Learning for You
Activity 1: Committing to building personal leadership capacity
Read and share
Reflect on your learning in your journal
Plan for the next step in your learning
Activity 2: Committing to building teacher leadership capacity
The best leaders are those that build a team that has the self belief and commitment to continue the work of improving 21st century student learning. Strategies like shadowing, mentoring and coaching are all positive and effective ways to build this focussed leadership. What is also relevant is that leaders also benefit when they support the learning of others using strategies such as modeling and mentoring combined with reflection.
4. Share your goal and supporting strategies with your active learning partners. Can you refine your goal and strategy as a result of sharing?
Activity 3: Committing to building student leadership capacity
The most effective innovations have community support. In schools this means students as well as teachers. John Dewey wrote about it in Democracy in Education (1916) and yet student leadership and their contribution to decision making can all too often simply be token gestures.This student leadership is even more relevant today when we are moving to implementing 21st century learning as a tool to improve learning outcomes for all students. At the least, students must understand the shared vision and the social/moral imperative that underpins the change. If they know where they are going they will also need to know what this will mean for students generally and for them in particular. Overtime it is critical that students become full partners in the change process and teachers are enthusiastic contributors to this partnership. When this is achieved the whole school can be motivated and inspired.
One approach is shown below:
Level 1 Communication and consultation
Level 2 Partnerships
Questions to get you thinking about student leadership:
A useful resource for this section is Making Change Happen which can be accessed by clicking here
Activity 4: Committing to building team leadership capacity for embedding school innovation
Now the question is: As a team how will we take all our classrooms to the next level in 21st century learning skills? This means involving all students as well as teachers.
Building a collaborative culture that will shape the future
This is the time for the project to be truly collaborative and inclusive of all as they work together. You have built your skills and knowledge and most importantly you have learned first hand that the collective wisdom of the team is greater than the sum of the parts. You have worked through challenging issues together so you have built trust and will be aware of the strengths and needs of your team and team members.You can use this knowledge to build an agreement that will shape your focus and how you work over the next year. An effective agreement with provide the clarity around vision and process that will minimise the conflict and maximise cohesion and focus on 21st century learning. This is essential because when you are being innovative you need to work in open, honest and creative ways. You need to have the courage to think and act outside your comfort zone. A variety of perspectives and ways of seeing will be essential.
Develop an agreement about the way you will work together as a team.
Your agreement may include such things as:
Record your process and reflections in your journal.
Activity 5: Bringing it all together-embedding innovation and change
Now the question is As a team how will we take all our classrooms to the next level in 21st century learning skills? This means involving all students as well as teachers.
What do you have to assist you?
Now you have to take this learning to the next level as you strengthen and embed the 21st century learning culture in your school. Design your own learning process that identifies the next steps and includes the necessary learning plan. Record your thinking and progress in your journal
Here are some suggestions that you may consider:
Share your final plan with the whole school community. Make a shared commitment to continue to revisit ,refine and share the plan at regular points in the program.
Read and share
- Before completing the reflective activities, identify 3 leadership articles to read. You can check the resources section section and your network colleagues for current suggestions.
Reflect on your learning in your journal
- Think about your leadership and learning experiences over the last 12 months or so as you implemented change. Look at the leadership model presented in the Essential questions section. How does this align with your understanding and experience? What would you add or change to reflect your deeper understanding of your role as leader?
- What are you and the team most proud of in relation to achievements?What learning have you taken from this? How will that effect the next cycle of your innovation?
Plan for the next step in your learning
- Identify your possible future learning goals. Consider both skills (eg advanced questioning and listening skills) and knowledge ( building for growth and sustainability) when you are identifying your possible goals. Which goal/s would have the greatest impact on your future leadership?
- Set one goal for your next phase of learning.
Activity 2: Committing to building teacher leadership capacity
The best leaders are those that build a team that has the self belief and commitment to continue the work of improving 21st century student learning. Strategies like shadowing, mentoring and coaching are all positive and effective ways to build this focussed leadership. What is also relevant is that leaders also benefit when they support the learning of others using strategies such as modeling and mentoring combined with reflection.
- Go back and review your reading and reflections in activity 1 in preparation for this learning.
- Consider these questions:
- How can you identify potential leaders and support them to grow? How will you approach and engage them?
- What strategies can you explore as you seek ways to ensure that the keen teachers from the previous cycles become the leaders of the next cycle of innovation?
- How can you encourage other leaders in your team to join as coaches?
4. Share your goal and supporting strategies with your active learning partners. Can you refine your goal and strategy as a result of sharing?
Activity 3: Committing to building student leadership capacity
The most effective innovations have community support. In schools this means students as well as teachers. John Dewey wrote about it in Democracy in Education (1916) and yet student leadership and their contribution to decision making can all too often simply be token gestures.This student leadership is even more relevant today when we are moving to implementing 21st century learning as a tool to improve learning outcomes for all students. At the least, students must understand the shared vision and the social/moral imperative that underpins the change. If they know where they are going they will also need to know what this will mean for students generally and for them in particular. Overtime it is critical that students become full partners in the change process and teachers are enthusiastic contributors to this partnership. When this is achieved the whole school can be motivated and inspired.
One approach is shown below:
Level 1 Communication and consultation
- Students understand what is happening and why.
- Students know how this will impact on classrooms.
- Students understand what is expected of them.
- Student leaders take a lead role in all aspects of communication and consultation.
Level 2 Partnerships
- Students believe that they are valued members of the school community
- Students are committed to the change processes
- Students are partners in identifying the vision.
- Students share responsibility for communication and decision making
- Students act to make change happen in classrooms
Questions to get you thinking about student leadership:
- Where is your school now?
- Where do you want to be in 12 months time?
- What is your first step in getting there?
- What else would you need to do?
- What are the enablers?
- What are the blockages?
- How can you make this a successful transition?
A useful resource for this section is Making Change Happen which can be accessed by clicking here
Activity 4: Committing to building team leadership capacity for embedding school innovation
Now the question is: As a team how will we take all our classrooms to the next level in 21st century learning skills? This means involving all students as well as teachers.
Building a collaborative culture that will shape the future
This is the time for the project to be truly collaborative and inclusive of all as they work together. You have built your skills and knowledge and most importantly you have learned first hand that the collective wisdom of the team is greater than the sum of the parts. You have worked through challenging issues together so you have built trust and will be aware of the strengths and needs of your team and team members.You can use this knowledge to build an agreement that will shape your focus and how you work over the next year. An effective agreement with provide the clarity around vision and process that will minimise the conflict and maximise cohesion and focus on 21st century learning. This is essential because when you are being innovative you need to work in open, honest and creative ways. You need to have the courage to think and act outside your comfort zone. A variety of perspectives and ways of seeing will be essential.
Develop an agreement about the way you will work together as a team.
Your agreement may include such things as:
- composition
- induction of new members
- leadership
- norms
- meeting frequency and duration
- meeting format
- decision making processes
- managing conflict
- communication
- issues that members identify
Record your process and reflections in your journal.
Activity 5: Bringing it all together-embedding innovation and change
Now the question is As a team how will we take all our classrooms to the next level in 21st century learning skills? This means involving all students as well as teachers.
What do you have to assist you?
- You have worked through capacity building strategies for all of your teachers, leaders, students and teams.
- You have the recommendations from the previous cycle of innovation and change. Were these recommendations around 21st century learning? What still needs to happen? Consider focus areas and strategies as you consider what changes in practice need to occur.
- You have a deep understanding of what is needed to lead school innovation and change and to ensure growth and sustainability.
Now you have to take this learning to the next level as you strengthen and embed the 21st century learning culture in your school. Design your own learning process that identifies the next steps and includes the necessary learning plan. Record your thinking and progress in your journal
Here are some suggestions that you may consider:
- Deepening your shared understanding. Collaboratively build your own charter of understanding of what 21st century learning looks like in classrooms. What will teachers/leaders be doing? What will students be doing? What are you doing? What does the environment look like and how does it support 21st century learning?
- Refine your plan. How do you and the team know where you are in the journey? What change in practice has been achieved? What are your students demonstrating and saying? What are your teachers demonstrating and saying? What still needs to be done to take all classrooms to the next level?
- Prepare to act. Becoming whole school practice-here you and the team refine the strategy and commit to practice for all classrooms to be 21st century teaching and learning environments. What is the role of students in the learning journey? What processes( such as coaching) need to be expanded or rethought?
Share your final plan with the whole school community. Make a shared commitment to continue to revisit ,refine and share the plan at regular points in the program.