Change is never possible without somebody
taking the first step. Joshua 1:9
states, “Have I not commanded you? Be
strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for
the Lord your God is
with you wherever you go” (English Standard Version). Sometimes taking the first step means we need
to step out of our comfort zone, and take a risk. Success has never been possible for anyone
without taking a risk, this is why it can be scary, and often times requires us
to have a growth mindset.
In our reading, Dr. Spike states, “We must be the
change we wish to see in our schools” (pg. 53).
He goes on to explain that there are two types of leader. One leader will tell people what they want to
hear, while the other type of leader will take them where they need to be. According to our textbook, Digital leadership, the secrets to
change are as follows:
1. Love
your employees
This
teaches us to focus on building a school community, and taking pride in the
work and learning that is happening in the school.
2. Connect
peers with purpose
Have
goals and objectives associated with the change a person wishes to see in their
school.
3. Capacity
building prevails
Have
a school improvement plan, and build upon the resources that will help you meet
the essential goal. We must all be
leaders in this endeavor.
4. Learning
is the work
Participate
in professional development, and try implementing what you are learning in your
school community.
5. Transparency
rules
Pay
attention to the data that is given to the school. This can be testing data, to school climate
survey. Take the data, and talk about
what it means for the school, teachers, and students.
6. Systems
learn
Everyone
can be a leader, and contribute to ideas that can be implemented in the school
to better the school community.
In my experience as an educator, I have
come to realize that nothing changes in a classroom or school unless someone
notices and discusses change that needs to happen. For example, if we want to better our
classroom management, there are opportunities for professional development,
observations, collaboration, etc., with our leaders or colleagues to help us
achieve our goals. The secret to change
is being open-minded, and following the six ideas that can help us reach our
educational goals.
Reference
Sheninger, E. C., & Zhao, Y.
(2014). Digital leadership: changing paradigms for changing times.
Thousand Oaks (CA): Corwin.
Good evening, Alex! Thanks for sharing your summary of the text and your personal insights. I appreciated your emphasis on the openness to change. That is certainly a key to success! Your use of Joshua 1:9 caused me to consider the role that fear plays in resistance to change. Fear is certainly a factor in change, keeping many people in the comfort of the ‘known’ rather than the ‘unknown’.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned a school improvement plan being a necessary step when change is desired. I feel that we cannot overemphasize the importance of a plan, especially working in a school setting. We need to document everything we do, and this practice must carry over into future planning. This step also helps everyone involved to get on board and to understand the mission and vision of the proposed change. In all things, we need to establish a goal or objective to guide us as we work toward the desired outcome (just like a lesson plan!).
Have a great evening!
Hey Alex,
ReplyDeleteYou brought up some really great points that I want to make sure to comment on. I agree change is vital to a learning environment. We need to be people who show our students that change is positive and wanted.
First, relationships are so important. Feeling safe in your environment is important to any learning environment, especially in the classroom. That applies to teachers and students. In my experience, there are two types of settings. One that teachers guard their lessons and don’t share collaboratively what they are doing in their classroom. The other is a setting of sharing and collaboration, a certain transparency. The actual teachers in both scenarios are just as talented, however sharing makes all teachers more comfortable and have a more developed lesson. These things are reflective on those first three principals: care for those you work with, create meaningful collaboration, make a plan to better.
This idea goes right into school improvement. I know that it gets a very negative connotation for some, but school improvement, or specifically teacher improvement, can be vital. As teachers we must be open to continual learning. We cannot be people who expect others to gain knowledge from us to never in turn gain knowledge from others. I once taught a professional development session where I got feedback that literally said: “I don’t want to be treated as a student.” I can understand not being wanted to be treated as a “child” but as a “student”. Really? If we, as teachers, cannot embrace being a lifelong student, what does that mean for our future in education?
I’m not a fan of data. I don’t do well in a black and white world, and that’s where data lives. However, no one can effectively teach without data. You need to know, empirically, whether a student is learning. You cannot accurately know this by subjective observation. It’s really all about the balance.
Thanks for your post,
Leslie