Five best practices of school leadersEvery day, Everybody, all the timeJune 28, 2014

Asma Ahmadi – Islamic Teacher Education Program Webinar

What is leadership?

0The exercise of influence on individuals towards the achievement of a specific goal.

What is leadership?You and what Army?

What does it mean to be a school leader?

0Servant leadership: to serve0Second to teaching, school leadership is the most

important factor to school success

What is learning?

0 learning is the process through which experience causes permanent change in knowledge or behavior (Steven Katz) (Woolfolk, Winnie, and Perry, 2012)

Ontario Leadership Framework

0Framework (2013) 0http://iel.immix.ca/storage/6/1380680840/

OLF_User_Guide_FINAL.pdf

5 Best practices of school leaders:

1. Setting Directions2. Building relationships and developing staff3. Developing the organization to support desired

practices4. Improving instructional leadership5. Securing Accountability

1. Setting Directions

0people buy into the leader, before they buy into the vision (John Maxwell)

0demonstrate who you are: in each every conversation/interaction.

In Education we are in the business of ______________

Relationships

2. Building relationships and developing staff

0Developing people slowly one interaction at a time0 create a: What is in it for me (WIIFM)0major role: build teacher capacity

I will focus on two things:0Feedback0Parent engagement

Feedback: Understand before being

understood0Receiving0Giving

0 focus on behavior, not the person 0balance content: positive too0be specific0be realistic 0own the feedback0be timely0offer continuing support

Parent engagement

0What is Parent engagement?0 is not just engaging the parents in school, but it is

engaging the parent with their child

3. Developing the organization to support desired practices

0Safety and Supervision0Discipline0 Investigation

Safety and Supervision

Supervising Staff0 Is it behaviour or performance?0Always assume positive intent

Behaviour (ethical) Performance

Trust, care, respect and integrity

• Commitment to students and student learning

• Ongoing professional learning

• Professional knowledge• Professional practice• Leadership in learning

communities

Discipline

The goals of Discipline:0Learn from the misbehavior0Behaviour change0To make better decisions next time.Behavior is a symptom of something elseProgressive Discipline-not about punishment-it is about learning

Investigation

0 Do not do it in a hurry, take the time in the investigation. Get the whole picture before making a decisions

0Assume positive intent: when inquiring or investigating

4. Improving instructional leadership

0 If you really want to engage in instructional leadership you need safety and supervision.

0You cannot teach in chaos0 I am not an expert, those are the teaches, but I have

resources, I know where to go for those

Two focus:0Walk throughs0Assessment

Walk-throughs:

0 to be visible, does not mean to just pop your head0 but have those conversations, build relationships, do

the check-ins.

Assessment

0Assessment comes from the Latin assidere, :0 it is “sitting beside”0 support learning0 it is not grading or evaluating students.

Coaches (coaches don’t give numbers)0what did I do well?0What did I mess up?0What can I do differently?

5. Securing Accountability

Research shows that school leaders feel accountable most to _________________

Value-based, Data-Driven

0 In the absences of data: how can we get support (or funding).

0 It is not about the data, it is about what you do with the data

0Attitudinal data: how the participants “feel” and “think”?

0Data Rich, Information Poor (DRIP): give them the data, but do we get from it, what do you do with it?

0You got to have 5 years of data to identify trends

Personal Leadership Resources

0Cognitive: problem solving expertise, knowledge of effective schools

0Social: perceive emotions, manage emotions, act in emotionally appropriate ways

0Psychological: Optimism, Self-efficacy, Resilience

Final Words

0Your job is not to solve problems your job is to find the right people/support for the issue at hand.

0 It is not about being liked, it is being respected.0What you permit or ignore, you are promoting or

condoning 0Document, document, document

time, the question, what was said, “I hear you say”, 0Language is changing: rules vs expectation0 the only people have a right to be in the classroom are

the students: we are invited to help them.

Final Words…

0we are only as strong as the people we lead0Do not personalize

Every day, Everybody, all the time