I'm being brave and just asking some really tough questions in my mind. I'm sorry if I offend anyone. I've been listening to too many books & podcasts lately!
Are we teaching pre-service teachers about leadership?
How do we continue to move teacher leadership forward, where they're continuously teaching themselves leadership skills by the books they read, by the dialog they have, and apply it to their roles as teacher leaders at the building level?
How do we build the bench for teacher leaders that will eventually crush/overcome the current narrow-minded thinking of the role of teacher vs. learner in a culture others accuse has stagnated?
How do we find the money in a failing rural economy, to reward the top 5% of teacher leaders we have now with monthly time and pay during their normal work day?
How do we build school calendars that will help us prosper in a new thinking economy?
In my opinion, the keys to unlock the possibilities are held captive by the system.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
FAQ's & Inspiring Teams...
Today I had a question from one of my team members about getting registered for a conference. It took me by surprise knowing about our team attitude these days. So between this and sharing a good question that others might also find as useful information, I try to answer to both.
Q: Several of the tech team want to go to MACE and need to get registered, but don't know what to do when it comes to the payment part. Can you tell us what we have done in the past and what they should do for this year?
A: In the past, I have coordinated these events so everything is easy for people to go and enjoy the conference. I don't do this because I'm trying to keep others from going. If several of the tech team want to go to MACE, you would think that they would want to discuss in large group instead, and start what could lead to a good to great discussion about what's inspiring about presenting or attending and who else in our buildings might benefit from attending and also be worthy? I am disappointed in this team because I have not heard any of these conversations going on.
If we are to be a leadership team, I need to know who wants to be on it. Is it volunteer right now? Kind of yes. Will it always be? Who knows. We are doing everything in our power to help create these learner-driven, student-centered classrooms. We can only do what we are happy at. If an awesome opportunity came up for any one of us, we would encourage strength in the talents of one another to help her/him fly the coop. It seems to me that we have lost the capacity of working in a collaborative manner....in the midst of diversity. Why?
Stephen Covey says it is because we have lost trust and without trust you can't fix anything until you fix the trust. It is my belief people don't understand how to work in teams and it's especially hard to work in a high energy team where much diversity is found, like ours. When did we become dissatisfied?
What I know is how we felt during those Kal-Tech days. We were inspired and learning and having conversations working on the work together. That was the year 2006. A few things happened to the organizational structure of our district that year. I'm only listing the two most important mile stones in my own life. Mary Frazier and Bill left after 20 some years. I'm sorry I don't know the exact amount. Natural organizational changes like this happen and we learn and grow from our experience only to continue with our passionate work in education.
Now again, we need to set sail in another direction focused on the development of teachers to build lessons with higher level student inquiry. We have to create our maps. Peter Senge in his new book "Dance of Change" says "Without better maps it is extremely unlikely that organizational change efforts will sustain themselves." If you've listened to Peter Senge, you know he pours his heart and soul into his work and he believes the framework provided by the 20+ years of research that went into the making of his book, Dance of Change, will provide a starting point, enabling those of us who care deeply about building new types of organizations .... to lead in creating better maps and healthier organizations. I want to be on the map building team.
And then there's Malcolm Gladwell's book "Outliers". Wow. It starts off intriguingly great.
May we always ... lead with our best self.
Karla
Q: Several of the tech team want to go to MACE and need to get registered, but don't know what to do when it comes to the payment part. Can you tell us what we have done in the past and what they should do for this year?
A: In the past, I have coordinated these events so everything is easy for people to go and enjoy the conference. I don't do this because I'm trying to keep others from going. If several of the tech team want to go to MACE, you would think that they would want to discuss in large group instead, and start what could lead to a good to great discussion about what's inspiring about presenting or attending and who else in our buildings might benefit from attending and also be worthy? I am disappointed in this team because I have not heard any of these conversations going on.
If we are to be a leadership team, I need to know who wants to be on it. Is it volunteer right now? Kind of yes. Will it always be? Who knows. We are doing everything in our power to help create these learner-driven, student-centered classrooms. We can only do what we are happy at. If an awesome opportunity came up for any one of us, we would encourage strength in the talents of one another to help her/him fly the coop. It seems to me that we have lost the capacity of working in a collaborative manner....in the midst of diversity. Why?
Stephen Covey says it is because we have lost trust and without trust you can't fix anything until you fix the trust. It is my belief people don't understand how to work in teams and it's especially hard to work in a high energy team where much diversity is found, like ours. When did we become dissatisfied?
What I know is how we felt during those Kal-Tech days. We were inspired and learning and having conversations working on the work together. That was the year 2006. A few things happened to the organizational structure of our district that year. I'm only listing the two most important mile stones in my own life. Mary Frazier and Bill left after 20 some years. I'm sorry I don't know the exact amount. Natural organizational changes like this happen and we learn and grow from our experience only to continue with our passionate work in education.
Now again, we need to set sail in another direction focused on the development of teachers to build lessons with higher level student inquiry. We have to create our maps. Peter Senge in his new book "Dance of Change" says "Without better maps it is extremely unlikely that organizational change efforts will sustain themselves." If you've listened to Peter Senge, you know he pours his heart and soul into his work and he believes the framework provided by the 20+ years of research that went into the making of his book, Dance of Change, will provide a starting point, enabling those of us who care deeply about building new types of organizations .... to lead in creating better maps and healthier organizations. I want to be on the map building team.
And then there's Malcolm Gladwell's book "Outliers". Wow. It starts off intriguingly great.
May we always ... lead with our best self.
Karla
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