As a leader I…

As a leader I…

…I will make mistakes and I will try my best to learn from them and not repeat them, I will be approachable and engaged in colleagues days and I will know the kids. There are many other pieces to consider, but right now, this is where I am at.

This was one of the first activities we did as an EdLT (another acronym I need to become adjusted to) today. It was a good opportunity to reflect on our school’s new guiding statement and mission, specifically how our leadership can help to move the school forward. The sentence stem stuck with me through the day, and I will continue to use it as a guide for reflection because it helps to bring the focus back to the fact that I am now in a position of titled leadership and to me this means I am carrying more responsibility to help the organization in ways I couldn’t have as a teacher or middle leader.

The meeting today was exciting, informationally overwhelming, interesting and engaging. It is the first time in a long time I have felt excited at the possibilities, challenges and unknowns that lay ahead. It is a good place to be and it seems like after all the challenges in the past 18 months, it is the right place to be.

That was a good realization to have today.

Day 0 – School Eve

I start my new roles tomorrow. At this stage I am trying to grapple with how I am feeling. With the rush and ongoing emotions that happen with moving across the world with two young children I realize now I haven’t really taken the time to think about how I am feeling, if I am confident, scared, anxious, prepared…or any number of other emotions that at this stage would be legitimate. I guess I just haven’t given myself the opportunity, or more accurately, the permission to take the time to ask myself the question.

Things are starting to take shape, but just barely.

How am I doing…?

I find I am moving between moments of intense imposter syndrome when trying to picture myself in these new roles, but also having flashes of confidence and understanding that I could be successful with some time and learning. After over a year separated from face-to-face collaborations and collegiality with other international educators it has been a breath of fresh-air being able to speak with new colleagues about education in optimistic and positive terms. This has me looking forward to the work ahead, but more importantly, it has me excited to be working with the folks here.

I think most of the anxiety, nervousness and lack of confidence comes from a feeling of not knowing, and as a result not being able to support my colleagues to the level I expect of myself. I recognize this, but my next step will be accepting that I don’t have to have every answer on the tip of my tongue and I am allowed to not know (for a little while).

Starting…again

You always start with good intentions, and those intentions turn into grand plans and those plans start strong until the day-to-day becomes the “priority”. There are plenty of excuses for why something doesn’t happen but time, effort, and interest tend to be my biggest barriers to starting something new. I realize I have a lot of interests and commitments that, at any given time, can grab my attention and pull me into a deep rabbit hole of research, reading, viewing and learning. Inevitably taking me away from something else that deserves as much attention.

However, stepping into a leadership role means my focus needs to narrow and I need to build the habits that will allow me to be as successful as possible. If writing as a tool for reflection is something that might help me be a better colleague and leader I need to find the time (currently writing this on the beach while watching my kids build sand castles), focus my effort (not make excuses and just write) and maintain my interest (write short, focused reflections).

With this in mind I’m hoping to post more often. Not following a regular schedule, and not on any particular topic, but as and when I can, focusing on my experiences in a new role and how they are helping me learn to lead.

Feedback and Growth

I have been applying for senior leadership jobs this year. I have primarily targeted assistant/vice/deputy/associate principal roles, preferably at Middle School with a focus on student welfare, pastoral care or something similar. I have applied to quite a few schools and have had as many rejections. While humbling, depressing and at times soul destroying this experience presents an ongoing opportunity for professional growth.

One of my consistent practices is to always ask for feedback when I receive rejections from a school. This isn’t an easy thing to do, it is much easier to accept the rejection at face value, but taking the experience and trying to use it for professional growth becomes a valuable experience.

I have heard consistent feedback from most schools who take the time to provide the feedback I am seeking. It typically follows a format similar to this…”Thank you for seeking feedback, it is great to see you are seeking to develop yourself professionally. We can tell you, that you were a strong candidate with a good range of experiences and good references. We were lucky enough to receive a lot of applications from educators with more experience in this role and you will not be moving onto the next stage of application.

They often ackonwledge the catch-22 of seeking these positions to gain experience, but not getting further in the application process because you don’t have the experience you are seeking. While this can be frustrating, it is understandable, there is an increasingly high level of professional educator on the international circuit and the nature of this profession means there will always be colleagues with much more experience applying for similar jobs.

It is rare to find a school, no less a director, who takes the time to speak with you directly. I was lucky enough to have this experience last week, after receiving a rejection and seeking out feedback the director made a point of finding time, in what I am sure is a busy schedule, to speak 1:1 on the phone. Much of the advice was consistent to what I have received by personal mentors and other schools; however, a major difference was the personal touch and the clear links to my previous experience.

What has stuck with me about this experience is an analogy to jigsaw puzzles. Figuring out how you can make yourself a corner piece in the puzzle should be a priority when seeking positions. Creating a profile that highlights the unique aspects of your experience, leadership and abilities is the most important part of getting your foot in the door. I have always understood this in a general way, but this analogy really pushed me to consider my current role(s), what I do to support the school as a leader, regardless of title, and how I can make a deeper impact to my current school not only in a way that allows me to continue my professional growth, but also provides the school with support and growth in needed areas. There are always areas we can improve and grow in, and this discussion has really helped me start the process of a deeper reflection on my role(s), my capacities and how I might see myself progressing professionally.

For a relatively short conversation the impact has already been large and I am looking forward to seeing how much further I could take myself professionally. Specific areas I am considering are volunteering to take on more specific roles within the day-to-day organization and management of the school – as the director I spoke with mentioned, volunteering to take something off someone else’s plate frees them up to collaborate, mentor and coach you to more effectively.

I am already involved in many of the activities that were suggested as part of the feedback, however, some of the new suggestions include finding ways to expand the perception of my role within the school – am I only seen as a leader of a single grade and/or committee? What can I offer to change this perception? Am I involved in enough whole school work? Does the whole school work I am involved with include a wide enough cross section of the school? What can I do to set myself apart as a candidate?

This conversation provided me with more to think about and clear direction than I have had in quite some time. It was refreshing to have this candid, critical conversation in a way that helped me more effectively consider my own role in my development and progression as a leader.

Leaping into the void…

FLoW is a challenging process as a whole school change initiative. It takes the process of change to the extreme and requires all of us, as teachers, to live well outside our comfort zone for an extended period of time. It is difficult for us to understand the possible benefits when we self-identify as being effective educators and many of the changes are asking us to reconsider what we do through a critical examination of practice.

It asks us to critically examine our practices and realize that, although, they might serve us as educators, they do not always serve all of the students in our care. We often examine these practices through the lens of our “best” examples. “If it works for “xxx” it should work for everyone”. “If xxx can understand it, everyone should be able to understand it”. Rarely do we critically examine our practice based on who it doesn’t work for. For this to occur we must begin asking “who didn’t respond to this?”; “Why didn’t this work for xxx?”; “What changes can I make to help support xxx?”.

The Grade 7 team decided to approach this challenge as a grade level, to see how the entire system can be changed to support the learning of all students. The process started with discussion and quickly developed into decisions and planning that will facilitate a major experiment in learning this year. We are going to use a range of FLoW style experiences in all subjects to provide students with as much choice as possible within several limiters of space, schedule and timetables. The goal of this experience to will be to encourage student development of “soft-skills” including planning, time-management and organization of learning. Rebuilding these learning experiences are going to be a major undertaking, including work from all teachers, students and some parents. In order for this to be successful we are fortunate to have the full support of the administration and leadership of the school. This includes extended planning time, support for cover classes in order to support these sessions, facilitating discussions with families and acting as mentors to students to help create student teacher ratios that make the process manageable and valuable for all involved.

This is an exciting process, however, it is also considerably more scary that I anticipated. After explaining the outline of this plan to the whole community at the end of our PD days last week we are committed to making this a viable program. The Grade 7 team is an outstanding group of educators with student learning at the forefront of their mind, and the fact they are willing to take this leap and be a model for a much larger vision is humbling.

As this progresses I will continue to provide updates and information on our work. If you are reading this and think your experience might benefit our work please do not hesitate to leave a comment and let us know how the work we are doing could be even better!