Leadership Profile

I have always been resistant to complacency and the status quo.  I have also been one to embrace change as, not only, an inevitability but a prevailing opportunity. Hence, I have always been drawn to situational and adaptive leadership models.  In terms of the mentor and mentee models such as these present an ever-open window into tailoring my approach as leader.   Depending on the systemic and structural needs of the organization I’ve worked with and the needs and capabilities those I work with I can adjust my approach accordingly.

I believe it is vital that we adapt our approaches to each unique situation with unique solutions.  This inherently leads to strong mentorship which is how I see leadership. The positive aspects of strong mentorship, both in terms of philosophy and implementations have numerous positive outcomes.  Clutterbuck (2009) lists four specific benefits on an organizational level: Retention, commitment, performance and recruitment.  The key to seeing these benefits however means a dedication to, “Raising the competence of all employees, particularly those in management positions, to coach/mentor and be coached/mentored, so that these behaviors become endemic within the culture.” (pg. 494)

Situational Leadership Model

(Northhouse, 2016)

Adaptive Mentorship Model

(Ralph, 2010)

I can best describe my role model in leadership by speaking about her using the categories that Northouse (2016) uses to define leadership.

“(a) Leadership is a process:” Sharon demonstrated this from the first day I met her.  There was little doubt that she possessed many traits we imagine leaders to have but at no point did she impose her will upon her staff.  Instead, she quickly made it clear that her vision would be a collaborative effort.  Her admin teams ensured that everyone’s voice would be heard and she established committees to give everyone a role in the betterment of the school.  From social committees to technology committees, everyone played a part in enhancing the life of students at the school.  At no point did people feel out of the loop and even though she pushed for inquiry, she made sure everyone was engaged in it at their comfort level, everyone felt they had a voice in raising concerns.

(b) leadership involves influence: Good heavens, she was good at this.  One of the committees she began was a Reggio Committee where teachers were encourage to “Consider the Walls”.  This committee was not mandatory but with the help of a small coalition of the willing very soon the walls and rooms of the school began to take life.  The displays of the Jody’s and Katie’s of this committee got everyone talking, recognizing the inherent value in the philosophy and soon everyone was beautifying their walls. Even I was switching to brown paper and scrapping the store bought class decorations. That is just one, tiny example how she used influence, not coercion.

(c) leadership occurs in groups: As mentioned, everyone was in one committee or another.  This gave leadership opportunities to those that would not have expected it, created a dialogue amongst all members of the staff and reduced, if not outright eliminated the tendency of some teachers to isolate themselves.  I was a prime example of this; having recognized my strengths for ideas generations and planning but my short comings in sociability, she quickly placed me as team lead in grade 6 and did not let me teach alone.  I frequently hand new teachers working with me in my classroom.  This was hard for me at times… but very beneficial.

(d) leadership involves common goals: We had a goal, one goal.  To increase student success at our school.  This, of course, was supported by many serving goals such as increasing student engagement or literacy, creating a safe working environment or increase access to technology. Regardless of the little goals she made our ultimate one very clear. That kind of ‘destination’ makes any ship easier to steer in turbulent waters.

The question of “Who is the Indigenous community you represent?” is difficult for me to answer as I do not represent any indigenous community but I do reside within the boarders of the Treaty 7 peoples.  This includes the Blackfoot confederacy which is comprised of the Siksika, Piikanii and Kaiinai First Nations.  As well as the Tsuut’ina and Stoney Nakoda First Nations.  This area is also home to the Metis nation of Region III.   While I do not represent these people (beyond being a Settler-Ally) my commitment is to their wellbeing on a micro and marco level.  As a teacher with the CBE I have had a few students that identify as being from those groups mentioned above and it has been a pleasure and sometimes challenge to work with them.  On a broader level, my commitment is the Calgary Board of Education’s commitment as laid out in the 3 year plan.

The changes that need to occur in order to improve educational outcomes for Indigenous Peoples who I currently work are addressed in the three plan above. They changes I would like most to see come to fruition are outlined in the Priorites section:

• Cultivating a Balanced and Respectful Relationships Cultivating a balanced and respectful relationship between Indigenous knowledge systems and existing the education systems they work with in how we think about and do everything.
• Advancing Culturally Responsive Instructional Design & Assessment: Honouring Indigenous knowledge systems, languages and histories through responsive learning environments and instructional design & assessment for the benefit of all students.
• Advancing System-Wide Learning: Ensuring staff are knowledgeable, understanding and respectful of the strength and diversity of First Nations, Metis and Inuit; the implications of treaties and agreements with First Nations and Metis; the history and legacy of residential schools.
• Building Respectful Working Relationships with Community: Working with community from the very beginning as part of how we think about and d

How do Indigenous Peoples themselves value the work I do? To be perfectly frank I don’t think the work I have done has been sufficient enough to warrant it being valued. That’s not to downplay the work that I have done but what has been done has been very surface level.  I have led PD on residential schools and designed an approach that blend Indigenous Ways of Learning and Design Thinking.  However, that has been mostly confined to academic and pedagogical circles… what lasting or resonating effect it has had is not apparent, at this time.  I do not believe that what I have done has been a benefit to Indigenous Peoples as It has not reached them.  My question, therefore is, how can I take what I have done and:

1. Connect with indigenous leaders and elders to strengthen it?
2. Connect my work Indigenous people in a meaningful way
3. Diffuse my work to grow the Settler-Ally Population?

Sources

Clutterbuck, D. (2009). Coaching and Mentoring in Support of Management Development. In Armstrong, S. & Fukami, C (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Management Learning, Education and Development (pp. 476-496). London, ON Sage Publications.

Linsky, M. (2011, Apr 13) Adaptive Leadership – Adapting Change retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af-cSvnEExM&feature=youtu.be

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Ralph E. & Walker, K. (2010, Spring). Enhancing Mentors’ Effectiveness: The promise of the Adaptive Mentorship© model. McGill Journal of Education, Volume 45(2), 205-218.

http://cambridge-leadership.com/adaptive-leadership/

https://www.cbe.ab.ca/FormsManuals/Three-Year-Education-Plan.pdf

Opening Those Doors

 

Earlier in this blog I brought up the notion of putting in cameras in classrooms and it was clear that this was not a wholly welcome idea. Through discussions, many people stated that they would be comfortable with cameras in the classroom if there was a) control over the content and b) it was used as a tool for teacher feedback.

This got me thinking about the collaboration. Sharon Friesen (2009) states that:

“For far too long, teachers have worked in isolated classrooms with only brief interludes in the staffroom to discuss professional learning. Research is clear, however, that teachers improve their practice and hence, their effectiveness, in the company of their peers.

Recent findings about top-performing school systems in the world support the notion that learning improves when teacher learning happens in the classroom, teacher leadership receives consistent support, and teachers have opportunities to learn from one another (McKinsey & Company, 2007). It is critical for teachers to have a familiarity with one another’s work that comes with frequent conversations of a professional nature centered on the work, access to each other’s classrooms, and collaborative planning time. It is also very clear that as self-reflective as a teacher may be, receiving constructive feedback from one’s peers is imperative in order to improve teaching.”

 

Indeed, Perez (2015) recognizes this too, “The key to strong collaboration is recognizing that a student shouldn’t be the responsibility of only one teacher, but of all teachers.”

We cannot innovate in a vacuum. There are too many closed doors in education; yes, this is an anecdotal statement, one that cannot be construed as evidence, but there are too many closed doors nonetheless. As educators we must be collaborators. For some readers, this comes a big, ho-hum and just uttered a “well-duh!” But for others, that word is a source of discomfort. It makes some teachers uneasy for a variety of reasons. Perhaps they feel it is too time consuming, or it allows for ideas to get bogged down in discussion. They might even feel intimidated working with certain individuals or put-off by certain personality types. Or maybe they are just worried that they will be judged and dislike the scrutiny that collaboration and an open door might bring.

So for those of us that have had a hard with collaboration let us bring up some of the pros, the benefits, the positives, the happy sprinkles that come with it.

• New Ideas: I love seeing something I never have before! When I see another teacher do something amazing I want to emulate it; envy has no place in my practice. If a teacher is doing something wonderful I want to find out how the entire process works and I want to try it too. It’s encouraging to see teachers come to you and ask “what are they doing? That looks so cool?” Collaboration opens you up to new ideas but it doesn’t make you beholden to them.
• Makes you Aware of the “Why”: When you collaborate, you become more aware of what you are doing and why you are doing it. If you have to explain to a grade team partner why your kids are coloring maps of south America and they pose a few questions it might make you wonder about the authenticity of your task and the academic rigor you are infusing into the students’’ learning.
• Moves your Practice Forward: Sometimes are forced to work with weak teachers or sometimes great teachers have weak ideas. And there is nothing wrong with that! Sometimes its great to see what “not to do!” no matter who you work with, collaborating will make you a better teacher. Even if it makes you uncomfortable, it will make you better. You will see and hear revolutionary ideas and you will experience what you have to avoid. Trust me, there was nothing that made me dislike textbooks more than watching my neighbour teacher use them everyday for 1 hour a day where students sometimes took turns reading out loud. If you think there is nothing wrong with that you have never observed it as an outsider.
• Relationships: Collaboration nurtures relationships. But not only relationships to other teachers but relationships with the students and relationships with the subject matter itself. Collaboration can seem daunting, but the majority of those that do it effectively find it useful.

“Nearly all teachers (90%) report that their collaboration was helpful and the extent of their collaboration ranged from a mean score of 2.51 to 3.06 on a 4-point scale.” (Killion, 2015)

• Students Benefit: With better ideas, stronger concepts and a more firm idea of WHY you are doing what you are doing, that will transpose itself to your students.   They will be more engaged and retain more of what they learn, I believe this.
• Reinvigorates You: You will learn to shit or get off the pot. Seeing what others are doing, exploring the literature and seeing the evidence of better practice you will see how exciting it can be to take risk. You will see what fascinating work you can do with your students and come home each night jazzed to talk about what your kids did in school today instead of coming home with another tote bag full of marking. Or… you will resist, complain, drag those heels and watch the dust cloud grow before you as you shake your fist at those of us not doing daily spelling words.
• Culture: When the staff at a school collaborate the work in the classrooms becomes a unified experience. It makes it less likely for parents to look “over the fence” to see what the other kids are doing. Collaboration mitigates parents asking why their child doesn’t’ get to do this or get to do that. This has been a common complaint I’ve heard in my time as learning leader. Parents get envious when they see other kids come home with mind-blowing examples of work or understanding and their kid comes home with a math page.

References:

Killion, J. (2015, October). High-quality collaboration benefits teachers and students. Retrieved from: https://learningforward.org/docs/default-source/jsd-october-2015/high-quality-collaboration-benefits-teachers-and-students.pdf

Friesen, S. (2009). What did you do in school today? Teaching Effectiveness: A Framework and Rubric. Toronto: Canadian Education Association

Perez, J. (2015, Jan 7). Taking the Doors Off the Classroom Through Collaboration. Retrieved from: from:http://www.hotchalkeducationnetwork.com/collaboration-with-purpose/

 

 

More on Monkman

Kent Monkman

Kent Monkman, Struggle for Balance 2013.

At the Glenbow museum, in Calgary, there is a temporary exhibition called “Shame and Prejudice: A story of Resilience” The artist, Kent Monkman clearly has a story to tell and it’s a story that needs to be heard.  Each room is a chapter, a chapter told by massive hanging canvases, posed mannequins, artifacts, sculptures and an assortment of primary document. Each chapter takes a bite the notion that Canada is 150 years old.

The exhibit explores the First Nations experience of European conquest.   He uses common artistic styles and tropes and infuses them with the perspective of an Aboriginal person. It ranges from being a scathing critique to a tongue-in-cheek wink at the old white dudes that “made” our country.

Kent Monkman, The Subjugation of Truth, 2016

Kent Monkman is a Canadian artist of Cree descent. He is visual and performance artist that works in various mediums. He has had many solo exhibitions in the US, Canada and Europe. He known for mixing disparate genres and his current one “Shame and Prejudice” does this exquisitely.

 

Kent Monkman is also an advocate and provocateur when it comes to gender identity. A lot of his work deals with the dominant and submissive which sometimes includes gender. In his work you might see his time traveling alter ego, Miss Chief Eagle Testickle (Mischief egotistical) placed in situations that you would never expect a trans person to be in attendance. Monkman creates space for not only his own queer identity, but all marginalized peoples by focusing on “the silencing of alternative gender traditions” He deploys trickster methods, “a central figure in Native storytelling, the trickster is a mischievous rebel, a jester who consistently challenges authority and is unbound by the rules of time”. (Bick, 2014)

My personal favorite is the piece where she shows up naked in front of the founding fathers.

Kent Monkman, The Daddies, 2016

Monkman is truly an innovative artist, one that needs more exposure. It is amazing to see someone create work that has not been done before, that isn’t a clone of what was done the in the past.   I’m no artist and no art critic, but it seems to me that once an artist innovates something new there is always a wave of copycats and ‘movement’ follows. If we as teachers do the same thing, then we begin to stagnate; perhaps we need a couple of teachers to do something innovative and we need to see it shared.

References

Bick, M. (2014–2015). Adapting the Language of Postcolonial Subjectivity: Mimicry and the Subversive Art of Kent Monkman. Salem State University.

Whyte, M. (2017, Jan 22) Kentmonkman Fills in the Blanks in Canadian History. Retrieved from https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/visualarts/2017/01/22/kent-monkman-fills-in-historys-blanks-with-humour-and-horror.html

Morgan-Feir, C. (2017, Jan 26). Kent Monkman: History Painting for a Colonized Canada. Retrieved from: http://canadianart.ca/features/kent-monkman-critiques-canada-150/

 

The Current Event

The events that unfolded this week in Charlottesville, VA should boils anyone’s blood.  Regardless of where you stand on the issue, and I’m assuming most disagree or oppose people like Justin Moore who is “glad that girl died.” you will have some feeling towards these events.  Unless you live under a rock.

The girl Justin Moore, a grand wizard (cute title, I myself am working towards my level 3 unicorn pony)  is referring to is Heather Hayer, a woman that was run over by a white nationalist that plowed his car into a group of anti protesters.

This post is not meant to educate you on what happened.  You can read some of the following articles:

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-charlottesville-witnesses-20170815-story.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/local/charlottesville-timeline/?utm_term=.efca0a10792d

or watch this John Oliver Video.

No, the purpose of this blog is call all of those in classrooms to start or continue dialogues about what happened.  Yes, Kindergarten might be too young, but it’s not too young to talk about bigotry, hatred and ignorance.  At most levels, in most classrooms, we can begin some kind of dialogue about what happened.  We can dissect the sequence of events and the antecedents.   We can try to understand why a group of white nationalists would organize such a rally and we can scrutinize what their president’s reaction was.   I know in September this is the first thing I would be bringing up.  No hesitation.  Yes, I will/could have some angry parents but the curriculum in my province gives me the power to discuss current events.

In my experience, and from expertise of those such as Maureen Brogan, a coordinator for the Traumatic Loss Coalitions for Youths, there are things we can do when discussing such sensitive but important topics:

1. Read the room:  Watch for stress and anxiety that might crop up.  You cannot stand on your pulpit and lecture while ignoring what is happening to those that are listening to you. watch for signs of discomfort such as frequent bathroom visits or sore stomachs.
2. Empower with Trust: Preface such topics with a conversation about how students should find someone they trust to talk about these issues.  That can be the teachers, an extended family member or a coach etc. Tell them that what they might here will be difficult but as long as they have some trusted adults they can turn to, such talks are less traumatic.
3. Allow them to leave:  I’ve done this every time i bring up sensitive subjects.  I tell the students, that if they get upset, during this time, they are free to leave and have a seat outside the classroom with no repercussions and no judgements.  I have never had a student leave.
4. Model Non judgement: It is easy to get mad, use name and let our bias show.  Believe me, I wish i could write what i think about some of the people that did this.  But with our students, who have not yet learned how to temper their judgement and opinion, we must show them how.  Remain calm, continually ask questions and always explore both sides of the issue… even if it pains you to do so.
5. Embrace your ignorance: It’s ok to say,  “I don’t know.”

References

http://news.rutgers.edu/qa/how-talk-kids-about-traumatic-events/20160921#.WZOyand96Rs