My Learning and Leadership this School Year

It has been a great school year for me. In my role as a re-engagement teacher I got to visit and work at many different schools, meet lots of new people, and teach a lot of awesome kids. 

I collaborated my guts out - in a very different way that how I did it when I was a classroom teacher. 

I communicated with many people, in a variety of ways.

I had to think critically about many different and difficult situations which lead to innovative and creative solutions (some worked and some didn't).

I was constantly learning. Learning about policies and procedures, culture (big c and small c), how the "system" works (or at least how it is perceived to work), mental health, and about myself. 

I grew in my Faith as I talked the talk and walked the walk. I made a point of being aware of my spirituality and made it a priority. Keeping my faith front and center helped ME and made me a better teacher for my students, consultant for the teachers I worked with, and a guide for parents.

I led. Using the Catholic School Level Leadership Framework as my guide, I took every opportunity to lead and learn more about leadership. 

In terms of setting directions, I was part of a small team (we called ourselves the Unicorn Sqaud) that created the framework for our Board's re-engagement initiative. We identified short and long term goals, created high expectations for ourselves, and communicated our vision and goals to those we worked with and served. Using Ministry expectations, we established processes that would maximize resources and help students out in the best possible ways.

With respect to building relationships and developing people, I provided support and demonstrated consideration for the staff members I worked with, modeled the values and practices that consider what is best for student learning and well being, and built trusting relationships with and among students, staff, and parents.

In terms of developing the organization to support desired practices, I helped build a collaborative culture with the staff I worked with, worked with people in a way that demonstrated the value I place on their thoughts and opinions to help build collaborative practice, established productive relationships with families and other stakeholder in the educational community, and maintained my presence and involvement as a safe and healthy one. 

With respect to improving the instructional program, I provided teachers and parents with instructional support, monitored progress of student learning and improvement, and communicated effective relevant information about effective programming to students, teachers, and parents. 

In terms of securing accountability, I continued to build a sense of internal accountability in myself with respect to how I managed my professional time and ensured that when I was not satisfied with my work I would consult with my co-workers, supervisor, and mentors in order to find satisfaction and pride. When it comes to meeting the demands for external accountability, I provided the appropriate reports to my Principal and Supervisory Officer when requested to do so. Also, I shared my plans and process with people connected to the students I was working with - the students themselves, classroom teachers, special education teachers, guidance counsellors, vice principals, principals, and parents. 

It was an amazing year of learning and leading. I worked with students in grades 7-12 this year and look forward to continuing to work as a re-engagement teacher next year working with students in grade 7-9.

A successful school year, in no small part due to the support of my wife and children, my mentors Principal Carla Santomero and Principal Paul Gladding, and Father Cruz, pastor at St. John's Catholic Church.

Leadership During a Pandemic

The Covid-19 Pandemic has really flipped our way of living upside down.

It started on the other side of the world and has ended up in our backyard, literally. The way we live and operate day to day has changed and continues to change at a fast pace. The last time I was with people, other than my family, was March 13. It was announced on March 12 that schools would be closed for an additional two weeks after the March break ended. With those measures, we were to return to school on March 30. Today is April 13 and we have been told that we may return to school on May 4th.

In addition to getting used to teaching my class in a completely different way, I have been paying close attention to the leaders around me and how I can lead in small 'l' ways as we embark on a journey that has never been done before.

I have been thinking about and reflecting on the actions of my Principals. They have both been great at keeping us informed and connected. We have had several online staff meetings and some social ones as well. They have been bringing us together to keep us up to date about what is happening in our Board and they have provided us with optional social meetings where we can gather to talk and hang out. They have not faltered and they have not shied away from their leadership responsibilities.

In fact, as I consider the Catholic Leadership Framework and how my principals have been operating, I can say that their words and actions align with all five of the pillars of the leadership framework. Here are some examples:

1. Setting Directions: they have been building a vision of what our work will look like, establishing short term goals, and communicating with us.

2. Building Relationships and Developing People: they have been providing us with a time and place (digital) to get together and share our thoughts/feelings, have been empowering staff to share best practices and to learn more about tools and strategies that may meet their needs.

3. Developing the organization to support desired practices: they have been building collaborative cultures and distributing leadership, assisting us in continuing to improve our relationships with families and the community, and providing us with information on resources that may be valuable to us at this time.

4. Improving the Instructional Program: they have been staffing the school - we have had teachers return from maternity leave and they hired a new teacher for one that just retired, providing instructional support, and buffering staff from possible distractions from their work.

5. Securing Accountability: they have been building the staff members sense of internal accountability and meeting the demands for external accountability.

They have been, and continue to be, great examples for me as they do their work. As they lead, I can see that they meet the expectations of the framework as well as meet staff members where they are at and offer them a helping hand to continue to develop as educators and leaders (formal and informal).

As I observe them, I consider how I am leading at this time. I certainly follow their lead, but outside of their direct influence, what I am doing to lead? How do my words and actions fit within the leadership framework? As an aspiring formal leader, these questions are important for me to consider and to act upon. When I reflect on my thoughts and actions during this pandemic, I can make connections to the leadership framework as well as consider next steps to work on meeting expectations within the framework. Here are some examples of how I have been leading within the framework:

1. Setting Directions: I have been working hard with my colleagues and myself in order to set short term goals that facilitate a positive learning environment for my students while setting professional goals for myself and assisting my colleagues in doing the same for themselves.

2. Building Relationships and Developing People: I have been connecting with and helping out staff members at my school and other schools who have reached out for support and guidance. This has brought me great joy and has presented me with a collaborative model to problem solve. The best of both worlds as we work to meet our student's needs during this unprecedented time.

3. Developing the organization to support desired practices: I have initiated and joined in on collaborative ventures where leadership is distributed based on participant interest and skill set, I am aware of and working towards continuing to build positive relationships with my families and the greater community using digital means.

4.  Improving the Instructional Program: I have been researching and implementing digital practices in order to help lead my students and colleagues to success, and I am paying close attention to the progress my students have been making in order to provide them with feedback that will take them from where they are and move them forward.

5. Securing Accountability: I have been reaching out to the parents of my students and providing them with my role in our new learning environment, I communicate my expectations to my students and keep them informed on the expectations I have for myself with respect to my availability to them, and what I will be doing to support their learning and well being.

As we continue to live and learn each day during this pandemic, I will be keeping my eyes and ears open on the leaders around me. My perspective on this time is that this is a wonderful opportunity to learn and grow as a leader - acquire new perspectives and skill sets - that will benefit my growth and that of the people around me, today and in the future.

Connect and Work Together

I see my leadership journey as a marathon, not a sprint. My thoughts and actions are geared towards a long term goal but because of this fact I don't always give it the time it deserves. I am fortunate to have a colleague in the same building that has a similar goal but I feel like more is needed to keep me engaged and aware of my thoughts and actions and how they can be viewed through the lens of the Catholic Leadership Framework.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the people I know in my school board who are interested in formal leadership. I took some time today to think about why I haven't reached out to them to talk leadership and engage in discussions that can benefit all of us with respect to our work and development as leaders. This thought led to action as I contacted several colleagues and asked them if they wanted to participate in discussions around leadership by examining leadership literature (articles/readings), the use 21st Century tools to connect and grow our professional learning community, and examining our portfolios to prompt further discussion and growth.  

I believe that participating in this type of learning community can benefit my practice, the practice of my colleagues, and our school board by meeting the following Catholic Leadership Framework expectations:

• establish, in collaboration with staff and other stakeholders, a commitment to purpose and vision which is embedded in the Gospel and energizes our work
• help staff and diverse stakeholders understand the relationship between the school’s vision and board and provincial policy initiatives and priorities
• regularly encourage staff to evaluate their progress toward achieving the school’s goals (sipsa/bipsa)
• encourage staff to develop and periodically review individual goals for professional growth, as well as the relationship between their individual goals and the school’s goals (sipsa/bipsa)
• model collaboration in our work
• help staff (colleagues) make connections between school goals and ministry goals in order to strengthen commitment to school improvement efforts

The above expectations will provide us with a great start! I am excited to see what comes from our learning as we start our leadership learning experience.

Instructional Rounds = Instructional and Leadership Opportunities

My colleagues and I recently experienced what is known as instructional rounds, which is a process adapted from the medical rounds model that doctors use in hospitals. Instructional Rounds help educators look closely at what is happening in classrooms in a systematic, purposeful, and focused way. The classroom observation is viewed through the lens of the school's problem of practice and is often framed as a question around which a site wants to gather some data. 

Almost all of the teachers, as well as the administrator, participate in the rounds. In small groups, teachers visit their colleague's classrooms for 30 minutes each, looking for evidence related to the problem of practice. One of the most challenging aspects with Rounds is that evidence being collected must be observational and non-judgmental. When visiting classes, we took notes on what the students and teacher were doing with respect to the information provided in the lesson plan posted in and out of the room for our reference. Below is an example of what my teaching partner and I provided to the team that observed our classes.

Can Observers speak to students (during the task)?     Yes     

Big Idea/Inquiry Questions	Making Connections
Learning Goal and Success Criteria	Learning Goal:  Students will provide evidence from the text to support their connection Success Criteria: Identify key words/phrases from the text that help make their connection. Orally communicate their connection to peer/teacher Integrate evidence from the text and their own experience.
Learning Task	Make deep connections to non-fiction text using evidence from the text and their schema.
Assessment (For, As, Of Learning)	“Of Learning” -  Examine how well the students were able to meet the success criteria by reviewing their graphic organizer and conferencing with them.

At the end of the day, the observation team gathered to talk about our observations with the ultimate goal of recommending what we believe should continue to occur at our school, what should stop occurring, and what we could start doing as a school in order to address our problem of practice.

The two and a half days that we spent working on this was time well spent. My favourite part has been the time spent after school debriefing teachers after the days observations and all the rich talk and action that has come from the two and a half days of instructional rounds. 

Throughout this process, I have been paying attention to the instructional and leadership perspectives that have presented themselves. From an instructional perspective, I have been paying attention to and focusing on the amazing things my colleagues are doing with their students and what I can take from my observations to improve my practice. From a leadership perspective, I am aware of the Catholic Leadership Framework and expectations that connect to what I am doing as a member of my school community. 

Upon reflection of my role in the instructional rounds process, and its aftermath, here are the some expectations that I find myself engaged in:

• building understanding of the specific implications of the school’s vision for its programs and the nature of classroom instruction (Setting Directions)
• regularly encouraging staff (and them encouraging me) to evaluate their progress toward achieving the school’s goals (Setting Directions)
• encouraging staff to be innovative in helping students meet those expectations (Setting Directions)
• encouraging staff to reflect on what they are trying to achieve with students and how they are doing it (Building Relationships and Developing People)
•  suggesting new ideas for staff learning (Building Relationships and Developing People)
•  encouraging staff to try new practices that are consistent with both their interests and school goals (Building Relationships and Developing People)
• model collaboration in my own work (Developing the Organization to Support Desired Practices)
• collecting and using data about the status of those classroom and school conditions that are the focus of the school improvement efforts (Improving the Instructional Program)

From my perspective, my colleagues are as engaged in the leadership expectations listed above as I am. Perhaps they don't see it the same way that I do but due to the nature of the instructional rounds the culture is changing at the school and people seem to have a heightened awareness around collaboration and innovation in order to positively impact teaching and learning. 

I enjoy engaging my colleagues in dialogue around the purpose of the work we are doing, suggesting new and exciting ways to do the work (e.g. technology integration), and to get things done in a safe and collaborative fashion. The instructional rounds experience has helped put me on a path where the discussions and work I find myself having and doing comes from a common goal that my colleagues and I are working toward. As we continue to work toward our school's vision/goals I will continue to look for and engage in instructional and leadership opportunities that will assist in my personal and professional development.  

Conflict: Buffering the Ill Effects and Highlighting the Positives

Whether you like it or not, conflict exists all over the place. Big, small, near, far, long lasting, short lasting, between friends, co-workers, family members, strangers, and within yourself. It seems to be unavoidable. Some people like it and some people hate it. Conflict can bring about positive change and it can also destroy productive change. No matter what your preference is for it, it is a constant in life.

I have been meaning to write about conflict for some time now as it relates to leadership, particularly in the context of Education. Once I realized that I wanted to move forward in this direction I referred to the Catholic Leadership Framework to look at how it deals with/addresses conflict. After some time reviewing the Framework I learned that it doesn't overtly talk about conflict. Rather, it provides leaders and aspiring leaders with ingredients for peace and harmony. As I stated above, conflict is everywhere and will arise even when working for peace, but I believe the Framework's focus on collaborative leadership would benefit stakeholders when working through a conflict and I would go as far to say that its supportive focus would lead to creating environments where many conflicts would be avoided.  

Here is some of the language I read in the Framework that supports peace and harmony:  

• "in collaboration"
• "build understanding"
• "encourage"
• "facilitate"
• "include"
• "demonstrate respect" 
• "model"
• "actively engage"
• "be highly visible"
• "easily accessible"
• "acknowledge and celebrate"
• "consider opinions"
• "treat staff equitably"
• "foster mutual respect and trust"
• "willingness to compromise" 
• "distribute leadership"
• "maintain partnerships/connections"
• "communicate"
• "develop with staff"
• "regularly assess"
• "use multiple sources of evidence"
• "observe"
• "participate with..."
• "recruit & select educators" & "retain skilled educators"
• "promote collective responsibility" 

The list is lengthy, but the more the merrier. The Framework is full of "gold nuggets" that can provide school leaders with a perspective that is inclusive and positive. Leadership is not without its struggles but an optimistic, open, and proactive focus lends itself to successful outcomes for all stakeholders. 

As an aspiring school leader I am appreciative of having such a document to refer to as a guide to assist me in becoming a better Catholic educator and community member. I once viewed the Framework as a daunting text but now that I have had time to reflect on the language used in it to support such things as balance and coordination I am much more open to its intention and core values, which can be applied to anything I do professionally and personally.

I recognize that it is not enough to simply read a text and become aware of what I should be doing. I really wanted to find out what it is like to actually be a school leader and have to deal with conflict so I reached out to some current and former leaders in my system to ask them about their perspective on dealing with conflict. 

They were gracious in providing me with their perspective and "real time" experience. What they had to say was really neat because they all basically said the same things but with their own "twist" added on. All of them talked about being open, engaged, prepared, and appreciative. They recognize that conflict exists and will pop up, and although conflict is not fun (unless in a sporting contest) it is important to deal with it from a positive perspective and a willingness for peaceful win/win solutions (as much as possible). 

Having worked with the majority of these people I can speak from experience when I say that they are not "push overs". They have high expectations and want the best for their school communities but they know that they can't get their on their own, which brings me back to the Catholic Leadership Framework. After reading their perspectives and reflecting on my time working with them I went back to the language I mentioned above and wasn't surprised when I realized that they fit with and operate from a perspective of peace and harmony. It's no wonder that I respect them and seek their counsel. They are outstanding models for me and it is key that I continue to learn from them and seek out people like them to learn from and converse with. 

As I journey toward becoming a better learner and leader I will continue to strive to, and work toward, being an open minded, faith filled, and appreciative Catholic educator working from a foundation of peace and harmony. Conflict is inevitable, but building positive relationships and establishing myself as an open and appreciative team player can buffer the ill effects and heighten the benefits.