Reflections of School Start-up

The new season

                It was about a week and a half before teachers were to be back at school and I was in Walmart looking for some school supplies for our school start up.  It was not that I needed anything in particular.  I am a high school principal but I am a teacher first and I love to walk up and down the aisles of school supplies and look at the different types of note pads, scribblers, binders, colored pencils, paper and all of the new items that students will choose to put into their clean desks and lockers on their first day of school.  The smell of the new school supplies, the packaging, and the colors stirs an excitement in me towards the new school year.   It is amazing how after thirty-three years of being an educator I still feel the excitement, the anxiety and the apprehension in anticipation of that first day of school.  In my case I and wondering what will I say to my staff?  What message will I give them to guide them into the new school year?  What will our student body and parents be like this year?  What will I wear on the first day?  These feelings of excitement and anticipation I feel today are just as strong now as they were on my first day as a teacher thirty-three years ago.  Like many of my educator colleagues I will not sleep well or at all on the night before that big day.

                I noticed a dad in the store with three little children.  It looked like they were in grades ranging from about grades one to grade three.  They were all running around in awe looking at all of the things they might put into the blue Walmart basket that dad was carrying.  Each of them had one or two things in their hands.  Colored pencils, football erasers, note pads with pictures of Pokémon on them and fancy rulers.  Dad was trying to defuse their excitement but it was far beyond his ability to control.  Then I heard some nasty words come from the mouth of dad.  “Put those things back, I will be the one deciding what we are going to buy”  Now I do not want to pick on this dad and I understand that parents have to be fiscally responsible and also buy what might be listed on the school supply lists from the school.  But I believe that it is counterproductive to curtail or supress the excitement of a child’s anticipation and excitement for the first day of school.  And shopping for new school supplies and new clothes is where this excitement and fire deep inside begins to burn.  I reflect on my excitement and anticipation for the new school year, and wow, I realize theirs must be off the charts. Hearing those words made me a little sad for those children.  

                At our school prior to the first week of school students come in select their lockers, pick up timetables and make any changes in their programming that needs to be done and have their school pictures taken for school identification.  We start this process at 7:30 a.m...  By 6:30 a.m. we already have students lined up.  And yes, these are high school students. The excitement, anticipation and motivation to be back at school is in all of us and age, grade or being an educator of any sort does not seem to matter.  The anticipation of a new school year is like Christmas.  All members of the school community seem to be excited about this new season.  Even the Staples commercials on TV tell us that it’s the most wonderful time of the year.

Use the fuel that is generated by the excitement of the anticipation of the new school year to motivate and encourage your students and children to appreciate the joy of learning the whole year.  I wish you all a great school start-up and year and look forward to hearing your thoughts and stories on the successes of your students as they progress throughout the school year.

Something to think about:

1.       What do you, can you do, to bottle the excitement and energy of the anticipation of the new school year in yourself and your students so that it carries over into student learning for the entire year?

2.       What does your school/community do help support and create excitement for the first day of school for those students who might not have the same opportunities in preparation for the first day of school?

3.       What are some of the rituals that you do in preparation for the first day of school?

4.       Share your stories and experiences of that incredible first day of the school year.

Please share your thoughts and comments to these questions and on this topic.  I would love to hear them.

By Bill Schlacht

@BSchlacht

 

Distributive Leadership and Capacity Building

Distributive Leadership (shared leadership) has a direct correlation with capacity building.  I guess that before we talk about capacity building we should look at how the leadership is distributed in our school.  Our leadership is shared formally and informally as follows.

 Formal Distributive Leadership:

• At our school we have a principal and three assistant principals. The principal is responsible for everything that takes place in the school but he has specific areas that he will focus on such as the school budget and staff evaluations. Each of the assistant principals has certain areas of responsibility as well.  Our school is a grades 10 - 12 school and each assistant principal is responsible for a grade.  Even though each of the administration has their individual responsibilities, we all work together and help each other out.  We also have three councillors in our school and each also has certain responsibilities and a grade that they are responsible for.  We also have subject area co-ordinators who have responsibilities within their departments.  On the non-certificated side we have an office manager and a business manager who have a variety of responsibilities as well. 

Informal Distributive Leadership:

•  Our formal leaders work hard to support all of the staff in our school.  We believe that it is our job to help individuals find their passions and then support them so that they can be successful.  We celebrate their successes together and we all learn from their mistakes.  As a result our teachers become leaders in their classrooms and our support staff become leaders in their areas of support.  These are not formal leadership positions but they are recognized and valued as leadership positions within  our school.  This philosophy has been filtered down to our students and we have high expectations that they will act as leaders amongst their peers.

Capacity Building: 

• As a result of the formal and informal leadership structures in our school, everyone knows that they are leaders and have their own responsibilities.  Whether the leadership is formal or informal it is valued and respected by everyone. We are all equal, we all just have different responsibilities.  Because our staff have the power to pursue their passions and know that they will be provided with the support they need, they have tried new methods and ideas.  Their successes have encouraged them to continue to try new things and there is a great deal of passion and excitement for learning amongst both staff and students.  The shared leadership in our school has been used for capacity building in a very successful way.

                  Bill Schlacht

What Kind Of Leader Am I

What kind of leader am I can actually be a scary question to ask.  We all like to think that we are good if not great leaders.  But do others actually see us as we think we are.  In my case I certainly hope they do. 

 I truly believe that I am a transformational leader.  I believe in creating a team through building trust and relationships.  I feel that as a leader it is my job to serve. I go about this by empowering our staff to find their passions, take risks and rise to achieve the best they can be.  It is my job to support them, care for them and pick them up when they are down or make mistakes.  I am their cheerleader. 

I am excited about my work and I will go out of my way everyday to see that others are and can be successful.  To me obstacles and challenges are opportunities to grow learn and experience success.  Hard work is not an issue for me and I do my best to model the behaviors I expect from others.  In terms of working with the students, staff and the community I believe in transparency.  Continuous communication is essential and the fewer the secrets the better.  Treating everyone with dignity and respect and being trust worthy are values I hold dear to my heart.  I see myself as a visionary who is able to turn a vision into a reality.

I hope that this is the way that my colleagues see me as well.

Bill Schlacht

School Site Power Dynamics

Every school has its own power dynamics.  Our school is quite large with over 100 staff.  Just like other schools we have our formal power structures in place. Principal, three assistant principals. department heads and a variety of no-certificated formal leadership positions.  These individuals fulfill their responsibilities through job descriptions using their knowledge, attitudes, training and experiences.

In  our school we practice a particular philosophy that shares power, values and creates empowerment for everyone.  Let me explain.  We work very hard to consistently practice the team approach.  This approach is guided by the principals of building solid relationships, building trust and always seeking what is best for kids.  As administrators we have particular responsibilities to fulfill but we are here to basically serve our staff and the school community.  We do this by supporting the needs of our staff and helping them to persue their passions, take risks and grow.  This means that we are sharing power amongst everyone.  There is increased satisfaction and higher performance.  It is the abundance mentality idea and the amount of power in the school actually increases exponentially.  Our staff end up sharing the same philosophy with our students and this extends power into the school community.  This provides an opportunity for the team to work together to effectively influence change.

We have practiced this in several schools and have experiences success in every case.

Bill Schlacht     

How Strengths Based Leadership Can Suport A Commumity Of Practice

Strength based leadership provides us with the opportunity to focus on our strengths and become even better at what we are good at. With such a limited time in such a busy life why would we focus on our weakness when we could focus on our strengths and become even better at what we do best.  The Strengths based leadership philosophy gives us opportunities to focus on our strengths and then apply it to a shared leadership approach.  So I guess you will ask now how does this work? Well, lets look at the possibilities.  Research has come up with three ways to become effective leaders.  But first let us define what  a Community of Practice means in this setting.

A community of practice (CoP) is, according to cognitive anthropologists Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger, a group of people who share a craft and/or a profession.

So what are the three ways to become effective leaders by using the strength based leadership approach?
(From Strengthsfinder 2.0 by Tom Rath)

1.  The first thing that effective leaders must do is to know their strengths and make investmets in the strengths of others.

2. The second thing is to get people with the right strengths on your team. 

3.  The third thing is to understand the needs of those who look to you for leadership.

Once we learn how to appreciate, value and build upon our strengths, we can then make the investment in others strengths.  This will give us the opportunity to build an effective team.  By focusing on a team of strengths from a variety of individuals we will look to each other for shared leadership within our community of practice.  This will give us a better understanding of the needs of others who seek our leadership.  As a result we will have a team build on strengths and not on weaknesses.

Bill Schlacht 

A Course In Action

It is ironic.  I go to school everyday as an educator and work with students and staff.  I am in and out of classrooms day after day month after month year after year.  It can be a challenge at times but it is a lot of fun.  Recently I have signed up for a personal leadership course through the University of Phoenix.  It is also a lot of fun for I am learning many new things.  But it is a challenge as well. A different kind of challenge.  It has been a while since I took a course like this.  Now I remember what the kids feel like in school.  Wouldn't it be great if we could go to school and learn but not have to do the work.

This is an excellent course and I am looking forward to the learning that it will offer to me.  I hope to learn what personal leadership really is.  What are the characteristics of effective personal leadership and how can I develop these characteristics for myself to increase my skills in these areas.  I am looking forward to meeting the other students in this course and discussing our learning's and the philosophy of personal leadership as a group.  Perspective is important and listening to and sharing with others can be a great learning experience.

I also would like to learn what characteristics I already posses as a teacher leader.  What am I really good at and where do I need to make some improvements.  If I do have some effective personal leadership skills, how did I get them and can I make improvements on my weaker skills using the same strategies.  And finally, how might I create a plan to improve my personal leadership on an ongoing basis.

Once this course has been completed I will reflect on this blog to see if I have met my goals.  If I can answer the above questions I know that I will be able to create a plan that will provide me with the right direction for my journey as I continue to grow my leadership skills.

Bill Schlacht