Monday, July 03, 2006

The Art of Leadership

What am I really trying to do as a leader? So what if I have a vision. What is it that I am hoping to achieve? The more I think about this, the more I realize that what I am trying to do is change the mental models that people have—their mental models of education, of technology, of 21st century learning. Everyone, regardless of whether they are involved in the education system directly or not has an opinion or idea about what education should look like. And since we have all been raised in the industrial age model of education we tend to have a mental model that is in line with what we have experienced.

But education today can be, and has to be so much more. We need to shift our mental model. How do we do this? It’s a process that requires great skill. I ran into someone the other day that seemed to have a mental model of education that didn’t really include technology as a part of the model. In order to move that person in the direction of a shift, we need to ask questions. The skill comes in asking the right questions, in the right way. If we are not careful, we can end up making that person feel inadequate or even stupid. We may disagree with their mental model, but to change it, we must approach the effort with skillful questioning and inquiry. I’m realizing that I’m good at seeing the need to shift mental models, but not always able to communicate effectively in order to change a flawed mental model.

This is why leadership fascinates me. It is good leadership that will help us change mental models so that we can move classrooms into the 21st century - new pedagogy and new tools.

July 4 addition: This link (through David Warlicks recent post - A Long Way To Go) is just one example of a out-dated mental model. Notice how frequently he refers to his own education. It’s amazing how he thinks that is what we should still be doing.

Posted by Randy on 07/03 at 10:43 PM
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Tuesday, June 20, 2006

The Ripple Effect and Leadership

Another recent Brian Crosby post at Learning Is Messy got me thinking. His post was titled, Change—Start a Ripple. I do agree that change has to start with each of us. When we feel overwhelmed by mandates and politics, working on ourselves is the only way we can keep our sanity (and grow in the process).

Our schools have many people that are willing to start the process of changing themselves - using new technologies and teaching in new ways. This is evident in the pockets of effective technology use that we see in our schools. But what about the rest of the teachers and administrators? Why aren’t they catching on? This shouldn’t be a blame game; that won’t move us forward. But is it because the individuals are not motivated? Or is it because the system hasn’t encouraged and engaged us to begin the process of change. This is where I see leadership as so important. There is enough responsibility to be shared by both the institution and the individual. Good leaders encourage or discourage through their actions (even if they don’t intend to). Good leaders develop a culture where those ripples of change turn in to a wave of change. In what ways do school leaders allow those pockets of change, those ripples, to permeate throughout their school culture turning into waves?

Posted by Randy on 06/20 at 06:29 PM
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Sunday, April 23, 2006

Wisdom in Professional Development

I’ve always been overly-analytical about professional development - about specific PD I participate in, and PD I happen to deliver. I believe really good professional development is the key (probably one of many) in any effort at reform in the educational system. I don’t know about most of you, but virtually all of the professional development I am on the receiving end of—is poor. It usually consists of a presenter who lectures, with feeble attempts at engaging his/her audience. Once the session is over, most of us who have been subjected to this, breathe a sigh of relief and go on with our day to day lives, making no changes and having very little recollection of what we were just subjected to. Doesn’t this sound incredibly like what we put our students through on a day to day basis? So after complaining about the pedagogy and content of PD, we turn around and do the same thing to our students! Well that’s real effective…

Other flawed factors behind PD are that it is usually determined by someone else that a certain PD workshop is “just what you need!” There is never any input from us, the professionals, or consideration for what we think we might like to experience in terms of professional development. But perhaps the most egregious blunder of professional developers is to never get beyond the data and information related to the topic at hand. We get the facts and the theory behind things such as brain-based learning or Understanding by Design unit planning, but we never get the chance during or after the work session to apply this knowledge to our own classrooms - in other words generate our own understandings and make our own connections. If it’s a technology workshop, do we get beyond the “here’s how to use this,” and into “here’s when and when not to use it?”—- or better yet, guide them toward figuring that out? If we want teachers to use technology effectively, as Kathy Sierra suggests in her post Moving Up The Wisdom Hierarchy, we have to go beyond data, information and knowledge and into understanding and wisdom!

Teaching truly is an art—no matter what the topic at hand. It takes time, excellent materials, and a lot of thinking to craft a lesson that engages learners. And this goes for professional development. We who run professional development for teachers and administrators can start by modeling what we want in the classroom by working with teachers in an effective way outside the classroom - in professional develpment environments.

Posted by Randy on 04/23 at 08:37 PM
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