TW Session 1

Had a thought provoking session with Tim White as our Leadership team had their introduction to Leadership Development.

·         He showed us the BES publications which look really interesting and may well be a help when looking at team strategies for making a difference in student learning.

·         The use and implication of social media –teachers/community

·         Teacher and Student Learning Goals was very interest and he discuss one exemplar of the use of a Learning Journal:

Principles: The learning logs encouraged the students to reflect on their learning processes and

empowered them to achieve personal excellence.

Key competencies: Students were prompted to reflect on their feelings about the teacher’s comments in their learning logs, and to set goals. The prompts ensured that learning about attitudes and values as well as knowledge was taking place. In particular, the students developed the competencies of thinking; managing self; and using language, symbols, and texts.

Values: The learning logs provided a space for students to inquire, be curious, and think reflectively

about their learning.

Teaching as Inquiry: The learning logs were not only a valuable source of feedback for the students,

they also provided important information for the teacher as she considered the focusing inquiry: ‘What matters most for my students?’

Assessment: The New Zealand Curriculum explains, “The primary purpose of assessment is to improve students’ learning and teachers’ teaching as both student and teacher respond to the information it provides” (p. 39). The study demonstrates how teacher prompts can support students to develop selfassessment capability. The learning logs also have the potential to support peer assessment.

 The students maintained individual learning logs in which their teacher wrote specific feedback about their essay writing. After giving them time to read and reflect on the feedback she asked them to respond to it, also in their logs, using these three prompts:

• What do you think I’ve said about your writing?

• How do you feel about the outcomes/comment?

• Set three goals for the next similar piece of writing.

Sometimes the teacher adapted the questions to fit a specific learning focus.

Emphasis on linking the LI during and at the conclusion of learning.
Quoted from The Elephant ion the Classroom – Jan Bowler and also the work of Vivianne Robertson (Auckland)
Best Evidence Synthesis publications – worth a close to look I feel.
Spoke about Reciprocal Teaching –not just in Reading.
Hand out about Student-Centered Leadership which I will need to get onto shortly and analyse.

We explored the different types of  leadership:
Transactional:
+ –exert influence by making a transaction – if I do this I will get..
basic management process of controlling, organising, and short-term planning. Transactional leadership involves motivating and directing followers primarily through appealing to their own self-interest. The power of transactional leaders comes from their formal authority and responsibility in the organisation. The main goal of the follower is to obey the instructions of the leader.

Transactional leaders link the goal to rewards, clarify expectations, provide necessary resources, set mutually agreed upon goals, and provide various kinds of rewards for successful performance. They set SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely) goals for their subordinates.

Transformational: Transformational Leadership starts with the development of a vision, a view of the future that will excite and convert potential followers. This vision may be developed by the leader, by the senior team or may emerge from a broad series of discussions. The important factor is the leader buys into it, hook, line and sinker.

Selling the vision Bringing on Board

The next step, which in fact never stops, is to constantly sell the vision. This takes energy and commitment, as few people will immediately buy into a radical vision, and some will join the show much more slowly than others. The Transformational Leader thus takes every opportunity and will use whatever works to convince others to climb on board the bandwagon.

In order to create followers, the Transformational Leader has to be very careful in creating trust, and their personal integrity is a critical part of the package that they are selling. In effect, they are selling themselves as well as the vision.

Pedagogical:

   Reason – desire to do right for the learning and teaching –‘moral obligation’
        -analysis of data for target pupils
          E-learning –how it engages learning
          -purposes for learning.
The deliberate, informed use of pedagogy is seen to cover a wider range of aspects of the teaching act than instruction, and represents a different way of looking at teaching and learning practices. Distinguishing between what is appropriate and what is less appropriate for children and what are appropriate ways of teaching and giving assistance to children and young people.
pedagogic leadership must take a broader view of the learning and teaching acts than instructional leadership, taking into account the 'Why?', 'How?' and 'When?' of learning, and not just the 'What is taught?' of instructional leadership. Pedagogic leadership is based on dialogue with learners - essential participants in the discussions about learning

Distributed:
Mobilising leadership at all levels in the organisation not just relying on leadership from the top. It is about engaging the many rather than the few in leadership activity within the school and actively distributing leadership practice. The emphasis here is about leadership practice and not leadership functions. A distributed model of leadership is one premised upon the interactions between many leaders rather than the actions of an individual leader. If leadership is primarily about influence and direction

·         Delegation

·         Giving responsibility

·         Deliberate strategy

·         How to delegate effectively –delgation is not dumping!

·         Responsibility

·         Accountability

·         Limitations

·         Clear framework around ‘must do’s’

·         Accountable for –the outcomes, processes, reporting –e.g. units in school.
Tim also discussed Grant Wiggins '7 Ways to Effective Feedback/ John Hattie
Summary of this article in my admin 2013 folder.