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.  

Cultivating a Servant's Habits and Sharing our Catholic Vision

After our last leadership session, I took the time to reflect upon the two following expectations from the Catholic Leadership Framework:

Building Relationships and Developing People
Building trusting relationships with and among staff, students and parents Catholic school leaders:
• create and sustain a caring Catholic school culture

Setting Directions
Communicating the vision and goals Catholic school leaders:
• ensure that a Catholic vision is clearly articulated, shared, understood, and acted upon

One of our readings for the session was highlighted in a reflective activity about 'cultivating a servant's habits'. The activity proved to be quite thought provoking for me. We have no better model than Jesus Christ when it comes to servant leadership and living a life that is God-centered. I may never be as focused and selfless as Jesus but I can certainly work towards moving closer to the ideal He gave to us. In our course text, Phelps provides us with nine habits that will help us refocus, recalibrate, and recommit ourselves on a daily basis in order to move closer to the ideal that Jesus provided us with:

• Practice solitude.
• Pray daily.
• Read Scripture.
• Worship and receive the sacraments regularly.
• Explore the lives and reflections of saints and Christian scholars.
• Consider sacramentals and devotions that flourish in the Church.
• Accept and model unconditional love.
• Serve others.
• Build community. 

For me, the nine habits mentioned above provide wonderful opportunities to create and sustain a caring Catholic school and ensure that our Catholic vision is clearly articulated, shared, understood and acted upon. As Catholic educators, we weave in and out of the habits that Phelps refers to. The key, as I understand it, is to make them part of our everyday lives. This is no small task, but like any other habit it takes time and commitment to build in routines.

Now that I have a good grip on what the habits are and why they are useful/powerful in helping me cultivate a servant's habits, I reflect on what I am currently doing and what I could start doing in order to benefit my school community. How can I further assist (because there are many amazing things in place already) my school community (staff, students, parents) in sustaining a caring environment with a Catholic vision that is understood and acted upon?

The first thing I think of is the Pastoral team at my school. I can check in with them to see if I can assist - if I can serve in a way that will encourage others to participate and possibly serve as well. For many years, at different schools, I have been a member of the Pastoral team. I feel like the experience I am going through right now is a call to return to that type of service in my current school.

The second thing I thought of is our school's social networking website (Edmodo) that we use to communicate announcements to our staff and students. It would be a great way to provide scripture that is relevant to what we are doing and links to Christian scholars and Saints. It is a small step that I can build into my life while providing staff and students an opportunity to adopt into their lives.

The third thing I thought of is the use of Twitter as a tool used to communicate to the masses. With the proliferation of technology, specifically mobile technologies, many people have access to such a simple yet powerful software that can keep them informed of our caring and Catholic vision through the use of photos, video, and text. I currently use Twitter 1) personally and professionally for my own sharing and learning, 2) I have an account for my class to keep parents informed of the real time learning that their children are experiencing, and 3) I tweet food for thought to help staff and students reflect on their faith journey from @WCDSBFaith. Our Catholic school system is valuable and I have found Twitter to be an excellent way to spread our unique and amazing vision of inclusion and achievement.

I have spoken to my Principal about the creation of a school account in order to share the wonderful things happening in our school and to be a model for others who are weary to adopt this type of practice. I'm pleased that he is interested and has it on his radar as he moves forward on his personal journey at our school.

I am always appreciative of the spark provided by the leadership program that ignites my reflection around my journey as a leader. This blog post reflection has offered me some great insight about what I am doing and what I can do in order to in order to align my practice with the Catholic leadership expectations. As we enter into Holy Week I see no better time than to focus in on how I can be more like Jesus by serve the people around me and shining His light on them.

 

Tough Conversations

I recently reflected on conflict and ideas on how to whether its ill effects. By no means am I anywhere near comfortable with conflict, but I think that awareness provides me with an opportunity to learn more about what I can do to deal with it effectively when it pops up.

Our last leadership session focused on having hard coaching conversations - which can come from or lead to conflict. It's a heavy duty topic in my opinion but an important one to address and discuss. One of the first things that was established was a point of view that can provide clarity and comfort around having tough conversations. If tough conversations are perceived as opportunities to foster growth and develop cognitive capacity then who wouldn't want to engage in such practices? The trick to all of this (if I can call it that) is/are the relationships we have with our colleagues and our students. A good relationship will certainly allow for a tough conversation to be interpreted as a caring or 'tough love' conversation that is meant to assist. A weak relationship leaves people feeling defensive and hurt. Again, we are reminded that building positive relationships is a key ingredient to any of our pursuits in life.

The key learning I take away from this portion of the leadership program revolves around what are referred to as "Tools for Coaching" - four ingredients (purpose, presence, rapport, pausing-paraphrasing) that can assist with hard conversations by reminding us that 1) all people have dignity and giftedness that allow them to make valuable contributions to their community; 2) we are made to exist in relationship with one another and that relationships require learning and growth; 3) institutions should serve people and not the other way around; and 4) lasting change comes from encouraging growth in others.

With this new learning we were encouraged to seek out opportunities to practice the skills, notice the how our interactions begin to change, refine our skills based on our reflections, and extend our skills.

Through the lens of the Catholic Leadership Framework, the following expectations stand out to me as I engage in building trusting relationships where tough conversations would be perceived as beneficial rather than harmful:

• encourage staff to be innovative in helping students meet expectations (setting directions)
• acknowledge and celebrate the accomplishments of individuals and teams (building relationships and developing people) 
• build upon and respond to individual staff members’ unique needs and expertise (building relationships and developing people) 
• foster mutual respect and trust among those involved in collaboration (developing the organization to support desired practices)
• encourage the collaborative development of group processes and outcomes (developing the organization to support desired practices)
• provide advice to teachers about how to solve classroom problems by supporting a solution-focused learning environment based on Catholic values (improving the instructional program)
• assess their own contributions to school achievements and take into account feedback from others on their performance (securing accountability)

The "Tools for Coaching" and the above mentioned expectations have been at the forefront of many of my interactions with my close colleagues. There have been some tough conversations - initiated by me and initiated by others towards me. I have found that having an understanding and awareness around this topic to be quite valuable. Combined with good working relationships, there is a lot of growth that seems to be benefiting everyone involved.

I have also been involved in difficult interactions where I didn't feel valued as a colleague. In those circumstances I initially felt upset and defensive. I found myself engaged in self talk about what I could do to lessen the ill effects of a tough conversation where  rapport and presence did not seem to be part of the equation. Interestingly enough, I found myself falling back on the habits of a servant and how I could salvage the situation. Luckily, I haven't found myself in too many of these situations but I have spent time reflecting on them and the positive that I could extract from them. 

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.

Driving down the 21st Century Teaching/Learning Road

Background/History

My school board is on an exciting adventure and I am happy to be part of it. Last year the WCDSB informed the community of its 21st Century Learning and Teaching Blueprint. The Blueprint provides our system with an outline of key student outcomes and the working groups that have been created to support the system (staff, students, and parents) in "Driving down the 21st Century Teaching/Learning road". 

As co-chair of the Social Media & Digital Citizenship working group I am part of an amazing team of staff members from a variety of positions in the Board. Last year we worked on identifying what needs to happen to assist our system in leveraging Social Media to benefit teaching/learning and produce responsible digital citizens. This year our task is to develop resources around the use of Social Media and to collaborate with the Religion/Family Consultant around digital citizenship connected to our Religion program.

Developing the Organization to Support Desired Practices

One of the major developments in our system to help us realize the outcomes and vision in our Blueprint involves the implementation and use of Google Apps for Education (GAFE). GAFE provides a wonderful set of tools that assist users with such things as productivity, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking. At the school level, staff and students are learning when it is appropriate to use the tools and how to effectively use them.

As a classroom teacher with experience and knowledge using GAFE with my students I have been working on

• educating my colleagues,
• inviting them to develop their understanding of GAFE, 
• supporting them on their learning journey, and 
• encouraging them to implement the use of it in their practice

This process is a dynamic one that takes on many forms, occurs in a variety of ways, and requires differentiation based on the needs of the learner. In order to help and support my colleagues as they embark on "driving down the 21st Century Teaching/Learning road" I have 

• facilitated 'lunch and learn' sessions, 
• met with staff individually in formal and informal capacities,  
• initiated Google Hangout sessions during and after school hours, and
• have had colleagues visit my classroom to see what 21st C learning might look like

Here are a couple of artifacts around our 'lunch and learn' sessions and Google Hangout that have been facilitated.

Google Slide prepared to give staff an idea of how they can use slides in an innovative way.

Email sent to staff to bring them together to activate their GAFE accounts.

Screenshot of the Google Hangout event:

Learning Along the Way

As I reflect upon the the practices I have mentioned above, the richness of my experiences and leadership comes from working with others and learning with and from them in order to benefit our practice and the learning of our students. Part of my reflection about my leadership involves looking at the Catholic Leadership Framework and seeing how my experiences connect with the framework and what I can do to grow as a leader. As I reviewed the framework I noticed that my experiences fit within a variety of pillars in the framework. With respect to this particular blog post it was the "Developing the Organization and Supporting Desired Practices" pillar that really caught my eye. I could really identify with and the practices listed in the 'Developing collaborative cultures and distributing leadership' sub section. It is affirming to know that the work I am doing in helping move the Board's 21st Century Learning and Teaching Blueprint forward in the system and my school has me engaged in practices that have been deemed important ones for Catholic school leaders. 

As I continue reflecting on and recording my actions and thoughts about my leadership journey I look forward to spending more time with the Catholic Leadership Framework to compare/contrast my mindset and practices with those listed in the framework. I anticipate a worthwhile learning experience as I discover alignment and conflict through the lens of the framework.

The Power of Self-Reflection

I recently attended the second session of my Boards Leadership program and I have to say that I left satisfied with the content and conversation.

After a recap of our first session and a brief talk about our assigned readings we talked about the power and importance of self reflection. One of our lead learners gave us an example of the impact and benefit of self reflection by telling us about the crazy day he had at work and how he ensured time to reflect on his actions and words. At then end of the story his point became clear - self reflection is a habit that is an essential ingredient for effective leadership. 

Our discussion about reflection got me thinking about my self reflections - when, where, why, and how I reflect. I realized that self reflection is actually one of my assists and that I could further benefit from it by becoming more aware and systematic with them.

Even though I engage in self reflection quite often, I don't always welcome it. This is no surprise to me because sometimes my reflections are brought on by negative experiences. It isn't easy to immerse yourself in a process that will cause discomfort, but I am learning that the discomfort tends to lead to positive results.

As I was thinking about blogging my thoughts about the benefits of self reflection, with respect to leadership, I stumbled across an app created to assist in reflection. 

It is called Pine, here is its description:

Seeing as how I use my smart phone for a variety of reasons each day, I thought it would be neat to use it to 'check in' allowing me to "appreciate the ups, handle the downs, and start noticing the things that are in the way of getting the most out of life". 

Here are some screen shots of the introduction to this app:

In the next day or two I will start using this app to see if it fits with with who I am, the work I do each day, and whether it helps me meet my goal of becoming more aware, systematic, and skilled with respect to self reflection. I have, and continue to, experience the benefits of self reflection. The growth that comes from taking the time to seriously think about my actions and motives is second to none - this is why I must continue to become better at it.