts on 25th April and 8th May. Using a combination of instructional leadership and teacher leadership, I plan to help my colleagues focus their attention on what they want their students to learn by using the technology, rather than focusing on how much fun they are having. To return to the syllabus to remember what it is that students need to learn and understanding why that learning is important is my goal for the professional development sessions I have now been given approval by the principal to run. ETL504 has helped me to consider the options available in terms of how this project should be approached. Giving a name to the various strategies available means I can learn more about how each works and be more deliberate in my choices. I have been influenced particularly by Farrell (2014), Weisburg & Walter (2010) and the practical advice offered by ASLA (2013) and AOSL (2013).

References

American Association of School Librarians (AASL). (2013). Empowering learners: Guidelines for school library programs. American Library Association. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csuau/reader.action?docID=1342650&ppg=57

Australian School Library Association. (2013). Future learning in school libraries. ASLA. https://asla.org.au/future-Learning-paper

Kachel, D. e., DelGuidice, M. & Luna R. (2012). Building champions in the school community. In D. Levitov (Ed.), Activism and the school librarian: Tools for advocacy and survival. (pp. 85-98). ABC_CLIO, LLC.

Pennington, R. (n.d.). How to make change work [Vimeo]. https://vimeo.com/145795736

Styles, Y. (2021, March 15) RE: School direction [Online discussion comment]. Interact 2. https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_55151_1&nav=discussion_board_entry&conf_id=_110083_1&forum_id=_227669_1&message_id=_3421739_1

Weisburg, H. K. & Walter, V.A. (2010). Being indispensable: A school librarian’s guide to becoming an invaluable leader. American Library Association.

What attributes makes a good leader?

Posted on by
Reply

I have been fortunate in my professional life to have worked with some amazing and inspiring leaders. They each have their unique abilities and characteristics and have been effective in different areas and roles within the school and with different types of tasks.

I worked with Margaret in my first years of teaching. As AP, She provided a positive model of how to run a class to me as a very new teacher. She offered feedback that was timely, useful and within my zone of proximal development. She encouraged teamwork and facilitated collaborative planning and preparation, encouraging each member of the team to rely on the others, ultimately showing that each member was reliable, capable and trusted to do their job well. Her special skill lay in servant leadership and team dynamics.

A few years later I worked for AP and later DP, Rae. She had a way of keeping the workload and expectations manageable. In her everyday, get the job done, arrive at the end of the week, task oriented leadership, she kept the team on track by setting realistic goals, providing plenty of notice about work that needed doing and taking care to keep student learning at the forefront of all discussions and decision making. She developed positive relationships with all members of the school community and was proactive in dealing with issues as they arose. This meant that students, parents, teachers and the school leadership all felt a sense of shared direction and support and that she had their best interests at heart.

Currently I am working with a teacher leader who, although relatively new to teaching, brings a wealth of experience in other industries with her as well as experience bringing her own two boys through the special education sector. Jo has a way of listening and getting to the heart of a problem quickly and succinctly. She is intelligent as well as intensely practical and identifies problems before they begin, allowing her to be proactive and avoid potential pitfalls. Jo asks questions and really considers the answers. She identifies those people who know about topics she is investigating and asks for help as needed. Similarly, she offers advice and counsel to others as needed and people listen. She is a reflective practitioner and skilled communicator.

In thinking about the leadership qualities demonstrated by these leaders, I see that the attributes that make a good leader are:

great communicator
reflective practitioner
excellent listener
proactive
considered, thoughtful and measured
collaborative
a model of best practice

Leadership and Advocacy

Posted on by
Reply

This evening I read two readings for module 6.1:Kachel, DelGuidice & Luna (2012) and Bonanno & Moore (2009). In considering how my perceptions of the leadership role of teacher librarians has changed, it struck me that I had only been considering ways in which the teacher librarian could lead programs that influence teaching and learning activities, programs that serve and assist the faculty, leadership and community. I had not considered the importance of recruiting and leading members of the school community: students, teachers, leaders, parents and others, in support of the library program itself. I had missed the seemingly subtle but actually vital difference between promotion and advocacy. Of course, if the school library program is not successful, lacks the resources to be effective or is invisible in the school, it can not possibly have any influence at all on student learning regardless of leadership style. Advocacy for the school library program must, therefore, be seen as essential in the role of the teacher librarian, not for the self-serving reason of keeping our jobs, but because of the advantages the skilled execution of that job provides student learning (the central business of schools).

In assignment 1 I wrote about teacher librarians using both servant leadership and instructional leadership to influence student learning. I had an inkling that there was more to the idea of teachers and teacher librarians being leaders from the middle and this module has solidified that view, fleshed it out and given it a name: teacher leadership. A subject to which I hope to return.

Bonanno, K. & Moore, R. (2009).  Advocacy: Reason, responsibility and rhetoric.  https://kb.com.au/content/uploads/2014/08/Keynote-Advocacy.pdf

Kachel, D. e., DelGuidice, M. & Luna R. (2012). Building champions in the school community. In D. Levitov (Ed.), Activism and the school librarian: Tools for advocacy and survival. (pp. 85-98). ABC_CLIO, LLC.