Kids Matter- Leadership Reading

Key Reading- Scaffolding children's learning

• Often as teachers, we end up telling students or 'doing' for the students. This is very similar to adults in that we will tell them how or 'do' it for them. The big question is why? There are a number of factors, time constraints, as a teacher/leader you know what the outcome is, guidance/scaffolding is not suitable, not enough planning done to ensure success

• Helping to build children's learning- understanding when to use less scaffolding for children as they become more independent. When we work with adults the same idea applies, when provide support when needed and as their skills/abilities improve we reduce the amount of scaffolding needed. So then what is our role as a leader at this stage? 

• Parents and carers scaffold children's learning by leading and coaching them towards coming up with their own answers.

How to scaffold thinking and learning?

1. prompt children to extend their thinking- alternative ways, answers. Students being able to think laterally
2. ask them to explain the steps- planning, being specific about what they have done 
3. demonstrate- show an example
4. break it into steps- identifying challenges and breaking them up into small parts. Being practical, guiding through the steps.

Leadership Meeting 8/8/18

What are the elements of an effective PLD session?

Key points from reading

"The role of a change leader isn't about buying or selling an idea, its about generating commitment." to me this means providing staff an opportunity for them to trial flipped learning with the support and guidance needed. In order to do this there needs to be an element of trust from the change leader and also a level of responsibility/accountability from staff.  The idea of changing teacher routines or changing teacher beliefs

Responding to reluctant teachers follows a set of patterns

1. Using Logic: The problem with this approach is that the leader is talking from his or her head and therefore personal opinions affect a change
2. Killing them with kindness: doing things for the teacher which- why????
3. Negotiating- this leads to compliance rather than commitment
4. Coercing- telling! This will affect the relationship

• John's approach, using positive intent. John also focused on helping everyone with whom he worked feel valued and appreciated, recognizing and acknowledging their strengths. Once he did that, teachers were more likely to listen to his new ideas—especially when he connected those ideas with things they cared about, chiefly, making a difference in the lives of their students.
• Terry's approach, reframing resistance. If leaders listen deeply to complaints, they'll understand what people care about and can then speak to that underlying issue.
• Ameilia's approach, don't be the expert be curious. Working along side teachers.

In the end, trust your staff and treat them as if you truly believe in their capacity.

Listen, listen, listen—not only to the content, but also to the feelings beneath what

they say. By understanding what people care about and speaking to them from

that point of view, you can usually bring even the most reluctant teachers on


Notes based on my focus- leading by example doing it first, when planning for meetings setting the expectation e.g. I shared my inquiry last weekend and planned for teachers when they would share their inquiries.

Leadership Team Meeting

3 Videos about change .  how these concepts relate to change and to your school specifically.

Notes about video 1

• managing your unconscious patterns. Things we do without really thinking about doing it.
• Rather than focusing on new behaviour being aware of the trigger that sets of the old behaviour
• change happens in small parts

Notes about video 2

• Deep Practice - 1) break things down 2) repetition 3) feel it
• take on too much, start and think big rather than focusing on 1 thing (relates to video on)

Notes about video 3

• give too much advice
• triggers that goes back to old behaviour
• new behaviour

I think sometimes when we as a management team initiate new behaviour or implement something new into our school we have gone too big too early and this can be overwhelming to staff members.

When we have introduced something new we normally put it on top of what already exists. -hence one of the reasons why it is important to do our PTC Folders as a group rather than individually.

I do think how we have introduced the flipped learning certificate has been good in that we as a management team undertook PD and that we are doing the certificate in small increments and as a team, and that we are discussing our actions in team/staff meetings. (Relate to Why/How/What and how to implement change) Why is the reason behind change, How is the how are we going to do this and What is the what are we going to do implement the change?)

Reflection on team Meeting

As part of our Senior Team Meetings I have focussed on making our PTC Folders a priority. I wanted to make this a focus because:

• when do we share our PTC Folders? I think people see their PTC Folder as a 'chore' or something we have to do. When I look at my PTC Folder or my PRT Folder I notice that there are some good reflections about teaching pedagogy and teaching practice. Why are these not shared? We should be sharing what is happening with our teaching, the things that are working well, and the things that not quite right.
• If each teacher shares a post at team meetings, it gives our team ideas about what we should be putting in our PTC Folders. 

Last team meeting I shared my post PTC Folder and shared one specific post.

• Gathering evidence vs Reflection- Is the purpose of Teacher PTC Folders to gather evidence and use against standards or is it to reflect on our teaching pedagogy?
• Expect that people will, not won't- even catch up 1-1 to see progress
• "How have you got on with your focus/role/job?" Tell me about that....... Focus for next leadership meeting
• Providing Feedback- 3 types

RTLIT Referral

Below is the link the RTLIT Programme for one of my students.

Literacy Action Plan

Quiet Leadership Pages 85-100

Key notes from reading:

• "Leaders not saying what they really mean, and therefore others misunderstanding their intentions and reacting to ideas that no one even voiced" For me personally this happens to often, I understand the thinking behind it in that leaders want you to reach a destination and not be told the outcome. However I believe there needs to be a balance as sometimes this can be counter-productive.
• "If what we are trying to say is even slightly misunderstood, our conversations can go off the rails fast". This raises an important point in that as leaders we must clearly understand in our minds what we are wanting to communicate towards our staff. Having a clear picture of the message we are wanting to get across will help prevent misunderstandings and misinterpretations.
• 3 core patterns that affect conversation 

1. people taking longer than necessary to describe their ideas

2. listener not understanding exactly what the speaker was saying, leading to conversations going off on tangeants

3. speaker not speaking in speaking in language and concepts the listener could grasp
(How much do we do this as teachers when instructing our kids)

• Being succint and to the point about the purpose of a meeting- short and sharp agenda
• Be specific and succint together means including everything thats relevant in a dialogue, and nothing irrelevant.
• Being generous to me is about getting the message across so that others can make an instant connection to the message.

The 8 Fundamental Principles Of Adult Learning That Every Course Creator & Training Professional Should Know

Key points from reading

• The process of engaging adult learners in a learning experience is known as Andragogy

1. Self-Directing

• adults are autonomous and self directing, meaning that they live under a large degree of self-governance and to their own laws, beliefs and values
• they need to know why they are learning what they’re learning
• if they cannot appreciate the purpose or value, they will be reluctant to engage in the learning intervention

2. Learn by doing

• adults learn through direct experience; therefore, their training and learning interventions must include active and practical participation

3. Relevance

• they have to very clearly see why and how this is important to them personally and how it applies to their life.
• If they can’t see how they personally can apply the learning to their own life and roles, it is suggested that motivation towards the training intervention will be significantly reduced.

4. Experience

• Adult learners need to be able to draw upon their past experiences to aid their learning.

5. All of the Senses

• Adult learners need multi-sensory learning and teaching methodologies.  We must ensure that our learning interventions have appropriately proportioned delivery techniques that meet the needs of audio, visual, reading/writing, kinaesthetic, dependent and independent learning preferences.

6. Practice

• The more an adult learner can practice new skills, competencies or the application of knowledge, the more transformational impact the learning intervention will have.

7. Personal Development

• As learners get older, their cause for participation in learning programs often moves from external drivers (such as getting a promotion), to internal drivers, like simply learning out of pure pleasure or interest in learning something new.

 8. Involvement

• Effective adult learning programs have planned for learner feedback and consultation.  Adults need to feel as though they have a sense of responsibility, control and decision-making over their learning.  They need to be involved in the planning, evaluation and consultation of their own learning process
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