ETL504 Module 3

Leadership for Learning

What is your understanding of leadership for learning?

'Leaders need to learn and leaders learn as they lead' (Swaffield & MacBeath, 2008, p.32)

O’Donoghue and Clark (2009) discussed the need for teachers to undergo reflective practice and specifically discuss the use of action inquiry to help teachers make informed judgements about their own practice. I am not sure what the current situation is for teaching in other states but under the Victorian Institute of Teaching to become a fully registered teacher. Teachers must submit an action inquiry conducted within their classroom in collaboration with a mentor and backed by the school principal. The action project was a process of trial and error, testing and seeking feedback. The year 11 students knew that I was trying new things and for the most part were eager to give it a go, and let me know what was or wasn’t working for them. There was an overlap in student and teacher learning and leading.  I cannot speak for every teacher doing this but my report was well over 60 pages of action plan discussion, evidence collection, reflection and evaluation of practices. While I had put off doing it a long time, fearing the increased workload would be too much, when I finally did the inquiry the planning, flow of teaching and consequential learning experiences were probably better than any other point in my teaching. While there was a lot of work put into this registration ‘hurdle’ it did make my teaching practice better.

I liked how both (Swaffield & MacBeath, 2008, O’Donoghue & Clark, 2009) both mentioned that teaching leadership should not be a gift handed out to a select few (or a burden delegated to them) but a right and responsibility of all. Teachers are to be treated as professionals capable of leadership and should be supported in there learning to fulfil this role.

Leadership for learning means that there is a major focus on learning and the conditions favour learning. Leadership of learning is shared and accountable.

‘Teaching is leadership, and leadership begins in the classroom as teachers “act with meaning”, seeking greater learning for their students and colleagues.’ (Collay, 2011 p.75)

Below is a diagram of the inquiry action plan mentioned earlier. Three major stages of the cycle involve planning, action and reflection.  

Have you been able to identify any particular element of leadership practice in collaborative environments, that has made you stop and think about the practical professional opportunities that you may like to explore or adopt in your school?

Reading the first paragraph of Semadeni’s section on professional development it made me reflect back on my teaching practice early in my career (2009, p.28). Teachers feeling uncomfortable sharing instructional strategies for example reminded me of my competitive attitude towards my teaching, wanting to have the best lessons. I didn’t really like sharing resources because I knew how much time and effort I put into to those resources. I felt really used when other teachers would take my resources (assignments, tests, notes…) for their classes. It was like getting stuck in a team project where you are the only one doing the work.  Semadeni also mentioned how teachers felt uncomfortable engaging in peer observation and allowing peers to give them feedback. I can also identify with this; I don’t know what drove me to go into teaching as I really hated public speaking and reading aloud. Funnily I could easily communicate with my secondary students, speak and read up front of a class, but as soon as a colleague or superior entered the room I was mess of nerves. However, now I feel a bit more open to having colleagues coming and observe and give feedback when it is someone I feel an equal to or have a friendship with. Speaking to students all the time has helped me to speak to adults. I feel at one stage or another I have been through each of the different forms of collaboration; ‘balkanization’, ‘comfortable collaboration’ and ‘contrived collegiality’ (Semadeni, 2009, p.31).

Classroom management was a stumbling point in my teaching; the principal saw this and offered me a mentor. This was horrifying for me as no one else in the school had to have a mentor, clearly I was incompetent. The perception needed to be changed that all teachers can learn from a mentor relationship although this is a can be a hard thing to take for some teachers (p.33). I liked the online schedule for peer observation it makes it seem more on an every practice for observing others teachers and invited teachers into their classroom (Semadeni, 2009, fig. 2.2).

I liked the idea of a co-teaching relationship discussed by Rytivaara & Kershner (2012), but I have not really seen a working relationship in action. I know of teachers that share a class due to being both part-time works but I don’t really know how well they worked together being in on separate days.

Collay, M. (2011). Teaching is leading. Everyday Teacher Leadership: Taking Action Where You Are (pp. 75-108). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Donoghue, T. A., & Clarke, S. (2010). Teachers learning and teachers leading. Leading learning: process, themes and issues in international contexts (pp. 87-99). London: Routledge.

MacBeath, J. E., & Dempster, N. (2009). Leadership for learning. Connecting leadership and learning: principles for practice (pp. 32-52). London: Routledge.

Rytivaara, A., & Kershner, R. (2012). Co-teaching as a context for teachers' professional learning and joint knowledge construction. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28(7), 999-1008. Retrieved March 19, 2014, from http://www.citeulike.org/article/10851402

Semadeni, J. H. (2009). Professional development. Taking charge of professional development a practical model for your school (pp. 28-48). Alexandria, Va.: ASCD.

ETL504 Module 2

Leading Change

Some thoughts about leadership that developed through discussion on leadership in another community setting:

•          A leader has the ability to look outside the situation; they look at it objectively and lead people through it. They work on the business rather than just in the business.
•          Self-leadership is one of the hardest but most important types of leadership, if you cannot lead yourself then how can you lead others.
•          Leaders can understand the unsaid, the emotions, feeling and unspoken complaints to know the people they lead.

John Kotter’s 8 step process for change management is something I have also had the privilege of teaching. Kotter's Change Management Lesson Link: includes written information, video, and quiz. 

Don Tapscott outlined 4 principles of an open world: collaboration, transparency, sharing, and empowerment.

How can these principles be applied to school libraries or teacher librarians?

Collaboration- External collaboration across libraries in the region or globally to provide a bigger knowledge/resources bank. Internal collaboration with staff and students in developing library collection and a digital presence.

Transparency- The school community has access to information about the library program, collection management procedures. The community is able to find information on how decisions are made and what reasons they are based on. It also has the ability to question and submit objections about those decisions in a clearly defined way. Responses made to objections or requests are also made transparent to the community. 

Sharing- Teaching creative commons sharing prinicples and modelling the use of it.

Empowerment- Some of the distribution of selection power can be given to the students at the school as suggested by Breitbach & Lamber’s Patron-Driven Ebook Acquisition (2011). Rather than the library making all the recommendations, user recommendations could be posted in a library blog/ Pinterest page/ Scoop.it or other curation tool.

Consider how this understanding of the 4 principles can support you in leading change at your school or in your school library?

To be relevant to the school community as it develops in a digital age we need to be open with the way we conduct our library. Change that happens within the library should be approached with openness, explaining the need for changes and the ways in which it will occur, collaborating with others to determine the best ways to change and empowering other team members to help support the change.

"Innovation is open to every man, woman, and child. It requires an inquisitive mind intent on solving an existing problem."

1.          What innovation has occurred in your school or work environment in recent times?
2.          How has the implementation of this innovation been managed?
3.          What current aspect of your own work could have "an inquisitive mind" lens applied to solve an existing problem?

Our school recently implemented an iPad programme at a year seven level, the idea is that students will move the programme up into the school with each new year. While the idea of each student having a device was not necessarily a bad one, I have seen it work well with laptops in other schools, the programme was poorly implemented.

 The computer technician was not capable and not willing to fix that many iPads as he was primarily familiar with PCs and so was flooded with problems he had trouble solving plus still maintaining the old PCs for the rest of the school. Subsequently he left the position leaving the school with no internal computer technician for more than two years now. Another issue with implementation was that only year seven teachers were given an iPad as part of the trial so if another teacher had to cover a class who didn’t have an iPad or the skills to use one it often meant the teacher was ill equipped to teach the work left for them to cover. The programme is mainly managed by one teacher who does not communicate issues and problem solving procedures well with other staff members. Students are sent directly to him for help adding to his workload and the appearance that all other teachers are incapable of using the technology. While the initial phase of implementation was confusing and frustrating to some, it has been around now long enough now that teachers have been able to adapt their teaching through their own experimentation.

I think if the school was to do this again and choose iPads they need to ensure firstly that they have a computer technician employed who is willing to use this format. They need to educate the entire staff on how to use the programs rather than a select few. They could also provide a FAQ manual of common problems and solutions to staff members so the burden is not on one staff member and issues that may arise in the classroom can be easily fixed rather than sending students out for long periods of time to get help. 

Tapscott, D. (2012, June). Four Principles for the open world. Presentation given in Edinburgh, Scotland TEDGlobal

Innovation Takes Practice More Than Talent. (2013, January 30). —. Retrieved February 5, 2013, from http://www.redthreadthinking.com/innovation-takes-practice-more-than-talent/

 Breitbach, W., & Lamber, J. (2011). Patron-Driven Ebook Acquisition. Computers in Libraries. 31(6) 16-20