The Leadership and Ethics Conference is being held on October 5-7th at the Laurel Point in Victoria. The theme of this year’s conference, The Moral Agency of the Educational Leader will provide a context for the exploration of values and ethics in educational leadership. Keynotes will be made by many of the "big names" in ethical leadership, including - Dr. Paul Begley and Dr. Allan Walker.

They will talk about democratic leadership and leadership values in a multicultural setting.

If you are interested in the full conference, information is available at http://www.ed.psu.edu/UCEACSLE/Conference06/keynote06.htm

Principal Blogs

Mr. Poling and Dr. Jan published an article in the NAESP (National Association of Elementary School Principals) this week.
It is titled Principal Blogging and looks at the benefits of blogging for principals.

My final paper for EDUC 656: Instructional Leadership is titled:

Effective Instruction and Collaboration:
Partners for Student Success

Abstract
The purpose of my paper was to investigate how effective instruction can be fostered through teacher collaboration, and what is the result of this partnership. An examination of the question “Why should a school or district focus on collaboration?” was also examined. This paper recognized and defined strategies such as team meetings, mentoring, and Critical Friends Groups as successful ways to collaborate, since they foster effective instruction. Current research and data agree that there is a positive partnership between effective instruction and collaboration. The paper confirms the findings of recent literature: cooperative settings offer teachers the opportunity to research, reflect and support one another and those collaborative settings foster effective instruction.

References:

Bambino, Deborah. (March 2002). Critical Friends. Educational Leadership, 25-27.

DuFour, Rick. (2003). Leading edge: 'Collaboration lite' puts student achievement on a starvation diet . Journal of Staff Development, 24(3). Retrieved August 13, 2006, from http://www.nsdc.org/library/publications/jsd/dufour244.cfm

Elias, Maurice J. (2003). Academic and Social-emotional Learning. International Academy of Education, 11. Retrieved from http://www.casel.org/downloads/BIE_Practices_11.pdf

Gruenert, Steve. (2005). Correlations of Collaborative School Cultures with Student Achievement. NASSP Bulletin, 89(645), 43-55. Retrieved August 9, 2006

Lambert, Linda. (May 2002). A Framework for Shared Leadership. Educational Leadership, 37-40.

Moir, Ellen & Bloom, Gary. (May 2003). Fostering Leadership Through Mentoring. Educational Leadership, 58-60.

Routman, Regie. (March 2002). Teacher Talk. Educational Leadership, 32-35.



If you are interested in reading my paper, please e-mail me.

Article reviews and reflective questions

Please check out my Instructional Leadership class' blog to read some fantastic posts and reflective questions about articles related to Instructional Leadership.

Fostering Leadership Through Mentoring
by Ellen Moir and Gary Bloom
Educational Leadership - May 2003

This article shows some terrific instructional leadership strategies in practice in Santa Cruz, California. They began the New Teacher Project in 1988, which "provides new teachers with an induction program delivered by trained mentors (who are) the district's best teachers" (p. 58). What was meant to help beginning teachers has developed into unexpected benefits of creating leaders from the mentors. Once mentors complete their three year position, they return to their classrooms and are very successful as school leaders, or they become principals or pro-d leaders. The program not only is helpful for the new teachers (The mentors provide 1-2 hours of individual mentoring every week and a seminar to their group of 15 novices once a month), but the mentors:
- have a deep understanding of teaching and learning
- know how to help classroom teachers grow
- are attuned to the need of beginning teachers
- know how to participate in and create learning communities
- have a head start, if becoming a principal, in dealing with issues such as time management and communication
I liked the section on mentor selection, training and development. Mentors are not selected by seniority, and I think for a position like this, that is appropriate. Mentors must provide letters of support, undergo a panel interview, have a minimum of seven years of classroom experience and produce evidence "that they are outstanding teachers" (p. 59). Mentors attend five days of training and have weekly half-day mentor forums. "Rather than filling them up with information, we help mentors construct their own pro-d plans" (p. 59). They are released from their classroom positions and hold their full-time mentorship position for three years.

I see this program as being a great tool for infusing instructional leadership into a school and district. I know we haven't had paid mentors in Quesnel, but I have heard that mentorship is in place for new principals this fall. I am pleased to see that support is being offered by our district, and would hope the same could be offered for the many new teachers who will have positions in the fall. Is something in place for new teachers or principals in PG or WL? I see it has a necessary step in ensuring we have quality support and leadership at each school. As the article says "Teacher [leader] development is the key to student success" (p. 60)

Unfortunately, not all ministries or districts have the money for such a program.
Do you see a program like this being beneficial to your school district?
How can a mentoring program be initiated without funding for full-time mentoring positions?
How can school districts promote mentorship without the funding?

Blogging is valuable as a form of mentoring, an instructional strategy or collaborative tool.
My discovery of how blogging can be a way to establish mentorships came accidentally last week. I had set up my personal Instructional Leadership blog and had posted some information for new principals from a blog by a principal named Dr. Jan (principal of the"hippest school" in America). A comment showed up under that post, inviting me to look at Mr. Steve Poling's blog. Mr. Poling is a principal in Arizona. I visited his blog, commented back and a blogship was created!

Mr. Poling comments to my blog regularly and has added my blog and our UNBC Instructional Leadership blog to his links. In his blog he tells of how Dr. Jan became a mentor to him. This type of mentorship can occur between anyone. Each of us may not be privy to a mentor in our school or district. Through the internet and blogging, we can find a mentor with similar interests and goals. We can share leadership practises, strategies, collaborate and offer direction. As a result of their mentorship that started on the blog, Dr. Jan and Mr. Poling have collaborated to create a proposal to do a presentation for the NAESP (National Association for Elementary School Principals) conference in Seattle.

Mr Poling states in his blog:
"Today, I submitted a proposal online that Dr. Jan and I have been working on this summer for the NAESP National Convention committee. We are pitching our idea for a concurrent session presentation. Of course, we think that our presentation would be perfect for the NAESP; a must-see for convention goers. Our topic is at the intersection of using technology in leadership, leadership best practices, and building collaborative relationships. Can’t miss, right? We’ll see. We should hear something by November. Hopefully, Dr. Jan and I will be Seattle bound. I am keeping my fingers crossed. Dr. Jan is confident in our proposal’s acceptance. Even if we don’t present, the learning that I got out of the process is priceless."

Blogging can also be a tool to collaborate and share. This is especially effective in a large school district. We can use blogging to facilitate collaboration and sharing among colleagues. This can include: sharing of resources, either web based or traditional; sharing of news, events, stories of interest to other teachers; sharing items for sale, trade, to give away; sharing effective instructional strategies; sharing requests for intervisitations or support from colleagues.

Review of day three:
Six Thinking Hats - http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_07.htm

Each 'Thinking Hat' is a different style of thinking:

White - focus on data, logical, direction, clarity
Red - use intuition, gut reaction, emotion
Black - look at negative, cautious and defensive
Yellow- think positively, optimistic
Green - creative
Blue - process control, chair meetings, ask for all levels of thinking

I really enjoyed learning about and practicing this technique today. I wouldn't necessarily put myself in a "blue hat" category, but it was good to stretch myself outside of my thinking style.

Taking an issue such as standards-based education was a good tool for practising this strategy. When our class discussed the question: "Is BC becoming a Standards-Based Environment?" each group came up with very valid points and let us look at the positive, emotional, critical, negative and creative points of view. This is what every instructional leader needs to do when solving problems. It will result in much more productive, attainable, accepted decisions.

Here is a summary of what we discussed:

White - Standards give direction, data is part of the picture, standards are logical, offer clarity for all teachers.
Yellow - Standards are a starting point and should be a personal measuring tool. We have to work with them, it would be nice if everyone had input into them.
Black - Standards don't measure growth within the individual student. It is not localized, but provincially set. Learning outcomes are prescribed, not suggested.
Green- We could use standards in our own class as an assessment tool for teachers and students.
Red - The government uses and interprets standards and results the way they want. It stifles creativity.

I only hope that those people who make up the standards, FSAs, etc. will recognize the value of using this style of thinking.

Growing Into Leadership by Alvy and Robbins

Ok, so I'm not really a ballerina and I'm definitely not a Jolie (besides, I had the name first, I'm older than she is!).
I chose to do the reading by Alvy and Robbins entitled "Growing Into Leadership". This article recognizes that "one of the difficulties that new principals face is that they must lead while they are learning to lead" (p.50) How true! Alvy and Robbins identify some "essential themes to guide new principals in growing into their leadership role" (pg. 50).
These themes include:

Keep Students at the Heart
Be a Learning Leader
Act Ethically
Put Instructional Leadership First
Practice Efficient Management
Build Strong Relationships
Know What to Expect
Orchestrate School-Community Partnerships
Be Lifelong Learners

This idea of "growing into a role" reminds me of the picture Tania posted where Princess Kamijah is wearing large shoes, ones she will grow into one day. Whether we are a teacher-leader or a new principal, we all have to "grow into" our leadership role.

One quote that jumped out at me was under the heading "Build Strong Relationships". It states "Principals do not gain trust because of the title on their office door. They must earn trust. And to earn trust, they must give it -- that is, they must demonstrate faith in the independent skills and decisions of others."(pg. 52) I have worked with principals who have practised this and the result is a feeling of community and empowerment. I have also worked or subbed in schools where this is not the case. It is not pleasant going to work to feel like an outsider, and that is how one can feel if this trust and open relationship does not exist between principal and teachers, or between colleagues. I feel that establishing strong relationships is an important component of being a successful leader.

So, my question to you is:
Which one of the themes (in colour above) do you believe is the most important in the role of principal? Why?